Antonio's-A Taste of Mexico Authentic Mexican Csne

Taos is almost always on our yearly tripping itinerary .. often spending a month here. We love New Mexican food and one of our first destinations is Antonio's for our favorite on the menu : Chilies en Nogada followed by Chipotle Chocolate Cake : to die for. We've eaten here many times and have never been disappointed. Tonight we took our friends there ...  unanimous consensus : ummmmm...marvelous!

First, let me say that I would rate management 4 stars because the manager that night truly intended to "fix" everything.  He did not charge us a dime for the sub par meal.

On to the dining experience ---

Fellow Foodies, BEWARE!

I decided on Antonio's because of the overwhelming, raving reviews it had on TripAdvisor.  How bad can it be for 200+ people to rate it an average of 4.5 stars, right?  

We visited Antonio's on a Friday night.  We got there around 7pm and the restaurant was practically full.  We were seated promptly.  We were not offered water nor chips and salsa.  I guess you have to pay for chips in Taos?

*ENTER Nick, our waiter.  

We placed our drink orders - iced tea, mango tea and lemonade.  Our drinks arrive TEN minutes later.  No water. No chips.

We immediately place our order for my daughter's meal -- cheese enchiladas.  We also order 2 soups, Sopa Azteca and Sopa de Tortilla.  Also, ordered water and a beer.

Our drinks arrive about 5 minutes later, and we proceed to order our entrees -- Fajitas with Mole Poblano and the Carnitas en Mole Verde.

[Here's where I feel I have to qualify myself with my experience with Tex-Mex, New Mexico Mexican, and REAL Mexican food.  Trust me, I know all three and what they should and shouldn't taste like.  I love all three and appreciate their *vast* differences.  I wrote about Cuchara here in Houston on another Yelp! review if you'd like to check it out.  P.S. They don't serve nachos.]

Fifteen minutes after placing our daughter's entrees and our appetizer soups, the following arrives: 1) Daughter's entree; 2) Sopa Azteca; 3) Sopa de Tortilla; and 4) Husband's entree - Carnitas en Mole Verde.  We'll review these individually.

1) The plate of "cheese enchiladas" are laughable.  Who wants to eat a soggy flour tortilla SWIMMING in Alfredo sauce?!  Not my daughter!  She immediately flagged the fake and asked me to order her something else.  I acquiesce because even I wouldn't want to eat the sorry excuse of a enchilada.  I proceed

2) Sopa Azteca was warm, but good.

3) Sope de Tortilla was warm and decent.  This is what my daughter ended up eating because she was starving.

4) Yes, the entree came with the appetizers and I was left staring at my husband eat.  I insisted he start because I didn't want his food to be cold.  Besides, my food is coming out right behind his, right? Wrong!

5) My food came out about 10 minutes later along with my daughters "beef" taco.  And then the waiter left with it on his tray! YES HE DID!  I opened my daughter's taco to find a piece of pork carnita.  I flagged down the waiter again and told him that the meat was pork.  He took the plate.   A minute later he comes right back out and says the kitchen assures him that it is beef.  Trust me, poepl.  I hate pork and this was DEF pork!  So I asked him for a ground beef taco and this is what he says, "we don't server ground beef tacos."  LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously!  I asked him why th kitchen couldn't use the ground beef used in the other menu options.  Again, "we don't serve ground beef tacos."  WOW!

6) So I'm still waiting for my food.  It comes back again and it's a plate of fajitas with red peppers.  I asked the server if this was their mole sauce of which he said, "yes."  Again, WOW!  Show of hands here -- how many of you have ever seen red peppers in your mole sauce?  NONE!  Because mole sauce is a plethora of ingredients blended into a beautiful brown sauce whose ingredients can not be distinguished.  This is when we call the manager.  Again, the manager assures me this is their mole sauce and that's when I just lost it and refused to eat it.  The manager took the plate and went to the kitchen.  Then he changes his song saying, oops...it's NOT the mole sauce.  You don't say?!  (He doesn't get a whole 5 starts because he didn't know what mole sauce is supposed to look like.)

Nick, the waiter, (while the manager is in the kitchen trying to figure out what the mole sauce is supposed to look like) proceeds to bring the check to the table.  He has charged us for E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.  Total was about $72+.  I laughed and told my husband to hold on to the check until the manager came back.  Nick wasn't too pleased.

The manager comes back and is extremely apologetic and tries to be as accomodating as possible.  We politely turned him down and just asked that he take my meal and my daughter's taco off the check.  He agrees.  He returns shortly thereafter and apologizes and agrees to comp the entire meal because our experience was so bad.

We left and we went to El Meze for my entree and my family's dessert.  Should have gone to El Meze in the first place.  

Please, please, please do not consider Antonio's when you are in Taos.

Great for a date night!  Pretty atmosphere.  Great food.