Victoria's: Rochester's Most Overrated Restaurant

Sixteen years is a long time.  Since 1997 Victoria’s has laid claim to the best Italian restaurant in town or best Italian dish in town, not that such award says much because choices for Italian restaurants seem to be slim in Rochester.  That would be akin to Rochester being named the best town of 100,000+ to live in in the southeast portion of Minnesota.  By default it would win.  Such is the same for Victoria’s.  Sure once the award from Rochester Magazine changed to best Italian dish it opened the door for other winners, but apparently the people of Rochester fail to realize that other restaurants make Italian food.  Heck, if I sold my beloved Tiramisu I would, or at least should, win best Italian dish in Rochester.  Most recently Victoria’s was awarded the best Italian dish in town for their lasagna (or lasagne as they spell it).  I had not been to Victoria’s in a while so I decided to revisit their restaurant for a Sunday dinner to see why it has been the best Italian food for over fifteen years.

Upon entering the restaurant you are in the bar where you encounter a host stand.  When I arrived there with my brother and sister-in-law no one was at the host stand.  There was someone at the bar, but she did not acknowledge us.  There were other employees, probably servers, at the opposite end of the bar who saw us. Again, we were not acknowledged.  After a couple minutes the hostess came back with a carry out order for someone.  After giving the order to the customer she greeted us and took us to our seat.  I do not fault the hostess for the wait, but it is surely a sign of either employee laziness or the general attitude of not caring if the bartender or other wait staff does not acknowledge customers upon first entering the establishment when they are within eye sight.  It takes just a few seconds, yet it gives an initial, positive experience of hospitality. 

The inside is decorated as you would expect from an Italian restaurant; there are murals on the walls, sculptures, bricks, stone, wood, archways, and so forth.  I don’t have a problem with how it looks, though I could see some people thinking it is dated or too “old” looking.  For me it does the job, however. 

After sitting down you are given complimentary crusty rolls and your drink order is taken.  Victoria’s serves Coca Cola products (finally!), a variety of teas, coffee, espresso, and there is also a full bar menu, including many beers by bottle or draft, a decent sized wine menu, and various cocktails.  Each day they have a happy hour from 3-6 PM.  They advertise themselves as a wine bar and do have 35 wines by the glass, priced between six and twelve dollars,

I do not frequent Victoria’s frequently, but I do recall the crusty rolls each time I eat there and I have often wondered their origins.  The bread is actually pretty good.  It is very crusty, though nice and bready inside.  At the table there is olive oil and Parmesan cheese to eat with it.  But I have long wondered if it is house made from scratch, if it comes in par baked and finished in house, if it comes in fully baked and frozen, or if it is fully baked elsewhere and delivered.  The reason I question it is not due to the taste, but the much too perfect in consistent shape.  If it is handmade, the maker has incredible skill.  Either way, it isn’t a huge deal, I just have always wondered…

Before Victoria’s moved to its current location off of 1^st Avenue downtown, it was off of 2^nd Street SW.  Back then I thought Victoria’s had a much more gigantic menu, or maybe it is just formatted differently now.  They still have a plethora of options, which isn’t too hard when you can vary pasta shapes and sauces into numerous dishes.  If executed well, this is fine.  When doing wrong, this ruins a large part of the menu. 

The menu is divided into the following categories:  Appetizers, Dishes you love….ala carte (they do not include soup or salad, but are served over pasta….so if you want spaghetti and meatballs, for example, and only that, look here), Salads, Pizza, Pasta Parade (where you choose the shape of the noodle in four different preparations), Southern Pasta, Northern Pasta, Steaks, Fresh Chicken or Pork, Veal, and finally Seafood.  The Pasta Parade through Seafood options include soup or salad and, unless otherwise noted, are served over pasta, except for the Steaks which are served with your choice of baked potato, French fries, rice, or pasta.  Confused? 

Just looking at their menu a few things pop out.  First, some of the salads, ingredient wise or otherwise, don’t scream “ITALIAN” to me, such as the Greek Salad, Mango Salad, and Mediterranean Salad.  I have never tried their pizza with homemade pizza sauce, perhaps I will sometime since I am a pizza connoisseur.  On the entrée part of their menu they have a lot of option that sound good and the options vary in the ingredients, heaviness, preparation styles, etc…  One of the chicken entrées, Mechi’s Chicken, which can also be made with pork, has been a winner in the past of various awards, such as a Silver Fork Award from A Taste of Rochester and I think it was also named Best Italian Dish at least once by Rochester Magazine.  I’ve never tried it before, but maybe one day I will try the Mechi’s Chicken.

