I have been excited knowing that this restaurant is coming for a long time. I live not far, and drive by this building every day to and from work. As a Latino American from Southern California, I'm always looking for good, authentic Mexican food.
I was further excited because there seemed to be a good amount of positive reviews, but unfortunately, my first experience was not a good one.
The overall aesthetic of the building is very nice. The staff was also very warm and welcoming on the way in. But that was pretty much the limit of the positive part of the experience.
The table we sat in was wobbly and unbalanced, and any touch of the table and it would keep sliding. We spent most of the time sitting having to readjust the table. This is usually a small consideration, but it was annoying and definitely not something you expect in a quality restaurant.
Our waitress was very sweet, but also very timid and spoke in such hushed tones that we had to awkwardly ask her to repeat every single thing she said the entire time. There was a good 10 minutes in between her initial greeting and when she came by to take orders, and the restaurant was not busy at that time so we were not certain what was happening.
The menu itself is extremely limited and not very professional looking. I was surprised that in a brand new restaurant there were multiple items on the menu that were scribbled out with ballpoint pen, and replaced with sticker labels. Again, this by itself is not a big deal but it also looks very chincy and unprofessional.
We finally ordered our drinks which was two horchatas, and a jarritos soda. She came back to tell us that the jaritos we ordered, which she told us they had was now out of stock. We asked for a second flavor option that she gave us, but she brought back an entirely different one all together.
Finally, we ordered our meals. The menu is pretty limited, and I was surprised that here in the Philly suburbs, any restaurant would not have a children's menu or at least offer children's options. We asked if we could get two flautas for our 6-year-old son, which she said no problem. But then she came back a while later and told us that the chef refused to sell only two and that we must order four. For this reason, my wife ended up canceling her order and simply sharing with our son, and I ordered the lengua tacos. I was also surprised that there was no platters offered, so I had to order sides of beans and rice separately that were very overpriced at $6 and $4 respectively
The tacos and flautas were both well prepared. Not the best, but certainly not the worst. The side of rice and beans didn't come out until we were about ready for the check. I assumed our waitress had forgotten and was simply going to ask to have them removed from the check. When she brought them I was shocked to see that the rice was literally cold to the touch as though it had just come out of a refrigerator. The beans were in a very small ramekin which was mostly full of bean water with a few small chunks of being floating in it. I don't know how this kind of thing ever left the kitchen, especially since it was egregiously late.
There was also an extremely long wait for just about everything we did. The total experience was an hour and 15 minutes, and the only food we ordered were three tacos, four flautas, and a side of rice and beans. These are things I can prepare in my own kitchen from top to bottom in about 15 minutes at the most. So we were shocked to be waiting nearly 50 minutes for our food to arrive.
I am one who is willing to pay for quality and a good experience. But at $60, I have to say this was neither. This was a very high price for the small amount of food that we received which was only moderately well prepared, extremely slow, with incorrect items making it to our table.
I think I will probably give them another try sometime, but based on the first experience, I think I'll...
Read more
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
