Mexican Tastz Te Anau — Restaurant in Fiordland Community

I have never left a review in my 40 years on this earth, but on this momentous occasion, I must share my experience with the other humans. I'll start by saying that everything we ate tonight was food (definitionally) and all of it was adequately cooked. No sickness has occurred, so far, for me or my partner. So, we walked in and as we sat down, the first thing I noticed was the fajitas going to another table were being served on a skillet too small to fit a pancake on. This was concerning. I said, "Babe, we better order a lot of food." The waiter informed us that they were "out of tacos" so, we ordered two fajitas, one chicken one steak, we ordered a crispy chicken appetizer, and chips and salsa which were uncharacteristically not complimentary, so we ordered that too. After about 15 minutes of chit chatting, still no drinks or chips, there were 3 other groups seated in there, all with less than 4 people. Our can of coke and beer arrive with chips. There were two small cups of salsa, about the size of a golfball cut in half for each. One of them contained British style baked beans, the other tomato sauce with a faint hint of jalapeno. Nothing Mexican except the corn chips. The chicken app arrived, this was basically Chicken Pakora, it came with garlic aoli sauce. Nothing Mexican about it, though it was a decent Pakora. Our cookie sized skillets arrived next. The waiter, put both skillets in front of my partner for some reason and nothing in front of me? Because they didn't come with rice or beans somehow, I ordered that too. The rice and beans was small red beans and brown rice w uncooked onions in it, marinated overnight in sugar. I don't know why that's the case, but it was. Also, there was no cheese, on anything, at a Mexican restaurant. For the fajitas, the steak had also been apparently marinated in sugar, the chicken had been marinaded and spiced with nothing, zero flavor. Basically stir fry, one with sugar, one without. The floor tortillas had been thrown on the grill and we're partially cooked, so they had to be snapped and broken to accept the sugary meat and rice/beans (sans cheese). Again, all of the things we ate we certainly foods, with multiple ingredients, and they had been cooked. It's just that none of them were Mexican in any way whatsoever. I'm fairly certain that none of the employees of the establishment have ever eaten Mexican food before in their lives. Which is fine, we're in a remote national Park at the bottom of the world. But why did you open a Mexican restaurant? Further, could you just Google some recipes? Or how about ordering a giant tub of something labeled "Mexican spices" online and put that on the food instead of sugar? Not a lemon or lime to be found and not a single piece of melted cheese? I don't know what just happened to us, but I won't be able to forget it. Did I...

After a very disappointing experience driving to Milford sound without a plan hoping to go for a good walk there (don't go to Milford sound unless you have a cruise booked there or money to blow honestly) we thought let's stop in te anau for a nice meal. I had my partner with me so we tried to get a table at the two top rated restaurants first. No tables 🤦 long weekend. We gave up and walked into this Mexican restaurant. It's very orange. We just wanted food. We had a budget of about $50 each for the upperclass restaurants so decided to spend that budget here.

Me and my partner were legitimately blown away by the quality of the food. Best jalepino poppers I've probably ever had. None of the upperclass restaurants could've outcompeted this pleasant surprise. Highly recommend if you just want good comfort food after a long day. Very happy with the service also, prompt food and good manners from the waiter. For just under $100 bucks we had jalepino poppers, some cheeseburger burrito fusion monster with home made (I think?) kumara chips, shrimp fajitas, a fantastic vegetarian quesadilla and 3 beers. Barely managed...

I want to give Mexican Tastz higher marks, but I just can't. The service was top notch, really nice staff who gave more attention that you usually get at a restaurant where you order at the counter. They were very friendly and the food was delivered in a reasonable amount of time. It was not busy when we were there.

The food is ok. It's certainly not authentic. I think I'm a decent judge of Mexican food because I was raised in Southern California where the population is about 40% Mexican. I don't think there is chili powder or fresh garlic in the building. But the guacamole was fresh and tasty and I appreciated that it wasn't full of fillers like tomatoes. The chicken and cheese quesadilla was ok. I appreciated that it was cooked on a grill. My husband's beef burrito was satisfying, though the seasoning was not Mexican. The churros were nice and hot and were served with chocolate sauce.

Overall, if you want a change from lamb and beef, this is a good change, but don't expect a lot of traditional Mexican flavors.

FYI, there is no alcohol here, so if you're hoping for a margarita you'll need to find...