I’ve been hesitant to write about this restaurant because I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about it, but those things are not necessarily food related.
I love all the Loeb restaurants, frequent them all. But this one really misses the mark. From the moment you pull up to the $9 valet (!), to the snooty greeting by the host/ess, to the extremely uncomfortable bar stools, loud music, and general off putting nature of the place, I am not anxious to give it yet another try.
If I want expensive and not particularly special Mexican food, then I’d go to Red O, but I don’t. But to turn this neighborhood gathering of 30 years (Marix), where you could go in flip flops and a bikini top under your Hanes tank, have self serve chips and salsa and always have a great time, bartenders were chatty and smiling/laughing all the time — to turn it into a place where, if they don’t know you, if you’re not part of their in crowd, you can’t get a table, you can’t sit on the patio (we were asked to leave - twice - from the patio, but they backed down when we mentioned knowing the owners), the bartenders would rather be anywhere but there, serving you overpriced margaritas (pitchers are $45), and where there’s no conviviality at all, is a great loss.
As I said to my friend last night - you can paint it, put in a fortune removing the koi pond and Japanese themed decor, but at the end of the day, you’ve still got Marix’ bathrooms (feh), there’s a problem.
I could discuss the food, but we all know how fish tacos and skirt steak are, they haven’t added to it in a special way. It’s good food, but very expensive. And I resent the 19% service charge.