Critic's Review
For every overpriced disaster like Bar Rita, there's a place like this; a roadside shack serving cheap Mexican food in a cookie cutter format. This is the 3rd iteration of "Mexican" restaurant here after Johnny's NY Pizza went under; the previous 2 looked too much like fast food restaurants and they disappeared quickly. This one seems more like a restaurant.
The menu is reminiscent of Tipico and Jalisco; the "No Refills" jumped out at me. How much does a glass of tea cost a restaurant? 2 cents? A tea bag is 3 cents retail. Meanwhile they give you a whole bag of chips most of which get thrown out.
Warm chips and a good salsa. No Chile Relleno so I ordered the Ropa Vieja, because that's what I always order.
Mexican music fills the air; Soccer on the TV. You won't find a Mexican place with the news on, or anything higher brow than soccer.
The food came out in 7 minutes.
It didn't really LOOK like ropa vieja, and the cup of beans was less than half full of beans. Mostly liquid. I put it all together and ditched the stupid plantains.
More like beef with gravy; they didn't use the right kind of meat to be "shredded" and not enough garlic, but a plate of calories it was. A typical Mexican lunch special.
Conclusion
This place is similar to Jalisco and Tipico with cheap lunch specials and free chips and salsa in a minimal setting; the place the makes you wonder why anyone goes to places like El Camino just for the food. Here, they give you a choice between the soup or a beverage rather then giving you the soup and making you pay $2.50 for the beverage for an $8 lunch. $9.10 for lunch is about as cheap as it gets, and while the place looks like a wreck from the outside it's really not bad inside.