The food my table ordered consisted of the antipasto salad, whole wheat spaghetti with meatballs, and the famed lasagna.  With my lasagna came a choice of soup or salad and I chose soup.  The soup choices were the same as every other time I have asked, Minestrone and cheese tortellini.  I should know by now that they always have the same soups and that both of them are quite sub-par when it comes to soup.  As in, the Olive Garden has better soup.  That says something…  After only a short wait the Minestrone soup came out.  The soup tasted alright, but not great by any means.  The broth tasted of tomato and dried Italian herbs.  Inside the soup were large, irregularly cut carrots and potatoes.  There was also one pea pod, several peas, and pasta.  The carrots, peas, pea pod, and pasta were all severely overcooked.  The soup also lacked seasoning.  I understand that soup is not made to order, but still, the knife cuts could have been vastly better and there could have been steps taken to ensure everything but the potatoes were not terribly overcooked.  Finishing it with some fresh basil, for example, would have been nice, as would putting a little salt and pepper into it so I didn’t have to do so at the table.

After only a short wait longer the entrées arrived.  Visually the antipasto salad looked best.  The salad tasted pretty nice, but anything with cured meat on it should taste fine.  The crisp lettuce, cured meats, marinated vegetables, and house dressing worked well together, providing freshness, saltiness, acidity, and a savory element.  It’s an $11 dollar salad so I sure hope it would be tasty. 

Onto the whole wheat spaghetti with meatballs, a $12 ala carte option; in a single word: disappointing.  The red sauce with meat was noticeably watery as an orange colored watery liquid gathered on either side of the plate.  I was utterly surprised that a homemade marinara sauce this watery made it to the plate of an Italian restaurant, much less the best of the best Italian restaurant.  I understand that tomatoes have liquid in them, but the cooking process should create a sauce with a proper consistency and, if nothing else, one more homogenous so it isn’t a watery mess on the plate sides.  The meatballs were very tender and soft, though a bit under seasoned; however, they were good.   I have made Italian meatballs before and they tend to be on the soft side and tender; these seemed to be akin to that.  The meatballs were probably the best part of the plate, despite their lack of seasoning.  Is there not a box of salt in the kitchen?  What about some fantastically fresh Italian herbs?  It is summertime, after all.  The whole wheat spaghetti on the plate was undercooked; this is ridiculous for such a “great” Italian restaurant.  I like my pasta al dente, but this was a before al dente; I know whole wheat pasta takes longer to cook, but it isn’t rocket science, it’s pasta cooking 101.  The watery red sauce has an acidic tomato flavor, as expected, but also a strong taste of dried Italian herbs and a lack of salt.  Come to think of it, the overall dish had a lack of salt.  The dried Italian herb flavor, which was prevalent in the Minestrone, was also in the homemade marinara sauce.  I see a pattern, no salt, heavy on the dried herbs. 

My lasagna was next up.  It too had the same watery red sauce on it.  One of the fundamentals of cooking is the understanding that the diner eats with his or her eyes first.  Presenting the “best Italian dish” in Rochester with a sauce that looks visually sub-par is not a good start.  The chunk of lasagna was a good size which it should have been for the $15 price tag.  I wanted to ensure that the same watery red sauce was the same as that which was on the pasta.  It was.  The taste of it was the same, tomato acidity, dried Italian herbs, and a lack of salt.  See a pattern?  Using my fork I cut through the various layers of Rochester’s current best Italian dish it was a letdown.  It surely wasn’t the best lasagna I have ever had.  For one thing it was overwhelmed with cheese; I like cheese, but the amount of cheese threw the dish out of balance.  I think I cut through eight different layers of cheese when cutting into my lasagna.  Moreover, I could barely find the “mounds of beef” that the menu described; perhaps they were in the lasagna somewhere between copious amounts of ricotta and mozzarella.  As a result, the flavors of the pasta and meat were lost to the flavors of ricotta and mozzarella cheese.  When eating the lasagna without any sauce resulted in it being a little dry due to the excess ricotta cheese.  As the lasagna cooled, the melted cheese on the top turned rubbery, a sign of low quality cheese.  Chewing it was akin to chewing gum, though I have chewed more forgiving gum before.  It is sad that “the best Italian restaurant” would use a low grade product.  I understand cost savings, but when you charge $15 for a plate of lasagna, put at least decent cheese atop it.  Or use less cheese overall, just a higher quality cheese, because more does not mean better.  Again, a little bit of fresh herbs would have been helpful.

At least the service was mostly good, friendly, and attentive.  The food came out at a reasonable pace, though the restaurant wasn’t bursting at the seams with customers so it wasn’t like it was hectic and busy.  Even so, I had no qualms regarding the service, except for perhaps the initial welcome, or lack thereof, when I first arrived. 

