Today’s lunch group was a small one. There was supposed to be at least 15 of us and there were only 5. Poor Ruth, she had made a reservation for 16 and most people didn’t come for one reason or another. She called the restaurant before we left to give them a warning.
El Presidio doesn’t open for lunch until 1pm so since we were in no hurry we took the green bus. It usually goes through the Golden Zone and right down the malecon to old town but today it wandered around inland a bit and we passed the Aquarium at one point. There is so much construction on the malecon the buses seem to be going every which way.
Here we are heading down Constitution towards the restaurant.
We pass by the church which is a good landmark if you get turned around downtown. You can always get your bearings again when you see it.
Gorgeous old building.
Another old building that is being brought back to it’s former glory. All the workers up above started waving and yelling when they saw me taking a picture!
Up ahead is El Presidio.
Heading into the restaurant.
They had a beautiful Christmas display and Pam looked lovely posed right next to it.
The very extensive bar.
We are all seated and the waiter offered to take a picture on Pam’s cell phone. It’s kind of nice just with the five us instead of the usual big group. More up my alley!
Drinks are ready to be served and yest the pina colada is mine!
You can see the waiter emptying the bottle into Jeannette’s glass and Pam’s mango margarita on the right. A nice basket of fresh bread and a spicy spread kept us from starving while we waited for lunch!
These pretty wreaths were decorating the stairs. Upon closer inspection we saw that….
they were made from dyed corn husks. How inventive!
While we waited for lunch Ruth had Pam pull the choice for next weeks lunch….Lucky B’s in the Zona Dorada.
The waiters are all very classily dressed. This young man is balancing the food delivery box on his leg. There are shelves inside the box where the plates are placed and there is a little curtain in front. Easy to pack food for a whole table all at once.
He looked like he was posing for a picture.
This is my lunch. Filet of beef (almost rare as ordered) covered in a black pepper sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus with a spicy poblano cream sauce. It was absolutely delicious and one of the best meals I have ever eaten.
Jeannette’s chicken on asparagus. Not fancy but very good. Chicken is always a safe choice in Mexico and since Jeannette is not a fan of spicy food this was perfect for her. The odd thing was that the asparagus had there tips cut off!
Pam ordered shrimp and this is most elegant…don’t you think. Again delicious.
Now it gets a bit tricky. Ruth and Eddy ordered a couple of appetizers. The one that Ruth is looking at suspiciously was supposed to be sliced beef and cheese lightly breaded. Upon inspection there was no beef! She and Eddy tried eating it and then called the waiter. Turns out it had meat, which was white, which was pork! They should have been told and in the end it wasn’t very good anyway. The waiter offered to replace it with something else and they carried on eating.
These are supposed to be quesadillas but turned out to be empanadas. Again not what they ordered. Ruth kind of picked the insides out and ate what she could.
That is the supposed beef appetizer that went back.
The rest of us are happily eating while Ruth and Eddy struggle with their lunch. Disappointing.
This was an adorable little boy (except for the soother) who was happily playing in the fish pond. Not too clean I would think. There are very large fish in there that look like catfish….maybe some sort of koi.
We are all done lunch when Ruth and Eddy’s tosdadas arrive. One had octopus and one had a shrimp ceviche and it was apparently good.
We walked to the upper deck after lunch and they had some lovely mosaic tables. Everything is so colorful in Mexico.
Here we are on the stairs.
So….some really good lunches and some really disappointing ones. In the end they charged Ruth for the lunch she sent back and didn’t charge her for the replacement one. The one she sent back was more expensive than the first one and in my mind they probably shouldn’t have charged her at all. This is a very upscale restaurant and those kind of mistakes really shouldn’t happen. Would it stop us from going back…of course not. Still a very lovely place to eat.
At this point we wandered back to the market to catch the bus….shopping along the way.
Next week Lucky B’s and we are all going to have to let Ruth know if we are coming so she doesn’t make a large reservation and then have no one show up.
