We were really craving some solid hole in the wall Mexican PHood so we headed up to the SW corner of McDowell & 16th street & went to La Cocina Mexican Food Restaurant.
When we walked in we were greeted with by 2 friendly ladies who walked us through the menu, which has pictures on it so you know what you're ordering, & were pleased to see that they had Apple Soda as well!
We requested some chips & helped ourselves to their salsa bar w/ sliced cucumbers. One of the ladies also made us some of their "Special Salsa" (black bowl) which was tasty & mild. The chips were so hot when they were served & after adding some salt were PHabulous!
The wife ordered the 5 tacos for $5 special. They're mini tacos with double corn tortillas. These had good quality chicken with good seasoning. They were served warm & had some onion mix on them as well. The wife said she'd certainly get these again & was impressed with how filling they were (3.5 of them) with out being overwhelmingly stuffed. It was a relatively lite dinner she said...
I went with the Pastor Plate $6.95, served with rice, beans (w/ cheese), pico, guacamole, & a few PHlour tortillas. The marinade was great & I was impressed with my own little tacos w/ the beans, pico, guac, & meat... It was wonderPHul PHood PHor sure, especially for the price!
VENUE & LOCATION: 8 out of 10. It was very clean, a little older in decor (but after all you're not going to a place like this for decor), & the building was spacious inside. The location is great, especially if you're coming from the north, west, or south. If you're coming from the east valley you'll have to get off on the 51, then McDowell or get up to 7th st & back track to the SW corner of McDowell & 16th st.
VALUE & SERVICE: 9 out of 10. As good as you'd need for a place like this. The ladies went above & beyond for us. Helped us through our orders, made us some special salsa, brought our PHood to us (rather than calling our order up), cleaned our table, etc. Value was good as well, This type of PHood in Scottsdale @ a nicer place could have been $25+ total. I'd give them an A on V&S for sure!
COMFORT: 8 out of 10. Not the most secure area necessarily, nothing to be afraid of either. The inside was spacious but fast food feeling, which it kinda sorta is I guess... Still very good, just explaining what we noticed here.
OVER ALL: A-
Good PHood.
Good Location.
Good spot to hit up, monthly perhaps!
On the NE corner of 12st & Mohave in Downtown Phoenix you'll find one of the best Mexican PHood spots around. Do not go here for a PHancy meal. Do not go here for amazing service. Do not go here for anything other than PHantastic Mexican Phood because that's exactly all they offer!
When I walked into Carolina's today I was greeted by about 20 people waiting for their PHood in the main lobby area. They have an extensive menu on the wall (looks like it's been there since day one in the 1970's) & it all looks amazing! I got a drink with my order & enjoyed the Manzanita Apple Soda you only find once in a blue moon here in the states.
Notice & enjoy the styraphome everything is served in. Like I said, not the venue for a trendy night out. The wife ordered the Combo #8 $4.95 which consists of 2 cheese enchiladas, lettuce, re-fried beans, & Mexican rice. The sauce on top of the enchiladas was mediocre & the cheese was hard to notice with the extensive flavors & spice from the dark sauce. The rice & beans were fantastic but not worth even an 8 minute drive from our townhouse. The wife will be ordering something different next time she goes here.
This is the Manzanitta apple soda, you can get can's @ Wal-Mart & some Mexican markets but other than that it's almost impossible to find. When I saw it on tap I was ecstatic & drank an entire cup of it before the PHood came out. This is enough reason for me to go back monthly & experiment on dishes until I find one I love more than life itself.
I went with the Combo #6 which offers Chorizo, potatoes, rice, beans, lettuce, & one of the "Best tortillas in town" that is the size the skin of a regulation basketball. I made 3 seperate suto burrittos out of my massive tortilla & goodies on my platter. The "On Tap Hot Sauce" is also very good & highly recommended to those who like that type of stuff. For the costs, this plate was tough to beat. If I ordered again I'd request extra meat as it was pretty lite in this dish, the potatoes were a bit dry & lacked the presence of cheese on top of it.
VENUE & LOCATION: 5 out of 10. Let's be honest, if this was a different type of place it would be a 0 out of 10. The building is a year or two from being condemned & torn down. The neighborhood is sketchy at best & this is during the 1pm lunch hour. I give them the benefit of the doubt because @ this point it's almost their M.O. to have a hole in the wall x's 1000 curb appeal.
