After passing by this two-story restaurant and always seeing a crowd outside its cool-looking Spanish colonial engraved wood sign, my fiance & I finally made it in. Upon first entering, we were graciously greeted by an older, heavily makeup-ed woman whose name easily could've been Dona Maria. Big plus. We were then seated by the window, which afforded us a good view of passersby as well as the trickling-in crowd on the first-floor dining area w/the white plaster walls & dark-wood sunken bar. Very cool. After ordering some soup de camaron (shrimp) and steak, I walked upstairs to discover the very lively & urbane dining/bar area that led to yet another rear dining area w/mariachis walking around. Fantastic! Then... the food arrived. The soup was competely impotent -- bland, blah, flavorless with shrimp that had THAT DIRTY LINE OF FECES ON ITS BACK VEIN!!! gross! And my fiance's steak? Let's just say he took one bite & said he may as well have had a rubber shoe on his plate. To the restaurant's credit, our server was very helpful and asked if everything was ok since he noticed our stil-full plates/bowl. We just said we were full and enjoyed a song from the mariachis (who had by this time made it downstairs) and left. Very unfortunate that the food sux so much cos we really wanted to come back -- but I am Mexican-American and this food is in no way indicative of what Mexican food should be. Tsk tsk.
Pros: Fantastic setting, very friendly service, live mariachis
Cons: Dirty shrimp in soup, rubber steak, watery salad
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