Victoria’s is conveniently located downtown Rochester and they have a Victoria’s Express location where you can grab a quick lunch like pizza, calzones, salads, soups, sandwiches, and other hot entrées like pasta dishes, if you so want to.  It seems that it is popular with the crowd of Mayo employees that work downtown.  I have also heard that later in the afternoon they sell off some of the food at a steeply discounted price.  However, with convenience comes a lack of consistent quality.  Perhaps other items on their menu are as tasty as the antipasto salad, but from my experience there, Rochester’s best Italian restaurant and Rochester’s best Italian dish did not hit the mark, despite trying the most basic of Italian dishes.  Why people continue to love the place, I will never know.  How it continues to garner best Italian anything by the people of Rochester, I will never know.  What I do know, however, is that I will not look to Victoria’s for Italian fare.  Besides, Fazoli’s is much closer to home.

To recap:

Food:  Overall the food was quite disappointing.  The flavors were not bright and fresh, the red sauce was watery, there was a general lack of seasoning, the lasagna was overwhelmed by cheese, the whole wheat pasta was undercooked, need I go on?  It must be nice to be a restaurant and get by on your name and name alone because surely the food doesn’t cut it.  I could operate an Italian restaurant with better food and I’m not Italian.  Like I said in the beginning, if I sold my Tiramisu that would get best Italian dish in town….by a long shot….because I’m sure it is better than anything Victoria’s could dream of making.

Service:  The service was adequate, nothing offensive, but nothing over the top, not that I expected an unreasonably high level of service.  The food came out in a timely manner and checked with us a few times.  We weren’t greeted upon entering, however, and had to wait a a few minutes in order to even be acknowledged. 

Drinks:  Victoria’s does have Coca Cola so props to them for that.  They also have a good size bar menu and other non-alcoholic drinks.  It is advertised as a wine bar so if that’s your thing it may be worth checking out for that aspect. 

Ambiance:  It surely has the feel of an Italian restaurant between the colors, wood, stone, arches, lighting, murals, etc…  I don’t have any problems with the ambiance, though some may think it is dated.

Conclusion:  Well, if you really want some “Italian” food, you could go to Victoria’s.  But the quality to price ratio is quite ridiculous.  If you have taste buds and/or the sense of what tastes good and what doesn’t, or how something should be and how it should not be, you will likely be disappointed.  Unfortunately competing choices in this lame town are few and far between.  I would likely recommend Fazoli’s over Victoria’s because at least then your expectations will be met for the dollars you spend.  It also isn’t overhyped like Victoria’s.  Perhaps you will have better luck than I do each time I eat there, but don’t count on it. 

Tinn's

Note: I am lame and totally lost my pictures to go with this review. If I ever come across them on my computer I will make sure to post them.

 I referenced Tinn’s a couple posts ago and how they had some of the best French fries in the city. Having not eaten at Tinn’s in a while, I decided to go there for dinner because they make great food and delicious fries. Tinn’s is easy to get to and is located in the strip mall to the west of Wal-Mart north and Sam’s Club, right next to the severely overrated, yet mysteriously popular, Buffalo Wild Wings. Parking is plentiful as the strip mall pretty much runs into Gander Mountain so there are plenty of spaces. They are now building what I think is a Texas Roadhouse restaurant at the back end of the parking lot, so this may result in less parking spaces in the future, but the spaces are still plentiful. I hear that they are also reopening a location downtown in the skyway system or in the mall formerly known as the Galleria.

When you first walk into Tinn’s you will notice a very basic restaurant. There isn’t much in terms of ambiance. The restaurant is much longer than it is wide; a couple TVs are on the wall, you see some tables and booths, on the far end you see a Pepsi machine (ugh…) and condiments, and about half way down you see a long area enclosed with glass windows where the magic happens.

The menu is gigantic and a little confusing. I say this because there are a couple smaller signs throughout the restaurant that have a few menu items on them, but they certainly do not contain the entirety of the menu. Only looking at these you miss out on a significant portion of the offerings. The main menu is above the grill and production area; it is broken down into beef and chicken offerings, as well as other hot sandwiches and cold sandwiches. There is a plethora of options and each one I have tasted has been tasty. They come in three size choices, 6”, 8”, and 12”, and are made with fresh baked bread.

My choice this time was the chicken Parmesan sandwich. Like usual I got the 8” option. After ordering they weigh out the ingredients I assume based on the sandwich size and they hit the grill, unless, of course, it is a cold sandwich. When I was here I was with my sister and she ordered a 6” sandwich and, curiously, the amount of protein looked the same for both of our sandwiches based on the visual presence of it on the grill top. Other than this, however, everything else was fine. When they are grilling the protein or vegetables for the sandwiches, they chop up the ingredients using the spatulas used on the grill. It is fun to watch them do this with relatively precise precision and great speed.

One nice touch that they offer that truly makes a difference is freshly baked bread. My best guess is that it comes in partially baked in a ready to bake form and they finish the baking. I figure this because the bread is always very consistent, both in the same visit and in separate visits. Regardless, the freshly baked bread is a great compliment to a tasty sandwich.

