El Meson — Restaurant in West Carrollton

We were Greeted, and seated, by very friendly staff. It was all downhill from there.

My wife ordered Beef Fajitas, and I ordered the Asada Grill which consisted of Steak, Chorizo, and Chicken with a side of black beans. We also ordered an appetizer of chips, and Queso. I would have expected chips to be included with a $27 entree but it was at additonal cost. The chips themselves were sub par, and tasted like a grocery store chip, and the queso was the blandest melted velveeta I've ever tasted. A jar of Tostito's cheese dip would have been much better.

Our entrees were brought out by someone other than our server, and were sat on another couples' table seated next to us, while they tried to explain that it was not what they ordered. I had to interject, and explain that it was my order. The guy bringing out the food seemed completely out of it, and confused. After an extended explanation, he finally took our meals off of the other guests table, and brought it to ours. Easy Mix up... no big deal, but it was a harbinger of things to come.

Again, BLAND is the best word I can come up with for the food we recieved. The Chorizo had no zip to it whatsoever, and the steak medallion, and chicken kabob were completely devoid of any flavor. I asked our server for some hotsauce, and she brought a butter cup filled with what I can only guess was Ortega Taco sauce. This sounds disappointing, but it was the only thing that gave my meal any flavor at all.

My wife said the fajitas were passable, but she also complained that they were bland, and added the already mentioned taco sauce to make them less bland.

At a table directly behind my wife was a couple seated who had ordered Salmon. They were directly in my line of sight. The same person who put our food on the wrong table spilled their fish dinner all over their table, and the floor while serving it. Back to the kitchen it went. About a minute later I watched in horror as the woman who was sitting about 4 feet from me reached into her mouth, and pulled out a hair that was at least a foot long that had been in her salad. I gasped, and muttered "Oh My God". It was disgusting to watch, and I felt terrible for her, and her husband. As well as nauseous myself. We paid our bill, and gave our condolences to the couple next to us who were visibly, and vocally, and rightfully upset. Grosses me out just thinking about it, and makes my imagination race thinking about what might have been in my food that I didn't notice. EWW!

To be fair, our actual server who's name I forget was very nice, and attentive.

Aside from that one positive, I can't think of anything good to say about our experience at El Meson. I paid $70 for a meal that couldn't hold a candle to any $30 meal I've had at any of the local Mexican restaurants in the area. This probably explains why the place was not crowded at 7pm on a Friday night.

I can sum up our experience in 4 words. Bland, Overpriced,...

El Meson is a quality restaurant, but stops short of being an awesome restaurant. First and foremost, having had authentic "Paella De Valenciana" from an old Valenican woman, a mother of a close friend of mine, I had expectations of what the components would be. Traditional "Paella De Valenciana" does NOT have seafood. The paella purists in Valencia Spain will tell you as much: Paella should have meat, or seafood, and not both. Traditional Paella De Valenciana usually consists of chicken, chorizo, snails, and rabbit. Marketing their Paella as Paella De Valenciana is inaccurate. Second, the most important part of every Paella dish is the "Socarrat" which is a layer of crispy semi-burnt rice at the bottom of the Paella pan. The Socarrat is so important to Paella, that the dish is considered by any Paella aficionado as a FAILURE without it. Paella competitions are won by amazing socarrat. The Paella I had at El Meson had NO socarrat! Last, the prices for the kids meals were a little crazy. I ordered my son their chicken kabobs. For $6, he got a grilled chicken breast, cut up in 8 pieces, with no side. I had to pay another $6 for a side of french fries. Now, all of this being said, our meal was delicious. While the paella was missing the socarrat, and had meat and seafood in it, it was still very good. Those $6 kids french fries were great, and he remarked that they were now his favorite french fries (I think they were battered. very tasty). My wife had a glass of red sangria that she loved. So, there are elements that El Meson gets right. The food tastes great, and theres certainly enough variety of Latin food to appease picky palates. The kids meal prices were a little high. Make them 7-8 dollars, including choice of side, and they'll be spot on (and yes, that includes the $6 french fries). As a foodie and international food aficionado, I would not recommend this place for authentic paella, until they figure out how they're going to make their paella correctly, despite it being quite tasty. If authenticity doesn't matter to you, by all means, you won't be...

To be fair, we now know that El Meson is not for us. We almost left to go elsewhere to dine, but we decided to stay and give it a try. Their salsa was amazing, spectacular flavor, and the house margarita was the best that I've had in years! For us, crispy salty tortilla chips would've been far better than the sliced bread they serve with the salsa. We tried the pork belly tacos and the fish tacos - and I still had my doubts based on the menu descriptions. You see, El Toro has become our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Dayton area, so we were surprised when the El Meson menu was so very different. And they brought us bread instead of chips. But the salsa was incredible, so I flipped my switch to "try something new." Service was great. The plates of tacos looked good when served. My wife hated the pork belly tacos. The meat is very high fat - soft, clean, flavorful fat, but it was nothing like the pork we imagined it would be. I liked them, but they needed to be served with a bib and wet wipes. I had mango and coleslaw juices everywhere. Under my wedding band. Super sloppy. Not a big deal, but I could've used a big pile of napkins. I liked the fish tacos, too, but I didn't love them. I only tasted the fish in a few bites. The mangos and other toppings were very cold, very juicy, and, for me, overwhelmed the flavor of the fish (and the pork). The dishes we ordered did not include any sides. I ended up eating two of each kind of taco, and I was wanting more. I can only compare to other Latin-American dining experiences I've had, so I was missing rice and beans on the side. Chips would've been nice, too. I hate only giving them 3 stars, because I enjoyed the food better than I expected. Our dinner certainly was prepared well and served with pride. Ultimately, it just wasn't what we...