Friday night down at the Mall Cribbs Causeway isn’t really where I wanted to find myself this week. But nevertheless that is where I was, shopping for lighting in a complex that has enough lighting options to give Blackpool a good run for its money. John Lewis, Marks and Spencer’s, Next and Argos all offering different pendants, chandeliers, lamps and wall lights. Thankfully I only needed two lights for the living room but as usual walked out with more than what I wanted. Two chandeliers and a ceiling light! With all of that done it was time to eat. We chose to eat in the Mall because let’s face it who wants to be cooking on a Friday night?
The mall offers a wide variety of places to eat. From takeaways to eat in restaurants the choice is quite varied. However for some reason KFC and McDonalds are no longer there? Fried chicken and hamburgers are a staple in the Patchway diet so I don’t know how they are coping with these two institutions now gone? We decided to move away from the main food court as Yo Sushi isn’t all that, Pizza Hut can play havoc with your colon and Café Rouge is rather overpriced for what you get! On the same level as the main food court but at the other end of the Mall the John Lewis end you’ll find opposite HMV the restaurant come takeaway ‘Tortilla’. A Californian stroke Mexican eatery that specialises in burritos, nachos and tacos. It’s been open a little while and seems to be doing well? It’s not often you see a specific taco place to eat in so we gave it a go.
Walking in the instant impression you get is this place is the Subway Sandwiches of the taco world. It’s long deli style counter bulging with different taco and burrito fillings. From salsa to pulled pork it was all there. Chunks of beef swimming in a chilli sauce glistening under the halogen lights. Crisp fresh salad awaiting the variety of different dressings and golden tortilla chips standing out like shards of edible glass from their container. We where greeted warmly with a smile from the guy behind the counter who took our order. I had the trio of tacos with pulled pork, cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. My shadow had a baked burrito with rice, beans, cheese and salsa. We sat down in an almost entirely empty restaurant. There was no atmosphere, there’s no vibrancy or energy in this place. It’s dead! A real shame as it has great potential to be a really fun place to eat on a Friday night with friends.
Onto the food then. Once sat down I started to tuck in to my first taco. Now there’s no easy way of eating these. You can’t eat them with a knife and fork because despite looking like a wally you’d just get food everywhere. So it was a case of picking the thing up and getting on with it. The first bite was a disaster because half of the filling dropped out. But that was because my technique was all wrong. Second go and second bite and wow! Fantastic flavours. The fresh salsa was tasty and alive. The flavours worked. You could taste every individual element and it wasn’t overwhelming with chilli or pepper. There was a kick but not one that kicked you in the chest! The guacamole, again fresh vibrant flavours and it wasn’t all baby mush. The chunks of avocado where present and it worked really well with the cheese, sour cream and pork. The pork was tender and juicy. Again not overdone with spice but just right. One down two to go. Both demolished in quick succession. I really enjoyed this meal. It was nice to have something different and this place definitely offers that.
One the burrito and the taco where gone there was only one thing left to do! Order some more of course! Not burritos and taco though. Instead a plate of their delicious looking loaded nachos. We had a huge plate piled high with pulled pork, guacamole, sour cream, salsa and melted cheese. The cheese was liquid cheese the kind you see only on American TV shows like molten loveliness oozing in and out of the nooks and crannies that made up this plate of tortilla shards. Every mouthful from the very first to the very last was a joy. Crunchy, gooey, meaty and flavourful I could of quite happily eaten another plate had someone put another in from of me.
After all that food it was time to leave. We’d already paid the bill as you pay as you go which saves in any embarrassment of accidentally walking out without paying. Yes I have done that on more than one occasion! Not on purpose though I hasten to add. We where now in a completely empty restaurant but the staff behind the counter thanked us for coming, wished us well and bid us goodbye. Top marks for customer service. I’ll definitely be going back because the food is very good and yes I would recommend this place to family and friends.
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