VALUE & SERVICE: 10 out of 10. When you can go stuff yourself for $12.02 & have unlimited refills on the soda you've found yourself a winner. Everything on the menu is priced below market value & looks tasty (peeking on other people's plates) as anything. Service was as good as you'd expect. They take your order @ the counter, make your PHood in the kitchen (which you can see) & hand it to you about 10 minutes later. Other than that you're serving yourself.
COMFORT: 7 out of 10. As long as you don't mind eating in a main dinning room straight out of Chihuahua Mexico you'll be fine. If you're worried about safety outside the restaurant, cleanliness, interior design, &/or age of the table this place may not be your spot. I'm not worried about much & enjoyed every bit of my authentic experience @Carolina's Mexican PHood "The best tortillas in town" just south of Downtown PHX!
RECOMMENDATION: Give it a try, it's $5.00 a plate for crying out loud! Pre Dbax or Suns game drive down 7th st a mile & go east on Mohave. Keep your opinions to yourself & enjoy some authentic Mexican phood!
B- until we find something worth dying PHor!
Since moving back downtown we've walked by Kincaid's 40+ times. It's en route to The US Airways Center from our townhouse so we thought we'd give it a try tonight on our way to Game #1 vs. the Spurs. The seating area in the pub was packed & we were forced to eat outside on the couches to enjoy their happy hour specials. No big deal, a little uncomfortable but we thought it'd be fine. The weather was perfect, the couches were extremely dirty & scattered like a tornado had just hit them. There was some organizing to be done by us, the patrons!
When I walked in & talked w/ the hostess stand they weren't helpful at all. They said I could go sit on the couches out front & they'd be with us shortly. We sat down out front for over 10 minutes until anyone came to see what we wanted for our drinks. It took another 10 minutes or so until we got our waters & a menu to look at. I then had to ask "What about your happy hour menu" & waited another 4-5 minutes until I was shown that menu; as you can tell, we were off to a rough start here. Their happy hour runs from 4-6 & after 9pm; since it was getting close to 6pm I ordered a hand full of items & waited until the food arrived about 20 mins later.
From left to right: onion rings, wings, sampler, sweet potato fries, & meatloaf sliders.
We asked the waiter if the sweet potato fries were good & he said: "If ya like sweet potatoes", I'm sitting there wondering why this guy is obviously not in sales & is most likely going to be a waiter for the 2nd 35-40yrs of his life. Apparently I asked a stupid question because I got an ignorant answer in return. We ordered them anyway & enjoyed about 1/4 of them.
Would not order again even @ 1/2 off price of $3.00
The onion rings were good & well made. The batter was almost as good as any other onion ring we've had & the sauces were nicely done.
I'd order again! Especially during happy hour for $3.50.
The classic sampler was a nice presentation: it includes roasted garlic prawns, teriyaki tenderloin, hot red King crab & artichoke dip. $13.50. I'd recommend this to anyone & will eat this again for sure! I would not spend $27.00 on this during dinner time but for happy hour it's tough to beat. The prawns were not spectacular but good. The tenderloin was phenomenal. The King crab & artichoke dip could have used more crab meat & less artichoke but was still very good; it could also use a few more pieces of bread, we ran out of bread w/ 1/3 "Mix" left in the bowl. Still, very good, especially if you're going to happy hour pre-game w/ 3-4 people to share.
Now to the money plate of the night: Kobe Meatloaf Sliders Olive mayonnaise, sweet hot mustard, jalapeño stuffed olives. $4.50. I could & will in the future order a couple of these plates & be set. These are fantastic & truly unique to Kincaid's. Order these even @ full price, they're taste is full, wide, & extensive.
I could & will certainly go without the Buffalo Chicken Wings w/ Louisiana hot sauce, blue cheese dressing, fresh celery sticks. $4.50 next time. Not bad but not good. Very messy & when you need to ask for your place setting 20 minutes into your meal it's a loose loose situation w/ these.Service @ Kincaid's will get a 2nd chance one day but for today it was an awful 3 out of 10. The hostess stand was brain-dead. The waiter outside was a space cadet & had no allegiance to us as a table w/ kids ordering just happy hour starters. It took us 30 minutes to get an order into the kitchen after we sat down. We received our food relatively quick but had to ASK MULTIPLE TIMES for some plates & silverware. We had to get up and ask for water refills twice & after the third time asking for lemons for our waters we just gave up.
