Dinner Club heads to the Plaza this month

December's pick goes to Becky, and she's taking the GAS club to the beautifully lit Plaza.

What restaurant, you ask? Find out next week!

Margarita, por favor!

Before I begin my critique of my experience at Guadalajara Restaurant, I must confess, I am a California native - so, as you could imagine, my expectations for Mexican cuisine are a bit high.

As an invited guest, I had the opportunity to join the Gastronomic All Stars Dinner Club in dining at Guadalajara Nov. 1.

The Mexican restaurant had a casual, family-oriented ambiance with table and booth seating. We dined on a Thursday evening and there wasn't much of a crowd. The service was slow which was surprising since the restaurant wasn't crowded.

Now, let's get to the drinks and food.

We ordered regular margaritas as well as house margaritas with Grand Marnier. They were exquisite - perhaps the best I have ever had.

The chips and salsa were average. I prefer warm, crispy chips and these didn't seem to be too fresh. As for the salsa, it too, did not seem fresh.

For our appetizers, we ordered a variety of different quesadillas (chicken, mushroom, and squash). The chicken quesadilla melted in your mouth - a true delight. I was excited for the other quesadillas but unfortunately, I thought their taste was rather bland.

I ordered taquitos for my dinner entree. Although I was not impressed, I still enjoyed the flavor of the chicken with some guacamole.

All in all, I rated the restaurant a 3.0 out of 5.0.

Guadalajara is an average Mexican Restaurant - not fabulous, but not terrible either. I say, go for the margaritas and a chicken quesadilla! You can't go wrong with that order.

This month we visited Guadalajara Cafe on 103rd St in South KC.  This is our second opportunity to try a Mexican restaurant.  For me Chips, salsa and margaritas are an important part of the Mexican experience.   Guadalajara far surpassed expectations with the margaritas, and were well below par on the chips and salsa.   Starting with the good, I consider myself a margarita afficionado, mostly because I really like them, and the margaritas are probably in my top 3 I have every drank.  The pitcher we had with Grand Marinier, were especially delicious.   Now the chips, were well below average.  Chips should be warm, thin and crisp and these chips were none of those.  The salsa was a little above average, but I personally prefer a smoother rather than chunky salsa.

The food I thought was very good.   I had carne asada and found it to be well seasoned and flavorful.  The beans were exceptional, probably the best I have ever had, but you can't go wrong when adding heart clogging lard to your beans.  I have had Mole several times, but have never cared for it,  the enchiladas with mole that Sara were very good and I would definitely order it, if I ever went back.

As good as the food was the service was equally poor.   Although I did not make reservations, and we had a large party, the restaurant was not all that full, and the time spent waiting for dinner was unacceptable.   Another issue was the inability of the waiter to split tickets, we had 6 different families at dinner, some did have cash and it made splitting the what each person owed, a pain and added a higher tip than what I felt was warranted for such poor service.

Even with all my complaints, the food was very good and it wouldn't take much for this restaurant to take care of it's service and billing issues.

I give Guadalajara Cafe a 3.5 based on the exceptional food.   I probably should have taken off another .25 for the poor billing practice and added gratuity.

Mahhhhheeeeeeecoooooo

Holla mi amigos! Thats about as much Spanish as I know. Lucky for me I dont need to know spanish to write a review! For the umpteenth time Erin and I are the first on the seen and luckly so as my Mother had forgotten to make reservations, so we made them when we got there and got seated.

As we ordered a few appertizers thanks to two lazy bloggers (Erin & Beth) Quesadillas of all varieties. They actually were not too bad, not fantastic, but not terrible either. As usual I ordered something with a kick as my meal and thought it was good, not great, but good. I tried several others plates and I thought all of it was good, not great. Sara once again picked the best thing out of anyone she has some kind of magical gift to do that, it really isnt fair.

Now to be negative, the service was terrible! We waited well over a hour before getting the food served to us, took forever to get a refil on water and it was just overall poor services.

The positive part, The maragritas were fantastic! Some of the best in KC! SO if you are looking for a good drink stop here, if you are looking for good Mexican with good service and come to think about good cornoritas, get in your car drive a litter farther north to Paparicos!

