Mekenita Mexican Grille
| Address: | 17623 Dale Mabry Hwy, Lutz, FL 33548, USA |
| Phone: | +1 813-264-1212 |
| Site: | mekenitamexicangrille.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM Closed |
Location
Photos 52
Reviews 5
AI
Aimee Charbeneau
Not as good as I hoped. I was told by co-workers that the owner was one of the original chefs for Roys. Having recently eaten a fantastic dinner at Roys, we decided to give Mekenita a shot. I now wonder if the owner was perhaps fired. The agua fresca was interesting. I like the ones at a small stand on Fletcher and 22nd much better, even Taco Buss, but this was passable. The mango iced tea was fantastic. The chips were also very good. The season salt set them apart from other area restaurants. The medium hot salsa was also very good. So that was the good. The burrito was ok. The parmesan crust was a unique twist. It was fairly large, but only mediocre. There were no sides. Everything was piled inside of the burrito. The chicken plantain nachos were interesting. I dont think Id call plantain chips "nachos" because theyre not what youd expect. The first few bites were good, but since the pineapple salsa was so overpowering, the sour taste that predominated the entire dish became the only thing you could taste. Some of the hot salsa helped, but then it was too much too as it residually gets hotter. There was also a big pile of raw chopped cilantro in the corner. A garnish? The plantains were too soggy to pick up. Its a fork and knife dish. The worst thing by far was the shrimp salad. I expected grilled shrimp. It was deep fried in extremely thick batter and covered in a creamy green sour sauce that turned the breading into flobby, mushy, sour paste that was unpalatable. There was no shell, just some strips of crunchy fried flour tortilla that were pasted to the side of the bowl with flavorless guacamole. Instead of Pico de Gallo, there was a chewy corn salsa stuff in a wad on one side, overcooked tomato-rice mush in the middle with undercooked "refried" beans under that. The lettuce was shriveled and limp and the raw onions were huge. It was literally the worst salad Ive ever had. Wendys makes a better Taco Salad. Thats really sad. The strawberry cheesecake flan was ok, but it was more cheesecake than flan. The texture was very gluey like cheesecake (not the New York style). This was very expensive for Mexican food. The underwhelming size of the dishes coupled with the monotone flavors and unimpressive quality made the $42.00 spent a complete waste. Another weird note is that you have to go to a counter to order. Your then given a number and told to seat yourself. They bring you your dish. You get your own fountain drinks and the plates and cups are plastic. Very cheap for that kind of money. Misses the mark for a nice night out. Taco Bus and Tijuana Flats are better choices, but Vallarta has better authentic food. UPDATE: dropped to one star for gastroentestinal upset brought on by food poisoning. Both of us were sick all night. Never again!
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A Private User
I took my family here for a birthday because it seemed like a fun and different place to eat. The menu looked interesting and everyone in my party chose a different item to get a good idea of what was in store. 4 out of the 6 dishes came out together, the waiter told us he would be right back with the other two dishes - mine and my husbands. I told everyone to start eating, since surely the rest of the plates would be out soon. Well, time passed and the waiter was no where to be seen, finally he came by to ask if everything was good - so I had to remind him that we were still missing two whole meals! Finally our food came out, but it tasted like it had been forgotten under a heat lamp. About 5 minutes later, the server came by asking if people needed to go boxes. Seriously! Talk about reading your table, we *just* got our food... but I guess everyone else was done since we had been forgotten. Overall, the food was not impressive. The tacos were rubbery, not crunchy or easy to eat. There was too much cilantro, it was overwhelming. We asked to speak with a manager, we just wanted to explain the situation and I wanted to point out that the womens restroom was really dark (a light was burned out) - when the manager came to the table, turned out it was the owner and he seemed really put out, like we were wasting his time. Our business was clearly unappreciated, we werent treated at all like valued customers. I was more than willing to give the restaurant another chance, but you cant excuse rudeness. 1 star is being generous.
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A Private User
I took my family here for a birthday because it seemed like a fun and different place to eat. The menu looked interesting and everyone in my party chose a different item to get a good idea of what was in store. 4 out of the 6 dishes came out together, the waiter told us he would be right back with the other two dishes - mine and my husbands. I told everyone to start eating, since surely the rest of the plates would be out soon. Well, time passed and the waiter was no where to be seen, finally he came by to ask if everything was good - so I had to remind him that we were still missing two whole meals! Finally our food came out, but it tasted like it had been forgotten under a heat lamp. About 5 minutes later, the server came by asking if people needed to go boxes. Seriously! Talk about reading your table, we *just* got our food... but I guess everyone else was done since we had been forgotten. Overall, the food was not impressive. The tacos were rubbery, not crunchy or easy to eat. There was too much cilantro, it was overwhelming. We asked to speak with a manager, we just wanted to explain the situation and I wanted to point out that the womens restroom was really dark (a light was burned out) - when the manager came to the table, turned out it was the owner and he seemed really put out, like we were wasting his time. Our business was clearly unappreciated, we werent treated at all like valued customers. I was more than willing to give the restaurant another chance, but you cant excuse rudeness. 1 star is being generous.
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Ryan Roy
My wife and I were in here on September 19th 2016 after a hard workout at LA Fitness and ordered a burrito and a salad. I was honestly taken away with how good the food was and we received it in a fast manner. One thing with burritos is how well its wrapped, and my burrito stayed in tact through out the entire meal. Once I bit into the burritO I then understood why the restaurant has been in business for so long. I will definitely be back for more very soon! oh I forgot to mention they give chips and salsa with the meal, and those alone are a good enough reason to go in. The food was so good that I didnt mention the service. I spoke to two employees and both were very knowledgeable about the history of the restaurant and menu items. I felt very confident in my order and felt welcomed and not rushed even though it was getting close to their closing time. Thank you for keeping great service alive and providing quality food!
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Ron Mueller
Wife and I stopped by on Friday evening for dinner, she had never been and I havent been in many years. They werent real busy like I remember them in past. We order burrito and tacos with sangria. After about 30 minutes of still no food we started to get concerned, other people also seemed why is it taking so long to get food. Then about 45 minutes into to it I just couldnt stand waiting much longer we both wanted to go, I got up and went to the kitchen and asked what is the deal its been over 45 minutes and our party of 2 still didnt have any food. The employees didnt seem least of bit concerned or show any empathy for us. They assured us would be much longer food finally came out after no joke waiting 50 minutes for 1 burrito and 3 small tacos, WTF this ridiculous. The food wasnt even least bit worth the $45 it cost. This place has really gone downhill. I will never go back and poor customer service.