When was the last time you went to Donovan's, Morton's, or Ruth's Chris & had to ASK for a plate &/or silverware w/ your appetizers? How about stand up & get your own water? What about a lemon for your water? If you ask, don't your usually receive it?
I've eaten at the mentioned three over 100 times collectively & have NEVER had to ask, not once. Tonight I had to ask multiple times before I was taken care of by the staff. This was a disgrace for a place that is trying to compete with the higher end places in Phoenix, especially downtown Phoenix.
The comfort & venue is a 7 out of 10: It's hard to argue w/ a downtown restaurant with outdoor seating. Located at: Two South Third Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004 you'll find it very easy to enjoy pre-game starters, drinks, & than walk to your game of choice.
PHood quality & value during happy hour is a 7 out of 10: Knowing what I know now I could decline a few dishes & enjoy the quality ones. I'll have to go back for a nice dinner w/ a real waiter & hopefully get some service from the hostess stand. We'll see what happens next time as I'll give another review once again, especially after a negative review.
We're not a "One & Done" type of PHood Blog!
Recommendation: Don't go here w/ kids! Don't eat on the patio as you'll be forgotten about. Don't even talk w/ the hostess stand as you'll surely just be frustrated. If you're there for happy hour get a table in the pub area & make sure to get serviced accordingly.
Over all grade: D-
Very disappointing & lack luster over all experience this time around...
If it weren't for this blog we'd NEVER return nor recommend!
Just a short walk from our new place is a place called "COOPER'STOWN". On the SE corner of 1st st & Jackson is a warehouse looking spot that serves up some of the craziest foods known to sports bar regulars.
We had to get out & enjoy the weather today so we packed up the kids & started walking. Right when we walked in ALICE COOPER greeted us with his crazy life size poster of himself.
The second we sat down we were asked about our drinks & if we'd like some wings, we ordered 10 MAPLE-GARLIC wings & a couple of waters due to our walk in the desert heat. I will tell you, these wings are THE BEST WINGS EVER (to date) that I've tasted. The outside is crispy, the sauce is one of a kind, & the size of the wings are large! I ate 8 of the 10 & handed the greens to the wife.
We also ordered the sliders w/ fries. These 6 sliders are incredible. The grilled onions, pickles, w/ provalone cheese, on some type of sweet hawaiian roll/bread? WOW! The beer battered fries are crispy, tasty, & perfect in the mixture of left over MapleGarlic sauce from the wings.
If you're ever downtown PRE/POST any event @ CHASE FIELD or US AIRWAYS CENTER I'd recommend this place to anyone. Other things that I know are good also: Anything BBQ, The 22 inch "Big Unit" hot dog, the Turkey Club, Cole Slaw (side item), and fries are all good.
The value of food for price is: 8 out of 10
The service was good: 7 out of 10
Comfort is great: 9 out of 10
TOTAL GRADE: 24 out of 30 = MONEY SPOT FOR SURE!
Around 620pm this evening we thought that "CHICKEN & WAFFLES" sounded fantastic!
LoLo's is just south of downtown PHX & with DBAX traffic only about 5 minutes away from our house. NW Corner of Central Ave & Yuma St.
When we arrived we had a parking spot right outside the door, no meter parking here. We unpacked the kids & walked into a warm "Southern Greeting" hostess asking us how many. We said 3 adults & 2 kids, the hostess said: "Sit anywhere ya like" so we found a 4 top table over to the left side & sat. About 5 minutes later we were handed our menus & asked for our "JAR OF DRANK" order; we also gave them our food order as well.
They offer Sweet tea, homemade lemonade, soda, & Kool-Aid on tap. "The Red" is so sugary you wonder if a diabetic attack is going to hit you after your 2nd sip; exactly what a "KID" or "29 YR OLD KID" loves! Unlimited refills & big jars as glasses: $2.50.
The wife ordered 2 side items: a chicken breast $4.00 & Home fries $3.50. The home fries have red & green peppers along with onions diced & sauteed on top of them. VERY TASTY!
