by Naoya W. on Much like the Grape that previously occupied this space, this place needs to go. Having heard about this spot from some friends, I knew coming into it that I wasn't going to be stoked... Especially after having eaten at numerous real taquerias around town. Nonetheless, I thought I would give it a try. No risk no reward right? Well, no reward in this case . This place wasn't quite busy when we walked in. But something about it made us feel unwelcome. Maybe it was the fact that it took us a minute to be seated. Maybe it was the fact that Shelli was overlooked by our waitress numerous times to order a drink... You would think that on a slow night it would be the opposite... The highlight of this place in my opinion were the free chips... That's about it. Looking at the menu, I decided to get a Tecate. $2.00 and I like it. What could go wrong? Well they were out... Fancy that. It's cheap beer people, stock it like it's going out of style. I got a Sol instead. When it came to the menu, it seemed like we could only get plates of tacos that were all the same. No a la carte? Well when we asked, we found out we could do that, so here is my order: Puerco taco Short Rib taco Carne Asada taco. It came out and I took a look. My sneaking suspicions had come true... Store bought tortillas. How are you going to have a place that charges $3-4/taco and serve them in dry, crappy corn tortillas? Hell, I make tacos at home that are done with homemade corn tortillas. Shit isn't that hard people. Get some masa + warm water + salt + shortening, mix, ball, press and heat... It's not rocket science. Nonetheless, I started eating. The pork (puerco) was the most flavorful of the bunch, but that's not saying much. It was pretty bland and mush. Braising is fine, but make it less liquidy next time. Even crisp it up by throwing it in a skillet for a sec. Texture is key, and the dry ass tortilla doesn't count. Short rib was flavorless... I had to dump some salsa/hot sauce all over it. The carne asada was the worst. I ate it with a knife and fork. Shelli's fish taco was cold... When we tried to get the waitresses attention, she was no where to be found. Actually she was hanging with her friends on the other side of the bar, out of plain view. Sneaky... Needless to say, the service was less than stellar. I have to say that I was most disappointed when the bill came. $25. That's 6 a la carte tacos and 1 beer. Shit. I could have saved a ton of $ by eating on Buford, including the cost of gas. All in all, the signs they have posted around the restaurant tell it all. PURE is an oil company, not a taqueria. Know your audience, and know your craft. No bueno.
by Jaimie M. on So. I have been to Yoshi's twice now, both to see the same musician, and had two completely different experiences. It's like Jekyll and Hyde - the lovely club/bar itself being Dr. Jekyll and the shoddy restaurant being the evil Mr. Hyde. A few months ago we just got tickets online, showed up an hour or so in advance, got our seat assignments, and had a drink at the bar until the doors opened and we were escorted to our (great) seats. Once inside, we had another couple drinks, some tasty nibbles, and had an amazing time. Complete VIP treatment from everyone on staff, from the coat check girl, to the ticket cashier, to the bartender, ushers, and servers. Since we had such a good time last time and enjoyed the food/atmosphere, we thought we'd make an evening of it this time. We booked our tickets, made a reservation and were looking forward to a lovely dinner with preferential seating as described in their ticketing policy. Big mistake. We showed up, picked up our (to be assigned) tickets, and went over to the host to be seated. He completely ignored us for a few minutes, then greeted us in a borderline rude manner. We were seated in a packed, hot, area less than a foot from the tables on either side of us. Stark contrast from the lounge with its well spaced tables and comfortable seating. It took quite a while for our server to come over to us, but we finally got menus, managed to call her over to order after about 10 minutes of waiting, and eventually received our food. We had a few rolls, an appetizer, sashimi plate, coffee, and dessert of fresh fruit plate. Everything was okay but nothing great. Our server was really awful - she took forever to bring and process bill, and when she did, we realized she had not given us seat assigments. We finally tracked her down to ask about them, and she had somehow lost them. Luckily one of her colleagues (thankfully) stepped in and he helped us out. The seats were all right, but less prime than the seats we'd gotten before without having dinner beforehand. Once we were in the club, everything was good again, but the dinner was really a stressful, lackluster experience. After doing it both ways, I would definitely recommend the cheaper and more effective option of just booking tickets online and having drinks/snacks at the lounge rather than the restaurant.
