I thought It was just me thinking that they were dishing up packaged stuff...the cheese on the nachos looks like cheese wiz these days. STill good when you want a meal with a corona...and the guacamole is still good.

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This is the world we live in
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Okay, I only went to Las Margaritas on Welsh because I drove right by it and all this taqueria talk on here got me tasting Mexican. Here's my fair, honest, and yes, brutal review of Las Margaritas:

I get there and the atmosphere is pretty nice. I actually didn't know what to expect when I arrived, whether it would be take out, or maybe a place where you order from the counter, but it was a conventional sit down restaurant. Very festive and warm. The staff was extremely pleasant and seated us right away; immediately a waiter appeared and got our drink orders and a busgirl gave us chips and salsa. This is where things went sour for me...

I consider a Mexican restaurant's salsa a litmus test for the entire menu. If you don't have good salsa it generally means your food can't be good either. If I were to try and recreate this salsa at home I'd take a can of tomato sauce, some dried oregano, a dash of garlic salt, and some pureed jalapeno... That's wrong on many levels, also not very tasty. Not to mention the tortilla chips didn't appear to be made in house and seemed like they were heated bag chips.

So the salsa was a flop, still there's that 1% chance that the food is good, right? Unfortunately, no. My burrito arrived timely by a smiling Latino who proudly presented an enormous burrito along with a heaping pile of rice. Admittedly it looked good until he left and I was able to dig into it. The top of it was coated with a rubbery MOZZERELLA (!) and the inside was filled with baked sirloin, bell pepper, and onion. Okay, if you're going to use sirloin, you need to marinate it and it can't be baked. If you're not going to marinate you need to use flank and even then its much better marinated. Either way you need to grill it. The rice was actually pretty decent but certainly didn't make up for the sorry burrito which was flavorless (but what it lacked for in flavor it made up for in size.)

My girlfriend ordered chorizo and eggs but got huevos rancheros instead which was mediocre.

I should have never trusted a Mexican joint that had a section of Italian dishes!

2/10 stars

-- mr c

PS: I need to try this La Lupe that you all keep raving about.

what the hell are you saying...you want a cheesesteak or what?"



this is what bebelfish told me...roofing tiles and daisies

"My house. But, I do not have time to calquier person exceptue a calliente man. Vivi in the south of Roofing tiles all my life. Asi, the kitchens is very good specially when you need daisies"



I like

El Azteca Mexican Restaurant
1710 Grant Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19115-3125

It's usually pretty good.

But this is Philadelphia. The seem to make everything themselves which is nice.

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Dude Las Cazuellas. Nice enough for a "date" reastaurant but the real deal. Trust me on this one. Its the bomb.

Location?

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Girard one block west of 4th, south side of the street just down from The Fire. Ambience is decent for a mom and pops sit down but the food is out of sight. Got a fancy seafood appetizer, two entrees, Mexican coffee (with cinamon) for two and an amazing desert and tip for less than $50. Its not down-town trendy but I would put the food favorably against anything in Center City. Like are really, really good, really authentic mom and pops sit-down. I recommend either the green or the brown mole or the chuletas (pork chop in al pastor sauce). Sometimes the seafood specials are good.

I've seen this a couple of times in New York Mexican Places - places that seem to be run by mexicans..

I don't know if its a particular region's style or just people trying to fit what they believe are local tastes?

We had the same reaction..

EDIT: And I'll third the Las Cazuelas tip - it's worth a visit..

In addition to the South Philly taquerias others have mentioned, there's also El Jarocho at 13th & Ellsworth - which, like Veracruzana on Washington Ave., is regularly frequented by Mexicans. I don't consider myself a Mexican food expert and maybe I'm biased because I live only four blocks away, but everything I've had there is very good.

You could also do a search on egullet.com's Philly board (where MarketStEl posts frequently and as eloquently as he does on PB!) for anything Philly chow-related.

By the way, Victor and Felipe are brothers and Mexican. Victor is married to an Italian woman. That is where the Italian influence on the menu comes from, that, and catering to local tastes. Really, it isn't the end of the world. We all like it fine, personally I liked them better when they were El Cancun on Bustleton Avenue, but the Margaritas are good.

was it there in the mid 90's?

I think I was there..

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