Tortilla Marissa's — Restaurant in Fort Collins

OMIGOSH! With over 250 restaurants in th' Fort, it has to be hard to just survive, much less make a high quality food and beverage service available on demand for the local public. Last year, 53 new eateries opened and 29 closed, according to our local paper. Tortilla Marissa's continues to be one of my wife's and my top spots to eat, with lunch being our favorite. The servings are dinner-sized, with lunch sized pricing. We ate there just today, which is what is prompting this review. I had a pulled-pork carnitas, which is a spicy pork if you didn't know. I didn't. It was a HUGE burrito with my choice of sides. I ate just over half and took the rest home for a light dinner. Ha! Light. I am STUFFED as I write this review. The top of my head, sweating, attests to the spiciness of this pork. Not too bad, but definitely tasty!

I forget what my wife had exactly, but it's her usual, and she loved it. As he usually does when time allows," Mike", the owner, came out to say "Hi". Mike is and an easy going, slow-speaking, laid back kind of guy that you could talk to forever. I always hate to take his time because I know the rigors of running a restaurant, but we were in late today and enjoyed the talk. Another plus to Tortilla's (as I call 'em) is that they are open all day! Personally, having owned and operated a coffee shop and bakery that was open just 8 hours (albeit from 5 am to 1 pm, I don't know how he does it. Good help, I guess. Whatever makes it work, it just does. If you have a chance, visit this cute little place on the corner of College and Drake. They're open from 11 a.m. 'till 8:30 or 9 p.m., depending on the day. You'll love it! UPDATE! My wife and I ate at TM's again today, and it was better than ever! I had the "Arroz con Mariscos" for $16.99. The menu description is: "Grilled seasoned salmon or shrimp served atop a bed of rice with either Roasted Pepper Cream Sauce or Tomatillo Sauce and fresh guacamole." I had it with the Roasted Pepper Cream Sauce, and it was just dee-lish-us!! The salmon was perfectly seasoned (a little spicy, a little tasty), and it came out sitting on a bed of brown rice, piping hot, topped with a ball of fresh guac. I dove in immediately while my wife started on her usual Sunset Burrito. The menu describes it like this: "Sunset Burrito $13.99/+ Artichoke con queso and refried beans inside a flour tortilla and topped with a choice of sauce and melted cheeses. Served with southwestern rice. Steak, Carnitas (Spicy), Chicken, Beef, Portabella Mushrooms $15.99" She got it w/portabello mushrooms, as usual, and said it was as tasty as ever! We both took about half of our serving home, because the portions are just HUGE! If you haven't been recently, put your paper down and head down for supper. You will...

There was a feel that just didn't feel right. Noticed it soon after getting the salsa and chips. Salsa was not very authentic. Then when we received our meal, that's when it all went down hill. My first bite of the rice, I was chewing and felt like I bit rocks...The rice was very stale tasting, and was dried. The beans were no good. I called over the manager and explained to him about the rice. He immediately looked upset and said "uh ok, what do you want me to do about it"...Really?! I said, your rice is way under cooked, it even felt like I was chewing rocks....I don't know but I'm letting you know that this rice is bad. He then mentioned that he'll do something about it. About ten minutes later, he comes back with a bowl of rice, he says, "Here ya go, straight out of the pan". I said thank you...I then took a bite of the fresh or so called fresh rice and again, it had a horrible taste, and was not even fully cooked. I didn't even finish the rest of the rice. The meal that I got were the Chili relleno's. I got both their chicken filled and cheese filled. This is supposed to be their Star dish. The chili's, tasted extremely bland, the sauce was just as bland. The chicken had a rubber texture to it. And as far as service goes, no one ever came up to ask us if we needed anything. So after about 45 minutes, we were finally given our check. I paid the amount on the receipt, and for sure did not leave any tip. I will never go back to this place again. There is NOTHING authentic about this place at all. You might as well go to Village Inn for the type of food that they server...

Well where do I start? Tried a couple different Mexican restaurants in town. Some are okay. Somewhere horrible in my opinion. Though Tortilla Marissa's on the other hand, is a fantastic restaurant. I have eaten at many Mexican restaurants all over the country. There are some good ones out there and they are one of the best. I love eating chile rellenos. I noticed that they focus on this particular meal and I can see why, they are the best I've ever had and I've eaten a lot of different chile. Rellenos. I love anaheim's better than poblano's. This dish was so good I had to come back again and I received the same treatment service and the food was just as good or if not better. I love the positive attitude of the staff. The server the first night was excellent. Very forthcoming and service was outstanding. The second night, we had the same server that was training another staff member and she was excellent. Very personable, not pushy and always willing to help and get what we need. The only thing I gave a four stars for is that they have a smaller restaurant a little outdated. We sat on the patio which was nice. But I understand it takes money to keep things going and keep things upkeep. It kind of reminded me of my time in New Mexico Southern New Mexico. We will definitely be going back whenever we are in town. I may even try it again before I leave. It's that good? I want to say thank you to the staff and the owner for providing a wonderful evening for me...