Mexicali -a real Mexican meal this time!

When: March 13, 2017
Where: Mexicali's, 935 Sullivan Ave, South Windsor, CT 06074

Okay, so this time I decided to get real Mexican food. We weren't planning to come here tonight, but my husband suggested we come back.
Being a Monday night, there was a special for Nachos for $5, but if we'd have known how much was on this plate, we'd have split it for dinner.

$5 Nachos

We had a great waitress, Alexis! Really helpful in explaining the differences between entrees, since we have only come to aa Mexican restaurant once before (yes, this same one), but I didn't really have a Mexican meal.

This was the Mexicali Burrito, which was "REALLY GOOD!" However, there was NO WAY my husband could eat even HALF of it! The funny thing was my husband would have never tried guacamole (doesn't like avocados) if it didn't come with it. He tried it and thought it was really good!

This was all he could eat! Even then, he was almost uncomfortably full.

 I had the Combo entrée where I chose two items.  My choice was a chicken enchilada, and Pork Chimichanga. Both dinners came with rice and beans (I'm assuming it's re-fried beans). I don't eat much Mexican food so  while I thought the rice (is it Spanish rice?) was dry, I've since heard it's not as moist as I expected. It was too dry for me, but the beans were REALLY FLAVORFUL!!

 Combo- choice of two

 
Leftovers for me made it through two more meals.... Very good.

Only thing I'd say was a 'con', was the fact I woke up in the morning REALLY THIRSTY!! I'm sure there was LOTS of salt in it.
Great meal, We even talked of taking friends of ours that live out of state, when they come to visit.

Carrabba's- restitution.

Where: 31 Redstone Road, Manchester, CT

It's been a while since we came here, because the last time was a disaster (mostly due to the waitress... no other reason). I think my husband and I never poo-poo-ed them, because we have been there before AND love it. We figured we could always use their drive up service and take it home (we've done that before and love it). I must say since it was such an awful last visit, they gave us $50 in comp cards and that paid for this meal! Kuddos for you Carrabba's!

This was Lee's meal... pork chops with mushroom sauce with garlic potatoes... So savory and delicious!

This is what I went for the last time I came (but they gave me the wrong meal-long story on why I didn't correct it. It was the icing on the cake). This is Shrimp and Sea Scallop Spiedino with steamed broccoli. Coated with Italian breadcrumbs, wood-grilled and topped with lemon butter sauce. The scallops were 'melt-in-your-mouth' tender and... oh, to die for....  No room for dessert, but thanks for a great evening, on time, and wonderful food.

Smashburger- Manchester CT

Where: Smashburger

440 Buckland Hills Drive

Manchester, CT

Lee and I have found our new favorite burger place. Not only is the burger juicey (!), but it's fast!! You would think that if the burgers are 'smashed' this thin, they'd be dried out. NOT! The juice was dripping.  This first photo is of the Big Huskey, which Lee always seems to get (although he says on his next trip he's trying the salads out next -me too).

I have had the Avocado Burger before, but decided to try the grilled chicken, since it wouldn't take as long to cook as the crispy chicken (not to mention that it's 'healthier'- ...I know). When I saw it come, it was so thin I thought, It surely will be dried out. Nope! It wasn't at all. Dripping juice, ... really. I may ask for the 'sauce (I think it was ranch) to be put on the side next time, as I'm not usually that heavy handed with sauces.

We also tried the Veggie Freites... fried green beans and carrots without the heavy batter. Very light, and good! This place gets 4 stars from us anytime!!

Mexicali in South Windsor CT

Okay, so I don't go to Mexican restaurants normally, so this review will be my 'virgin' opinion, but after listening to the ladies at work talk about how they LOVE this place (and that it's unique area of parking makes it look like it's not open), when my husband asked if I wanted to go to dinner ('someplace different"), I suggested this place.

 We started out the evening meal with Mexicali wings. boneless. with Blue cheese dressing. Now, understand I NEVER get wings as I consider them greasy and not much meat on them. However our waitress, Alicia, who was super pleasant and very helpful at suggesting several things, said their wings were the best ever. She was right! the sauce we had was mild, but it definitely had a bite!! (Which is good as I love spicy).

