I was in the mood for some good Mexican food today, and a friend recommended I try out Salsa Brava here in Flagstaff.
I arrived to the restaurant for lunch at about 12:30 pm to a less than half full restaurant. We were greeted immediately and seated in a very comfortable booth. Beverages were brought to the table fairly quickly, along with a basket of chips ($1.50 charge, which was mentioned when we were seated. I still wanted them so I said yes). With the chips my friend and I were provided with three 3 oz. cups and instructed to the location of the salsa bar. I personally love salsa bars, especially when they have a variety of salsas. This location had approximately 10 to 12 selections; however, it looked like a few were the same on both sides of the bar. I picked out a hot and a mild salsa for myself. My friend did not partake in the salsa bar or chips.
The mild salsa was, in my opinion, less than mild and actually rather bland. It was a mix of onions and tomatoes with some cilantro mixed in, but there seemed to be no flavor for me at all. I went back to the salsa bar a second time and got another bowl, mixing the salsa, just to be sure, but it was still extremely bland for me. The hot salsa, on the other hand, had some good heat and a nice flavor. I enjoyed it very much, getting another bowl of it as well.
Today, for “happy hour”, they were offering $3 guacamole, so I decided to try that as well. The presentation was as an appetizer, coming out on a small plate. There were a handful of chips to one side and the guacamole was placed into a small red chip shaped bowl, which was seated on a bed of shredded lettuce. For me, the guacamole was also extremely bland and needed a few dashes of salt to bring out the flavor.
For the meal, I ordered the lunch combination fajitas, and my friend ordered the lunch Taco’s Al Carbon.
My fajitas came out on a semi-sizzling platter, as the platter also had a large amount of Spanish rice and a medium black tortilla chip filled with re-fried beans. A small side plate contained some shredded lettuce, pico de Gallo, and small red tortilla chips filled with sour cream and guacamole. The fajitas were nice and there was definite flavor amongst the many items; however, the chicken seemed to be lacking in any type of fajita marinade, while the steak was nice and flavorful.
My friends plate came with three corn tortillas with meat and cilantro, along with sides of Spanish rice and re-fried beans. At first sight, I was a bit upset, because two of the taco’s had a nice amount of meat and fillings in them; however, the third taco was less than the other two, and it was extremely noticeable. I brought this to the servers attention and had to actually point out the discrepancy in fillings for the taco’s. As you can see from the picture, it is extremely noticeable. She took this information to the manager, of which I was just mentioning that items should be consistent, especially on the same plate. I am not exactly sure what it was the manager said, but it appeared to be something along the lines of “lets make them consistent”. A few moments later she brought out a little cup with some more of the meat for my friend to add to his taco.
Overall, I will say that I did enjoy the food, even though some of the items needed a bit more seasoning and flavor. The service was nice and fast, although the manager was a bit abrupt with our issue.
