Linda’s Take

Coming back from our dance lesson I had asked Jason if there was a place near us that serves sushi, he said 2 places in the Mall of America do. My feet were aching so I didn’t really want to walk around the mall. But Jason was strongly hinting we should go so I made my way to the off ramp to go to the Monster Mall.

As I made my way to the East parking ramp, we noticed that there was a little Mexican restaurant off to the right hand side. We had seen Chevy’s Fresh Mex before and I had remembered that we had wanted to try it sometime.

Jason said,  how does Mexican sound instead? Sounded great to me. It looked as if it was a good time to go as well. Busy but not solid packed.

We got to sit outside,  the waitress we had was really nice. I wanted to try a signature drink and I told her what I kinda liked. She suggested prickly pear kinda pink drink. I loved it! I feel stupid that I can’t remember the name of the dam thing. Maybe I good idea, they cost $14.00 a piece.

I had a question about a menu item,  there was a habanero sauce on a enchilada dish that looked appetizing. I’m really liking more and more spicy things to eat lately but I don’t want to burn my tongue off. Jason says it’s my best asset. So our waitress brought out some for me to taste, flavorful and not hot at all, just a little kick.

You get chips and salsa to nibble on but our waitress kept forgetting to bring ours out. She also forgot our water that we asked for during our meals. Pretty girl, but a little forgetful.

When we ordered our meals, they came out with in 8 minutes or so. It seemed really fast, which was nice,  and everything on my plate tasted pretty good. I really liked this little yellow corn/rice ball that was on our plates. I have no idea what it was.

For the most part I liked the place, however one of the downsides is that it’s near the airport on the South side of the Moster Mall. So if you sit outside it’s kinda hard to hear people with the planes taking off. But they do karaoke on some nights, however we didn’t stay for that. I’m sure I would have just been hurting everyone’s ears if I were singing. I’m pretty sure Jason was happy that I didn’t want to do karaoke.

This place gets a 3 out of 5 pants off from me.

Jason’s Take

We were on our way home from dance lessons.  Date night was canceled because the boy was sick, but we were hungry, dammit.  Five minutes north of the dance studio is the Monster Mall, so we thought we’d go there for sushi.   Mall sushi is known around the world as the best sushi, after all.   Ancient samurai warriors used to head down to the local strip mall after beheading upstart peasants to get the best California rolls known to man.

It’s true, look it up.

As we pulled down the south side of the mall, I saw Chevy’s and immediately decided that tacos sounded better than eel.   Ever since the 6th century BC when the Japanese allied with the Visigoths and sailed birch-bark canoes across the Baltic Sea to introduce the tortilla to Mexico, Mexico has made better tacos.

Seriously, when’s the last time you had a good taco at a Japanese restaurant?

Linda didn’t argue, because I only allow her to have opinions that she’s decided I’m allowed to provide for her.  She gives me a list of pre-approved opinions every morning.   It’s easier that way.

It was about 7:30 on a Friday and they weren’t packed.  That’s never a good sign, but they are across the street from a giant freaking mutation of a mall and it meant we got seated right away, so what the heck, right?

Like every Americanized Mexican restaurant since the Aztecs conquered Russia and simultaneously invented almost-ethnic food, they served chips for everyone.   The chips clearly didn’t come out of a bag.  They came out warm with a glisten of oil clinging to them like butter on a biker magazine cover model.    None of the appetizers sounded as good as the picture in my head of a butter-covered model, so we stuck to the chips, which were good.

We ordered drinks.   I got a beer, and Linda ordered a prickly pear margarita.   I got my beer, but she was delivered an ice cream pail of pink, prickly-pear-and-tequila-flavored deliciousness.  If it would have been just a little bit warmer, I think I would have climbed in and had a little swim.  It was worth the $14 price tag.   43 shots of tequila, three gallons of pink, and enough pear-flavored something to make it nummy.   I’d recommend it.

The food was good too.   I got the Mesquite Grilled tacos, one chicken and one steak.  They were good, but I’d bet the chicken was cooked by a prep cook at 10AM instead of fresh to order.  Still, it was a good mix of ingredients, not a chunk of chicken hiding in three pounds of lettuce.   The beans were boring.   The little ball of yellow corn thing-that-I-don’t-know-the-name of was incredible.   Almost corn bread pudding, almost corn-flavored candy.   I probably should have saved it for dessert.

We were too full to actually have dessert, and none of the options were screaming “take me, take me, oh god, take me” so I left them.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score

3.5 out of 5 Pants Off