"3"^^ . . . "3"^^ . "3"^^ . . "1"^^ . "2009-09-03T00:00:00"^^ . "It appears that as I get older, I get cheaper. Such is my reinforced experience with Ajo Al's yesterday. I stopped in for lunch with my blind friend, who despite having lost his vision years ago can \"feel out\" good food from eight miles away. We were seated quickly and I started to peruse the lunch menu, only to be shocked that everything was $9. Since when in the hell is everything $9 for lunch? That's a dinner entree price, not a lunch price. Lunch should be $6 or at most $7. \n\nAfter getting over my Scrooge-like reaction at the menu prices, I ordered the pollo con queso (shredded chicken covered with cheese and a spicy baja cream cheese suace). It was heavenly as I remember it from years ago. My dining companion chose the mushroom enchilada, which also was quite tasty. \n\nI still hate the way they serve the salsa here, in tall narrow tumblers. It's impossible to dip your chips in the salsa container (where is a damn bowl when you need one!) so I had to pour it onto my salad plate and scrape up the salsa from there. Overall, the salsa is only average. It needs more kick and this is a big issue for Mexican restaurants in my head. \n\nYou do end up with large portions, but I'd like to see them pare down the portion sizes and the prices accordingly. Two for lunch cost as much as three for dinner the other night at Juan's on Thomas and 16th Street. That's not right. \n\nSo, overall Ajo Al's gets a B for food quality but a D for prices. The salsa helped me arrive at my three-star rating for this place. With minor changes, this could easily be a four-star place. Make it so, oh culinary gods!"^^ .