Leah S.
Yelp
Westerly is a somewhat magical place with a really quaint small town feel. We found Westerly while we were stationed in Connecticut and frequently drove into town to eat at the Malted Barley which is fantastic. Just this week however, one of my friends took me to taco Tuesday in Westerly and that's how I found this restaurant.
When we arrived, there was ample parking on the street, and we were able to get in the door quickly. Once inside, we waited behind another party for at least 15 or 20 minutes before one of the employees realized that nobody was seating parties and and hurriedly sat the table before us. They then came to us and requested if we had a preference on the dining room or the bar and we picked the dining room.
They sat us in the very back part of the restaurant, in the corner. It was dark and awkward, but it gave us some quiet to catch up. Our waitress greeted us after some time and took our drink orders while we looked over the menu. It was taco Tuesday which meant the tacos were $2 each and they had three different kinds of taco with many different kinds of meats to choose from. They also had the regular menu to order off of, for those who didn't want tacos.
Once we were ready to order, we had to flag our waitress down again. I ordered the platanos fritos starter and a vegetarian burrito with queso sauce and I specifically requested no bell peppers. My friend ordered the edamame ginger guacamole to start and she ordered one of each style of taco, each with shrimp. Unfortunately there must have been some misunderstanding because our waitress had a very difficult time discerning that my friend wanted one of each type of taco and not all the same taco. I don't understand how this was misinterpreted.
While we were waiting for our food to arrive, they seated another table next to us, despite the rest of the restaurant being basically empty. The two guys at the table next to us were very intrusive and kept asking us questions about our food. At one point, one of the guys actually said "whatever you girls don't eat just hand over to me and I'll have it" and he wasn't joking. Throughout the rest of our dining, they kept evesdropping and interjecting in our conversation and it made me very uncomfortable.
Finally our food arrived. The guacamole was chunky and the texture was good but the ginger was overdone for the delicateness of the edamame and the guacamole. The ginger was just too harsh and overpowering and overwhelmed the rest of the flavors. My platanos were overcooked and almost burned, but I guess in some ways even burned platanos are better than no platanos?
Once we got to our entrees, things just continued to go downhill. My friend did get all three tacos with shrimp, but they were not the three different ones as she ordered. My burrito was also a mess, full of bell peppers even though that's what I specifically requested not to have. The waitress also brought the cheese sauce on the side instead of substituting the cheese sauce for the green sauce on the burrito. The burrito itself was also very messy and because of that was difficult to eat.
Prices seemed high for the overall lack of skill in taking orders and making orders. I felt like they had a pretty impressive range of items on the menu including Asian fusion and traditional Mexican cuisine including cactus, but they thoroughly missed the mark on their cooking. The biggest issue I think was the order taking, given that half of our items were incorrect. I don't think I will probably return here, however I do think that my friend will return because it's the closest Mexican restaurant to her house and she believes that even bad Mexican food isn't really that bad. I however disagree.
