Hacienda Mexican Restaurant

I have been there 5 times now. I wanted to give them multiple chances before writing a review. Now I can be fair.

I had super high hopes for this restaurant. The menu looked great, different from anything here. Being from Texas and growing up in California, Mexican food has been a staple my whole life. I was excited. Then I went. After having given this place 5 chances, I won’t be eager to go again, any time soon. They have a good concept. They are cheaping out on the ingredients, but charging premium prices.

First and foremost we got the dip appetizer. The guacamole tastes weird and is a weird consistency, The first thing I thought was that I tasted sour cream in the guacamole. My husband noticed it too, but couldn’t tell what it was. I asked the waitress, and she said they cut it with sour cream. Avocados are expensive. I didn’t like the taste, but even more than that, sour cream is dairy. When you sneak things into food, especially where it isn’t supposed to be, you could hurt someone. What if someone is lactose intolerant, so they get guacamole instead of cheese dip? What about vegans? It’s wrong to deceive people. The manager came out and started giving me this mumbo jumbo about how it is supposed to be that way, spouting authenticity. Then I told him where I was from and he changed his tune. He said we could order real guacamole, but we had to ask.

Now onto the cheese dip. They make their cheese dip like a roux. They start with butter and flour to thicken, then put cheese in. We got it three times. Once it was fine. The next two times it had so little cheese that it tasted like roux with a hint of cheese. Just to make sure I wasn’t misjudging it I asked again. She said they stretched it out like that. Dips don’t tend to have white flour in them. What about people with gluten allergies? Corn chips and cheese dip should be safe. Not here.

Their tamales are perfect, amazing and by far the best in town. They reminded me of the tamales we’d get from the back of someone’s truck, growing up. It was a huge treat.

They have a battered, fried poblano pepper stuffed with cheese. It’s battered, but not fried. It comes out eggy, and mushy.

Don’t order nachos supreme. There isn’t enough cheese to see, let alone taste. Nachos without cheese? Blasphemous. Cheaping out on dairy, once again.

The chips aren’t great, and the salsa is weird and not good at all.

Chimichangas are weird also and don’t taste very good.

Lastly, the service is some of the worst I’ve seen. I could see other servers there being attentive. I know they exist. We just haven’t been lucky enough to get one.

It’s hit or miss. For me, it’s a miss, except those beautiful tamales that taste like someone’s grandma made them. However, woman cannot live by tamales alone.

If I go back and have more positives to tell, I will. I like to be fair. I don’t pass judgement on one experience. Everyone has an off day, but if the ingredient quality is not there, it’s not there. That’s not a bad day, that’s bad business.