This place isn't bad--this place is LOUSY.
I went there for lunch today. Well, the waiter came over and brought some really really really GREASY tortilla chips--OMG. I could only eat 2, and had to wipe them off with a napkin! There were 3 little cups of salsa, 2 green and one red. I could taste some interesting cooked red chiles, very Mexican, but with those greasy chips i could not keep eating it. They were nasty!
Then he came after several minutes to take my order. I don't know why he took so long. There were only about 6 - 7 other customers, as people on off on holiday vacation already. I asked about the chile relleno, is it fresh chile or canned? He said it's canned. UMMM, not good. So i said i thought i'd get a tostada. He said, "YOu want to think about it for a while and i'll come back?" I did not have so much time on my break and did not want to wait a long time for him to come back, so i said, "No, let me order this chile". Big Mistake! You should know not to get canned Chile for chile relleno, right? Well, i guess i thought that the melted cheese inside (which i love) and the whipped egg batter would make it good. WRONG, of course.
The word "relleno" means "stuffed", so this dish is "stuffed pepper". Well guess what? It was not stuffed at all! No cheese inside! I am not kidding. They LIED about "Chile relleno"--should say "chile NO relleno". It is the melted Mexican cheese that makes it so delicious.'
The fact that it was canned chile made it taste completely like Vinegar--yuck. They could not even bother to roast it and clean out the seeds, which is how you make chile relleno. In Mexico it's unheard of to use canned chiles to make this dish, and for good reason--the result sucks.
Also, you are supposed to really whip the egg to a froth, even separate white from yolk and beat the whites till stiff, then beat the yolks and fold the two together, dip the chile in flour and then dip it into the eggs and then fry. Well, this piece of garbage chile NO relleno (not stuffed pepper) was just dumped into a Scramble egg and thrown into the frying pan with some grease and cooked up like that. It looked a rectangular scrambled egg. I noticed what looked like little pieces of white paper under it, and moved it with fork to see what it was. Turned out to be lettuce. The menu says "served on a bed of lettuce". Some bed of lettuce!! It was just few little shreds that could have fooled me--i thought they were paper.
The red sauce on top, which is supposed to be hot and brothY, was cold and meh. It tasted like it came from a can (or a jar perhaps). It was really bland and had no Mexican flavor at all.
Some really blah, yucky, Meh! pop music was playing. Since i was sitting outside, with all the traffic noise (not a romantic or scenic place to dine), i could not tell if it was in Spanish or English--but no matter, really. It was not traditional Mexican music (it sounded like it could've been Alvin and the Chipmunks!!) It did not go with Mexican food.
Another sour point: even with so little business, the waiter just took his own sweet time, not caring that i was on lunch and had to get back. It took about 30 minutes to get my food, and it was pretty cold when it arrived. He did not come back to see if i needed anything while i was eating but he did come by to clean the table behind me so asked if he would bring me a glass of water please. When he did, he came to me talking on his cell phone in Spanish to one of his buddies! Imagine that. A waiter serving customers while talking on the cell phone! Now i've seen everything.
Inside they have some nice paintings, one of Zapotec Indians dancing La Sandunga. OK, so there is one nice touch. But the food SUCKED, and i mean SUCKED!! I only ate because 1) i was hungry and 2) it was GOing to be a long day, and i wanted to be full until it was over. But what a bad taste! A big chunk of that chile was left on the plate.
It is really a shame that there is nothing better to eat in walking distance of this huge court on Amador around the corner. It was the only reason i went to this place, which, truth be told, does not look appealing as you go by. The name, also, El Taquito (the little taco) is so totally uncreative that you get a clue as to how uncreative (meaning BAD) the food probably is (and it was!). Next time i am making my lunch the night before! read more