Garcia's Mexican Food To Go — Restaurant in San Antonio

Garcia's Mexican Food - A Restaurant Review Fred Rd. at W. Craig

Bring Me the Enchiladas of Alfredo Garcia

Just how long does one's memory sustain the ability to recall the flavors of that favorite dish, to maintain a mental file folder of wonderful food taste molecules, or conjure up the olfactory archive of food smells experienced? I can answer that albeit in a somewhat indeterminate manner with the following facts.

It has been some 40 years since I visited the little white, jail cell of a cafe called Garcia's. I don't say that to be derogatory, but merely to impart an idea of the cozy nature of this very popular, but small, restaurant with iron bar fortified windows and entry door. I know just where to come now should we suffer a sudden zombie invasion.

Sitting down at a corner table and looking at a menu was sufficient stimulation to cause a seepage of moldy memories to percolate up through many layers of semi-pervious gray matter. I could almost taste the lunch special plate of enchiladas from 4 decades ago that I was about to have again today. I remembered the taste of the rich chili con carne gravy over red corn tortillas that were filled sufficiently, but not over-abundantly with mild yellow cheese. Mildly seasoned enchiladas that I consider good because of what they do not contain (i.e., they don't scream cumin or chili powder) and that are served "hot plate" temp.

My memory did not disappoint and neither did the taste of the food as I remembered it including the rice and frijoles. Was it the best example of Tex-Mex enchiladas to be had in SA as opined in a recent Reader's Choice media survey? Not to me, but not far off the fork. What WAS disappointing, after what seems to be a current wave of Garcia food adulation were the brisket nachos. The overall taste was decent, but the use of semi-desiccated, chopped brisket dregs and nubbins (and I do like burnt ends of which this debris was not) detracted from the quality of the appetizer. It looked as though the remnants of the brisket cutting board had been swept up and deposited atop beans, scant cheese, and crowned with a dollop of guacamole. For my money, another local Tex-Mex restaurant has a superior tasting brisket nacho product. Just not my idea of the ideal brisket nacho.

From that little disappointment, the great renown of heavily touted brisket tacos (the staff even wears printed T-shirts that proclaim such) is now suspect though I did not try them there. Rather, I elected to get two to go for sampling at a later time. The small white sack of two tacos felt suspiciously light (as a reference Bill Miller's are twice as heavy and slightly less expensive) however, though I could see two foil packs within; TBD.

Despite the actual and implied disappointments, I thoroughly enjoyed the crowded little cafe and very inexpensive enchilada lunch (chips and salsa are not free) that validated a near half century old memory and that the temporal equation of "past = present" is a relative term where reference to taste is involved. What a comforting discovery when the substantiated hypothesis pertains to FOOD taste, Maybe not so much however, with tastes best forgotten like kaopectate...

I've been going to this place for over 30 years! The quality of the food has started to dwindle in the direction of being hurried and poor quality. I went this past weekend with my family, as we do enjoy our breakfast from Garcia's. I used to LOVE eating their Carne Guisada, which used to be so tender, and full of flavor. This past weekend, the food was COLD, the meat was tough, and the pieces were poorly portioned. My taco's were served open! Rather disappointing. I even showed the waitress and all she could say was "ooohh." Um, get me a new taco or something! I stopped ordering this place's "food to go" because it would always be poorly prepared, messy and just annoying more than anything. My father's plate was cold too! What is going on!? This place is NOT cheap either. On the more expensive side, but they don't care because they have a cult following. I decided to get some enchiladas after I could only bare taking two bites of my horrid carne guisada. My first enchilada was EXTREMELY hot, which is good! Nice and melted cheese, was not very pretty, but delicious. I decided to get another and WHOA, it was cold, cheese barely melted and didn't taste the same. Garcia's, I hate to say it, but I'm going to stop coming here, and you are no longer the place I take my visiting friends/family. Maybe you all should take the time to review how you have your operation set up. Cleanup was really quick, but again, it's about the revenue right? That's unfortunate as this used to be one of my favorite places. I suppose as the restaurant has been passed along the reigns from generation to generation the quality is continuing to change. Maybe customer service needs to be reviewed. I would expect a place that cares to replace a taco that failed to meet a regulars expectations or even more than just an "ohhh." For 4 of us, the bill was over $80 bucks, which is insane considering one of us only has a single taco and water. Last thing I want to mention is that we had a radio right next to where were sitting. It made it impossible to talk to each other given how LOUD the atmosphere is (no sound deadening anywhere) and then you add a radio to that?! This was more of a stressful experience than anything and we paid for it! Time to try Tia's Taco Hut again. The food is solid, and the service is as well. Plus, we can get the SAME food (probably a little more) and pay a little...

I was curious about “The Best Mexican Foods in San Antonio” and Garcia’s Mexican Food came out on many of the results. I figured that with all the positive reviews on various sites, it had to be a place to try. I went during lunch and it was packed but to-go orders were moving quickly and so decided to take out to eat at home. The appearance and smell of the food looked great when I opened the containers. I ordered the Deluxe Mexican Plate and three breakfast tacos. I took a bite of the beef taco and could not continue to chew as the meat tasted old and I literally had to spit it out. The tamale tasted rubbery as I had to keep chewing and same, could not keep going with the bite. The cheese enchiladas were by far the worst I had ever tried of any restaurant in San Antonio and I’ve lived here my entire life. The cheese tasted spoiled and the chili sauce was gross, to say the least. Lastly, the tostada with guacamole was watery as the lettuce and tomato were not thoroughly drained before being put on the tostada as the container was with a significant amount of water when I opened it. I could not eat the plate and so to be fair went on to try the tacos. One bean and cheese, a chorizo and egg, and a potato and egg. The bean and cheese were terrible as they had the same cheese as the enchiladas and tasted spoiled. The chorizo tasted like it had been recooked as it had that leftover taste. The potato was too soft and was similar to mashed potato texture and the eggs were undercooked and runny like an eggs Benedict. I was very surprised and disappointed with the food. I expected to be over the moon with food joy based on people’s opinions of being a foodie. The people were nice, the prices were good, but the food was not. I tried and well it’s off my list to go back. You may have had another experience, but for me, it...