CLT Eats – A Charlotte Restaurant Review

Main Dining Area

I’ll be honest, when it comes to Mexican restaurants most of them are fairly good at taming my hunger in a pleasant way but few are as capable as Cantina 1511. Senior Tequila does well on a good day but can be hit or miss. Salsa’s is an option I visit from time to time. It’s definitely not in the same league but from time to time it’s nice to mix things up.

On this particular evening a friend of mine and I had previously been wearing out Cantina and he suggested heading over to Salsa’s for a change. I’ve been a few times before and my previous experiences have been fair. Not spectacular but not bad either. On this trip it was late in the evening and most of the patrons were gone. The staff was very friendly and warmly invited us in despite the rapidly approaching closing time. We still had plenty of time prior to closing but my experience with various restaurants under similar circumstances has been varied. I was pleased at the friendliness of the staff under these circumstances. For the record, we finished dining and were leaving the restaurant 5 minutes after closing time.

One of the best things about nearly any Mexican restaurant is that you get chips and salsa shortly after you get seated. The chips and salsa here are about like what you would expect. The salsa is a bit spicier than some that I’ve had but I prefer it that way. The menu is as broad as most in this niche, if not a bit more so. I’m a fan of spinach quesadilla’s and it’s my go to selection at the more run-of-the-mill Mexican restaurants so I ordered one up. My friend ordered a vegetarian burrito. He’s usually very enthusiastic about the veggie burrito here. Today he was only slightly less enthusiastic but that may be due to our recent trend of visiting Cantina 1511 and it being tough to compete with that level of quality. I was reasonably satisfied with my meal but wasn’t thrilled. It actually didn’t live up to my memories of previous visits. It’s possible this was partially due to the desire of the staff to clean up and get out as soon as possible or maybe my expectations were too high. Either way this wasn’t a bad meal, it just wasn’t memorable.

Service and the atmosphere were both reasonably good. Service started off a bit slow but ended up being fine. The atmosphere is exactly what you’d expect and there’s also a good size bar available and decent sized covered outdoor dining area which is were we happened to be seated.

If you’re near Carmel Commons and looking for a truly awesome Mexican restaurant to dine at I suggest going just a bit further over to Stonecrest or Piper Glen. If you’re just looking for a decent Mexican meal and can’t be bothered with the extra drive and extra price associated with the other options then you’ll likely be more than happy with what you’ll find at Salsa’s.

Pros

• Decent Food
• Decent Service
• Decent Value
• A solid performing Mexican Restaurant

Cons

• There are better Mexican Restaurants around but for the price range it ranks fairly well

Rating: Recommended