El Inka Deli

This is only their appetizer menu, they have an actual full menu with entrees etc.

Restaurant: El Inka Deli

Cuisine: Latin American/Columbian/Peruvian
Last visited: January 12, 2010
Area: Burnaby, BC
3826 Sunset Street
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5
Service: 6

Ambiance: 3 (hole in the wall; but had authentic charm)

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Husband and wife team
• Family owned/operated
• Owners from Peru
• Hole in the wall
• Authentic Latin American food
• Specializes in Peruvian/Columbian food
• Extensive menu
• Lots of snack/appetizer items
• Very home style
• Everything made in house/home cooked
• Homemade chorizo/sausage
• Authentic Latin drinks
• Service fantastic! (I want to give a 7/6)
• Dine-In/Take-out
• Ready made to-go items
• Some desserts
• Open lunch and dinner until 8pm
• Accepts Visa, Mastercard

**Recommendation: Jalea Mixta

I discovered El Inka Deli a couple months before I started this blog. I was doing my usually research online and after reading rave reviews I immediately put it on my places to try list. I’m never in that area so I never got to try it until this day.

I had made plans to meet Vancouver fashion blogger Nicole, yes it was a fashion + foodie love affair! We thought we had thoroughly planned our date at Vita Bella Italian Ristorante, but an hour before meeting time I double checked the website to discover it was closed on Tuesdays. Damnit!...With last minute planning and limited selection in that area I suggested El Inka Deli. I was originally supposed to make the visit with fellow food blogger and friend Kim (from Panama), however other restaurants got priority. Even in a rush, I did not hesitate to read Kim’s review and write down the order, after all Kim is from South America!

I missed the photo of the outside, so this one is borrowed from Kim.

Located in the tiniest strip mall in the middle of nowhere El Inka Deli joins the list of hole-in-the wall restaurants in Vancouver. El Inka Deli relies on word-of-mouth business and it’s a place that should not be missed. I’ve never been to Latin America, so I’m writing this review from a “North American” stand point. However I’m pretty sure when it comes to food this is the closest thing I will get to the real deal in Vancouver. From the home cooked authentic Latin food, to the Latin soap operas, to the Peruvian imported table mats this place feels like home...that is if I was actually from Latin America. ;p They have an extensive menu, and I’ve only tried 3 things so I can’t make a fair review, but I am certain that I will be back to try more.

I have to make a shout-out to the owners. They are the loveliest people ever! Not only were they great at explaining the menu and making recommendations, but Nicole and I stayed way past closing time (closes at 8pm) without even realizing it, and they made no attempts to kick us out. Overall I had a fabulous Tuesday with great food, great experience and great company!

Other Vancouver hole-in-the wall restaurants include: Thai Basil, Prata-Man Singaporean Cuisine, Dhaka Fish & Biryani Halal Restaurant, “the kitchen”, Panos Greek Taverna, Sushi World, Chen’s Shanghai Kitchen, Budgies Burrito, and no review yet, but must be included the famous Phnom Penh.

On the table:

Cassava Root 3/6

• Deep fried cassava root with hot sauce (I’m pretty sure it was $3)
• The owner recommended it and said it was a very typical Peruvian appetizer.
• Cassava root or yucca root is almost like potato, but firmer, starchier and more fiberous.
• For me this was the South American version of fries. It was perfectly fried until golden brown and crispy. I liked how they weren’t dry (even though it has a naturally dry quality), and they were nicely salted.
• It’s not the fist time I’ve tried it before, but I liked the roasted Cassavafrites that accompanied my Chepen Duck at Baru Latino better.
• They make it great here, but in general the dish doesn’t really do anything for me. It’s good, but something I don’t have to have.
• The hot sauce or salsa: This is pretty spicy, but I liked it! Nicole and I can handle spicy so we thought it was perfect, but for others this may be too hot. It was not just spicy, but it was very flavourful and homemade with green onions, cilantro, chilies, tomatoes and onions. The spice lingers in your mouth so I needed to wait a bit before trying the other dishes.

