Alberto's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

They deserve 5 stars, and if it was 10 stars available I would give them at least 8 if not 9, I'll explain why later in the review.

My overall experience from start to finish here we go:

#1-I initially called in to ask if they cook their beans and rice with "lard=pork", and someone actually speaks or can understand English comprehensively (5 stars) (by the way) they cook their rice and beans with vegetable or canola oil of some sort (excellent).

I must say a little bit more about this, I hate calling in to different taco shops and because they don't understand English, they hang up on you or think you are actually prank calling them, no sir, no ma'am, dear brother/dear sister please learn English, it's part of customer service excellence, and the fact that *this Alberto's made sure the people answering the phone is fluent comprehensively with the English language, this is super duper honorable.

#2-Outside of the building, is amazing (by design, and who ever did the designing of the Alberto's sign, they nailed it), the artwork makes me desire to do business with the designer.

I even showed my wife the design and she was also impressed, amazing.

#3. Unsure of what I wanted not sure if I wanted a fish burrito and a carne asada taco, or carne asada burrito and a fish taco....8 went with a fish burrito and the carne asada taco.

The burrito was actually big (being honest I ordered extra fish, unsure of the normal size of the burrito), the burrito is good and over sized I may have over did it.

The fish is pollock, and could have been cooked a little less time, maybe 30 seconds less, and it would have been excellent (4.5 stars on the taste of the burrito).

5 stars" on the carne asada taco, it was huge, I should have asked for onions and cilantro instead of pico de gallo, but the taco still gets 5 stars, but I'm sure it would have been better without the tomatoes (it comes with guacamole).

The rice and beans were good also, actually very good, and only 99 cents each.

The inside design of the location has somewhat of a restaurant feel, yet still a down home "taco shop" feeling.

I just didn't like the carrots (in my opinion, they were harder than they should have been) and the hot sauce both the red and the green, was under mediocre.

Seems like they made it in a hurry or just didn't put much effort into perfecting the taste, but the carrots and the hot sauce is why I didn't give them 10 stars...

My overall experience was...

Completely disappointed. I remember the good ol'days when you could catch a big, overstuffed carne asada burrito at the drive-thru. Great location, before you hit the freeway. Perfect stop after a rowdy night at the bar or a dub-steppin' night at the club. These days I work late and it's still the only Mexican in that area open at 2 in the morning. After hitting the drive-thru, I reached into my bag to grab a quick bite of a carne asada burrito at the light. After a couple puzzling moments of indecision, I quickly did an illegal left-hand turn and made my way back to the drive-thru window. I told the man, who took my money. " I think you made a mistake and gave me the diet burrito." Now, with both of us confused, he said: "We don't have a diet burrito." I proceeded to inquire when Lynn Wilson bought out this establishment. He said "Lynn, who?" I did my best to explain to him my past experiences here and why I was disappointed. After a few moments of speaking with the management, they proceeded to tell me that this is how they have always made their food. I went ahead and parked my car because there were customers behind me. When I went inside the lobby, I noticed the nice remodeling and the fact that there was no longer a salsa bar that you could spice up your menu selection. I showed the management the cause of my dismay and offered to sell it back to him if he was so proud. He then explained that he could not give me $9 back because I had eaten the burrito. "But, sir. I have left all of the good parts because the first 2 bites were nothing but tortilla." Noticing that my presence was wearing on the staff's patience, I carefully negotiated a few extra scoops of carne asada to take advantage of all that tortilla real-estate. As I leaving, I looked up at the new market image of my once slumbery sombrero amigo, pinching a taco, I longed for my youth and then drove home. If you're looking for savory satisfying and fast Mexican food, try out Rancheritos on 7800 South and Redwood...

Sorry, this visit was a miss for me.

SERVICE: Great service! The staff was very friendly and welcoming to the restaurant. Very nice staff.

ATMOSPHERE: Clean and well kept. While we were there, the staff were actively cleaning and wiping the tables.

FOOD: This is where it was a miss. The Beef Taco and Enchilada plate was huge, but the whole thing was smothered in the red sauce...I am not sure what's going on with the cheese, but it was not melted or melting, just a gooey clump of yellow on the food. I didn't like the flavor of the meat. I ate a bit of the rice and refried beans. There was a lot of lettuce as can be seen by the pictures I posted.

The chips and salsa with the side of guac was good...the guac seemed very fresh.

We did not eat our food.

Maybe it was a bad day for them in the kitchen. The restaurant normally gets good ratings, but I cannot eat clumpy cheese that is unable to be melted or a taco without good...