One of our favorite places in town is Paloma Blanca, a high-end Mexican food restaurant in the ritzy part of the city. It's a 20 minute drive but the patio and interior are so nice that it's worth it to leave the suburbs for a drive into the heart of things. It's their slogan, in fact - "Always Worth the Trip."
Raves:
Their ceviche - which I've now had twice - is wonderful. Fully "cooked" white fish and (I think) some shrimp, along with tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. My only gripe is that they serve the ceviche with packaged saltines, while tortilla chips (which they also serve in unlimited amounts with salsa, as an appetizer) are so much better with the dish. The best thing about the ceviche is that an appetizer portion - which is HUGE, more than enough for one person - is only about $8. This is half the price of their cheapest entrees.
Complaints:
We've been to Paloma Blanca several times - the first visit was for a friend's birthday party, on a busy night, with a reservation for 8 made ahead of time. Nick and I arrived first (on time) and were told we could not be seated until the entire party arrived. With 8 people expected to show up at various times, this was very inconvenient. We waited in their lobby, which thankfully has a bar and very comfortable leather sofas. Unfortunately, the bar waitstaff is painfully slow and the bar is very crowded (probably with people waiting for their parties to be seated!).
Last night, a Tuesday, we called the restaurant on our way to see if they take call-aheads. They said they do not, but that things were "slow" (because it was a Tuesday night) and that a table for 2 on the patio would be easy to get. We arrived 15 minutes later, and were promptly told that there were no tables available and that we should wait at the bar. In truth, the restaurant was packed, and there were many people waiting for tables. ARGH! On top of this, the hostess we spoke with was very short with us, and had no explanation for the fact that 15 minutes earlier we'd been told a table on the patio would be available.
We waited at the bar (most of that time waiting for the bartenders to serve us) and 15-20 minutes later the hostess activated our buzzer. Without a smile, she escorted us onto the patio, where there were at least 6 empty tables available! We were seated in the back of the patio, the least picturesque part - again without a word of apology.
Final complaint: the wine prices. I know as well as the next person that a bottle of Beringer costs about $7 at the grocery store. Beringer was the least expensive wine on their list, and they charged $8 per GLASS. I don't mind paying a little bit more than wine is worth in exchange for the convenience of drinking it at a restaurant with a meal, but $8 a glass for Beringer? It was almost enough to keep me from ordering that first glass, and it was the reason I did not order a second glass. They would be wise to lower the prices so that patrons could "wait at the bar" with something affordable to sip on, and so that their patrons could order more than one glass without breaking the budget.