Jalea Mixta 5/6

• Lettuce, deep fried cassava roots, fish and seafood with an onion and tomato topping $15.99
• Literally meaning “seafood mix” this was another one of her recommendations. It’s a typical Peruvian dish and the owners are from Peru, so I was excited for this.
• It's 4 rather large pieces of deep fried cod mixed with an assortment of deep fried seafood such as mussels, shrimp, octopus and squid. This mountain of deep fried seafood was served on about 4 deep fried cassava roots.
• Everything was fried perfectly with the seafood tender and the fish still moist. It wasn’t oily and the batter stayed attached to the seafood.
• It reminded me of Calamari, but with a pickled salsa on top. The flavour of this dish is savoury and tangy. I liked the salsa because it was marinated in lime juice so the onions were naturally tenderized and sweet, but kept their natural crunch.
• The batter was excellent! It was crispy and not just salty, but it had a wonderful savoury flavour. It had a orange tint and I’m not sure if it was sweet chili seafood seasoning, but it was just really good! It wasn’t spicy, but had more flavour than salt and pepper alone.
• What I didn’t like was that the seafood was frozen. I don’t really expect fresh seafood here, but the shrimp was dime sized baby shrimp, the mussels were the size of peanuts, and the squid were little ringlets. Half the time I didn't know what I was eating unless it was the fish or the octopus. I also didn't get much shrimp or mussels.
  
• It was one of their pricey items and paying $15.99 at a place like this feels kind of steep, however when I take into consideration the small family operation and labour I can understand.
• Also I didn’t pay attention to the menu description, because if I had known that there was deep fried cassava root in it I would have opted for another appetizer.

Bandeja Paisa 4/6

• Red beans cooked with sweet plantain served with platter of ground beef, rice, avocado, a fried egg, deep fried sweet plantains, homemade chorizo (sausage) and chicharron (deep fried pork skin) $15.99
• This dish is hard for me to rate, because I would never order it on my own. I just had to try it though because it’s what Kim ordered and the owner stressed how authentic the dish is to Columbia. It was definitely served and made authentically, but I just don’t like chicharron. It's a very hearty dish with lots of variety. It's a Latin version of a "Hungry Man's" meal. Everything on the platter is supposed to be eaten together – I enjoyed it much better when I mixed it altogether, like I would fried rice...I didn't know how else to eat it.
  
• It was savoury, sweet, and the meats (intentionally) dry, except for the sausage, accompanied with the best creamy red bean 'sauce'.
• Again it was one of their expensive items, but for the labour that goes into each item and the variety I got - it's justified. It's not gourmet by any means, but very home cooked - like mom's...not my mom though ;)
  
• I tried this dish at Marimba! So it was interesting to note the differences. The one at Marimba! was missing one huge thing that I failed to realize until now…the chicharron!
• The Break Down of the Platter:
• Chicharron is deep-fried pork rind, and I am not a fan. It doesn't look nice but I obviously still tried it. It’s an extremely deep fried piece of pork rind, and it’s deep-fried to the point of being dry – but it’s supposed to be. It was very thick and crunchy, like a hearty piece of bacon, but it wasn’t really salty. The reddish brown parts were very dry because it was lean, and the white fatty parts were quite juicy. (The closest thing to this that I can actually enjoy is the Suckling Pig at La Brasserie.)
• The poached egg was a bit overcooked so the yolk didn’t spill over my rice as much as I wanted it to.
• The best part for me was the ultra creamy stewed red beans. It was almost like the gravy to the meal, but it's not meaty or salty. It was a very deep rich flavour, very subtly sweet, smooth and just perfect! It wasn't only stewed red beans though, I have a feeling there was some pureed carrots or something in there. There was another thickening agent and I’ve never had beans like this before. I would order it as a side and eat it alone with some rice!
• The next best thing was the deep fried plantains. This wasn’t a typical banana, but also not a plantain – it’s made with a South American banana that’s in between the two. It doesn’t have a strong banana flavour like regular banana does, and it’s not starchy like a typical plantain, but it carries a honey-like mildly sweet flavour. It was soft and creamy and had a crispy thin layer. It went so well with the beans and almost enhanced the flavour of the beans. It's such a great combination together. We also wanted to eat these plantains with ice cream too!
• I wouldn’t call this “ground beef”. It was more like finely shredded beef jerky. I’m not sure what the authentic way is, but this just caught me off guard. It wasn't too salty and I still liked it.
• The pita was homemade and I think it called “arepa”. It was made with cornmeal and cheese, but it tastes like a very dry pita with a very subtle cheesy taste. It’s not soft or chewy but more grainy and starchy.
• I could have used more avocado. For the size of the platter, I needed at least 2 wedges.
• The homemade chorizo or sausage was good, but again not really for my taste. It was made with pork rind so it was really fatty and I was chewing on pieces of white jelly. This made for an extremely juicy and flavourful chorizo, but again…the texture, is just not for me. I did love the crispy exterior though and overall it was made really well.

