Shaun L.
Yelp
Wifey has been dying to come here, and it was a disappointment. They have a location in lower mills as well, but we couldn't get a reservation so we took a chance walking in the larger south end location at ink block at 530 on a Friday night.
To start, if you don't have a reservation the hostess told us it would be 930 until we got a table due to the reservations, yet half the tables inside and out were empty the entire 45 minutes we dined. Luckily they were able to accommodate us with window bar seating area. I bet they lost a lot of potential business because of those reservations...
Anyways, the ambience and decor is nice. It was quite loud inside, so it was hard to hear your conversation but that means it is popular! I was driving so I didn't have a drink but wifey and her brother got the traditional margarita and it was pretty basic. You could really taste the tequila, not in a good way.
Onto the food, we started with the corn nachos. They were 3/5, the food came out very quickly after we ordered. The nachos appeared to be fried but maybe a couple of hours ago so they were more like cold and stale instead of crispy and hot. The toppings were good with the different crema, the corn, cheese, and a couple of pieces of avocado. It was fine, but it didn't really standout.
Onto the tacos, so they have birria and I love Birria. Unfortunately it was a big let down. The tacos arrived in similar fashion as the nachos, within 5 minutes of ordering the tacos arrived. Mind you they are very generous with their protein portion since it is a $7 taco, but it was just a soggy flavorless birria taco. The tortilla is supposed to be nice and crispy and when you dip it in the sauce, it's supposed overwhelm your palate with the au juis. I also got the steak taco and the chicken tinga. The chunks of steak were quite large so it made it a little difficult to eat after each bite and overpowered the other components of the taco, but the steak was cooked perfectly. Again the tacos were soggy, so overall it was fine. The only item I enjoyed was the chicken tinga taco, it had good flavor, they were generous with the meat, and thankfully the tortilla was not soggy. Wifey had the mushroom taco, she said was no bueno and agreed with me on the birria. She thought the fish taco wasn't bad. The bro felt everything was average to mediocre.
The service was also very average. Our server wasn't the most attentive but gave us everything after we had to make eye contact and ask.
Overall $120 for mediocre tacos and drinks for 3 people is not my kind of place. The best part of the night was our walk to Whole Foods to grab some dessert after dinner.