Coyote Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in Franklin

TL:DR - Average food, expensive; you're paying for their liquor license.

Been meaning to try this place a while now, and I'm kind of disappointed. Overall it was average, but wow there were some missteps for sure.

Their website / Google had their menu online. Literally half the menu is alcohol. The other half is a rather limited selection of Mexican food. Absolutely everything is overpriced, especially for the area. If you're wondering why prices are so high, it's because they need that extra money to pay for their liquor license. So even if you don't get a drink, you're buying into it. When I made a to-go order via phone (there is no online ordering available, and no delivery), I asked for a "traditional chicken burrito." When I asked if they had a dessert menu (they don't), they told me they had traditional churros. The burrito was a whopping $21, while the churros were $8. Like I said, expensive. They told me it would be a half hour until my order was ready, but it was a Friday, so that's expected.

When I got there, the parking lot was a mess. Folks parked anywhere they could, and with no lines, there was a lot of wasted space. Construction debris littered the whole lot, and I'm wondering how many folks got flat tires after visiting. Half the parking is reserved for the vape shop, with threatening signs saying you will be towed. The pothole getting in and out of the lot is so deep, I was lucky not to bottom out getting in, but not so lucky when I tried to get out. If I go back, I'm parking at the Dollar Tree and walking up. Even with the threat of Rt. 23 traffic, it's safer.

Picking up my food was mostly easy. They don't tell you beforehand, but they charge you an extra fee if you use a credit card. Neat. Inside was dimly lit, noisy, there were people both standing around, and crammed into the limited seating area. Behind the bar was ridiculously spacious, and in front of it, but it looks like they mostly use it for orders, and not drinkers. Once I paid, they gave me my bag of food. I should have checked it before I left.

When I got home, I found my "traditional" burrito was smothered in cheese for some reason. If I wanted a smothered burrito, I would have ordered one (and they are "only" $16). It came with a little side dish of guacamole, pico di gallo, and the sour cream I asked to be left off (at least it was on the side and not in my burrito). There were two little pots of sauce included: the red one was slightly spicy with little other flavor worth mentioning, and the green sauce tasted ... well green. The burrito was the best thing overall - stuffed to bursting with beans, two kinds of rice, onions, cheese, lettuce, and chicken. (Strangely they do not offer pork burritos.) It was impossible to pick up and eat, because the smothering cheese made the tortilla mushy. I had to eat it with a spoon. It was definitely not worth $21, but it was pretty good.

The churros were destroyed by raspberry chocolate syrup. Why did they smother them in that? That's not what a traditional churro is - and besides that, I'm allergic to raspberries. They went right into the trash, sadly. Goodbye, $8 poison churros. If they hadn't been covered in unwanted goo, they might have been good.

There was an unidentified container of ice cream included for some reason. It might have been fancy vanilla? Or possibly dulce de leche? Or tres leches? Whatever it was, I didn't order it. However, it was delicious. Unordered, but delicious.

Overall, the food was average, and the prices were really steep. ($15 for an appetizer-sized quesadilla?!) The menu was incredibly limited (food-wise), and lacking some traditional Mexican foods like empanadas and tamales. Most likely I will continue going to the other local Mexican place. This one was a...

