Geoffrey M.
Yelp
Ambiance: 4, classy looking place, but noisy, bad acoustics, you can hear everyone's convos. The bar seats looked fun.
Food: 4.5, strangely missing salt at key opportunities, touristy dumbing down? Stop.
Service: 4.25, very nice and attentive, but lagging at key moments, due to us being the last customers?
The hostess had a momentary glance of slight disdain when we walked in at 8:45 and informed us that the kitchen was closing at 9 (they uniquely and oddly don't take res after 12 pm). I understand, but even slight rudeness in a place like this will never win. She then cheerfully sat us in a restaurant full of people.
We had ice water in seconds and some amazingly tasty chips and their proprietary salsa in a minute. For the kitchen being in a hurry to close, it took a few extra minutes for the very machismo-handsome server to give us the low down on the menu, easily answer our GF questions, and take our drink order.
My Mezcal/Guava/Serrano/Lime Margarita was exceptional, not too sweet, smoky, and slow burn. My beautiful wife's Bala de Plata Margarita was a little heavy on the Lime Mix and a little too sweet. Our server offered to change it, but she was ok with keeping it.
The server-recommended Elote appetizer and Guacamole were very good. The Guac, however, had no salt. See above. We used both to compliment our forthcoming Platos Fuertes, and brought home the leftover generous portion of cotija-laden elote.
Wife's brisket enchiladas were beautiful, buttery, delicious, and superb. I ordered the Buffalo Mole Poblano because I had never seen such a thing and it did not disappoint. The mole was simply sublime (I had a similar traditional made-from-scratch one on my restaurant's menu that I loved and it was no easy task). I would say rare and very unique to pull this off. The bison short ribs were perfect melt in your mouth, BUT, no salt (i.e. proper seasoning while cooking the meat to bring out the full flavor)???! I would call this almost unforgivable, and no Latino/Mexican chef I have ever known (and I have worked with many, many) would leave out salt. Also strange is that they seemingly had iodized salt shakers on the table as the solution instead of Kosher or sea salt.
The sort of dirty rice and black beans served on the side were amazing, I can't remember tasting any this good. I absolutely adored them. The house-made tortillas served on the side were a perfect foil for my short ribs and sauce, and something you don't see every day.
During this time, we did not see our server for a good 15 minutes and I had long drained my opening cocktail; this annoyed me more than anything and was the only time we were neglected. By the time he took my order for the overpriced but delicious Mendoza, we were basically done eating.
Also, we had a lot of empty, finished plates on the table that weren't taken away until we had stacked them to make room.
We had the very well-prepared Flan, very traditional, just about perfect, maybe a little too thick (corn starch?) with some whipped cream and toasted almonds. An extravagant shot of San Matias Extra Anejo went surprisingly well with the flan.
We closed the place down, and several people thanked us and wished us a good night (which is less and less common), which we greatly appreciate. That is the sign of a happy restaurant that wants you to come back.
We will come back someday to try more of their unique and exceptional menu, but maybe earlier in the evening :)