Family members chose this restaurant for a wedding reception which was the only reason for my attendance. There are only two Mexican restaurants I will eat out at and they are not in Las Vegas.
Nice restaurant decor, appeared to be authentic with the pottery here and there but too warm inside, especially when a large group gathers and hot food sits on the serving table over an open flame for a long time.
The food was unremarkable: Cheese enchiladas with red chili sauce, very bland. Nice amount of cheese but the food was not very warm to begin with and cold cheese congeals and loses flavor.
The Spanish rice was cold and overcooked with too much cumin. I've never understood why cumin is added to Spanish rice. My grandmother never used it for that dish.
If there were beans in the refried beans served, you would not have known it. The texture was closer to a puree, and only mildly warm. For myself, refried beans are an indicator of the talent behind the cooking. Excellent refried beans equals excellent food. Ricardos came in, on a scale of 1-10, at 3. The best thing about them was that they needed no additional salt.
The chile verde was not up to my standards. Bland but salty, not a good flavor from the meat (was that pork?), not even a hint of fire and watery. Considering how long the food was in the warming tray, the sauce should have thickened a little but it didn't. It would have been interesting to know what went into it.
Tortillas at the table would have been nice had there been some. The container arrived with five tortillas for a party of ten.
The chips and salsa were plentiful and had good flavor.
The service was not too good, which I find very interesting because of all the good things said about it in the the previous reviews.
The staff seemed distracted from the get go. Drinks were ordered, and when finally brought out to the table, there was confusion. Staff could not seem to differentiate between iced tea and cranberry juice. Also staff seemed to be anoyed with the ordering process. Perhaps this annoyance had something to do with the fact that they were working on a Father's Day Sunday night. Regardless, you don't throw off your work issues on customers.
Now, it was a hosted bar for the reception, but no one was able to advise the guests as to just what that meant. Was this the wedding party's responsibility to inform guests or was this the restaurant's task? We'll never know for sure. All we were advised of was that once a certain dollar amount was reached, drinks would be ""cash and carry"", staff's exact words. What it resulted in was early arriving guests getting their drinks for free and later arriving guests having to pay for theirs outright. The best part about it: the Margaritas on the rocks are very good, and this was fortunately a redeeming feature for Ricardos. Just keep an eye on your change, and make sure you get it. Even after the manager was called in on the situation, staff still had the nerve to come to the table, and pound ever so gently on the table where said change, in the black Ricardo's folder, was to have been put. After being advised that it was not so, and short of accusing guests of lying, staff accomodated with the exact change as they should have in the beginning. It was very clear that the staff present were overwhelmed with the size of the party, roughly about 50-60 guests including the wedding party.
As I said in the beginning, I was attending a family function which was the only reason why I was at Ricardo's, but if asked, I would not recommend it for banquets.
Perhaps on a return visit (yeah right!) I'll be able to experience a more positive dinner event.
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