I ordered the #3 LoLo's ($11.00) which comes w/ 3 pieces of chicken & 2 waffles. I prefer dark meat so I asked for 3 thighs & 2 extra sides of (BOILING HOT & FREE) syrup. I poured the syrup on my waffles while allowing the chicken to soak up the extra on my plate. As soon as I tasted the mix of fried chicken & maple syrup I thought I had died & gone to heaven! I will tell ya I was STUFFED to the max after my gallon of Kool-Aid, 3 thighs, & 2 waffles but that meal was...
For lack of a better phrase...
SOME SEXY PHOOD!
The "OLD MAN" ordered the "LoLo's Famous Soul PHOOD Platter" ($13.00) which comes with either 3 pieces of fried chicken or 2 pieces of catfish w/ your choice of 2 sides (Waffle & 2 over easy eggs w/ cheese & onion) & cornbread; oh, don't forget the extra side of chicken gravy. The old man chose the catfish & was raving from the 1st bite to the last "Plate Lick"; plate looked like it had just been washed it was so clean.
Service was good: 7 out of 10
I did get up & refill my own drink once without anyone asking to fill it for me. There was NO WAIT AT ALL & we had our food in less than 15 minutes after sitting down. The staff was friendly, helpful, & Larry "LoLo" White was in great spirits as always!
PHood was AMAZING: 9 out of 10
The taste of that fried chicken is unlike anything I've ever tasted in THE PHX! Waffles are good, similar to Waffle House, the HOT HOT HOT syrup is wonderful & makes it far better the the WaHo. The dranks are an old-fashion energy drink w/ double the sugar you'd expect...
I'll keep ordering every single time as well.
I love it!
Comfort was good: 7 out of 10
Older table & chairs no big deal, a little cramped but it's worth it for the PHood.
We had a highchair for our 7month old & everything worked out good.
Over all grade: 23-30 & highly recommended!
I WILL BE BACK, MAYBE WEEKLY!
;)
I woke up this morning around 9am to my wife saying we should go try MATT'S BIG BREAKFAST. We had never been there & I thought it was a cool idea so we packed up the kids & headed off. We live only about 5 minutes away from MATT'S but I met a few people who had driven in from Buckeye & Mesa just to eat there. They too were frusterated w/ the wait & the lack of order the "Hostest" used running "The List" in which you write your name & keep your fingers crossed that you'll be called accordingly.
Sitting on the NE corner of 1st st & McKinley MATT'S isn't exactly "BIG". It's a small older house (700-1100 sq ft w/ seating for 20-30 maybe) that has been turned into a restaurant. Parking is not vast by any means, there is a parking lot to the east but only fits 10-15 cars, I'm willing to bet 1/3 of them are people who work there or live in the hotel to the north. Just make sure to take quarters to pay for meter parking, you are downtown after all. Also keep in mind ASU DOWNTOWN does have classes close by so some of the meters fill up quickly as well.
AFTER WAITING 65 MINUTES outside w/ a 2.5yr old & a 7 month old ($1.50 on the meter per hour) we had our name called. We thought, YA, ABOUT TIME! Little did we know we had waited for a "2 TOP" & it was directly behind the front door. KEEP IN MIND WE HAD 2 KIDS WITH US AS WELL. We were off to a painful start so far.
We ordered right when we sat down, feeling frustrated from our wait. We ordered the "GRIDDLECAKES" $6.00 with 2 oz of maple syrup ($1.50 per extra syrup which you'll need @ least 1 more due to the fluffy cakes) w/ a side of bacon $2.50 & hash-browns $2.00 & the "CHOP & CHICK" $8.00. For the money the PHood was decent, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. The service was mediocre I'd give it a 5 out of 10 (after all they were slammed & getting people in & out like it was their job). Comfort would be a 2-10 for the 2-top table & being hit in the back of my chair every time someone opened the door.
Recommendation: If you are single or couple that have plenty of time to just sit around give it a whirl, if you're in a hurry &/or live far away from downtown PHX I'd say stick w/ the local breakfast joint you already have.
"Organic" is tasty but in my opinion not worth 2hrs out of my day!
TOTAL OVER ALL GRADE: C-
We will not go back unless we for some reason have NO WAIT & a table that seats our party accordingly...