It takes a few minutes to make the sandwich, which is fine because it is still quick and you and see the entire process. This also allows ample time to have fries fried for you. These fries are good and I don’t much care for most fries. I assume they cut them in-house and they partially fry them before you order them. This is essential to have the proper French fry and also to speed up the cooking process of the final fry. The potatoes used are skin on, which I prefer. Once they are done frying they are generously seasoned with a salty seasoning. They are absolutely divine.

The fries can be had as part of a combo meal which includes a sandwich, fries, and a beverage. They also have other sides like cheese curds, though these are a frozen product and not a freshly made product; even so, cheese curds are generally delicious. They also have onion rings, jalapeno poppers, cheddar bacon fries (I don’t know how I have not known about those previously….), and a couple other offerings too. Like I mentioned before, their soft drink choice is Pepsi. And why not? Minnesotans love their Pepsi apparently…. There are no alcoholic beverages served.

When it is finally time to dive into the sandwich you first notice the bread; it is crusty in a good way and fully capable of enclosing your sandwich in deliciousness. Besides being crusty, the bread also has a nice bready chew to it. The first bite, and all subsequent bites, of my chicken Parmesan sandwich had the flavor profiles you would expect from something called chicken Parmesan. The chicken flavor was complimented by melted, slightly salty cheese, the obligatory flavor of oregano, the acidic, sweet freshness of tomato sauce, and the crunch of the freshly baked bread. Between the flavors melding nicely and the textural contrast, the sandwich was a success. As I previously mentioned, I think they could have been a little more generous the chicken portion, but, all in all, the sandwich was as tasty as anything I have ever had there.

That was the first time I had tried that particular sandwich. The fries, on the other hand, I knew how good they were. They did not disappoint. Piping hot, well-seasoned, crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, such a great example of what fries should be like. Many places should take note because fries aren’t just simply frying potato hunks. Unfortunately, though, that is what most places do when they make fries. As a result, they aren’t worth eating. Thankfully, however, Tinn’s understands what a fry can be and takes it to its potential.

Overall, Tinn’s is one of the better options in Rochester, particularly for a sandwich. The service is friendly and efficient, the food is tasty, the prices are fair, and the menu is huge (though can be both good and bad).

To recap.....

Food: Delicious. Prepared fresh right in front of your face when you order it. Consistently tasty and I have never had a bad sandwich there. Also, their French fries are among the best fries I have ever tasted.

 Service: Efficient, fast, and friendly. The line moves pretty quickly, even when it is long, and the employees are good at what they do.

Drinks: Pepsi...and why not? No alcoholic beverages. Ambiance: Not a whole lot in the realm of ambiance. The restaurant is pretty basic. But you don't go to Tinn's for a restaurant that is all ambiance and no food (Victoria's would be a good start for a restaurant like that).

Conclusion: A great place for a quick bite to eat; Tinn's is probably the best quick service establishment in town.  It is not fancy, but it is tasty. The menu is vast and delicious. Go there and make sure to try the French fries!

Jenpachi

One of the more unique restaurants that opened in Rochester several years ago when the restaurant options were pretty much Perkins, Denny’s, and Applebee’s was Jenpachi.  Since then the restaurant scene has changed a bit, still not on par with any other towns I’ve been to with 100,000+ citizens, and there is another Japanese-style restaurant too.  Jenpachi, though, was the original Teppanyaki restaurant here in Rochester, at least to my knowledge and assuming there wasn’t one here back in the 70s, 80s, or 90s. 

Though I don’t go there frequently, every once in a while I will go there for a meal.  Each time I am there I am reminded of Beverly Hills Ninja and, more specifically, Chris Farley working the Teppanyaki grill.  It always makes for a good laugh.  When you walk inside it has the look of a Teppanyaki grill from the perspective of the color scheme, the decorations, the multiple Teppanyaki grills with seats around them, the wooden blinds on the windows, and the Kimonos that the wait staff wears.  Where the restaurant falls short of a traditional Teppanyaki grill is the lack of Japanese employees and, particularly, the lack of trained Japanese chefs working the Teppanyaki grill.  Of course, if Jenpachi had this the prices would be at least double, if not triple, what they are.  If you are seeking a more authentic Japanese Teppanyaki grill experience, check out Ichiban in downtown Minneapolis.

