St. Mary's Mexican Food — Restaurant in Tucson

First of all, I have been here about 5 times during the month of April alone since having moved back to Tucson from New Jersey. I am a native Tucsonan. My wife and I specifically wanted to eat Mexican every day since our return. We had heard this place was great. Yet, I don't get it. On one occasion, I ordered a bowl of menudo only to realize there was no tripe meat in it at all. I went up to the counter and specifically rolled my spoon around the bowl to the front counter attendant and showed him there was no meat in it. He says, "So you want more tripe in it?" I answered, "Dude! How about some tripe to begin with? This is nothing more than a hominy soup!" The fix was rather chintzy. On every occasion I have been here, their eating area is filthy and not picked up after. They have three exposed large garbage cans as part of their dining area decor and every time I have been here they are overflowing with food garbage. Oh, have I mentioned the glacial pace the kitchen prepares food? Three uncomplicated orders (off their regular menu) can take as long as 28 minutes. YES, I ran a clock on these people. In the middle of the summer I expect a fly infestation abounding in their eating area with very long waits for the simplest of orders. And, I've not even mentioned their one dim and dilapidated restroom. Someone please tell me that I'm soooo wrong about this...

The prices are very cheap for the amount of food you get. I ordered the beef hardshell taco plate that came with refried beans, Mexican rice, tortillas and salsa. I took a bite into the taco And juices started spilling out. The shredded beef was very tasty and well seasoned but the taco shell was soggy from the juices. The shell also tasted stale like it was bought premade and sat out for a bit before it was microwaved. I ate the rest of one taco and picked out the beef from the other leaving the soggy shell.

The rice was very bland and dry so I added the red salsa for flavor. The salsa tasted like tomato sauce, but I ate it anyway because I was hungry. The beans were also dry and It needed more flavor like maybe an onion and garlic while it cooked. That’s okay I’m not a fan of beans anyway. The homemade tortilla was delicious but it was paper thin. If I held it up you could see right through it.

My friend was really enjoying their plate and asked for me to try it. He had a chilequiles and birria bowl. I didn’t like it one bit. The chips were very mushy from the sauce. The red sauce from the birria was very bitter. About an hour later my stomach was turning. I don’t know what was wrong but my stomach was twisting so bad. I had to sit on the toilet for a bit before...

We hadn't bought food from there in a couple of months maybe a little more and I don't know what they did with their red chili sauce but it's not red anymore. My enchiladas were made with a light brown sauce that was NOT red chili sauce, also, the cheese was hard and cold inside the enchiladas, and my son's chili con carne burrito was gross he said. I also tasted it and yes, it just had a gross taste to it, I can't even describe what it tasted like but was gross and was NOT the same chili con carne burrito that we have bought there many many times before, the chili con carne sauce was also brown, NOT red like it should have been. I threw my enchiladas away and my son threw the rest of the burrito away. That isn't the worst part tho,....we are now sick with diarrhea, chills and fever. Yeah, it feels like food poisoning. I asked my brother in law since he has gone to culinary/chef school why would red chili sauce be a light brown color and he said it was exposed to the air too long and it's probably old/expired. So yeah, I'm sure it's food poisoning. This makes me sad because we've been customers there for a long time and this has never happened before. We won't be going back. Good-bye, St. Mary's...