GB
Chief Eating Officer
There is a new Mexican restaurant that opened up not far from my house. My mom is in Mexico right now so my brother, wife and I decided we should take him out to dinner to try to keep him out of trouble.
The name of the place is The Canyon Cafe. It was pretty busy when we got there, but we were able to get a table right away. Our table seemed to be the only one in the place that did not have a light above it though so it was very dark. My wife has a hard time reading her menu.
The put the obligatory chips and salsa on the table. The chips were great. It was a mix of white, red, black, and sweet potato chips. The white chips has something on them that made them sweet. They were quite good. The salsa was decent. Not very chunky, and not spicy at all, but there was hot sauce on the table so I was able to boost it up a bit.
I got the Royo y Verde Enchiladas. The were tasty, but not amazing. I was happy with them though. The chicken was good, but it could have used a little more of it. It came with rice and black beans and salad all on the plate. The salad seemed like a strange addition as it was only lettuce with a honey mustard type dressing. It tasted fine, but the flavor just seemed very out of place. It also sort of overflowed onto my enchiladas so the flavors combined at times which just did not work for me. The rice was average, but when mixed with some of the enchilada sauce it tasted better. There was not a whole lot of sauce though so I could only do that a little bit.
The black beans, while presented very nice were completely tasteless. It was very strange to me. it was as if they somehow found a way to remove any of the natural bean flavor they started with. They tasted "very clean", but with no flavor whatsoever if that makes any sense. The presentation was great though. The beans were in a purple tortilla "cup" with shredded white cheese on top. It really stood out on the plate and looked excellent.
My dad had the smoked pecan salmon which he really enjoyed and my baby girl helped him finish it. She really liked it as well.
My brother liked his fish tacos and my wife loved her Mexican salad. Her dish was huge and looked great, loaded with chicken and other goodies.
One thing I found odd was that they limit people to 2 margaritas. I can see them not wanting people to get wasted, but why put a limit like that? Why not take it on a case by case basis?
The highlight of the meal though happened just as we were finishing our dinners. A Mariachi band came in and started playing. My daughter had a front row seat and was mezmerized. She loves music to start with, but for her to be this close to live music was something special for her (and us). She stared and danced in her seat and laughed and then after each song she clapped real hard. We stayed for 3 songs and then had to get her to bed.
The prices were reasonable. Each entree that we got was between $9-$13. I would give this place a 7 on the 1-10 scale. i won't rush to go back as there are other better Mexican places, just none this close to us, but I do expect that we will be back some day.
The name of the place is The Canyon Cafe. It was pretty busy when we got there, but we were able to get a table right away. Our table seemed to be the only one in the place that did not have a light above it though so it was very dark. My wife has a hard time reading her menu.
The put the obligatory chips and salsa on the table. The chips were great. It was a mix of white, red, black, and sweet potato chips. The white chips has something on them that made them sweet. They were quite good. The salsa was decent. Not very chunky, and not spicy at all, but there was hot sauce on the table so I was able to boost it up a bit.
I got the Royo y Verde Enchiladas. The were tasty, but not amazing. I was happy with them though. The chicken was good, but it could have used a little more of it. It came with rice and black beans and salad all on the plate. The salad seemed like a strange addition as it was only lettuce with a honey mustard type dressing. It tasted fine, but the flavor just seemed very out of place. It also sort of overflowed onto my enchiladas so the flavors combined at times which just did not work for me. The rice was average, but when mixed with some of the enchilada sauce it tasted better. There was not a whole lot of sauce though so I could only do that a little bit.
The black beans, while presented very nice were completely tasteless. It was very strange to me. it was as if they somehow found a way to remove any of the natural bean flavor they started with. They tasted "very clean", but with no flavor whatsoever if that makes any sense. The presentation was great though. The beans were in a purple tortilla "cup" with shredded white cheese on top. It really stood out on the plate and looked excellent.
My dad had the smoked pecan salmon which he really enjoyed and my baby girl helped him finish it. She really liked it as well.
My brother liked his fish tacos and my wife loved her Mexican salad. Her dish was huge and looked great, loaded with chicken and other goodies.
One thing I found odd was that they limit people to 2 margaritas. I can see them not wanting people to get wasted, but why put a limit like that? Why not take it on a case by case basis?
The highlight of the meal though happened just as we were finishing our dinners. A Mariachi band came in and started playing. My daughter had a front row seat and was mezmerized. She loves music to start with, but for her to be this close to live music was something special for her (and us). She stared and danced in her seat and laughed and then after each song she clapped real hard. We stayed for 3 songs and then had to get her to bed.
The prices were reasonable. Each entree that we got was between $9-$13. I would give this place a 7 on the 1-10 scale. i won't rush to go back as there are other better Mexican places, just none this close to us, but I do expect that we will be back some day.
we went with another couple one time and the guy decided he was going to be macho and order the big daddy of margarita's. Needless to say he kept trying to get us to take some......NOT! So it was a waste of money on his part because obviously couldn't finish it and you can't take it out in a to go cup.