When your party is seated at Jenpachi you are lead to one of the several Teppanyaki grills to sit at.  Unless you are there with a party of eight, chances are you will be sitting with some other people.  If this is not your thing, find seven other people to join you.  Shortly after taking your seat a server adorned in a Kimono takes your drink order.  They have Pepsi products (you know my feelings on that), wine, beer, and a full bar with some specialty cocktails, as well as sake.  The guy sitting next to me asked if they had Sierra Mist since the waitress said they had Pepsi products, to which she responded “No, we have Pepsi products.  Is a Sprite OK?”  Unless I missed something recently, Coca Cola owns Sprite.  In any event he went with it and I am not sure which of the two he received; my money is on Sierra Mist.  After perusing their Minnesota inspired beer menu I ordered a Sam Adam’s Boston Lager.  It is always a good stand by beer.  Unfortunately they didn’t bring me a glass for my beer so I had to lug it out of the bottle.  I could have asked for a glass, but it is a pet peeve of mine when you aren’t brought one.  Thanks Minnesota mindset.  On a side note, I don’t use the phrase “Minnesota inspired beer menu” meaning they had a fine selection of the quality brews made in this state, but because they had seemingly every beer with the word “Light” after it.  

Taking a look at the food menu you find many options to choose from.  I cannot speak for any other part of their menu outside of the offerings from the Teppanyaki grill as that is all I’ve ever had, but they do offer the predictable fare of an Asian restaurant like egg rolls, miso soup, tempura, gyoza, Teriyaki about anything, sushi, and a selection of various seafood offerings.  The choices you have from food prepared in front of you on the Teppanyaki grill are quite expansive; you can choose one main protein or a combination of two or three of them.  They do offer a vegetarian dish, though I couldn’t tell you what is in it.  Then they have Teriyaki chicken and Teriyaki steak.  These are the least expensive of the Teppanyaki grill offerings; beyond that you can get salmon, Filet Mignon, lobster, shrimp, and scallops, and about any combination of them with the Teriyaki chicken and steak that you want.  Certainly you do have options, which are nice if you want to try some cow and some scallops, for example.  You also can get either steamed rice or fried rice for a few dollars more.  I would recommend the fried rice, it is pretty tasty, particularly with the lobster sauce.

After placing the food order the show beings.  The Teppanyaki cook wheels out a cart with the food to be cooked, rice, vegetables, proteins, and so forth.  The first dish served is a salad with a ginger dressing.  I am not too well versed in my Japanese ingredients, but I would guess there to also be some miso in the dressing.  It is a good salad, though nothing special in terms of the vegetables used.  It is your standard iceberg mix, with shredded carrots and red cabbage.  Where the salad itself falls short in terms of the greens used, the dressing is a shining spot, provided you like ginger.  It has a fairly sharp flavor, but it is not overwhelming.  I think this would be fantastic on some bitter greens, or even as a sauce for chicken or seafood.  

The next dish served is miso soup.  Beings that I am a soup connoisseur I am always up for a good cup, bowl, or cauldron of soup.   Jenpachi’s miso soup is good.  I have had miso soup elsewhere and I have made it myself and the expected flavors come though.  It had some green onions in it and I think one small piece of tofu.  As someone who disdains tofu this was fine with me, but it seemed like it should have had more in it.  I cannot speak to whether or not this is house made soup as I have not eaten enough Japanese food to discern subtleties of purchased versus house made miso soup.  Like I said, though, it is good; if nothing else, it is a change from your typical chicken noodle soup.

After the soup course you dine on sautéed vegetables that have been being prepared before you while you ate the salad and soup.  The vegetables were nicely cooked, as in not cooked to mush, and had what I recall as a ginger sauce on them, as well as sesame seeds.  You are served more vegetables than the picture below shows, but I ate a good amount of them before realizing I didn't get a picture of them.  When the Teppanyaki cook starts cooking he will do the onion volcano where an onion is doused with booze and lit on fire.  My apologizes for not getting a photo of this, but if you search “onion volcano” you will see what I mean if you already don’t.  This onion is used in this vegetable mix and the fried rice.  Additionally, you are served two sauces to eat with your meal, a lobster sauce and a ginger sauce.  I highly doubt the lobster sauce is scratch made from lobster bodies, but it does have a sweet, lobster like flavor to it.  It is creamy and goes excellent on the vegetables, fried rice, and main entrée.  

Speaking of fried rice, if you chose to order that over the steamed rice for a few dollars more, you will have this delivered to your plate shortly after the vegetables are.  The rice has some vegetables in it, the aforementioned volcano onion, zucchini, carrots, as well as chicken, an egg, sesame seeds, and soy sauce.  While preparing this the Teppanyaki cook does some egg entertainment by maneuvering the egg with his spatulas and will likely toss it into the top of his hat.  You paid for the show, after all, enjoy it.  The cooks certainly are talented in terms of utensil utilization and maneuverability.  Like I said before, the lobster sauce is good on the fried rice, but it also has good flavor on its own.  The flavors of the soy sauce and egg come though and a little toasty note is present from the sesame seeds.  Mixing the rice with the sautéed vegetables, unless you ate them too fast like I did, works well too.  