My choice was Shrimp and Mushroom in garlic butter (my brain started to think of Shrimp Scampi which I love). While the shrimp was generous (7 large shrimp) and lots of mushrooms, there wasn't much of garlic-y flavor. (I remember halfway home in the car, I realized there was no 'flavor' lingering in my mouth. It was the mildest flavor. I didn't expect that from Mexican food. Heating the leftovers on the next day, the 'butter' was more orange than yellow, so I know there was an oil of some kind used, but not butter as I know it.) I did have an oily feeling in my mouth for quite a while after dinner.

Steamed veggies consisted of zucchini, broccoli stalks, peppers, mushrooms, onion, and carrots were my choice since I'm watching what I eat. Some parts were cooked fine, and some were mushy (zucchini and squash), but it tasted good,.
Mexican rice also seemed healthier that white rice. Nice flavor. I wish I could say a more defined flavor was present, but I can't.

My husband had Mexicali Stir-Fry which he said tasted good. We aren't getting much more than that from him, but the amount served was enough for a full dinner the next day. For BOTH of us!

While we took some home, we decided to share the Dessert Burrito, which had caramel sauce and cinnamon sprinkled with a scoop of ice cream (which also had cinnamon dusted on it). It was filled with apple pie filling, rolled in a tortilla and fried. It made me think of a dessert I make with pie crust. I would have preferred it without the caramel sauce, as it was rather sweet.

It was a good value, but one a scale of 1-10 forks,... it may have gotten a 6.5 ( the wings would have gotten a 9.5!). We will try it again and have something more 'Mexican" and report that review. Our waitress could not have been nicer, or more helpful! Kudoos to her!

Two more Tacos, PLEASE!

I usually don't review a restaurant more than once, unless the meal is REALLY good!

Well.
It WAS!



I decided to try the 'Spicy Tomato Bisque" (I always wonder if restaurants use the word "bisque' to charge more, but in this case I'd have paid whatever they wanted. It was delicious!









Tried two different tacos than the last ones I had here.
Newport something or others (didn't write down the dish) and Fish Tacos-- both good!





Lee had Pork carnitas (the ones he never really got the last time) and Kung Po chicken,on the left--  (he REALLY like that one!)

Lucky Tacos for US!

How lucky we were to 'stumble' upon this place...

We were attending a wake for a friend's mom and needed to get dinner afterwards. I headed in the direction of one of our favorite restaurants, when we realized that it was Monday, and they would be closed. So we headed around the next block thinking of it's 'sister' restaurant on Main St. As we sat at the traffic light, I asked my husband if he felt like tacos. "SURE! I love tacos!"

So we headed a few more bocks down onto Main St to a new place in the neighborhood., Lucky Taco. I've heard some of my FB friends rave about it, but hadn't been there yet. And some of our favorite places we stumble upon, were places that were 'second choices'. Appraently it used to be a food truck run by husband and wife, Dave & Erin Emmons (who came over and introduced herself to us). They now own a 'brick and mortar' at 829 MAIN STREET IN MANCHESTER, CT!!!   The inside is long and narrow with booths or counter seating...

We only went with tacos, but the selection was pretty varied. The tacos were reasonable $3-$5 and we took a few choices to try the flavors out. Some of the 'wing sauces were crazy, too!! Peanut butter and JELLY??!!

Our waitress, Shannon, was very pleasant.... After having GREAT salsa... nice and hot!, we ordered dinner.

My date/hubby ordered a  Pork Carnitas Taco :SLOW SMOKED PULLED PORK SERVED WITH CREAMY POBLANO SLAW, but what he got the same taco as one of mine (Island Jerk Taco). Still, he liked it!  (Guess we'll have to go back to try the REAL Pork Carnitas out. He also ordered two Beef Picadillo tacos: Lean ground beef braised in Spanish sauce with our signature spices, garnished with lettuce, tomato and cheese

I decided to go really different and order one of each of these...

Island Jerk Taco: SLOW ROASTED PORK WITH SPICY, TRUCK MADE JERK SEASONING AND FRESH MANGO PICO DE GALLO $4

Tasty Thai Chicken: SLOW COOKED CHICKEN WITH TRUCK MADE RED CURRY PEANUT SAUCE, TOPPED WITH FRESH CARROT, CABBAGE AND CILANTRO SLAW $4

Other than mixing up his taco ordered... it all tasted GREAT! While I only had water and Lee had iced tea, it wasn't expensive at all... a dinner for less than $22, before tip.  We'll be back!

Second time's the 'Charm'- Actually the first time was too!

