Viva Cinco De Mayo

Viva Great Food!

We ventured out seeking some Tex-Mex for lunch in downtown Albany and decided to try Viva Cinco De Mayo (VCDM). I figured a 4.4 review on Google meant something and it does. VCDM offers a great variety of dishes including options for vegetarians, a few breakfast selections, and a dedicated lunch menu.

We chose the enchilada and chimichanga platters. The enchiladas platter comes with three (the lunch menu offers two) and can be topped with any combination of their green, red, or bean sauce; we weren’t quite sure if you could mix the meats. Both platters came with sides of rice and black beans.

My husband chose chicken as the protein and tried each of the different sauces. Served atop the sauces is a layer of finely chopped lettuce, a sprinkling of cheese, and a drizzle of sour cream. His favorite sauce was the bean sauce but said the other two were good. It was just something about the bean sauce which was a bit better tasting.

My carnitas chimichanga came out golden brown with a side of guacamole and a sliced radish on top of the rice which made for a pleasant-looking dish. It came stuffed full of green peppers, onion, red peppers, cheese, and meat. I opted to leave out the green peppers. The only downfall to the dish was they may have doubled up on the red peppers since I asked to forego the green ones; the red peppers were a bit overwhelming. Aside from that, it was delicious as the cheese was melted and stringy and the pork cooked well and perfectly seasoned.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the black beans as it seems they add a touch of cacao. They offer Mexican Coca-Cola by the bottle and free chips and salsa. They do quite a bit of take-out business which may have slowed the kitchen as it seemed like the food took a bit of time to arrive. The delay was not an issue, however, as we were sitting outside enjoying the nice weather and the food itself was worth the wait. Our server was quite pleasant and helpful, and the restaurant looks to be well-kept.

All-in-all, we’ll soon be going back for more.