Groupon and Habenero's Mexican

Marian and I made our virgin voyage into Groupon coupons tonight.  She paid $12.50 for a $25 dining coupon to be used at Habenero's Fresh Mexican Cantina. The coupon purchase and use was seamless. We printed the coupon and presented it to the waitress when were seated. It worked perfectly.

That is the end of this evening's good report.

What can I say good about Habenero's Fresh Mexican Cantina? First, it's more in the sports-bar-meets-Mexican-food category. Big space, lots of TV's and large bar area. I liked that part.

As far as the food, I ordered the taco dinner and the taco's shredded beef was plentiful in portion and very tasty. But the flour tortilla tasted like it had been just pulled from the package in the fridge. It was tasteless and cold. Beans and rice come with the dinners and they weren't bad, but neither the rice or the beans were served hot. Lukewarm black beans are just not very tasty.

The guacamole. I have always assumed that guacamole was made from avocados. I guess I was wrong. I'm not sure what we were served, it was green and it had a little tang to it. But it was god-awful. The serve-yourself chips were very greasy and the hot sauce tasted more like shrimp-cocktail sauce. The occasional green and red tortilla chip mixed in with the other chips only confirms to me that the emphasis is on style not substance. Why ruin a good tortilla chip with food coloring?

I have an idea for the Habenero's people, and I'm being serious about this: if you're going to use Groupon as a promo service to get people to try your restaurants, serve the fresh food your website advertises.

Marian and I like to try new places and enjoyed the evening in spite of not caring for the food. Maybe they just had a bad night. The 50% off Groupon helped.

Habenero's: http://www.habanerosfreshmex.com/

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