After a quick scrape of the grill the main entrees go on.  This is where I was reminded that I was in Minnesota, not because of anything that the cook did, but because one of the ladies sitting to my left ordered a three animal combo, I think it was shrimp, Filet Mignon, and chicken and she ordered the Filet Mignon cooked well.  Ugh.  Also, a guy off to my far right was drinking a Michelob Golden Light, another sure tell sign this is still Minnesota.

The Teppanyaki cook does a good job of cooking the food to the correctly ordered temperatures.  I ordered the Teriyaki steak and wanted it medium rare.  It was medium rare so I was happy.  The Teriyaki sauce works well with the beef, yet it doesn’t overwhelm the beef.  The steak is cubed, judging from its precooked look I am guessing it is sirloin, and the first couple pieces I ate were fairly tough.  They were not overcooked; they just didn’t chew the easiest.  The ones after that, however, were fine.  I think the meat could have been seared a little better to bring out the caramelization of the meat.  A nice touch, however, was some bias cut green onions on the meat; it gave the steak a little burst of freshness.  

Also, if you go to Jenpachi for your birthday and clip a coupon you get half off your meal, some free ice cream, a photo, and happy birthday sung to you by who I assume is the owner in English and Japanese.  I am guessing the second language is Japanese only because it is a Japanese restaurant.  He has a loud, carrying voice, and he sings opera style.  I think every time I have been to Jenpachi there has been a birthday at each of the Teppanyaki grill stations. 

Overall, Jenpachi is what I expected from being there before and it was good.  I have been to Ichiban before and no, it doesn’t quite compare, but Ichiban was more costly.  This is Rochester, after all, and we always compromise for what we can get.  That being said, Jenpachi is a good change of pace restaurant for something outside of the typical flavor profile.  Give it a shot; enjoy the show and the food. 

To recap…..

Food:  Overall the food was quite tasty and a nice diversion from the typical flavor profile of the town.  I won’t pretend that it is all scratch made daily, but I don’t expect that.  When I lived in Düsseldorf, Germany for a while I ate at a Japanese restaurant there and, yes, their food was better.  Düsseldorf also has an enormously large Japanese population, Rochester does not.  In Jenpachi’s food there are a lot of repeated flavors, like ginger, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and Teriyaki.  They also have a fairly substantial menu to choose from so you can likely find something you are in the mood for, though it is mostly predictable and what you would expect from a Japanese/Asian restaurant.  I have never tried their sushi, but it looked like they had a wide section of sushi offerings.  I was impressed with the Teppanyaki cook’s ability to properly cook vegetables since most people like to cook them to death.  The presentation of the food isn't great, mostly because it is served straight from the grill to your plate via spatulas.  It would be incredibly hard to plate food using only spatulas, however, so it wasn't a big deal.

Service:  The service was sufficient, though not completely knowledgeable.  If you have Pepsi products you do not have Sprite, I guarantee it.  The food came out with good timing, though it helps that over half of your meal is prepared within arm’s reach of where you sit.  The Teppanyaki cooks are always friendly and do try to put on a show for you. 

Drinks:  Pepsi products ,ugh, your typical Minnesota beer menu, ugh, though they have Sam Adam’s, some wine choices, including sake, and a full bar menu. 

Ambiance:  It looks the part of a Japanese restaurant.  The colors speak of it, the Kimonos speak of it, the wooden window shades speak of it, the Teppanyaki grills speak of it, the plates speak of it.  I didn’t feel like I was sitting in a restaurant in Japan, but what do you expect for Rochester?  I didn’t expect such.  One more thing, I was impressed with how clean the vent hood above the grill we were sitting at was.  These can get greasy and dirty mighty fast and it looked as if all of the vent hoods were clean and well maintained. 

Conclusion:  I can recommend Jenpachi because of what it is.  It’s not the best food you will ever eat, but they put out some tasty good, the Teppanyaki cooks try their best to give you a show while cooking your dinner and do succeed in doing both, and it is something different.  It can get a little pricey as once you move past the Teriyaki chicken and steak that are in the mid teens dollarwise, the other entrées quickly approach the $20 range and up.  That being said, I think of this place as more of a special occasion restaurant for Rochester; with that in mind, the price shouldn’t be too off-putting.  Give it a try for something different. 

Jordan

 

Fiesta Mexicana

Disclaimer:  when I mention Mexican food in the following words, know that this is Mexican food made in Minnesota.  I know it is different than Mexican food you will find in Mexico.  Sometimes I have a craving for Mexican food and sometimes I am too lazy to make it, or I don’t have the plethora of ingredients some recipes call for, or the time to make five components for one dish, so I logically head to a Mexican restaurant to fill the void.  Usually, unless I fill such void at El Carambas, I end up wondering why I didn’t go through the work of buying and making the food myself.  Last Sunday I went to Fiesta Mexicana for lunch.  I haven’t been to El Carambas in a while, but from what I recall, they have the best Mexican food in town.  After again visiting Fiesta Mexicana and recalling my memories of El Carambas, I will continue to believe El Carambas has the best Mexican food in Rochester.  I just wish El Carambas wasn’t literally on the complete other side of town from me.