I really really wanted to like this place. I feel that I have given it an adequate try. I’ve probably eaten here since almost a dozen times with my boyfriend since they opened. The first few times we ate in the restaurant. The decor is OK. It feels cafeteria-ish, and for the price of things you would hope for a little more ambience. It was definitely echoey and the first few times we went the smoke alarms kept beeping because the batteries were low, which was really annoying. One of the times we went was on their two dollar taco night on Tuesday and somehow between my boyfriend and I we ended up spending over $100 . On that night I had one margarita on the rocks, which was put into a cactus martini glass over ice which took me about three sips to finish and was not cheap. I don’t remember the price exactly, but I didn’t feel it was with the cost. Apparently there’s a choice of three different types of tacos for two dollar taco night. Unfortunately, 2 out of the 3 options for the $2 tacos were already sold out but it was only about 5 o’clock in the evening which should really never happen if you’re running a two dollar taco special for the evening. So we decided on an order or two of the Al Pastore tacos which are approximately $18 in order if my memory serves me correctly. I now see that the taco meat options have a base price but then you have to pay four dollars for your choice of toppings and tortillas. I don’t know if that’s the best way to go about it. It feels like we’re being nickeled and dimed every time we go there. It’s also six dollars for tortilla chips and salsa. In my experience, that has always come with the meal without having to pay extra. Also… $14 for guacamole? I don’t know… The first couple of times we went the tips were added to the Check…(for 2 of us) they didn’t offer tap water at the time and just brought overpriced bottles when you asked for water. I have previously ordered some items that literally came with a thimble full of rice and beans. Honestly? that’s the most cost effective thing you could add to the meal to make it a complete meal. I decided on another night to try the shrimp à la Diabla. It was hardly spicy even though that’s the theme of the dish and was covered in cheese and didn’t come with anything. No tortillas, no rice, no beans, no sour cream, no lettuce no nothing. It was literally shrimp, sauce, and cheese. For $27 I thought that was a stretch. We’ve decided we really like the enchiladas and it’s reasonably priced for the food that you get. I decided to order them and also wanted to try something new and ordered the ($16) Bistecca Milanese torta. It’s supposed to be a thin tenderized breaded steak. I am very familiar with the dish and have had it at other “authentic“ Mexican, restaurants. I even asked if it would be breaded when I placed the order and they said yes. When I got home, it may have had a dredging of flour, but it was certainly not breaded. I had such a hard time even biting into it and trying to tear away a mouth full of meat that after three attempts, I just threw it in the garbage. I called them tonight (before making this review ) to let them know. Unfortunately, their way of remedying this was to offer me 15% off my next order. I’m sorry I feel like that wasn’t the appropriate answer and I will not be...

I'm not sure what happened or why others seem to like the food here. Ours was truly terrible. We will never order from here again. I love Mexican food. I've had lots of great food at other places. I've had bad food at other places. This was top of the list as the worst Mexican food I've ever had.

Everything about it was wrong. Meat was burnt to a crisp, on one side only. Not over cooked but burnt so much so that it was hard and not able to be chewed. The entire container was then just covered with shredded lettuce. Each taco just has one weird slice of tomato thrown on. Not diced like it should get. Very little meat and enough sour cream cream to choke a small horse. It was so disproportionate. And I love sour cream. Usually it's more the merrier but this was ridiculous. I'm not sure if maybe the regular chef was off or what happened but I have a twelve year old who can cook better than this. Sorry but I'm just being honest. I won't bore you with descriptions of the other food, it was equally terrible and everything was just made wrong and put together badly, like no effort went into it.

For $21 for a single burrito, it better be the best burrito ever. They don't even give you chips and salsa or anything. Just containers with bad food covered by mounds and mounds of shredded lettuce, poorly prepared and bland unseasoned meat. I really wish I could find something redeeming about the food but cannot. The enchilada had about half a teaspoon of sauce on it. But plenty of lettuce again. We ordered multiple meals. They just threw the rice and beans into one larger container, I assume it was meant for all of the meals combined. No plasticware, no napkins, no paper menus, no receipt.

Sorry but whoever is in charge of this place, doesn't have a clue how to run a restaurant. Everyone thinks they can run a restaurant and it's why 70% fail after the first year or two.

It was 6pm on a Friday night and the place was empty. My prediction is they won't last long if what we received is indicative of what they normally do.

When will places learn? It drives me crazy. It's a simple formula. Serve great food, at reasonable prices and you're almost guaranteed success. That's really all people want.

There are a few small places in NJ who subscribe to that formula. Nothing fancy. No gimmicks. Just great food, made well with good portions (not too big) at fair prices and they are busy every night of the week and have lines out the door on weekends.

I really don't know if maybe people around here don't know the difference and just think this is what Mexican food is supposed to be. I promise you, it is not. I suspect it's the lack of competition and inexperience at running a restaurant because this is not...