G-MEN Ramen Noodle Shop - Review 3

Restaurant: G-MEN Ramen Shop - Restaurant Review 3
Cuisine: Japanese/Ramen
Last dined: October 30, 09

Area: Richmond
#1101-3778 Sexsmith Road
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4.5 (went down ½ a point since they changed the seaweed that comes with ramen)
Service: 2
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 4.5
Additional comments:

• Specializes in big bowls of authentic Japanese ramen noodles
• Serves mini donburis and gyozas as appetizers
• Can't select richness of brother/fattiness of BBQ pork
• Small/limited menu
• Not homemade noodles
• Started by owners of Gyoza King Chicco Cafe & Naan Chu,
• Japanese servers, Japanese chefs, popular to Japanese diners
• Closed on Tuesday and Wednesday
• Line-ups, whole party must be in attendance in order to be seated
• Busy/crowded all the time
• Extra charge for green tea
• Free parking

**Recommendation: Tonkotsu Miso Ramen (only served at dinner), Wasabi Nori Ontama Mini Don, half cooked free-range egg (Ajitama), Special ToriGara Shoyu Ramen

This was my 3rd time at G-Men Ramen Noodle Shop. I want to try everything on the menu. It’s one of those restaurants where the menu is small, so it’s possible…and I’m determined. I want to give the best recommendations possible.

I came for lunch and tried the Natto set. My friend ordered the Special ToriGara Shoyu Ramen and I was really disappointed because they changed the seaweed that comes with their ramen. The waitress said the quality of the shredded ones they used to use were no longer good…so they decided to switch brands. I think they should just find a new supplier and stick to the shredded kind because it tastes so much better.

Added note: In my 1^st restaurant review for G-Men Ramen Noodle Shop I said that it was better than Kintaro’s. However I would like to explain this is a bit. It’s not necessarily better than Kintaros, but it’s different. Kintaro’s is a much richer broth (even their light broth is richer than the one here). Kintaro’s is more Japanese whereas G-Men is still Japanese, but the flavours are somewhat catered to Chinese tastes. I think older Chinese people will like G-Men better, but younger people may like Kintaro’s better.

My 1^st restaurant review for G-Men Ramen Noodle Shop

My 2^nd restaurant review for G-Men Ramen Noodle Shop

On the table:

• Natto Ontama Tofu Teishoku Set 2/6
• Fermented soy bean, half cooked free range egg, & tofu on rice $7.50 (I think it was $7 or $7.50)

• Natto: is a fermented soy beans with bacillus subtilis, which is a good for you bacteria. This is the ingredient that causes the natto to be super slimy. When yo u pick it up it creates spider web strings and is super sticky. It’s a traditional Japanese food that is commonly eaten for breakfast on top of rice and it carries several health benefits.
• I never thought I would meet a Japanese food I didn’t like...ok I didn’t NOT like the natto, but I wouldn’t order it again. If it was there I might eat it, but I would go for a lot. It was different. It’s one of those traditional Japanese foods that Japanese people grow up with...it’s definitely an acquired dish and taste.

• Natto is super slimy and the texture of thick mucus. It tastes like your eating smoky beans coated in mucus. Now doesn’t that sound delish!? It’s stringy, sticky and the slimiest thing I’ve eaten to date. It’s less starchy than beans, not really salty, but almost h as a hickory smoked taste. The taste wasn’t bad, surprisingly bland, but the texture was not for me. Every time the natto touched my lips it left a coating of slime and left them really sticky.

• How to eat Natto Ontama Tofu Teishoku Set?

• 
• I felt like such a rookie when they brought me my natto set. I saw all these small dishes and had no idea how to eat it. I actually had to call one of the Japanese waitresses over to teach me how to eat it. I wanted to do it right. There was some translation issues and it's not like she sat beside me coaching me so I didn't do it exactly right. Too bad, because I don't know if there will be a next time. I was like a white person going to Chinese hot pot for the first time…what do you do? Toss everything in? Eat in separately? Where do I start? And what do all these sauces go with? There were just so many components.
  

