MEXIQUITO'S REVISITED

I wrote previously about my happiness at finding good Tex-Mex food...FINALLY... in the South Padre/Port Isabel area.  I was happy to find a low-cost little place with dependable quality Mexican food that tasted good...every time.  Mexiquito's was the answer to my dilemma but I had not been there for a few months because of my busy baking schedule and the holidays.  Monday I was riding solo, doing errands, making deliveries... and decided to stop in for a late lunch (arriving around 1:20) before heading back home.  I was parched and tired and starving.

A couple of times I had thought about stopping and their few parking spaces were all filled up...or they were closed in the evening...so I figured late lunch time would be perfect.  I was not far off my mark :-)

I arrived to find the usually immaculately clean restaurant nearly empty of people...but filled with dirty tables!  OK, I was hungrily cranky, so I kept that in mind as I looked around for somewhere to sit.  The waitress said "just sit anywhere" then she looked around like "oh, no clean tables" and scurried to clean my chosen table.  She left a basket of half-eaten chips on the table and I was sure hoping she was not expecting me to eat those.  She came back in a few moments and got my order for a Diet Coke to drink, and delivered it rapidly.  I felt immensely better after slugging down a few drinks of that deliciously cold fizzy soda.  Now, if I could just get chips and salsa I'd be happy.  Another person was now industriously clearing all of the dirty tables...and I thought to myself... Valentine's Day lunch is always a busy day...bet they were slammed. (see my mood was improving due to re-hydration)  I decided on the white-board lunch special of the Mexican Plate...normally $8.99 but on special for $7.99.  Two cheese enchiladas, 2 beef tacos, a chalupa, beans, rice, and "salad" aka (I knew from experience) a small pile of lettuce and tomato.  Sounded great to me.  I was starved.  Gave my order and worked on reading my book trying to send mental images of chips and salsa to my waitress.  I purposefully was not asking for something that is always automatically provided there because ... well, I shouldn't have to.  Finally, a fresh hot basket of tortilla chips and cooked salsa came and the old basket was whisked away.  Ahhhh, heaven. 

My lunch came in a very reasonable amount of time...about the time I was telling myself to stop eating chips or I would be too full to eat my lunch.  Two full plates of food were delivered!  Everything was tasty as anticipated.  There was enough food for two people IMHO.  I ate half of everything and almost all of both tacos.  The tacos are softly fried (not crisp) and the beef was well-seasoned.  The chalupa was on a crisp fried tortilla base (as it should be) with refried beans, a generous layer of beef, lettuce, and cheese (I always ask for no tomato).  The beans and rice were tasty and the cheese enchiladas were as good as I remembered them.  A very satisfying meal.

Mexiquitos is not haute cuisine.  It is a great mom-and-pop place to consume filling and generously portioned Tex-Mex food in Port Isabel.  You won't be able to miss the bright green building on the south side of Hwy 100.  And remember, if you go to a restaurant at the tail end of lunch time on a holiday...you are likely to find tired staff ... if you go in hungry (like I did) and feeling irritable, hold your opinion until you get settled with a drink and a starter.  It will help adjust your attitude!  I'm happy they pulled it together for me and gave me the same enjoyable lunch as if I'd arrived at straight up noon on Valentine's Day. (after the bumpy start...which I'm not holding against them!)

SPI FLIP FLOP FOODIE RATING:

3 1/2 – Pretty Yummy - I feel my flip flops wanting to head back from time to time!