2.75/5

Go for the Margaritas

This is Mrs. Ref and let me start with a disclaimer:  I have experienced the Guadalajara Restaurant before--but I've only been to the Lee's Summit location.  Can't say that this location compares favorably; but there are still some highlights that makes it a worthwhile visit.  First of all, I count my calories pretty close and I often rate food as "worth the calories" or not.  Let me assure you that the margaritas at Guadalajara are worth the calories!  How many drinks make you say "Yum"?  Guaranteed, this one will, so make sure you get a pitcher.
This seems to be an older, probably much more established location.  It feels more like a typical Mexican restaurant, very casual, but the food is not typical KC Tex/Mex fare.  The food served was a little uneven--some quite delicious and some average to below.  We started with several of the quesadillas and the chicken was quite delicious.  Mushroom and squash blossom, not quite as flavorful.  I ordered the Oaxaca Pork which had a tomatillo sauce and side of beans.  The pork was tough and I wasn't impressed with the flavor until I spread the beans on top and the smoky flavor melded so well with the other flavors that I finished off my portion despite my best judgement as the portion was quite generous.  I loved the Mole dish that was layered with flavorful delishiousness on Sarah's plate.
Ultimately, I think you must have great salsa and  crispy chips (preferably served hot) to really call yourself a Mexican Restaurant in Kansas City even if you are authentic!  Guadaljara just can't compete with some of the most common Tex/Mex stations in Kansas City, however.  The chips are very pedestrian and the salsa--despite having fresh ingredients--does not have a complex, firey flavor that rises above most found at the local grocer.  When mixed with the "spicey" sauce you can get if you ask, it achieves an average score.
The service here also failed to achieve the quality of most (certainly not all) of our picks.  But with the tasty Margaritas on hand and fabulous company including California intern,  Portia, I didn't really mind.
Guadalajara scored enough points on my palette for a solid 3 of 5.  (If you're looking for excellent, fresh, authentic Mexican flavors--visit to the Lee's Summit location.  I am certain you will be satisfied!)

Marvelous Molé

The dinner club rang in our 15th meeting by heading south--not quite to the border, but to south Kansas City to eat at Guadalajara.

Ambiance: Guadalajara is a casual family place. You won't feel like your in Mexico or anything, but it was nice enough.

Service: We were a party of eight plus a baby. Handling hot platters of food and balancing large margarita pitchers isn't easy around a huge table. That said, service was on the slow side, so don't go here with a large group unless you can spare a couple of hours. The server made sure we had plenty of water refills, a must when tasting spicy salsa.

Drinks: I mentioned margaritas, and these were fantastic. We tried the regular margaritas and the Guadalaja house style with Grand Marnier.

Food: This is where the place shines. For appetizers, we had a few kinds of quesadillas (mushroom and squash blossom) and cheesy chicken enchiladas. They were really good, especially the chicken. I'm no fan of chicken generally, but the enchiladas were great.

So great, in fact, I ordered more chicken enchiladas for an entree, this time with molé sauce. I have never tried molé, which is made from cacao. It was fantastic. Don't picture Hershey's syrup--it's nothing like that. Think a subtle chocolate-tasting gravy with a hint of cinnamon, but still very savory, and topped with sesame seeds. Delicious, and my fellow diners who sampled my dish agreed. 

I sampled other dishes, and they were all OK. I enjoyed the refried beans very much, but how can you mess up beans fried in lard?

I give Guadalajara a 3.75 stars. It gets a boost from the delicious appetizers and molé sauce. I would go back, but instead of trying something new I would order the same thing again.

Featured GAS Club Member: Grandpa

After taking a month off, Get to Know the Gassies is back. This month's pick is in Grandpa's hands, so let's spend a little time learning about him.

What is your favorite Kansas City restaurant? 
Doesn't have one

Of all the restaurants the dinner club has tried, which one would you like to eat again at most? 
Can't remember

What’s the most delicious dish you tried at a dinner club outing? 
Anna's Oven beef stroganoff

What’s the most unique food you’ve ever eaten?
Fried Eel

Is there a particular food item that, if you saw it in a menu, would make you choose that dish right away? 
Any good Mexican dish

If you could banish any one ingredient or dish from the earth, what would it be? 
Okra

Is there a food that you enjoyed as a child that now you don't like? 
Can't think of any

Is there a food that you didn't like as a child that you now enjoy? 
Spinach

If you could travel to any country for the sole purpose of eating, where would you go? 
Italy

If you could eat dinner with any three people, living or dead, who would they be? 
Teddy Roosevelt Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman