Friday, July 30, 2010

El Parador Tropical Garden Restaurant

The Good: Nice Decor, Chips and Salsa, Good Service
The Bad: Low Quality Food

We visited El Parador today for a dinner-get-together with people from work. I was excited for dinner after looking at their website that was nicely designed and the food sounded delicious. 

The restaurant was nicely decorated with Christmas lights, shrubbery, and paper flowers.  From the outside, the place definitely didn't look like a restaurant, it looked like an oasis.  

We arrived a little late and had missed the waitress.  The other people that arrived had chips and salsa served to them.  While we waited, we tried out the chips, which were good, not too salty with a decent crunch.  We got some salsa after all the drinks were served and the orders was taken.  The salsa was nicely seasoned and it had a decent spiciness to it. 

One of people at my table had ordered guacamole and it was fun watching it being made table side.  I really enjoy making guacamole myself, and really liked watching it being made.  The guacamole was nice and fresh, and salt was added by the customer.  The overall tasted was fresh and healthy.

Food was served almost right after the appetizers were brought out.  Everyone got their food at the same time, which was great because we all got to eat together. 

For dinner, I ordered the Smoked Salmon Salad, while Andy ordered the Arizona Chicken.  I was extremely glad I asked for the dressing on the side because it had a really bad metal after taste to it.  The salad was served without the avocado and the jicama tasted old.  The salmon and salad was ok and enough to fill me up for dinner. 

Andy's Arizona Chicken was a little better than my salad, but not by a whole lot.  The chicken was very bland and so was the side of buttered vegetables.  The twice baked chile was the most interesting on the plate, which had a good taste to it.

Overall, we did not have a good experience at El Parador and we will not be visiting again.

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