Enough about El Carambas, however, unless I review it later.  Fiesta Mexicana is conveniently located in the Northbrook Shopping Center, right north of Silver Lake, sharing the same strip mall with places such as Glynner’s Pub, Little Ceasar’s, and everyone’s favorite, the DMV.  There is ample parking since it is a strip mall, but the parking lot could use quite a bit of work.  It’s about as smooth as a box grater. 

The outside of Fiesta Mexicana is hospitable.  They have a patio outside that will seat probably 20 or 30 people which is a good asset for the warmer months of Minnesota.  Walking inside the front door, the restaurant feels like a typical Mexican restaurant.  It seems that I have been to two different groups of Mexican restaurants before, a few unique ones, but mostly homogenous ones.  They all have a similar look, just a different name on the front.  There are bright colors, like greens, pinks, and yellows, or Southwest colors like clay, turquoise, maroon, and terra cotta, typically they have some kind of Cinco de Mayo looking decorations up all year long, and pictures and other decorations that look like you can get at any flea market or outdoor shop in the southern United States or in Mexico.  It doesn’t look bad, per se, just typical.  

Upon entering, we were immediately greeted by a hostess and seated at a table.  One of my restaurant pet peeves is when you pull a chair out and it squeaks more than a car without breaks because of metal on tile contact.  Apparently Fiesta Mexicana doesn’t have caps or gliders on their chair legs to prevent this.  It is annoying.  The chairs and tables seem to be a little past their prime.  With a little renovation of the tables and chairs, I think the restaurant would look much better.

Shortly after sitting down our waitress came by to drop off the requisite all you can eat chips and salsa and to take drink orders.  Like most every Mexican restaurant I have been to, particularly the ones that fall into that homogenous category, they all have the same beverage options, sub-par Mexican beer, slightly better Dos Equis Amber and Negro Modelo, a full bar where you can get your favorite hard liquor made into the fruitiest drink possible, a cola option, and perhaps a wine option.  I stuck with water for this trip, but I forget if they serve Coke or Pepsi.  I am guessing Pepsi since people here love that stuff.  This coincides with their lack of taste buds.  

The chips and salsa were better than I remembered them, so that was a plus.  When the chips first get to the table they are hot and crispy.  Even when they cool down their crispness remains.  They are either very lightly salted or unsalted and I am guessing made in house, at least they should be made in house.  The salsa was better than I recalled it being too.  I thought the last time I had the salsa it tasted flat.  This time, however, it had a good salt level, a taste of tomato and cilantro, and a little spice.  It wasn’t a completely smooth salsa which I do like.  Minnesotans would probably find this “spicy” but it was not.  One time when I dined at Fiesta Mexicana I got the salsa I’m sure they reserve for the non-Gringos that was significantly spicier.  I do not recall its contents, but I do remember large chunks of tomatoes, onions, and peppers.  One issue I did have with the chips and salsa had nothing to do with the chips or the salsa, it had to do with how the chips were served.  The basket they were served in was lined with a coffee filter; I don’t like how this looks and surely they can take an extra five seconds and put a napkin in the basket.

Fiesta Mexicana’s menu is what you would expect from a Mexican restaurant in Minnesota.  It contains over 50 choices for dinners, as well as appetizers, à la carte choices, salads, American food, and desserts.  The menu is much too long in my opinion, but a lot of the menu is a repeat of itself with various dinners including various types/numbers of tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas, chili rellenos, and so forth.  The usual suspects are on the menu regarding these, as well various variations of fajitas and a good decent seafood selection.  The menu is somewhat broken down into animal, so if you want some kind of pork Mexican dish, you look at the pork section.  I was contemplating getting Carnitas because it is so tasty, but after reading the description I was disappointed to find out they use pork loin for it.  Every other time I have seen it and when I have made it, pork shoulder has always been used.  Instead of opting not to see how bad Carnitas is made with pork loin, I chose the red, white, and green enchiladas. 

Mexican restaurants always seem to be quick with getting you your food after ordering, probably because everything is made and it is more or less an assembly process.  After a short time of waiting and munching on chips and salsa the food was delivered.  A few people at the table ordered fajitas which looked pretty good, though the steak looked incorrectly cooked, as in more medium well than medium rare.  Served with the fajitas were corn or flour tortillas, pico de gallo, guacamole, a charred jalapeño, some green onions, and I think some other items like lettuce and so forth.  I did not taste these, however, so I cannot comment on how they tasted.

