Zocalo Mexican Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Town of Lansing

Visiting Ithaca and found Zocalo online with good reviews. Ordered shrimp taco and shrimp burrito no cheese by phone for pick up. Confirmed with employee that there would be no cheese on the burrito. Employee repeated back to me that there would be no cheese.

When I arrive they ask for my name and then take off. 10+ mins go by and the people waiting next to me ask if I'm waiting for take out. I reply yes and they tell me that they are too, but that nobody has bothered to come over. They also point out something rather peculiar which I hadn't noticed because I was typing an email on my phone - they tell me that the staff has been looking over at me and whispering to each other for the last several mins. I take notice of this and start to wonder if perhaps I made a mistake and called a different location. Quick check on phone tells me no - I called the right place. Lots of scurrying back and forth and they are still ignoring the couple next to me. Suddenly a staff member shows up with a bag and an oversized smile exclaiming 'here it is!', which for some reason doesn't seem reassuring. Drive 10 mins back to our hotel and it all begins to make sense: we find that we were given 1.) a chicken burrito drowning in cheese and sour cream, and 2.) what I would gather to be a taco with a few pieces of chicken (or could it be super, super dry flakes of fish?) thrown into a huge flour tortilla. We do not eat chicken, we do not eat cheese, so we ate nothing We paid $34+$2 tip for a meal that was 90% rice (for the burrito) and 90% tortilla (for the taco) which we could not eat.

Puzzling too was their math. On their menu it says $11.90 for chicken burrito; $15.99 for shrimp (or fish) tacos which comes to a total of $27.89. Tax would be less than $2 putting total at just under $30. Curious as to how they arrived at $34.

It's now 9PM on a Sunday, there is nowhere to get food, and we are starving. This was certainly a...

Had dinner here tonight during the heat wave. First off, we noticed how hot the restaurant was. When we asked if the AC was broken, we were told the AC has been off for 2 years, which has something to do with the mall. This is a serious occupational health hazard. I feel bad for the employees working under these conditions, especially the ones cooking the food. It was sad to hear the bartender/server say he’s used to it now. That’s unacceptable for the mall or management to allow this. Second, we asked to sit at one of the tables outside of the restaurant to get away from the stifling heat inside the restaurant, but was told we could not. We were told those tables weren’t open, that they are open only on weekends. I don’t see why that should matter. The bartender/server did suggest we move to the bar, which was a lot cooler. He did point the fan towards us, which was really nice of him. Third, we did not care for the food. I ordered the veggie bowl. It was supposed to be on a bed of tortilla chips, which it didn’t, but that didn’t bother me. It was very oily I guess when they grilled the veggies they used a lot of oil. My husband ordered a chicken enchilada combo meal #4, but he was served the wrong order. The bartender/server made up for it by giving us a side of rice and beans, which was the best tasting thing of out...

It was amazing being out in the company of other humanoids in the the land of covid! My son who had just turned "legal" at age 21 ( I didn't know he had been illegal all these years or I would have sent him back) had his first legal alcohol beverage! We both had the (aperitivas) or for you gringos "appetizers" the Nachos Locos or once again "Crazy Nachos." Which came out in such a large portions it sank both our battle ships!

Our first cocktails out of the chute we're a Mexican version of Pina Coladas which just hit the spot! We night capped the evening with two shots of Cuervo!

The highlight of the evening was discovering other humanoids out in this vast covid waste land! Discovering this Oasis in the middle of what is now a vast mall desert.

It seems almost as if we are living an actual sci-fi movie these days devoid of other human contact! I felt my son and I could have been participating in the Cantina scene from Star Wars! We met other humanoids as we were on a mission and chose to sit at the bar. Our new friends Mark Anthony and Tom Cruise were great fans and regulars here at The Zocalo Mexican Bar and Grill.

Hey be there or be square!

Bon...