FOODLAB: Kitchen + Bar — Restaurant in Rochester

After visiting the popular Taco Lab food trailer, we stopped in at the new FoodLab location at 1203 Seventh St. NW., Rochester, MN just across from Zumbro Valley. It’s fun to see how owners Jorge Mosquera and Nino Morales added interior décor to the variety menu. You can select from tables and chairs and bench seating for dining in. A large knife and fork silhouette hangs on the wall – seeming to invite visitors to dive in and eat.

They have lunch large plates, lunch small plates, lunch bowls, a lunch taco lab, and a combo lunch Mariachi. I wasn’t sure what they meant by “Mariachi” as I’m more familiar with associating it with fresh produce: apples, pears, watermelons, cantaloupes, mangoes, cherimoyas, tomatoes, and chayotes served with a crusty bread roll.

The service was pleasant and the food was prepared and delivered to my table in a timely manner.

What drew me in was the rumored word of how good their fresh fish is. I ordered the Pistachio Salmon Dinner for $20. It was topped with a nicely seasoned crust and a smooth lemon cream sauce with a few capers in it. The salmon was laid slightly over the steamed broccolini, which topped a bed of cauliflower puree. The puree tasted just like mashed potatoes and seemed to have a fair amount of fresh butter in it. Drinks are premade mixes so they were unable to custom make one for me with less sugar and less or no alcohol. They offer both a house wine and house red, along with margaritas and mojitos.

Parking is shared with other business entities in the strip mall. I was able to fit in along with a few other vehicles parked parallel along the sidewalk streetside. Food can be preordered through Seamless and delivered by Grubhub and Doordash.

It’s a nice family-style dining option for the...

Ok, I have no idea why this place has such good reviews. The waiter was a gentleman and did an excellent job, but that’s about the only good thing I can say about this place.

1. Atmosphere: this is NOT a place to go for a romantic date. The bright fluorescent lights, TV commercials playing over the overhead speakers, and flies constantly buzzing around our heads remind me more of a high school cafeteria than a respectable restaurant.

2. Drinks: the drink menu consisted of beer, margarita, and old fashioned. We made the big mistake of ordering the old fashioned. It came back lukewarm (no ice), with a garnish of a tiny cherry on a toothpick. It looked fitting for a solo cup. Unfortunately, it tasted worse than it looked, and was somehow a combination of too strong without getting you buzzed and too bitter but without any flavor. Couldn’t have made it worse if I tried. And it was like $14.

3. food: the food was meh. The ceviche was 90% mangoes and onions, 10% fish, with stale chips to round out the appetizer. The filet mignon tacos were decently flavorful, but so dry that I felt the moisture being actively wicked from the mucous membranes lining my cheeks. And the salmon was … ok. Nothing good, nothing bad. It was well-cooked. The churros were really good, though.

4. value: this was the most insulting part of the whole experience. We got one appetizer, 2 entrees, one dessert, 2 beers, and a cocktail and the meal cost $115. The prices are inflated and laughable once you know what you’re getting.

Conclusion: Don’t waste your time...

We tried this place the other day to "try something different".

If you want "mexican but not the same old thing" give this place a try.

Partner had the Torta Mariachi and I had the Choriburger

The chips they server are very good and the salsa is a simble adobo salsa but also a delight.

The Torta Mariachi was excellent with no negative comments there. If you like chorizo this should be your choice.

The Choriburger with fries was also good, However the menu only listed cheese sauce and corn spread. It did not list the 3rd sauce that comes on the burger which I believe was the habanero aioli.

1. I chose the choriburger specifically because it did not list an aioli on it.
2. The 3rd sauce overpowered all other flavors of the burger. It became a "3rd sauce with texture" burger. It was also applied so liberally that it was dripping out of the burger as you held it.
3. The sauces were applied such that each layer had a sauce between it. This resulted in a burger that was basically lubricated to fall apart making it very difficult to eat.

The choirburger would get * * if I could rate it separately only because it was simply to messy to eat and the 3rd sauce overpowered all...