• 

• Step 1: Toss in the small dish of green onions and mustard. Add soy sauce if you want
• Step 2: Mix it thoroughly. The green onions and mustard helped break it up for me. It cut the sliminess a bit and brightened up the flavour.
• Step 3: After some research, you're actually supposed to add the natto and egg on top of the rice. I reversed it. Anyways, I didn’t like that the rice wasn’t premium sushi rice. They gave you a huge bowl of it and it’s still sticky, but it tastes better when they use it for their mini donburi. However the egg is delicious. It’s one of my favourite things here because they make it perfectly. It’s really half cooked and the yolk makes a great sauce combined with the shoyu sauce it’s served with. Shoyu is a Japanese soy sauce that is sweeter than regular soy sauce. This side dish was pretty much the only thing giving my meal flavour.
• Step 4: Mix again if you wish…as little or as much as you want. At this point I definitely over mixed mine. You’re actually supposed to eat it over a bed of rice. Mine looks pretty gross - it was almost watery I had no idea what I was doing.
• Step 5: Take the soy sauce bottle in the middle of the tray and pour it onto the tofu until desired. Eat with rice or in between your meal. This was a chilled soft tofu served with bonito flakes (dried squid) on top.
• Step 6: Have the miso soup to start or drink it in between your meal. I really like their miso soup. I would give this 4/6. It has real tofu in it and real soy bean skins. It’s not the powdered instant stuff.

• It was almost a vegetarian dish, except for the bonito flakes. I wanted some meat or gravy or something with more flavour and texture. Everything just felt mushy and slimy – the tofu, the beans, the egg. I wanted texture, something crunchy or something I couldn’t swallow without chewing. But it is a for breakfast so it’s not meant to be hearty or saucy. If they made my recommendations it wouldn’t be authentic even though it would probably taste better.
• * Special ToriGara Shoyu Ramen 4.5/6
• Authentic light "torigara" chicken soup thin noodle seasoned with housemade shoyu flavour, topped with BBQ pork, half ajitama (egg), yuzu (citrus Japanese fruit similar to tangerine), seaweed, black wood ear mushroom and green onion. $8.50
• I took away one of the stars. Although this would be the thing to order if you're coming for lunch. If you look at my review #2 I gave it a 5.5/6, but for some reason it didn’t taste as good this time. Part of the reason is because they changed their seaweed to those rectangular ones. This means you get less and you can’t get seaweed in every bite because there’s only two big pieces. It’s not as good because you can’t disperse it and they’re chewier. Even they know it’s not as good. If they’re going to downgrade their seaweed they need to compensate somewhere else. I miss the shredded seaweed.

• It’s still good and I would still order it if I was coming for lunch, but I just don’t crave it anymore. It’s a soy based soup and it's sweeter and more flavourful than the other ramen bowl they offer at lunch - the ToriGara Shio Ramen. Unlike Kintaro's you can't select the richness of your broth, or the fattiness of your BBQ pork; but I think this Shoyu broth in particular tastes better than Kintaro's.

Marimba! - South American Restaurant

Restaurant: Marimba! - Restaurant Review

Cuisine: South American/Caribbean
Last visited: November 21, 09
Area: Everett, Washington (Waterfront)
1405 Hewitt Ave
Price Range: $10-20 USD (closer to $20)

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3.5
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4 (the huge dance floor + music, you want to dance!)
Overall: 3.5
Additional comments:

• Owners/chefs/cooks from South America (Ecuador)
• Specializes in a variety of authentic South American dishes
• Homemade/authentic menu choices
  
• Popular to locals
• Spacious
• Extensive menu
• Great for appetizers and drinks
• Great for large groups
• Weekly Salsa dancing (Fri/weekends)
• M-F lunch and dinner
• Saturday and Sunday dinner service - 4pm
• Happy hour 4-6pm ($3 selected appies)
• Catering/private party hosting available

**Recommendation: Papas Huancainas, Lechon, Mofongo

I was in Everette for a concert and wanted to find a restaurant nearby. I did my research and I wanted to find something that’s harder to find in Vancouver...at least hard to find well. I decided to go the South American route and discovered this restaurant – Marimba!

