Note: This is definitely NOT a budget place, and we didn't have any discounts at this time.
A Latina friend invited us to help her celebrate her “16th” birthday when she turned 50+. ;) Around the table were folks from Spain, Cuba, the US, with the birthday girl being from Puerto Rico, and me, a Malaysian que puede habla espanol suficiente para meterme en problemas, i.e., who can speak enough Spanish to get myself into trouble!
To get to El Sombrero was a bit of a puzzle: we had to walk through another restaurant at the Sheraton (La Mamma), then find this small opening with a tiny signboard pointing to the right through a low, narrow corridor, then through a small door. Reminded me of some dungeon scene from a movie, except for the bright lights! :)
And what a fun fiesta in a fun place it was to be turning 16 going towards 60! ☺ The ambiance was welcoming, with warm, earthy colours reminiscent of the Mexico I had visited many years ago. There wasn’t a Mexican mariachi band, but there was a good live band from Colombia singing Spanish and Brazilian songs – hey, that’s what good neighbours are for; to provide musical diversity to a fellow Latino country!
For the food, appetisers were first to come: flautas de papa (nothing to do with your father; papas mean potatoes in Spanish -- it was deep-fried corn tortillas with spicy potatoes rolled inside -- tasty enough, but not spicy at all). Then, there were the beef quesadillas (pronouced as 'kay-sah-dee-yahs' which has nice, juicy grilled beef strips and melted cheese. Those were a winner!
For mains, the ever-popular Fajitas (sizzling on a hotplate) were ordered by several people: with beef, with chicken, and my hubby had the Fajita Adelita, a vegetarian version. Those with the meat versions said they enjoyed theirs, while hubby wished his vegetables were more distinguishable in their taste from each other, instead of being so well blended by the sauce as to be nothing outstanding.
Two ladies ordered the Pollo BBQ estilo Tex Mex (Barbecued chicken in Tex Mex style), and they declared it delicious – I took a bite and the meat was tender, but the barbecue sauce was just like a good, basic bbq sauce you can buy from a supermarket shelf. Decent, but nothing extraordinary, considering the price you pay for it in an upscale hotel restaurant. Another friend had the Camarones Diablo (spicy Devils Prawns), and he licked the platter clean, so it must have been good!
Others ordered Calamares Picantes (spicy deep-fried squid rings), and the Sombrero Taco Salad (nacho chips with minced beef and chicken, guacamole, sour cream, cheddar cheese), and declared them tasty enough, although 2 people dug into the one order of Sombrero Taco Salad and still couldn’t finish it. It was quite a good size, but not huge, so not sure what that means… .
And finally, my order was the Arroz a la Tumbada (Rice in Tumbada style) -- supposedly a spicy soupy rice dish with lots of seafood like calamari (squid), prawns, mussels). It definitely was not lacking in seafood as there were big chunks of it, including three huge mussels. However, the 'spicy' part of the description didn't quite live up to it. So, while full of fresh seafood, it could have done with more taste in the rice.
So, overall, for hubby and me at least, it was a decent experience, but not mind-blowing considering the prices. But it did have a charming atmosphere, but perhaps the food was toned down for their clientele who might not appreciate the spiciness of real Mexican food (I had a Mexican roommate in college!). The lady members of the live band, on the other hand, were dressed quite 'spicily' as some men there might happily testify! Buen provecho!
(p.s: had a very hard time uploading photos. Tried more than 10 times, could't seem to upload more than a couple of photos each time. Anyone else having this problem?)
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