Salsa Street — Restaurant in Palatine Township

I've ordered from Salsa Street in Mt. Prospect numerous times, and I have eaten-in that restaurant. Today, my boyfriend and I were out and about and ended up at the Palatine location on Rand Rd. Right away, the interior did NOT look anything like the Mt. Prospect location. It was small and ordinary - not spacious, airy and colorful. The server informed us that they only had their _ menu. My boyfriend heard "lunch", I heard "lounge". Either way, the menu was small and entirely in Spanish (not a problem, but unlike Mt. P). One of the reasons I keep going back to Salsa Street Mt. P is the variety of tacos that they offer - cuban, crab cake, mushroom; not just your standard tacos.

We both ordered a 3 taco dinner - mine as "unspicy" as possible and my bf's with a red sauce. The food came out quickly and looked appealing. However, that quickly changed...the rice and beans were ordinary - not very flavorful at all. The meat - which was pork - and it was well cooked. Two of my tacos were unsauced and the meat was quite tasty. The 3rd taco, with red sauce was a bit spicy for me, as were the two salsa on the table, but I'm a total wimp. As we started eating our tacos, I encountered numerous pieces of cartilage and other unsavory bits in the meat. My boyfriend found multiple bones in his meat. I know that this is all part of the process, and that bones add flavor during cooking, however, shouldn't those pieces be removed during the shredding process? There is very little that can completely turn off my appetite, but bones and cartilage did it. We didn't have the heart to tell the sweet server that we found our food unappetizing, so we paid our bill and left. I cannot say that we'll be back to Salsa Street in the future, but definitely not that location. No way, absolutely not. Also, the charge on my credit card did not say "Salsa Street", it said "Don Canelo" which was on a sign outside to the right of Salsa Street, so maybe the business has changed...

Do not come to this establishment. First of all, it is not clear that there are two Mexican restaurants side-by-side. I was in between business appointments, and I was eating by myself. Usually, I would use the restroom prior to going to my table so that I don't have to leave my purse and coat unattended. I went into the restroom and the owner followed me into the restroom to tersely announce that it was not a public restroom. I informed her that I intended to eat in the restaurant. FYI, the restaurants are connected on the inside. It is obvious that one is a walk up window, and the other one is sit down. I went to sit down in a booth and place my order. The same woman/owner came to take my order but before she would take my order, she wanted to scold me on the difference between the two restaurants and that I should not have used the restroom that I used when I walked in the door. When I asked her to not talk to me in that tone of voice, she asked me to leave. I was...

While this is a nice new place to try out some Tex-Mex food, it's not my favorite. The presentation of the dishes was certainly on par, but the flavors were not very robust. There wasn't anything that stood out to me as unique. Additionally, I prefer more authentic Mexican food. Salsa Street's offerings seemed more americanized to me. What was unique, however, was their salsa. A non-traditional green tomatillo sauce seemed to be the only option. A bit more variety such as a pico or a nice salsa roja would have been nice. As a non-soda drinker, I prefer tea when I go out. Unfortunately, the only tea on the menu is not tea all... It's flavored Lipton Brisk in a can. Water it is. Anyway, while not terrible by any means; the service was very good and the ambiance quite attractive, I have other places that I prefer for authentic Mexican. I do wish the owners...