I heard good things about and the menu looks really different and authentic. I’m not too familiar with South American dishes, but I have a good idea about Spanish dishes. Most of what we ordered was Westernized versions of authentic South American dishes…but it everything tasted pretty decent still. I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t blown away either. The dishes were interesting and the owners/chefs/cooks are from South America so the menu selection is authentic, but the recipes…I’m not so sure. If it’s still good, I won’t let the idea of “authenticity” bother me too much…but the food was overall a 3.5/6.

On the table:

• Papas Huancainas 4/6
• Cooled layered potatoes dressed in a yellow aji pepper sauce and topped with queso fresco and mint $4.99
• This was really good! I thought it tasted like a Latin version of American potato salad.
• The yellow aji pepper sauce is homemade and really flavourful. It’s spicy and made with probably a blend of those roasted yellow peppers (the kind from a jar in olive oil), egg yolks and mayo. There’s probably some jalapeño in it too. It’s very pureed so you can’t really pick out the ingredients. It’s served chilled on top of boiled sliced potatoes.They had some black olives on top and they could have included a few more of those.
• Causa de Yuca 2.5/6
• Our house version of this popular Peruvian dish--mashed yuca served in a yellow aji sauce with avocado and baby shrimp $5.49
• So I thought the Papas Huancainas was the Latin version of American potato salad...I take it back…THIS is the Latin version of American potato salad. This one really reminded me of potato salad…or even an egg salad.
• This one had lime juice in it because it was tangier.
• It was potato on the bottom layer tossed in a mayo dressing and then on top of it was what tasted like mashed up potato salad, but in this case it was yucca (which tastes like potato),
• They mash the yucca with that yellow pepper sauce again. It’s very creamy.
• Tortilla de Papa 1/6
• A thick slice of omelet prepared in the classic Spanish-style with potato, pepper, tomato, and onion $5.49
• This wasn’t good. For what it’s supposed to be it was a 1, but because I could still eat it it was a 1.5.
• I’ve had numerous tortilla de papa or tortilla de patatas because I lived in Europe with Spanish girls who always made it. I’ve had homemade and restaurant style versions. I was lucky enough to even try their mom’s tortilla in Spain so I know what it’s supposed to be like. Mind you I was in Spain and not South America – so their versions are probably different…but I have a pretty good idea.
• It’s supposed to be really tender and almost runny in the middle. This one was overcooked and tough. It’s almost fishy tasting or had the texture of overcooked salmon. You can tell it was overcooked by the picture. It was a very rushed version of tortilla de Papa.
• Tequenos 1.5/6
• Wedges of soft cheese rolled in pastry dough, lightly fried, and served with a special cream sauce $4.99
• This was basically mozzarella sticks. I don’t know if they’re made in house, but it tasted like how frozen ones would taste. Our server basically hinted to us that we didn’t need to try them, we should have listened.
• They were fried well and the cheese was ooey gooey, but they were just mozzarella sticks. The dip it came with tasted like tzatziki sauce but with more herbs like parsley blended right into it. Maybe even some cilantro. The dip was good, but the sticks were whatever.
• Lechon 4/6
• Pork slow roasted in a mix of herbs and seasonings until tender and topped off with sauteed onion. Served with red beans ,rice with pigeon peas, and tostones $12.99
• The pork was quite tender, but it was probably pre-cooked meat tossed with sauce and reheated. The pork was still good though and it cut with ease.
• It had some fat around it so it was nice and moist. But the fat or skin wasn’t crispy at all.

• The Rice: the rice was actually really good! It was cooked well, flavourful, and not clumpy.

