We went in March 2007 after we saw this restaurant featured on Bobby Flay's show. (They were setting up to film for another show when we got there.) This restaurant needs to immediately fix its huge chips and ""salsa"" problem (Stale chips made who knows when served with a ""salsa"" which was nothing more than sweetened tomato sauce0. Come on people, its not that difficult to chop up tomatoes or tomatillos, onion, cilantro and jalapenos, & its not that time consuming to fry up a new batch of chips once an hour (No-one needs a huge box with more than a days worth of chips...they get stale that way!). Honestly, we'd LOVE to see this place turn it around as there are many elements that would turn this place into a superstar, IF they could JUST get their food right (and really, the food thing is easy to solve with reasonable cost and minimal effort). The restaurant is cozy and quaint: decorated with authentically Mexican ornaments (brightly colored walls and with posters of hot chilies). The margaritas are excellent (on the rocks, with or without salt - $8) and they serve them in wine glasses with a straw. The tableside guacamole is excellent and only $8. Unfortunately, that's where the excellence ends. I had the taco plate ($10 for 2 tacos with the usual rice and beans.) The pork in the tacos (carnitas) was dry, the beef (carne asada) was bland, tasted and looked boiled rather than grilled. My girlfriend liked the beef quesadillas? cheesiness and thought that tortilla holding it together had the perfect texture (hard to do), but alas, there was boiled-tasting beef inside, completely wrecking an otherwise perfect dish. About us: Were Mexican food nuts (we've lived in LA and Texas for 18 years, and spent a lot of time in Mexico (on the border, in Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Monterrey). We are in search of the best Mexican food in Manhattan... We'll keep looking.
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