Critic's Review
Today I felt like some Mexican food, so I sought out a place I haven't been to as I'm done with Tipico and Jalisco. I've been to La Bamba in Fort Lauderdale a few times; Time to try another one.
The location on US1 in Fort Lauderdale is always busy, even at 3pm. This place was dead at 3pm. One good thing about La Bamba is that they don't shut down lunch at 2:30 like some places. There was one other table in the restaurant.
The have bar areas in these places, this one with a blonde bartender. Maybe I should have sat at the bar?
A dude took my tea order; the do have lemon here which is a plus for a Mexican place. Salsa comes out immediately.
The mild salsa was lousy, and the hot salsa made my eyes water. Balance people. Sometimes it's really good. Tea came out with just 1 lemon wedge; I reminded him that I'd asked for extra. I also didn't get a straw.
I felt like a Chile Relleno but they don't have a lunch or single order. You can either get a combo or the dinner which comes with 2; I haven't like the enchiladas or tacos so I went with the dinner. It's $15 now; the last time I had this it was $12.95.
A couple of people came in while I was waiting. This place is very quite compared to the FTL location, where people are flying all around the room.
The menu says that this is served with yellow rice, but this isn't yellow rice. The rice was lousy and not worth the carbs.
There was something about this that wasn't very good. The ranchero sauce just seemed like gloopy green stuff. There was too much batter. At least they took out the stems.
A runner refilled my iced tea, but I didn't see my server before I was finished. I had to flag him down when I was done. Out the door at 3:40.
Conclusion
I "assume" that all chains are the same, but as is the case with Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, this location was much different. The service wasn't as efficient; in fact it was lackluster. And the food was sub-par for some reason. Same idea, different execution. The restaurant is a bit nicer.