Cheap Mexican restaurants in GR?

[intelfan11315]

I do like the food at beltline bar, but those commercials.. lol

[cjhsa]

OK, we happened to be right next door at World Market (we call it Cost Plus, sorry... been going there for 25 years and it was always Cost Plus). The street numbers said we were right on top of El Arriero, but we couldn't find it, so we had to go west on 29th then back east on 28th St., and we passed it the first time, back into World Market....but you can't get to El Arierro from that parking lot... back around again...

Note to whoever designs parking lots and surface access roads in Grand Rapids: Please move and give your job to someone with a clue.

Anyway, we finally got there. We walked into the restaurant and were greeted and seated immediately. The decor is really non-existent except for a couple maps of Mexico and some gaudy neon stripe lighting. Bad latino-pop music serenaded us. Being that World Market is basically right next door, you'd think they could spend a little money on some brightly colored decorations from south of the border, but, apparently that hasn't crossed their mind.

The chips and "salsa" arrived promptly. The chips were fresh and good, but the "salsa" wasn't salsa at all. It was tomato sauce with a little dried cilantro tossed in for color. Dried cilantro has no taste whatsoever and certainly doesn't even resemble fresh, but that's what they did. We wound up dumping in a few dashes of the red habanero sauce that was on the table. Talk about overkill and poorly matched flavors - that habanero sauce is scorchingly hot and pairs poorly with the bland sauce we were eating as it would with anything else on the menu. Our score for the "salsa": Not worth eating.

My two measures for a mexican restaurant are chile rellenos and enchiladas, mostly because they are such a mess to make at home. The only combo I could find with these two items was on the vegetarian menu, so that's what I ordered. My wife orded the "speedy Gonzales" (I kid you not). Hers came with beans, which I wanted to try.

The relleno wasn't bad - it was better than I expected, but lacked heat. The cheese enchilada was just horrible, a mass of barely melted cheese wrapped in a stale corn tortilla smothered with what I can only categorize as "mild chile flavored glop". My wife's taco was OK but nothing much different than you can get at Taco Bell, and her chicken enchilada also suffered from the light orange plague of glop.

The rice was OK, the refried beans were decent.

Overall: Would not return. Authentic it ain't.

[suydam]

Originally Posted by cjhsa

Authentic it ain't.

By whose measure? It's owned and operated by a Mexican immigrant family.

[beachmouse]

Originally Posted by GMonkey

Anyway, is Maggie's Kitchen still there? That place is AWESOME!

According to my parents, last spring Maggie was planning to retire and move back to home to Mexico, and the kids were going back and forth about whether to keep the restaurant going. Haven't heard what they decided.

I don't know how authentic they were in the greater scheme of things, but the food was good, and they imported glass bottle Coke (ie. the stuff still made with sugar instead of HF corn syrup) from Mexico and offered it as well as the fountain stuff.

[malamute]

Is it real, or is it Tex-Mex?

Is it real, or is it Tex-Mex?

[GMonkey]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

According to my parents, last spring Maggie was planning to retire and move back to home to Mexico, and the kids were going back and forth about whether to keep the restaurant going. Haven't heard what they decided.

I don't know how authentic they were in the greater scheme of things, but the food was good, and they imported glass bottle Coke (ie. the stuff still made with sugar instead of HF corn syrup) from Mexico and offered it as well as the fountain stuff.

FYI--you can also get "real Coca Cola" at many grocery stores during Passover. It's usually in the section with the other Kosher for Passover products and has a yellow cap. I stock up on it then.

[cjhsa]

Originally Posted by suydam

By whose measure? It's owned and operated by a Mexican immigrant family.

By mine and anyone who knows that canned enchilada sauce that tastes like someone swooshed an orange crayon through some bechamel isn't really "authentic".

Grand Rapids needs to grow some tastebuds.

[sweetiipie49525]

Rafavs and Ganadero are good, you can also try El Burrito Loco on Alpine, newer place but really good affordable food.