Anyone convinced that this is authentic Mexican food, is probably simply basing that on the fact that the majority of the staff is of Spanish descent, and has not had authentic, Â freshly made Mexican food. Where to begin?
Me and my boyfriend came in there, expecting great things. He told me that he'd eaten there before, and that you could get full for cheap. Well, that is true. Nothing was more than 20 dollars, in fact I don't think anything was 20 dollars. So, the price is really quite nice.The decor, while nice, was over shadowed by the clinical-feeling over head lighting.
Regarding our service, our waiter was quite cold. Tossing things down to us, and not checking on us at all. Its probably because we weren't a table of ladies, or a birthday party, so they didnt expect much money from us. Shame, because we tip for good service. The only person who was kind was the boy who brought out our food.
The food came out fast, but you could tell that it wasn't because the chef was back there hustling, but instead because the majority of the food was already pre made. I ordered the taco salad, and it was in a sad state. The beans just looked disgusting. The fried tortilla tasted old, like the oil it was fried in was old. The shredded beef was not a sight to behold either. My boyfriend ordered a red snapper fillet, and it was dry, underseasoned, and burned on one side. You could tell it was a frozen fillet too. For dessert, Â we ordered the deep fried icecream. Sometimes, less is more, and this certainly could have benefitted from that. It came out with an old-tasting maraschino cherry on top, and slathered in whip cream. Cherry aside, it tasted alright. Is it so much to ask for fresh ingredients? Finally, they started cleanup an hour prior to the establishment closing, so there was a really strong and unpleasant Pinesol smell present while we ate.
All in all, it was a unique experience. Â I would say the highlight was that Captain America and Batman were there greeting people, though I didn't get to speak to them myself.
If you don't mind old, premade food that has probably been sitting out, waiting to be ordered, Â and biased service, Â then this is the place for you! Non-authentic places like Chipotle and Cafe Rio easily trump this place though. I probably won't be going here again.
I think they may have changed the cook recently, but there are far too many frozen foods on the menu. I went here a few times and the margaritas, prices and portion sizes are quite nice. However, lately the service is lacking and the food is mediocre at best. I got the red snapper about a year ago and it was excellent, well seasoned and moist. However, I went here recently and it was dry as the Sahara desert, and I had to actually add hot sauce for flavor purposes. To be honest, it probably wasn't even a red snapper but probably a cheap tilapia.
Based on my recent experiences, I can't rate this place too high. Not only because there are better Mexican restaurants obviously, but the service and food has gotten worse. For this place, they need a more condensed menu, It's so vast that you can tell they store many frozen foods. If they have more signature dishes, then they'd keep a fresh supply. However, many of the locals are happy and the place stays packed due to the lack of good food in the region.
Tequila grill has great Mexican food in Southern Maryland, but the service has been spotty the last few times I've been there. I'm giving it 3.5 stars, but hopefully I can update it in the future, because TG is a favorite of my parents and I enjoy the food every time I'm visiting.
TG is much more authentic than your typical Tex-Mex place - for one, they use the white cheese. I don't know why, but if they have white cheese, it seems more authentic to me. I also LOVE it and can't pass up cheese dip (which is just melted queso blanco, but OH so good). Getting past the cheese dip, the chips and salsa are good. The chips could be lighter and saltier, but the salsa is really fresh and flavorful. My boyfriend always gets the chicken fajitas, which are super cheap at lunch and still really reasonable at dinner. You get a huge portion of well-marinated, tender, grilled chicken with grilled onions and peppers as well. It's accompanied by lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream, rice and beans, and tortillas. Last night, my dad got a chicken dish we finished completely (although to be honest, might not have anything to do with the quality of the food - that's pretty normal for my dad).
I got the taco salad with grilled chicken, which the menu noted would also come with grilled onions and peppers. What the menu did not say was that it would not come with lettuce, tomato, and the other normal salad toppings that are on a taco salad. I pretty much just got fajitas in a taco shell. It was still good, but I really did want the "salad" part too. I also asked for the sour cream and guacamole on the side, but never got them.
My real issues with TG (preventing me from giving more stars) are with the service -- the last two times I've been, the service has been pretty bad, but for different reasons. The first time, the waiter ignored us most of the meal due to a huge table (of about 20 people) right next to ours. Last night, I'm pretty sure the waiter was OCD. Right after giving us our drinks, he came by to ask that we give him all the paper wrappers from the straws and sugar packets that were lying on the table. They weren't bothering us and we were in the middle of a conversation, but he was intent on getting every last wrapper. He also came by once just to re-arrange the chips and salsa, and he was there constantly asking if we wanted our more-than-half-full drinks refilled. The hovering waiter definitely made it hard to enjoy the meal.
Nevertheless, the food and prices are good, so we will likely keep going back when we're down visiting my parents. It is definitely one of the better food options in Southern Maryland.
Went here last night for the 2nd time and was impressed both times. This time was there for a meeting and even with the amount of people the service was good and food was delivered to the table in a reasonable amount of time. I had the chalupas with Tinga spicy and delish. The food is more Mexican than tex/mex which is refreshing.
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