Today a review of a Mexican restaurant. I know, surprise! Right? Well that’s how we roll now-a-days; try to find an affordable Mexican restaurant that at least can come close to the LCNM experience. In Plaza Azteca, we may have found one. This is a new restaurant, a chain restaurant, which has opened in the Lincoln Plaza area of Worcester. A couple of things you should know, right off the bat – it is a chain, mostly set in the Delmarva area with a couple places in the north east – Connecticut and now Massachusetts. Although this can be a FAIL in the search for good Mexican, in this case, it is not. PA prides itself on freshness and that was obviously the case. More on that later. Secondly, PA is right in the heart of a sort of restaurant row with any number of fast food places, semi-fast food places and your neighborhood chains. For example “5 Guys Burgers and Fries” is right next to it. So PA must offer something special to garner support and they do this well.
Décor – unlike that place in Sturbridge I reviewed, this is not Taiwanese sombrero and donkey statues. It is dark wood, nice ambiance and authentic music in the background. A very beautiful tiled floor greets you when you walk in and helps set the tone. All of the Senors and Senoritas are dressed in black with red ties which helps give it a nice feel. I also made a comment in the review mentioned above that they must have cornered the market on Mexican people in the area for the wait staff but obviously these people had their papers in order too (yea, an Arizona joke…). Again, just adds to the nice feel of the place.
Service – This was one of the bright spots for the DW and me. It was after lunch but before the early bird supper crowd so the place was quiet. We were brought to our table immediately and a Senor was placing chips and 2 dips on the table as we sat down. The waitress was attentive and quick. The “Guacomole Man” (more on that in a bit) was polite, attentive and fast. All in all a big A+ in this department.
Food – here is the tipping point as far as I’m concerned is a restaurant. If you only get what you expect, it is a good experience. Great experiences are where they go above and beyond, and this challenges most of the Mexican places we have gone to here in the northeast. Well PA delivers very well on this point. A quick rundown. The dip and chips were excellent. Standard restaurant nacho chips, at least warmed, with a salsa and a spice ranch type dip in two bowls. There was not a lot of it but they happily brought more. Salsa was good, spicy ranch was excellent and we quickly mixed the two for a great dipping sauce. The DW and I have a routine now at new Mexican restaurants – nachos and some sort of combo plate to get a feel for the place. With the addition of a guacamole dip order, we were set.
When our drinks came, I almost fell out of my seat (as opposed to after the drinks) as they were huge. Mrsfabp had the frozen Margarita, regular size but it was like a bucket-o-margarita. Not the best tequila I have ever tasted but very good none the less. I went for a tap beer and ordered a large, knowing that the DW would have some. Little did I realize I would need two hands to lift the mug. Cold and from a tap, the way I like it! That is what I call a good bar order and not too expensive either. The beer was more expensive than the margarita!
The Nachos were above average but for a way unique to this place. There were tons of toppings but fewer chips. When you have to eat your nachos with a fork, it says something. Now maybe some people like the big old pile of chips with some cheese and toppings but I actually preferred it this different way. We had plenty of chips at the table (yes, the gasp you heard was my cardiologist. Zoe, I promise I won’t do this again for a long while!) to help scoop up the toppings goodness (shredded lettuce, tomato, fine ground beef, cilantro and cheese) but the fork worked well too.
We ordered the Guacamole and the “Guacamole Man” came to our table to prepare it in front of us. I like this because it adds a special feeing to it and you can see all the ingredients. This included 2 big fat avocados, tomato, onion, cilantro, fresh lime juice squeezed in and a special seasoning. Our Senor gave us a choice – regular, medium and spicy. Guess which we ordered. He places it all in a stone mortar and pestle and mashed it accordingly. He left it very chucky which again I liked a great deal. One side note is that on the Senor’s rolling table there was a tip jar and I’m not sure how I feel about this. It is a topic I have been meaning to bring up in the podcast I do after reading a newspaper article called “Tip Jar Madness” in a NYC newspaper. I realize it is a service, but so is serving the drinks and meals and bringing water to the table. That is why we tip after the meal, right? So do we tip “Guacamole Man” extra or not? Do you tip? I did but I’m not sure how I feel about this. Readers?
The combo plate was pretty average, tasty but small in size, perhaps due to the lunch time nature of the meal. Standard burrito, enchilada and chile rellenos, in a nice cheese and red sauce. Not outstanding but good. A note about the cheese. Both the DW and I noticed an extra creamy nature to the cheeses used. Although maybe a processed product, it was nice on the food, not that stingy cheddar shred you often get.
The cost for the meal was modest, the beer cold and the food very fresh. All in all, a nice experience, one we will repeat (but not too often Zoe, I promise…).
One additional side note. As we left the restaurant Mrsfabp turned to me and added “when we go to New Mexico, we have to try every single Mexican restaurant in Las Cruces”. God, I love that woman…
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