La Fonda Roberto's

La Sierra Motel
Cuauhtemoc Sur Oriente 2800 Colonia America, Tijuana

I. The Setting

Walking into the dining room one immediately gets the feeling that you are truly in a Mexican restaurant. Where else could you encounter a case containing dolls with elaborate Spanish dresses sitting alongside replicas of human skulls? The multi-tiered fountain of plastic fruit with life-sized swans adds to the impression. Cut-out multi-colored paper flags hanging from the ceiling add an air of festivity. Overall, one feels very comfortable in the dining room. That feeling is reinforced by the 3 semi-circular padded booths alongside one wall and the ajoining glass wall of sliding doors giving a view of the Motel pool. The women's restroom was clean, although the handle for the hot water faucet was missing. We were most pleased to find that when the mariachis visited, they were not the usual in-your-face, obtrusive and loud group frequently found in Mexican dining places.

II. The Food and the Service

Your meal starts with corn chips and not one, not two, but three separate salas: a red sala made with pumpkin seeds, a mole poblano sauce with a hint of licorice that was good; some of us found it strange to eat with corn chips, but others declared it a taste sensation. The crowning glory was the chile verde - the best I've ever tasted. Next, a waiter comes along with a tray full of entrees. No plastic replica, this is the real thing, all the specialities of the day prepared and presented for your viewing pleasure. The practice is to put 3 or so entrees on one very large platter for display, so that you can choose by viewing the "real thing;" at first it looks as if each platter is an entree made for hungry giants, but this is not the case. There were seven specialities of the day on the Saturday we visited, all in the $7-$10. U.S. range. All entrees include soup or salad and rice. The soup was potato/spinach. The potatoes were in chunks and the soup was somewhat pedestrian, but not objectionable. The salad was very good, with a large slice of avocado on top and a delicate oil-vinegar dressing. The white rice was attractively served, molded into a heart shape adorned with red and green bell pepper strips. We tried several of the specialities. "Pechuga de angel," breast of chicken and squash flowers wrapped in a tortilla and drenched in a delicious green sauce, with chiles and cheese on top was a big hit, as was the "dedos de Montezuma" or nopal cactus stuffed with small strips of beef asado and covered with a delicious green sauce. Also available were cornish hens "gallinitas," fish stuffed with huazontle, osco busco and several varieties of pork. One member of our group tried the Chile en Nogada from the regular menu for 65 pesos and reported that it was delicious. The sauce was sweet, contained raisins and the dish was covered with maraschino cherries! They also prepared our request, filete al mojo de ajo (filet of fish in garlic sauce), which was not on the menu, but was cooked to perfection and delicious. The waiters were friendly and very accommodating. They had no problem providing separate checks and were very tolerant of our numerous questions. The service was excellent and they got everything right. Their English was so-so.

III. Beverages

The Margaritas and the Sangria preparada were both good; strong and very dry. Santo Tomas and LA Cetto wines are available, as well as diet Coke and Jamaica. The coffee was excellent.

IV. Dessert

Entrees included a complimentary traditional alcoholic eggnog type drink that was quite good. Two types of flan are available - caramelo and cajeta. I found the cajeta to be particularly interesting - darker than the caramelo and made with a processed, sweet goat's milk, it had a goat's milk flavor that was quite pleasing to a goat-milk lover. The flan was firm.

Search

Copyright © Pat Fisher, 1998-02 Last Visited: August, 1998 email: pfisher@hungryhiker-tj.com