| rev:text
| - You can't build a restaurant off good salsa.
Frida is terribly inconsistent. While this review will mostly focus on the bad, some aspects of Frida really shine. They have outstanding salsas, guacamole, corn chips, and the "little bites", though overpriced, were delicious. Thanks to one of our waiter's many screw-ups, I tried the onion, mushroom, chicken, and lamb.
Anyway, I arrived at Frida last Saturday and was greeted by the owner/chef's sister-in-law (maybe co-owner as well?) with "You came to FRIDA, with more than two people, and no reservation???" I found her comment, espeically the way she emphasized the word "Frida", to be more hilarious than pretentious, and over the course of the night I found her to be very sincere. I also appreciate that they pulled an extra table up from the basement, as the estimated size of our party grew from 8 to 11.
As we waited for our table to be set up, we noticed the walls looked like the inside of the changerooms at a swimming pool - small blue tiles. Maybe that's influenced by Frida Kahlo? Not familiar with her work, so I couldn't say. It didn't exactly scream "fine dining".
We ordered relatively quickly, as we were quite hungry. Drinks took about 45 minutes. They brought mostly the right drinks, and gave them to sort of the right people. The correct half of the table, anyway. At approximately the same time (a 5-10 minute window). So that was something.
Complimentary chips and salsa, which were devoured in seconds, took about an hour to come out. After another half hour or so, the chef's sister-in-law reminded our waiter that we'd been there for a long time with no food, and it would be a good idea to refill the chips. So he brought more chips and left the virtually empty salsa containers empty.
Our appetizers arrived soon after. By appetizers, I mean three orders of guacamole (ordered by three couples). I understand that guacamole takes a long time to cook, so sure, two hours seems reasonable. It also makes sense that they brought out the third order about ten minutes after the first two, so that one of the couples had to sit salivating as they watched the other two couples devour theirs.
Finally, the mains trickled out of the kitchen, and were promptly served to the wrong people. I ordered three "little bites" and my friend sitting beside me ordered one. Two came out of the kitchen individually, and the other two on one plate. Two different servers failed to identify which was which. The despressing part is that they couldn't tell the difference between mushroom and lamb. Because the mushroom was in an empanada, I ended up eating my friend's order and only realizing it when it was in my mouth. I explained the mistake, and they brought out another mushroom empanada, and added another empanada to a completely different person's bill.
The steak tacos, which about four people ordered, and six people tasted, were terrible. Tasteless, lukewarm to cool, overcooked, poorly flavoured, poor quality meat. I've read the other reviews, which fall into two camps: "this is the best Mexican food ever" and "I'm from California/Texas/Mexico. What's this inauthentic, overpriced shit?" I point this out because no one in my party is from Mexico or California, etc. We just don't like shitty food.
(The other meals that we ordered - cheese and bean quesadilla, goat or lamb tacos, and the chicken - were generally described as "disappointing", "alright" and "overpriced").
The sister-in-law came to our table and asked how everything was. We mentioned that a few people didn't like the half-eaten steak tacos that were left on the plates. The sister-in-law offered to bring out anything else, but even though my girlfriend asked her for something vegetarian, the chef sent her more steak tacos, but this time with bacon. It was a dish that he didn't put on the menu.
The funny thing about the replacement tacos was that the extra flavour made up for the not-that-good meat. The tacos were served hot, and, frankly, were very tasty. Why isn't it on the menu?
When the entrees were finished, the sister-in-law came out and explained to us that the chef was very upset that we didn't like the tacos. He is very passionate. He wants the people of Toronto to taste how Mexican food is back home in Mexico, and wants everyone who comes to his restaurant to feel like a guest at his home. I thought "what's with the guilt trip?", but I'm sure a few of the people at our table just felt guilty.
Another (Mexican) reviewer here noted that when he went to Frida, the chef admitted that he doesn't make authentic Mexican food so Canadians will like it. I think that's the wrong move, but based on all the five star reviews here, the chef is probably right in most cases.
I won't go back to Frida. Even the great parts of it don't justify the cost. It's a shame, because this restaurant has the potential to be excellent.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)