Kolucan Mexican Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Siesta Key

Save your hard earned money this place is a hard pass! A complete disservice to Mexican cuisine. Ordered the guacamole and chips to start and the chips were hard and stale, no salt. Guacamole looked good but had zero flavor, no salt, cilantro, acidity, spice, nothing. They literally cut up an avocado mashed it with some tomato’s and threw it in a shallow bowl. I ordered the pick two fajitas and did shrimp and steak. It came out room temperature (never had non-sizzling fresh off the grill fajitas before) on top of oily peppers with a few onions and tomatoes drowned in oil were 6 pre-frozen tiny shrimp that tasted freezer burned (sorry we live in Florida I expect gulf shrimp or at least fresh shrimp!) along with what appeared to be chewed up bits of grey steak with zero seasoning or even char. The entire dish tasted like nothing but oil. It reminded me of something a nursing home would feed its residents on a sodium free cardiac diet. The rice and beans also tasted like nothing and looked like they were out of a can. Husband ordered the enchiladas and they came out looking beautiful but also tasted like nothing. No salt, no spice, zero flavor, and super dry. So dry they soaked up all the flavorless sauce like a sponge. Needless to say we didn’t eat much of it and our waitress didn’t seem to care that we were not happy with the meal and shrugged us off, she must be used to it at this point. $100 bill for this plus two mock tails, definitely left feeling scammed and hungry. The reviews and menu seemed so promising but they are definitely not about freshness or “elevating” Mexican cuisine we have had way better dishes from local food trucks charging a fraction of the price. Save your money Florida friends, unless your on a low sodium diet, hate flavor, and don’t like spice, then this is the...

(really 2 stars, but I'm being generous)

I intentionally waited for this place to be open for a few months before my first visit. I know that opening a new restaurant is a major undertaking, and there are often unforeseen issues that come up.

My party arrived well before peak dinner hour at around 5:30. The hostess dutifully ignored us while she took two phone orders. I'm always annoyed when a hostess or store clerk ignores the person standing right in front of them in favor of someone on the phone.

After about 10 minutes of this (we might have left had it not been raining outside), we were seated. I'll spare you all the details, but it took way too long to get our food, especially when you consider that the restaurant was not at all busy.

The food was excellent, no question about it.

When we asked for more chips & salsa, our water informed us that the original order was $5, and we coiuld have more chips -- but a more salsa would be an additional $5. This for something that is free at virtually every other Mexican place on the planet.

In retrospect, the additional $5 wouldn't have mattered much, since our tab came to $75 for two entrees, one soda, and the aforementioned chips & salsa. $90 with tip. These are downtown Miami prices, but this is GULF GATE.

The interior is beautiful but very noisy. This seems to be a trend in new restaurants in Sarasota. Despite the quality of the food, I...

I just wrote a really long-winded review of this place and I erased all of it cuz none of it matters. Here's what does in my opinion... Which is the point of these reviews...opinions. Stick to the basic stuff. I was pleased. But once I traversed over to the '"elevated" or "designer" food, I was disappointed. In fairness I will say why: it's expensive for the amount of food that you get and there is really no traditional Aztec stuff like moles or guisados or menudos... And $30 for half of a chicken that was more like the size of a quail seems a bit much. The flavors are good, but keep it real. With all that said, I will support this place because it's local and I live in the neighborhood. They have a good happy hour. The staff is nice and it's a cool place to go. It's close to home. I know you can't please all the people all the time but this is just one person's review. I realized they are new and they are trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. With that said, the flavors are good, it's a little on the expensive side, and there are some issues that need to be ironed out. Overall you can probably find more good than bad and I'm sure over time the necessary adjustments will be made. I wish them luck and I hope...