Wow, does THIS place suck!
We remember Armadillo's when it was a meh Tex-Mex restaurant/bar a few years back. It wasn't much then either, but at least it was SOMEthing. Now, it's basically just another bar, with less seating than a hot tub. Most of the tables are gone, presumably to make more standing room for the barely legal crowd to buy cheap beer and bad margaritas and argue about whose tricked out Honda Civic has more horsepower.
And gone is the Texican menu, replaced with a tacky, black and white sheet of paper from someone's bubble jet printer that offered a minimal choice of burgers/sandwiches and a few uninspiring apps. It looked like the entire menu was created in the time it took its author to brush his or her teeth.
SIDE NOTE: we do love Dive Bars, and the best ones have character, and a personality all their own. This place has less personality than an insurance seminar.
Seriously, the owner must've woken up one day said "hmmm, what is the absolute bare minimum I can put forth and still turn a profit???"
A few Saturdays ago we stopped in with some friends for dinner, mainly because our first two choices had lengthy waits.
(RED FLAG: It's 7pm on a Saturday in popular historic downtown Annapolis, and the place had maybe five people inside, while the first two places we tried were packed. It was so empty it was actually kinda creepy, like a Twilight Zone episode. We shoulda known better, but in truth we were all as interested in drinks as we were in food, so we decided to give it a shot. Bad move.)
Margaritas? The waitress looked somewhat surprised when we asked for Patron Reposado, and returned with something that tasted closer to watered down orange juice with salt on the rim. I still have no idea WHAT was in that glass.
Burgers? My wife asked for medium, and instead got--wait, what's the more cooked level above Well Done? Advanced Well Done? Petrified Forest Well Done? Official NHL Equipment Well Done? It was so dense and hard that Neil Peart could've put it on a stand and used it during his drum solo.
After about 45 minutes of this we finally raised the white flag, got our check, and walked up the street to Toro Bravo, where thankfully they still offer good Mexican food on a real menu, actual dining tables, and Margaritas that taste like Margaritas. Dinner & Drinks, Part Deux.
To be fair, if you're a 20-something, and looking for a generic place to drink with other 20-somethings, you may have a different take on what Armadillo's has morphed into. That's clearly their target now.
But for the 35 and over crowd, do yourself a favor and keep walking. This is not--repeat NOT--a restaurant. At least, not one that anyone with even half a palette should have to experience. These days, Armadillo's does food like North Korea does International Diplomacy. read more