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El Ancla


camillenparadise

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I haven't tried what you described, but my husband and I have had lunch there at least once a week since the new management took over. The meals have been well prepared, with generous portions.   I am especially fond of their Chicken Cordon Bleu and the poblano sauce chicken. The pastas are well prepared. Both the salmon and trout are very good and the shrimp just right. The prices are in the general range of other local "sit down" restaurants. 

Sorry your takeout wasn't to your liking, but you are missing some good meals if you don't give them another chance.

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My husband and I have had breakfast there on several occasions this year.  Our eggs were properly prepared: my spouse was pleased with perfectly cooked fried eggs over easy and my scramble was fine.  Fruit bowl was large.  Only complaint was greasy hash browns: the home fries are a better choice.  Good coffee and tea. Pleasant servers. 

The "never go back" people are missing some good experiences.  Unless I've been served something that made me sick, I usually give a place more than one chance.  (There are exceptions which shall remain nameless due to basic awfulness).😉

 

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I don't post very often but this thread has me intrigued.  I have been going to Ancla since they opened in 2011 with Eric at the helm. They had chef Alahandro for many years. He left for the restaurant Montecristo. Both him and his wife Marianna move place to place together. They are now at DonAire hotel.  Currently Ancla has someone in the kitchen that I am not privileged to know. Maybe next time I have to meet them. However I give high praises to the kitchen. We still go there and have many items off the menu.  Joe (or Jose, now owner) will make my Caesar salad table side and you can tell him how you like it. For me I don't like a lot of mustard in my Caesar dressing so no or little mustard.  Every time we (wife and I) go to the restaurant we are well received. We even text Joe ahead of time to make sure he has a bottle of our favorite bubbly chilling for us.  The poblano sauce chicken is awesome. The shrimp mummia are incredible.  The clam chowder is perfect.  Well enough for now.  I will see you at Ancla.  Out, Mike drop ...   

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Halfway satisfied with El Ancla last Saturday (we were given the discount automatically, by the way). The Caesar salad at the table was great, and we hoped it foretold of things to come. Watching the well-trained waiter separate the white from the yolk without cracking the egg open was pretty cool. The flavour of the sauce was very good, and had none of that weird aftertaste that some do. One thing that can ruin a Caesar is stale olive oil. I do wish that a salad at this price would command more than six medium-sized romaine leaves.

I wanted to try the Chicken Poblano. It was two full breasts stuffed with cheese and spinach, so lots for leftovers. BUT the chicken was overdone and dry, and the sauce was absolutely the bare minimum. Not sure why: a previous visit with Mushroom Chicken was smothered in sauce. And to me, the sauce was basically tasteless. Perhaps because there was so little of it.

The grilled veg was not nearly as good as before, and the mashed potatoes suffered because they just couldn't elevate my sad meal. (They tasted fine as leftovers.) The trout was swimming in oil, and some kind of liquor that was not burned off or reduced during cooking, so it tasted like fish in booze.

Companions had pasta in poblano; average. An arrechera was a big letdown: overly small and narrow strip of meat that had been cooked to the point of being mealy in texture, sort of like cooked liver. Average flavour. A surprise: the fire in the grille was leaping when we got there, but nothing was cooked on the grille, because "not enough customers to keep it going". You just can't offer grilled meats and then do them inside, presumably on the flattop.

Oh, yes: the clam chowder I enjoyed so much previously, even at 95p, was just not right: the flour for thickening had not been cooked long enough, and so it tasted like flour, which prevented the cream and butter from mixing properly... and those flavours therefore became predominant. Not fun.

Service was very good; warm conversation with Jose, the owner, was pleasant as usual with him. So I don't know where the disconnect was, but I have to chalk it up to the inconsistency reported so often about El Ancla. And Jose was cooking. After thinking this might be a new go-to place, I'm sorry to report it will be a while before I go back.

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Sorry things were not right on your visit, ComputerGuy. They do have a consistency problem.  On our last visit, one of us ordered a hamburger, "three quarters" and got a very small, overcooked patty.  Unhappy. The previous burger was as a burger should be.

I ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu, my favorite, and was not disappointed.  The serving was huge and I took half home.  Lots of cheese and ham stuffing with plenty of good sauce.  Potatoes were average mashed, but good.  Veggies fine. However,  It is a mystery to me why they pile the entire contents of the plate in a heap that the diner has to separate in order to eat:  maybe that's "trendy".  I find it to be a PITA.  The third member of the party ordered a salad with chicken and was content.

And yes, the September discount was given automatically.  The feedback must have been noticed.

All three of us will be having lunch there again today, and we'll see what transpires.  I haven't given up on them yet, but it's not that much further a drive to Arileo's, where the food is consistently good at lunchtime.😉

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I tell ya, I went to this new bar/burger joint near the Monte Carlo and had a great time yesterday for lunch. Pretty much everything on the menu is 19p, including beer and limonadas. We got a regular burger, a chicken burger, fries, and rings, and three drinks for $113p. Everything was typically Mexican: thin patty, overcooked deep-fried chicken burger, super greasy rings, excellent fries... but I knew full-well what to expect and so was happy. And full. And after they turned down the unbelievably loud videos, even pleasant for talking.

Chapala point beer bar restaurant.jpg

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So, lunch today:

Everything on track.  Friend had a beautiful piece of salmon; spouse was pleased with the trout and I had the Chicken Cordon Bleu. (I'm somewhat hooked on that one).  All done right.

New menu printed needs proofreading BADLY: there's an item listed under "Fish" that (honest) says "WHORE RED SNAPPER".  Another says "MUMMY SHRIMP". (The waiter described the dish; apparently it's wrapped in bacon).

We won't abandon this place yet.😋

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