My best friend and I went this evening to give Mago Latino in Bloomfield another try... and I assure you it will be my last... Not only is the service terminally slow (although rather cute)...but the food quality has slipped even further down the hill, as it has steadily been doing for the last couple of months...the tortillas were only about 1/10th of a step above Doritos, and the 'salsa' was nothing more than canned crushed tomatoes... We both ordered a vegetarian plate, and when the waiter brought the plates to the table, he warned us that the plates were 'very hot'...but in reality, the plates were quite cold...as was the food...so we sent it back...it then returned to our table hot... Well...yes, it was hot...but 'tasty'...that's another issue all together... We both got one Chile Mexicano (stuffed Poblano pepper), a cheese enchilada, and some refried beans...the batter on the pepper was spongy, the cheese in the pepper was runny to the point of being 'watery', while the cheese in the enchilada was rubbery, even when melted, and the so-called 'enchilada sauce' on both the pepper and the enchilada seemed like nothing more than tomato paste with lots of chili powder in it... The refired beans were passable...but if a Latin cook can't make refried beans, then I would REALLY be worried! I hate to sound cruel, but if they have a restaurant full of Latino people working, why can't they create some good Latino food? They have expanded the 'space', but I think they need to spend a little more time focused on providing a good product.
Pittsburgh, PA
Gag-O Latino Revisited
William wrote: > My best friend and I went this evening to give Mago Latino in Bloomfield > another try... > > and I assure you it will be my last... > > Not only is the service terminally slow (although rather cute)...but the > food quality has slipped even further down the hill, as it has steadily > been doing for the last couple of months...the tortillas were only about > 1/10th of a step above Doritos, and the 'salsa' was nothing more than > canned crushed tomatoes... A customer of mine recommended I give them another try. Specifically the Fajitas. So I did. And to be fair, I went to my favorite Mexican place (El Campesino) a few days later and got the SAME item (Beef Fajita's). Mago Latino's Fajitas had a sauce on them, were VERY tough, and were $9.95. Decent flavor, but like chewing rubber. The salsa and chips were so so, the service was slow (mind you, it was past 8pm on a Thursday) El Campesino's Fajitas were marinated, quite tender, though the tortillas were tough (I was told I should have spoken up, they would have replaced them), and were $9.75. Quite good, though the flavor was not as strong as the Mago versian, it was more what I associate with Fajitas. The salsa was much hotter than usual (a plus) and service was excellent. Personally, I find El Campesino to be a much better bargain, parking is EASY, the people are very nice, the food is good. As well, I prefer their versian of flan to the one I tried at Mago Latino several months ago.