• 
• Mofongo 4/6
• This Puerto Rican dish features your choice of pork, chicken, beef, or prawns, served over mofongo: smashed green plantains fried with chicharron and garlic. Served with rice with pigeon peas and black beans $14.99. Vegetarian $12.99
• This is the dish I came for. I took our servers recommendation and had it with pork and asked for it to be medium for spiciness. My pork was quite tender, almost like pulled pork, but overall the dish was a bit dry.
• The yucca and green plantain mash was dry and I just wanted more sauce. The mash was like the South American version of turkey stuffing. It went well with the pork because it was the complementary starch.
• This is a really hearty and filling dish. It’s good, but I think everything is more or less pre-cooked and they throw it altogether and bake it off before serving.
• Pabellon 2.5/6
• The national dish of Venezuela! Seasoned and shredded beef served with black beans, rice, and tostones $12.99
• This was very bland and my friend ordered it mild – no spice. It really needed spice though. It was basically shredded beef in a tomato based sauce with onions and dried and fresh herbs.
• It was almost like a South American shredded beef stew. The beef was either a brisket or chuck.
• The pork was more tender and better than the beef dishes.
• Bandeja Paisa 2/6
• A traditional Colombian dish featuring chicharron and a fried egg with your choice of seasoned ground beef or skirt steak. Served with red beans, rice, and tostones $13.49
• This is a popular South American fusion dish. It’s actually a combination of American/UK and South American flavours.
• I was a bit disappointed by this dish because it was so simple. It should have had way more sides than it had. It was definitely a Westernized version. We ordered it with skirt steak.
• Traditionally the dish includes 13 things: red beans with pork, white rice, a fried egg, avocado, Arepa (pita), ground meat or steak, chorizo, pork rind, plantain patacones (plantain patties), Hogao sauce (tomato & onion sauce) and black pudding (sausages of patties made of pork blood).
• The ones in bold is what came with Marimba’s version of Bandeja Paisa.
• Plantain Patacones: This was pretty good, fried nice and fresh. Served with a dollop of the same sauce they had with the Tequenos. Tastes like tzatziki sauce with blended herbs.
• Red beans: pretty good, definitely better than my black beans. It supposed to be served on the plate not in a separate dish. All the ingredients are supposed to blend into each other.
• Fried egg: was overcooked, the yolk wasn’t runny
• Arepa: it’s a pita made out of cornmeal, but I could really tell. It tasted like a Greek style pita. Nice and soft.
• Overall the dish wasn’t saucy enough and it was dry. The steak looks well done, but it was actually quite tender and good.
• It reminded my of the American steak & eggs with some Latin sides and a couple British sides. Or even the Hawaiian Loco Moco (ground meat & a fried egg over rice)
• Even if they didn’t include everything they should have included Hogao sauce…it needed sauce. It could have used more avocado slices too.
• Rice Pudding 1/6
• Rice cooked with raisin, evaporated milk, condensed milk, and topped with cinnamon. When available, served with either mazamorra (purple corn compote) or lucuma mousse (Peruvian fruit similar to an avocado) $4.29
• This wasn’t good. It came in a little bowl and I felt ripped off. The rice was really clumpy and there’s were chunks of rice in it. It was sweet, but not really too sweet or anything either. Rally one dimensional, I like Indian rice puddings better. The didn’t serve it with mazmorra or lucuma mousse either…and that was most disappointing because that was the whole point of trying the dish!

Luna Loca

Complimentary salsa and chips.

Restaurant: Luna Loca
Cuisine: Mexican
Last visited: October 30, 09

Area: Surrey, BC
Unit #106 - 15153 56 Avenue
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2 Dessert: 5
Service: 4
Ambiance: 1
Overall: 2
Additional comments:

• Specializes in Mexican cuisine
• Family-owned
• A couple Mexican chefs/cooks
• Food not representable of what it looks like on the outisde
• Dark lighting
  
• Pre-made, cafeteria-style Mexican food
• Only good quality thing is homemade sauces on specialty menu
  
• Relatively big portions, but lacks quality
• Taste better than it looks, but doesn't taste that great either
  
• Complimentary salsa and chips
• Great for desserts

**Recommendation: Desserts

From the outside it looks great, then the inside is not bad, until you really look at it - it's a dive. They have an upstairs which they use as storage for a million boxes and garbage, an unfinished patio, a mosquito lantern in the kitchen, and a pitcher where your salsa comes from. All of this is right there, for everyone to see. Needless to say, but I'm going to say...I was a bit worried where my food was coming from. I'm not being pretentious either, I can always appreciate a hole-in-the-wall, but when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness that's non-negotiable.

The only thing I would come back for is the dessert. Those were the only things made fresh and made very well. The meals were quite blah.

