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Reviews by MissChryss
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 reviews
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Coyote Cafe, Fitzroy North, VIC
Coyote Cafe
Mexican/ Latin American Restaurant
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
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Below Average |
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Food 3 |
Ambience 4 |
Service 5 |
Value 6 |
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My husband and I recently spent two months on the coast of California and Baja California (Mexico) basically eating Mexican food and drinking margaritas – we called it The Quesadilla and Margarita Tour of the West Coast of the Americas. When we got back home in October we suffered withdrawals and set about finding a great Mexican restaurant in Melbourne to satisfy our cravings. As we live in Brunswick we decided to first try Coyote Cafe (despite the fact that it isn't featured in The Age Good Food Guide - a glaring indictment).
Atmosphere? What atmosphere? Value? We paid $14 each for margaritas and when we asked that they be made with lime (as they are supposed to be concocted) we were told there were no limes because they were too expensive. When the profit margin on a $14 cocktail is as high as it is I imagine they could afford 99c limes and absorb it into the price. Am I fussy? Probably. When we asked for our margaritas to be blended we were told that the tequila we had ordered doesn't blend. Did we have this problem in the US and Mexico? No. We'd ordered a wide range of quality tequilas there and had no problems with the blending of them. So what was the deal with it at Coyote Cafe? After the margarita debacle we decided to try some sangria. This, despite the fact that sangria is a 'Spanish' drink and not a Mexican one. We let that small fact slide because we were thirsty. Suffice to say, the super sweet jug of cheap wine that was brought to our table didn't really fulfil our desires.
Onto the food: First of all, a quesadilla. What is a quesadilla? Well a Spanish food dictionary defines it thus: flour tortilla turnover which is usually stuffed with cheese, then toasted, fried or baked. What we received bore very little resemblance to this. First of all we received a corn tortilla. During our overseas trip my husband and I had dozens of quesadillas (of varying quality to be sure) but none of them were made with corn tortillas. Why experiment and play around with perfection? Anyway, I hate corn tortillas - my fault for not reading the menu properly. I had just assumed that since they were quesadillas they would be flour tortillas. Secondly, our corn tortillas were hardly stuffed with cheese. More, sparsely sprinkled with cheese. They tasted OK, but certainly not the delight that I have come to expect of a quesadilla. Next we ordered the seviche (sic). First of all seviche is actually spelt ceviche - please get it right ladies. Secondly, both the women that were serving us got the pronunciation of it wrong. Is this a crime?? Probably not, but when I eat at a restaurant I expect the servers to know the food. Thirdly it was a very average version of the dish with no taste to it, and the texture of seafood that had been frozen.
Next, the 'famous' fajitas. I don't know what they're famous for but it can't be for being very good. The tortillas came out in a little plastic fake-terracotta container. Cheap, nasty and they caused the tortillas to sweat and become soggy. The steak was rubbery and just not very tasty. My husband and I made our own fajitas a week later and they were sensational. You know why? It’s because we care about the taste and the quality. We went out and bought the BEST ingredients we could – regardless of how much it cost (including fresh limes and eye fillet for the fajitas). We are not complacent about our taste buds as the owners of this café seem to be of Melbourne patrons. They also seem to take advantage of the fact that Mexican fare is rare in this city, serving out any old rendition of it because Melbournians just don’t know any better. It's a shame that this is what we thought of Coyote Café, but that’s the way it seemed to be. It was a really disappointing meal and a very disappointing foray into Melb-Mex.
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15 November 2007
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 reviews
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