Mamacita Review

Mamacita served us delicious Mexican food, though desserts, while decent, didn't quite measure up to the rest of the meal.

We started with a pitcher of pomegranate margaritas. It was well balanced, nicely flavored, and we all enjoyed it.

Our order of tortilla chips and guacamole arrived first. The guacamole was some of the best I've ever had. Terrifically smooth, very fresh, and topped with crumbled Mexican cheese. The chips were good as well. Although not warm, they tasted home made. This plate also came with a little bowl of tomato salsa. We all agreed it was definitely good quality salsa, but kept bypassing it because the guacamole was so amazing. And, a nice touch, they brought us more chips when we ran out but still had guacamole left.

Our calamari tossed with jalapeno slices and lightly battered was nice and hot. It was so good, we frequently ignored the the sweet dipping sauce (according to the menu "chipotle-agave"), though one attendee sung its praises. At this point, having concluded our salty and fried beginning to the meal, we admitted everything thus far was "impressive."

Carnitas, consisting of moist and tasty shredded pork, kernels of corn, more guacamole, and some fresh Mexican cream and cheese, served on small corn tortillas, was still good and nicely spicy.

The meatballs were the only miss of the main courses. They were merely decent. They were served on a polenta mash with cilantro leafs, about which one person remarked, "polenta is normally bad. This is not bad." And another added, "In fact, it made the dish," contrasting it with the meatballs.

Our final entree was slow-cooked chicken enchiladas. These were very good, a nice mixture of chicken, spices, mashed tomatoes (none of that generic red enchilada sauce one finds at many Mexican restaurants), Mexican cream and cheese, and, we were happy to observe, a bit more avocado.

Desserts weren't quite as notable.

Our churros were decent, normal churros, amply (or more than amply?) coated with cinnamon and sugar. They were served with a small cup of hot chocolate and whipped cream. I felt dipping the churros didn't do much. We all agreed the hot chocolate was the best component of the dish.

Our other dessert was "baked chocolate pudding." It was unusual and got somewhat positive reactions. The "pudding" was cake-like: at times soft and gooey, at others baked to the point of being hard and crunchy. On top was caramel ice cream. We didn't like the ice cream and felt it detracted from the "pudding." Mixed in were peanuts and a few blackberries; these complimented the chocolate well. Also accompanying this dessert was a thin hardened mesh of sugar. It was sticky and hard to break off a piece. I was scared of it because it looked like plastic.

Mamacita was filled with the usual well dressed Marina crowd. And it was noisy! The atmosphere and decor felt hip and Mexican. Lit polygonal stars (like this) and spheres hung from the ceiling. Together with the twig thatched roof that also hung from the ceiling in places, it felt like we were under a starry Mexican sky. Walls were tastefully decorated with paintings and photographs from Mexico.

Our waitress, cute and helpful, sparked some of our dinnertime conversations. She also provided good service, including some subtle points such as asking whether we wanted salt on the rims of the margarita glasses. (Some did; some didn't.) The other staff, delivering and clearing plates, also did a good job.

The total was $31/person including tax and tip but not including drinks.

Original Announcement

You know the drill. Tomorrow's Wednesday. If we have a quorum, we'll head to Mamacita, a Mexican restaurant in the Marina district that's said to be one of the top ten restaurants to open in San Francisco last year.

http://www.mamacitasf.com/

Please tell me if you can come!

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