On the table:

• Ceviche 2.5/6
• Red snapper and baby shrimp marinated in lime juice mixed with onions tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro and seasoning. Served with tortilla chips. $8.95
• The ceviche was quite standard. It was very tart, but they didn't use fresh lime juice. It could have used some additional seasoning because the ingredients weren't all fresh. The red snapper was tender, and the baby shrimp was frozen, but that's what I expected. It wasn't really worth the price. The tortilla chips were nice and hot though.
  
• 
• Pollo Con Salsa Verde 2/6
  
• Chicken breast charbroiled covered with a mild salsa verde. Served with black beans, rice, salad and flour tortilla $15.95
  
• It actually doesn't taste as bad as it looks.
• The salsa verde sauce was not bad. The salsa was very mild and it was definitely homemade. It was a bit tangy, a bit sweet and almost like a tangy bruschetta. It's made tomatoes (canned ones here), lime juice and onion. They had no fresh herbs in it and it's supposed to have cilantro.
• The chicken was obviously frozen pre-cooked chicken breast. They boiled it, coated it with some dried spices and salt and pepper and then charbroiled it...at least it had grill marks.
• 
• The Beans 1.5/6
  
• Obviously pre-made and reheated. Mushy, dry and not fresh. Tasted like overnight beans, although the flavour wasn't that bad.
  
• The Salad 1.5/6
  
• Just iceberg lettuce that was very roughly chopped. Both entrees had big chunks of core in the salad.
• The salad dressing was taco sauce made into a "dressing".
• The Rice 1/6
  
• Pre-made and reheated. Dry because it's been sitting under a heater.
• Pollo Con Mole 2.5/6
• Chicken breast charbroiled and covered with Moles - a sauce made with chile pepper, peanuts, sesame seeds, spices, and a hint of chocolate. Served with black beans, rice, salad and flour tortilla $15.95
• The sauce was homemade and it was the best part of the entree. I'd give the sauce alone 3.5/6. It tastes like a hickory smoked chocolate sauce. It was rich, thick and nutty. It had a very smooth texture and they used a dark chocolate so it has a slightly bitter aftertaste. It was very aromatic and you could definitely taste the chocolate although it wasn't really sweet. I really liked it.
  
• Again the chicken was obviously frozen pre-cooked chicken breast. They boiled it, coated it with some dried spices and salt and pepper and then charbroiled it.

Dessert

The desserts are the only thing they make fresh and upon order here. They're generous servings, and very affordable for what you get. I'd only come back for the desserts.

• **Deep Fried Ice Cream 5/6
• It's a softball sized scoop of vanila ice cream rolled in a "breading" made of nutty graham crackers, cinnamon and sugar $3.95
• This was HUGE! I've had this a few times, but this was the biggest.
• The crumbs form a light crust around the ice cream and the whole thing is deep-fried. It wasn't even really batter it was more like a sugar syrup coating that formed a light crispy layer. I liked it better than the batter becuase all too often the batter separates from the ice cream.
  
• It wasn't melted at all, which is great! They did a really great job with it here.
• It could have used a couple layers of the crumb crust, but it was still excellent as is.
  

• 
• **Double Fudge Dessert Chimichanga 4.5/6
  
• Chocolate fudge brownie rolled in a flour tortilla, fried, and topped with whipped cream, ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauce $4.95
  
• This was made upon order, which is great. The chocolate fudge brownie taste like those 2 bite brownies, which are good. I think they mixed the brownies with some shredded coconut too. They wrap it un in a flour tortilla and deep fry the whole thing.
• It was great! They served our with ice cream too even though the menu didn't say so. They used a few tortillas for the wrapped so it created warm soft flakey layers and the exterior was hot and crispy. The inside is this ooey gooey, half-melted, chewy brownie. It was almost like a molten lava chocolate cake with coconut. Very rich, very sweet, very good! You need to eat this with ice cream though, otherwise it can be too sweet. This is comfort food.
  

• Also available:
• Runditos de Manzana: Tortilla filled with apple, cinnamon & rum berry sauce baked until golden brown. Served with vanilla ice cream $5.95
• Sopaipilla Sundae: 2 scoops of vanilla, 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream, topped with strawberry and chocolate sauces. Served in edible cinnamon bowl $6.95
• Churros: Baked and rolled in cinnamon served with whippd cream, chocolate & strawberry sauce $4.95