I've read through a lot of these reviews, both positive and negative and I am surprised to see that the owners are fairly meticulous in addressing each review regardless of its rating. I don't often leave reviews for restaurants and I've never left a bad review because I think being smarmy, short, and mean on a review board is both weird, gross, and largely ineffective. Also, as Olympia residents, if we want to continue having solid and delicious restaurants open in town, we need to give constructive feedback so that these restaurants can accommodate and improve. My wife and I really really really want this place to succeed, and we will certainly be back later in the year to see if some of these aspects improve. There's been a few Oly restaurants in recent years where their grand opening was not quite there, but then months later, they've worked out the kinks.
I'll start with the good:
The location is fantastic and the space is really cute. The upstairs veranda is a good use of space and makes for a neat dining experience.
The entire staff was incredibly kind and accommodating. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their time and we were checked on frequently.
The slushy margs were solid. I don't think restaurants get enough credit when they nail down the slushy consistency. We specifically ordered the sangria marg which had a float of sangria and it made for a well-balanced drink.
There was verde salsa that came with my meal that was pretty dope as well.
Some constructive criticism:
A taco spot really should have more than 5 taco menu items, especially when 3 out of 5 of those items are geared towards breakfast. This means if you're coming to Hector's for lunch/dinner, and you're looking for tacos, your only options are a bean and cheese taco or a chicken fajita taco. I was really hoping to see at least one or two of the following: shrimp, fish, carnitas, lengua, carne asada, al pastoor, tripa, barbacoa, or even chorizo without the egg.
We got the Tejas Trio to share, and like the menu item describes, this comes with 18 ounces of dip, which is incredibly generous! However, it also comes with a handful of tortilla chips, enough to make up a single layer on the tray it came out on. We saw that the chips themselves came out of a plastic bag, and tasted like it came from sysco or another big box food distributor. Then again, I could totally be wrong and that could be how the chips are stored. I am more used to the fried-in-house chips where the restaurant can control the salt level. The dips themselves, however abundant, had some issues. I don't agree with some reviews regarding the refried beans. The flavor was good but definitely over-salted. The queso dip was thin and lacked spice and flavor. Now the guac was definitely browning, which happens when avocado oxidizes and doesn't affect the flavor. I've seen reviews say the same thing and the owner advising they are working on a fix for it. However, the browning was minor in comparison to the flavor and texture, which was a bit funky. I'm sure as time goes by, the chefs will improve upon this recipe.
For our main dishes, we got a cheese quesadilla with added chicken and the bean and cheese tostadas with added chorizo. These were ultimately fine, however, the kitchen had forgotten to add the chorizo to the tostada, so instead the chorizo came out in plastic ramekins. That's absolutely no issue, totally understandable. Chorizo is typically pretty flavorful and swimming in its own oil, which adds flavor. However, this chorizo was bone dry and a little hard to swallow. I know the chorizo is provided by Heritage Meats, local to WA and pretty solid, so there must be something about the way the chorizo was stored that it lost its oil. My main point of criticism regarding our two dishes is this: A few times we were told by the staff that they had proudly added the quesadilla and tostada to the menu recently. These two dishes are largely just cheese and tortilla, the base building block for nearly all of the other menu items at a Mexican restaurant. This is kind of like going to a bar and the bartender proudly stating they've added old fashions to the menu, knowing full well they already have bourbon and simple syrup to make other drinks. I really really hope we see more complex items like long marinated pork/beef or unique items like ceviche.
The layout of the upstairs bar and veranda needs some work. The tables and chairs alone are a bit overcrowded, to the point where we heard a staff member admit "yeah, we probably need to remove some tables." I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation as to why the slushy machines aren't upstairs in the bar area, but this ends up causing the upstairs staff call to the downstairs kitchen via walkie-talkies. Then that same upstairs staff has to run down, grab the drinks, and run up the stairs that shares foot traffic with the customers, making the space feel more cramped. So ultimately, the upstairs bar is there to mix on-the-ro read more