Playa Cabana

Date: May 9, 2014
Location: 111 Dupont St (west of Avenue Rd), Toronto
Website: http://www.playacabana.ca/
Cuisine: Mexican
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:

I came here with my sisters tonight to celebrate my birthday and called two weeks ahead to make reservations. I read many reviews on this place and really wanted to like this place, but it fell short of my expectations on a number of levels.

Let me first start with the pretty good: the food. We ordered the following to share:

GUACA FRESCA ($8) - guacamole served in a lava rock molcajete with housemade deep-fried corn chips. Offered mild, medium or spicy. They offer it spicy, medium or mild. We chose spicy, which it wasn't, and I am not even someone who can take much heat. Very small portion of guac. Chips were good - crispy, I'll give them that much, but they were salty and seemed like they were fried multiple times. Expensive for the price. I've had much better guac at El Rinco in the Corso Italia neighbourhood.

PLAYA BURRITO ($14) - Burrito with choice of chicken, veggies, ancho-braised steak or pork carnitas. Served with pico de gallo and guac. We got the pork, since we were getting beef in our tacos (see below). The burrito was humongous, pretty loaded and colour-wise made for a nice photo opp (I personally thought the shape resembled a slain fish, but that's just me). The meat was braised and pulled, and most of it was pretty tender, but there were still some big dry chunks. I wish we'd ordered the steak instead. I can't lie - I love my red meat!

ANCHO BRAISED SHORT RIB-BRISKET CRISPY TACOS ($14) - AAA Ontario beef short-rib braised in ancho chiles wrapped in fresh corn tortillas and grilled. Served with pico de gallo, guac and crema. This was easily the star of the evening. It was soooo delicious. I highly recommend. The beef was tender and each bite packed a huge flavour punch.

Now the bad. It's a very tiny place. We each had someone knock into our chair only about three dozen times that night, which was NOT annoying at all. 

Also, the manager on duty(?), this blond with a permanent scowl etched into her face, was very unaccomodating and clearly lacked any compassion for customer service. As I said, we made reservations, and we were seated at the bar. When I noticed a few vacant dining tables behind us, I asked the bartender if we could be moved to one. He pointed to the blond and asked me to ask her. When I did, she said in a very matter-of-fact voice that was completely devoid of empathy or sincerity, "We only make reservations for the bar, and all the dining tables are all reserved." What? She contradicted herself all in one breath. Oh well. Whatever. I'm not going to waste my energy on a dimwit. (Our bartender, though, was the opposite. Attentive, friendly, genuinely wants to make the customer's experience enjoyable. And pretty cute to boot. Keep an eye out for the one with his hair in a short ponytail.)

So in a nutshell, while there were some good dishes tonight, the service and the crampiness of the place do not warrant a return visit.