Hacienda Restaurant

I met with a group of folks this evening at The Hacienda, a restaurant that's been open on Manchester road probably since the seventies.

I honestly was not that excited to meet there because I did not like the food the last time I ate there. Admittedly, it was probably ten years ago so I guess it was time to give it another try.

The company was fine...it was great meeting some new folks. The food that I had was OK.
I guess having spent time in Tucson, AZ recently, I was not prepared for the relative blandness of some of the "Mexican" food here in my town. The chips and salsa were brought out and I almost thought I was dipping into tomato sauce. I guess that some like it hot and I am one of those who do.

I got off very inexpensively, I'm happy to report, because I did not choose an entree but went with sides. I ordered some plain corn tortillas, roasted corn with herbs and spices and pico de gallo, the raw relish that is ubiquitous in Mexican restaurants. I actually enjoyed the corn tortillas with my sides but I could not say it was really the kind of Mexican I like. No one at the table was moaning with delight so what the heck does that say? If the food is really good, you'll hear moans.

What I can say is that the service was good despite the enormous crowd. This restaurant has consistently large crowds with parking spots being almost impossible to find on summer nights. As I drive by some evenings I think that a traffic cop would be helpful.

A friend of mine ate there a couple of weeks ago and highly recommended the margarita. I thought it passable. He also wolfed down a spinach enchilada. I did not try it so I can't comment.

I don't know...for me the restaurant is just too busy. The food is OK, not excellent and the service pretty good.

You might want to dismiss anything I am saying and pay attention to the huge crowds that frequent the place, however. I have always heard that to choose a good place to eat, you just search out the crowds. In my experience, that has been more often untrue than true. I usually think, I'm sorry to say, that the "crowds" are satisfied with less quality than I want so I cannot use that criteria to choose a place to dine.

Would I go to the Hacienda again? If there was a meeting or someone really pushed it, possibly. I would not choose it myself. It's not horrible...it's just not for me.

Hey, try it yourself and let me know what you think...if you haven't already, that is. As I said, the place has been around for eons. Oh, one thing I did think stood up well...the chips served with the tomato-sauce salsa were light, crispy, thin and not too salty. So, there's my take. But that's just me.