I did taste, however, the food I ordered.  The red, white, and green enchiladas, I’m sure to resemble the Mexican flag, were, unfortunately, not red, white, and green.  The three enchiladas are to have three different colored sauces, one sauce per enchilada, but one of mine had green and the other two had red.  My brother ordered the same dish and his were correctly sauced.  I call that an inconsistency.  The green sauce, salsa verde, was pretty tasty.  It has a little heat to it, a nice cilantro note, and an acidic sharpness to it.  The red sauce was decent, though not as flavorful as the green.  It had an earthier flavor with some tomato flavor and a little sharpness, decently spiced though no heat.  I cannot tell you what the white sauce tasted like as I did not receive it.  The filling I chose was chicken instead of ground beef because it is harder to properly cook chicken and for it to taste good.  It seems that they used the less personally desirable, yet more American desired part of the chicken, the chicken breast.  Though they tried to season it, it was mostly tasteless on its own.  Had they used chicken thighs, I have no doubt the overall enchilada experience would have been better, even without the proper saucing.  Instead they used boring white meat. 

My enchiladas were served with rice and refried beans.  The rice was decently flavorful on its own and the refried beans were refried beans, creamy and salty.  I do like refried beans, but I have my doubts these are scratch made refried beans.  It would be nice to have a solid refried bean, but honestly I do not expect it.  Back to the rice, it is what I think of as your run of the mill Mexican rice.  There was some tomato in it, it was seasoned pretty well, and it overall wasn’t offensive, though it also wasn’t impressive.  If you compare rice dishes between Fiesta Mexicana and Nupa, I will take Nupa’s any day of the week.  Yes, it is much different, but Nupa seems to elevate something so simple like rice.  It would be great to see Fiesta Mexicana embrace this same grain and take it past predictable and to fantastic.  

Overall my food wasn’t tasteless or offensive.  It also wasn’t particularly memorable, or unique.  The enchiladas were incorrectly sauced which did detract from the overall food experience as I was only able to taste 2/3 of the sauces I ordered.  Yes I could have sent food back, but I don’t send food back unless there is some egregious error.  Otherwise I’ll eat it and deal with it.  The presentation of the plate was also lacking.  No, I don’t expect the plate presentation of a $40 plate, and yes, refried beans aren’t the easiest of foods to make look good on a plate, but between the goopy refried beans and two sauces that ran across the plate, melted cheese almost everywhere, and partially oxidized plain iceberg lettuce, it wasn’t the prettiest plate of food to look at.  As I was taught, we eat with our eyes first. 

Overall, if you want Mexican food they serve that.  Don’t expect anything earth shattering as it is predictable.  They have a plethora of options to choose from so chances are you can find something you like.  Much of it, however, seems to be safe food offerings.  Like I said before, I think El Carambas makes better Mexican food and they have less safe offerings, such as lengua.  I cannot not recommend Fiesta Mexicana because they give you what you likely expect from a Mexican restaurant in Rochester, Minnesota. 

To recap…..

Food:  Predictable Mexican-inspired food.  Though my food was sauced wrong, it wasn’t tasteless or terrible.  It also wasn’t particularly memorable or unique.  The complimentary chips and salsa are pretty good, though the salsa isn’t anything special.  The chips have a nice crunch.  They could make better food by using dark meat chicken.  Also, for some reason they don’t know how to make Carnitas correctly.  As long as you aren’t expecting Frontera Grill, Barrio, or something akin to those, Fiesta Mexicana will meet your expectations, though likely not surpass them.

Service:  The hostess welcomed us right away upon entering, though they weren’t packed.  The waitress and other staff helping the waitress were fairly efficient; refills were prompt for beverages, chips, and salsa.  Again, I am unsure how quick they are during a busy time, but for this time they were good.  The food was served quite quickly, as it is at most Mexican restaurants. 

Drinks:  I am pretty sure they serve Pepsi.  They have a full bar with your usual suspects for a Mexican restaurant on the beer menu.  They do the margarita thing and probably all of those other tropical drinks that you may or may not want to be seen drinking in public. 

Ambiance:  It is the typical ambiance of the homogenous variety of Mexican restaurants, earthy colors, Cinco de Mayo decorations, vivid paintings, flower pots, Mexican-style chandeliers, and other knick knacks you would expect.  The chairs will probably squeak when you pull them away from the table.

Conclusion:  It’s not the best Mexican food in town, but it is what it is.  You can have your choice between 50 plus entrées, though from what I’ve eaten there between this past time and earlier times nothing is particularly memorable.  I can’t say stay away because it isn’t terrible, it’s just not spectacular.  If you live close to El Carambas I would go there.  If not, you can get Mexican food at Fiesta Mexicana, but don’t expect some deliciously creative offerings.  

Jordan