Mucho Gusto Bel Air — Restaurant in Maryland

I've been hearing about this place for a while, but since I live in AA County, it took me a while to get here. I've been twice in the last week. Not because I loved it so much, but because I wanted to give it another chance. Came on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to get seated right away. It took a while for our server to come to our table, but since I know there are staff shortages, we waited patiently. Ordered a drink and appetizer, and had questions about a few of the menu items. Our server had zero knowledge of the menu and could only make educated (or perhaps not so educated) guesses as to the answers. We learned more from googling our questions. The drink WAS amazing. My friend got a margarita which she said was one of the best she's ever had, and I ordered a drink that I apologize, I can't remember the name of, which contained a strawberry blend and had a tiny rose floating in it. It was the best part of the meal. The chips and salsa were good as well, but there was barely enough salsa to cover even half the basket of chips. We did ask for more, and he brought it. Our meals came. We asked what happened to our appetizer and our server said, "oh, yeah, I remember you saying that." I ordered the enchiladas (beef) and was slightly upset that I could not mix them. My friend ordered fajitas. Both were exactly what we expected and nothing special, but not bad either. The more interesting visit came last night. Another friend, who had been wanting to come here for months, came with me. We waited 10 minutes at the door. Serving staff looked at us, three people behind the bar looked at us, no one said anything until one of the over-worked servers said someone would be right with us. We were seated and it took our server quite a while to get to us. She brought us water and said, without even asking, that she'd be back to get our orders. She didn't even ask if we wanted a drink. She eventually came back, after a long discussion with another server over by the computer, and visiting literally every other table. We ordered everything at once because we didn't know when we'd see her again. One of the drink specials was a $6 sangria, so we both ordered one. I ordered taquitos for an appetizer (they came this time) and I ordered Enchiladas Costeras and my friend ordered Enchiladas Poblanas. We decided to each give the other one of our enchiladas (they came with three) so that we could taste them. When our drinks came, I was quite distressed to find that our glasses had a full inch of space from the top of the glass. That wouldn't have been so bad except that the lady sitting behind us had already taken a sip from her exact same drink ( I heard her order it) and it was still spilling over the rim. I asked her server (who at least seemed friendly compared to ours who seemed like she did not want to be bothered) and she said that maybe the bar had run out. She said she was sure that they'd add some more if we took our drinks up to the bar. I felt like perhaps she might have mentioned it to a manager, but did not really feel like getting up. I managed to catch our server and asked about chips. She said we could buy some, but they didn't do free chips. I said well they did on Saturday and she stammered that they just changed it. I was skeptical, but again, didn't feel like arguing. At this point, our appetizer had arrived and I just wanted to eat and leave. We didn't see our server again until it was time for the check. Another person brought our food. The selections we made on Wednesday were much tastier than what I ordered Saturday. Both my friend and I agreed that my choice, the Enchiladas Costeras, was the better of the two choices. Our server came back and cleared the plates and brought our check. She never asked us if we wanted dessert. It was obvious that we did not need carry-out containers since we had eaten everything. I am glad I came, but I don't ever feel the need to go back to Mucho Gusto....

Had a fantastic lunch here courtesy of our waiter, Alex! With it being a Friday afternoon, we treated ourselves to some lunch cocktails, which were nothing short of amazing!

Have to give a specific shout-out for "The Green Desire", which is an awesome smoked cocktail that has a stellar presentation. When someone orders it, you certainly know as the air starts to permeate a lovely roasted hickory that is completely delightful.

Also, this place has some of the best guacamole around, and they actually prepare it table side for you to watch, which is real treat unto itself. It doesn't get more fresh than how they make it. Our waiter, Alex, was nice enough to ask if we liked it mild or spicy. We went with the latter, and he was kind enough to wait for us to try and make sure that it was spicy enough for us or wanted to kick up the heat more!

Lastly, as to the main food, we had Tamales, the Arrachera (Skirt Steak) and Crab Cake. All of it was impeccable. The Arrachera was cooked perfectly to medium rare and the chimichurri sauce that it came with was tastefully done and not overbearing. You could certainly taste the wonderful combination of flavors between the meat and the toppings. The crab cake was also, very well done with the aioli providing a light heat that complemented it nicely. More importantly the ratio of crab to filler was excellent. There was a minimal amount of filler used, and they are quite generous with the crab meat, and we only got the Single, not the Double!

The last thing to comment on would be the prices, which I would say are completely fair for what's provided. The other reviews where people complain are wholly unfounded, and it sounds like those folks are looking for more of a fast casual Tex-Mex dining experience that's one step up from a Taco Bell.

This restaurant is elevated above that style of cuisine, and fills a gap for finer Hispanic...

The only pleasurable part of our experience here this evening was the friends we went with.

1. The high ceilings allow for no noise buffer so it is extremely loud.
2. The chairs are extremely uncomfortable.
3. The server was horrible, we had to ask for refills, when he brought them, we had to ask for glasses of ice because they were warm. We had to ask for napkins. After taking our order and writing it done, he had to come back to the table three times because he forgot to ask something. We ask for hot sauce for the food and when brought it back to the table he said” Becareful we make this ourselves and it f-_king hot.” We ask for a steak night and he went to the kitchen and when he returned said they didn’t have and but the meat should be tender enough to use the table knife provided in the place setting, it was not strong enough to cut through it.
4. The food lacked basic seasoning and had no flavor. When the food arrived at the table it was lukewarm so but the time everyone was done eating what they wanted it was cold. The chicken enchiladas was more like shredded BBQ chicken. The beef enchiladas with red sauce tasted like beef jerky in a soggy no taste tortilla with water and red food coloring. One shrimp meal was supposed to be served with garlic and olive oil came out with a red spice rub all over it, this meal came with a salad that was served with no dressing. The other shrimp meal was supposed to have red sauce but came out with green sauce that had no flavor and looked like baby poop on a plate. In general the food had no taste and the presentation appeared as if it was a preschool art project. We would have been better off to go to Taco Bell.
5. We explained our concerns to the Manager on duty and he stated he would talk to our server and that was it. The worst $100.00 I have ever spend.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this place, we aren’t...