El Maguey

One of my favorites in Edwardsville.  Went again Friday night after by passing several restaurants with incredible wait times...even though a busy Friday night the wait was only about 10 minutes.  The salsa and chips arrived quickly - I'm glad they seem to have cut out the "new" dip they were providing; that just didn't seem to match with the salsa and chips.  I was looking for something low cal and low fat and the waiter suggested Gordo's Special.  Blackened shrimp served on a bed of lettuce, tomatoes and rice.  It is a spicy dish as several hot pepper strips were added throughout the dish - no problem though, as I just picked them out and laid them aside.  The shrimp were perfect - firm and very tasteful; and not having the guacamole or sour cream that normally comes with their dishes, it was still very filling. Refills of drinks and chips are abundant and now I have a new dish if I want something low cal and also doesn't make you feel overly stuffed afterwards. My favorite Mexican restaurant and they delivered again!

Let me point out first that I ordered my food as take out on super bowl sunday. There were no other people in there. None. I was only going here because it was closer than my usual mexican place (Los Tres Amigos. They're fantastic, by the way). I ordered Pollo Cancun which is what I order from the other place. The description and accompanying picture is exactly the same. I just asked for no mushrooms and while the description did not include green peppers, when I asked for those to be added, I was assured it came with it and that it "wasn't spicy." Not a good sign when the waiter at a Mexican restaurant tells you something isn't spicy when you haven't even asked. They got it out to me very quickly but because it was so dead, I heard them start and end cooking in the back so I was sure it wasn't microwaved. When I get it home, there is no cheese on it and 5 shrimp, which doesn't translate well into using 3 tortillas. I taste it to see if it needs cheese (even though it's meant to come with it) and it was very, very bland and only lukewarm. I don't live far away from this restaurant so it should still be warm. I try the chips and salsa. The chips are so clearly not made there but I don't mind that so much. What I mind is that, despite it being so dead in there, I've gotten old salsa. I know this because I doubt many people are going to get margaritas on super bowl sunday but my salsa tastes like tequila and lime with no trace of a tomato. It's also water thin, no sign that it had ever seen a vegetable. Why they aren't cleaning their blenders before making salsa, I've no clue. I had to load it up with my own cheese (which is annoying because I only had reduced fat colby jack) and even still it was blaaaand. There is no spice whatsoever and they've only given me a pitiful amount of guacamole. I used Los Tres Amigos' salsa that I had left over from the week previous. What makes this all really bad to me, a person who is willing to give restaurants second chances, is that there really were no other people there. These were the blunders of a staff working under evening rush conditions and that they made them without that sort of pressure, it shows me that this restaurant will never be better than this. Oh, and it was more expensive than Los Tres Amigos, so that's even worse.

Mexican food with complimentary grime!

Go for the cheap margaritas, and then run away as fast as you can if you start to feel hungry.  It is right next to a Chinese place and a pizza place.  So seriously, run.  Unless, of course, you prefer terrible Mexican food that will come back to haunt you.  Or if you can't get enough of those burritos that come with the occasional hair or two.