Okay, so it isn't our "first time at the rodeo", or in this case, Marlborough Pizza on Rte 66 in Marlborough, CT. Just past the center of town. We 'fell upon it" when we'd wanted to take a drive and eat
1. some place new
2. someplace out of the way and
3. someplace different.

We started off on Rte 2 east and got to about Marlborough when we decided not to spend the day getting to someplace we weren't sure where we were heading to. Neither of us have a smart phone, so no googling in the car and we didn't look online at home. We were just plain hungry.

I hadn't written a review in a while, but thought I should. We'd had a really good grinder the last time (FULL of meat and so REASONABLE- $6.50 for 8"... yeah, that's right EIGHT INCHES!!! and I had had the Seafood stuffed sole for $16.95, but the stuffing was AMAZING!

Seafood Stuffed Sole-- Stuffed with homemade seafood stuffing (baby shrimp, Crab meat, ritz crackers and mozzarella cheese).  I brought half my dinner home the portions were HUGE! I enjoyed it TWICE, since I had it the next day) Okay, enough about the LAST time we were there.

Because the food was so good and was a great deal for your meal, I wanted a place to go to 'celebrate' us beginning our life as empty-nesters! We went after the 6:30pm news was over, so we probably got there at 7:20pm or so....pretty empty and nice and quiet.

My husband thought he'd get a grinder, so he could have half of it for tomorrow, but when we saw some of the meals on the menu, our thoughts turned to pure ... Aaahhh.

Since I'm losing weight and knew I wouldn't eat a lot, but I planned on taking some home, so the calories would be divided to a few days.
I really felt bad for one of the girls bringing my tea spilled the tray so it spilled over her hand, but 'thankfully (?)' it wasn't boiling hot (really girls, it SHOULD have been boiling in order to steep my teabag). She didn't get burned. For THAT, I'm glad she didn't have it hot. Our waitress, Amanda, was the best! She was so attentive without being 'in our face', and was super helpful, getting us just what we needed when we needed it, ... making suggestions, warning us of the portion sizes, LOL. Even her suggestion of the sausage soup made us decide to order a bowl to take home. I'll add that review on the end of this once we have it.

Bread was nice a fresh Italian bread with four 'packets' of butter. I almost had two pieces, then thought better of it. I remembered they served large portions. I brought it home.

We had an inkling of the portion size when we got the salad. It WAS pretty big! They bring the dressings on the side and you can have more if you need it. The salad itself was 'about average', mixed iceberg (maybe there was a little romaine and mixed greens, with a few grape tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded carrots, red onions. I would have loved to have crumbled feta, or croutons, or something... but I liked it. I missed taking a photo of it before I ate it, but this was what I took home (I probably ate 2/3 of it)

I ordered the  "Baked Scrod Italiano -- Fresh baked boston scrod, topped with sliced tomatoes, spinach, fresh mozzarella, bread crumbs, in our lemon white wine and butter Sauce" ... and OHHH the butter sauce! I cut off a section that was probably 2" long and that was probably a quarter of it. It was tender and flavorful. Cooked just right. I had a baked potato (which I had 1/3 of) with butter and sour cream on the side (saved that for take home), and roasted spring veggies, carrots, squash, cauliflower, brocolli, (I only ate half of that). So I'm sure you see I planned on having it for two more meals... maybe? This is what I took home... (I decided after I'd cut into it, that maybe it's worthy of a blog post. Oh, yeah, it was)

(this is what I brought home....)

My hubby ordered  "Chicken Parmagiana--Breaded boneless chicken breast baked with our marinara sauce and Topped with mozzarella (with spaghetti)". It looked really good and as hard as he tried, he couldn't eat all of it either. Neither one of us could finish the meal. Amanda even asked if we wanted to take some of their cannoli's home (to which I said I don't really like cannoli's. She said she didn't either until she had these....) hmmm. maybe next time.

This is what he took home....

My only suggestion...Since you had three tvs going (muted), and nice music playing, you might want to think of putting closed caption on the tvs, so for those watching it, can see what they are saying. (It actually had an interesting show on about the Chicago cubs playing a game in which a fan, Steve Bartman, caught a ball that was still in play - well, the player on the field could have really caught it and it would have changed the game. Instead, Mr Bartman REALLY put a hurt on the team's mental play and eventually the hampered the results of the game. Would have been interesting to hear what they were saying about it). 

Can't wait to go again!