. "0"^^ . "0"^^ . . "So disappointing. We spent a night at The Boulders and while Mexican cuisine is not usually our go-to, we were really excited to dine at Spotted Donkey. I knew Cliff way back in the days when SD first opened, along with Luc's, and after many (many!) years of not being in the North Scottsdale area, was looking forward to the quality of food I had received years ago. I am not sure who owns it now, but the quality is def not the same. \n\nTo start, we ordered drinks (almost 10 minutes later finally got them...). I love spicy margaritas, so I ordered the Dulce Calor margarita...habanero infused tequila, cointreau and a housemade margarita mix (minus the sugared rim). It was terrible. There was no margarita flavor at all, it was almost like just chewing on piece of the habanero. I took maybe 2-3 sips, and not once throughout dinner - or even after as it sat there full, did our server ask if it was OK. (I also did not send it back, which I should have...so that is on me I suppose). \n\nThe shrimp ceviche is NOT a ceviche. It was full sized shrimp, thrown in a cup with some tomato sauce and few pieces of chopped zucchini and jicama - literally. \n\nThe main courses were OK. My husband ordered the Hatch Chili Pork Stew and said it was great. I didn't try it and he is pretty fussy, so if he says it was good, it was good. I ordered the LaGrande Chimichanga and that was also decent. It was good sized, and the crema on top was a nice touch. I am not used to the beans being in the actual chimi, but it was a different take and worked. We ordered a cheese quesadilla for our son, and it was a good size plate and would easily fill up a child of any age. \n\nDessert, again, disappointed. I was really hoping for a churro, but when they didn't have them, I was easily swayed to have the fried ice cream and we also ordered the 11-layer chocolate cake. The cake was eh, OK. Nothing special. I was expecting some rich flavor coming from the Patrol XO cafe, but you couldn't taste it at all. The ice cream - a disaster on a plate. There was so much whipped cream, I had to scrape it off to even attempt to find the actual fried ice cream and even that didn't have the nice crust that I am accustomed to when getting fried ice cream at other Mexican restaurants. \n\nDuring the meal, I think our waiter checked on us once. My husband's water glass sat empty until I flagged down someone to ask them to refill it and we had to do the same for another beer for him. \n\nThe kicker to the entire experience was the lovely bus boy who came to the table next to us exclaiming to his partner bus boy, \"let's get this shit done...\" and I didn't catch the last part because I was too busy giving him a \"are you serious look\" as my 4 year old son is looking at me confused, knowing it's a \"bad word\". Seriously?!! What kind of training do you have?! \n\nFood, mediocre at best. \nService, terrible. \n\nAs locals, I had such high hopes, as we need a go-to Mexican restaurant, and this is def not it!!"^^ . "2018-06-19T00:00:00"^^ . "0"^^ . . "1"^^ .