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cityweekend

Pass the Red Sauce

As we approached, the yellow clapboard, Florida-style home off Hongmei Lu was not quite the décor we'd anticipated. While the name clearly emphasizes Tex-Mex cuisine, the mammoth menu includes a bit of everything, from sandwiches and salads to burgers and breakfast. As we were set on the idea of tacos and burritos, we stuck to the Tex-Mex offerings, sampling the chicken quesadillas (YY30) and queso and chips (YY40) as appetizers. They both satisfied our cravings as the quesadillas were filled with spicy shredded chicken and the chips were covered in a creamy cheese and pepper sauce. Our main dishes of tacos al carbon (YY68) and chimichangas (YY69) were also tasty but somewhat unremarkable choices. The two soft flour tacos were filled with very well seasoned beef and were served with refried beans and Spanish rice, although both side dishes were disappointing. The three large chimichangas were also stuffed with a generous amount of savory shredded beef, but the signature red sauce that normally covers this dish was absent. For drinks, the requisite margaritas and beer are available, along with wine, cocktails and milkshakes. All in all, while Peter's offers large portions and reasonable prices along with a vast assortment of food options, those in search of truly authentic Tex-Mex food may be left looking for more. --Dawn Carlson

 

zimbu

El Review: Peter's Tex Mex

Los First Impressiones: I arrived at the well-known Hong Mei alley location (across the street from over-priced Pasta Fresca), home of Mexico Lindo, Royal Thai, and Indian Kitchen (aka, bad Mexican, bad Thai, and bad Indian food). Expecting to find some sort of little hole in the wall place, I was surprised by the size of the Peter's Tex Mex location. This place is big!

La Decorata: Well, it's not really Texan. And it's not Mexican either. And it's not exactly Gramma's Rose Garden Inn Bed & Breakfast. It is a cross between all three. More than a little confusing, to say the least...

That said, it's very nicely done. Good quality materials throughout, nice looking unique paint scheme, beautiful solid wood tables and chairs, high quality woven table covers...no skimping at all on the build-out of this place. Even the dish settings are very nice and quirky looking. Each piece on our table was slightly different from the others, giving it a very nice home-style feeling. The "fruit jar" drinking glasses were a little cliche, but nice to see they tried.

El Menuto: The menu consists of Mexican food and every other food on earth. One of those typical "reach too far" type of places (Steak and Eggs, are you listening?). I really wish they had just focused on Mexican and offered more choices of that type, rather than adding steak, pasta dishes, monkey brain, and everything else.

La Foodilla: Making the obvious choice to order Mexican food, the "Zimbu, party of 2" table ordered chips/salsa, "Big Texan chicken burrito", and tacos (beef and chicken). Also a side of “guac” for the ultimate test of authenticity.

Overall, the food is about the same quality as you would make at home if you had all of the exact ingredients needed. Which is to say, it tastes ok, but lacks some level of professional presentation. Still, the taste is pretty close, so I was quite happy with the food in general.

Salsa was a nice surprise; taste was great, and although it was not spicy enough, at least it had more spice that the Cal Kitchen "chunky mineral water" version. One complaint is that the salsa dish was really small. But they gave us a free refill when we asked for one. Gracias!

The buritos were served dry (just tortillas and a very good tasting spicy chicken filling) with refried beans, rice, lettuce on the side, and topped with sour cream). Tacos were similar but had fried corn tortilla shells; which were slightly limp feeling as if they were not completely fresh or had absorbed some steam in the kitchen.

Guacamole was chunky and clearly made from real avocado (as opposed to the greenish chunky mayo that passes for guacomole at some other places in Shanghai). But it did not have enough salt or onion, so it was a little bland. Still, not bad for Shanghai. So far, this is the best guacamole I have eaten in the city. Which is not saying much, but still...

El Servicio: Friendly and cheerful. Strange that they seemed to hire mainly Shanghainese, which is not very common for this type of restaurant in Shanghai (most usually hire staff from outside the area who will work for less money). When we arrived, the place was nearly empty, but they allowed us to freely select our own table, even on the second floor. I hate when restaurants play the "second floor is closed for cleaning" game in order to squeeze the sucker customers all together in one convenient location. Papa's John's does this all the time and it really annoys me.

Los Ordering Processito: The waitress was not quite up to speed on the typical ordering style and options for Mexican food. End result, she required a few quick runs to the kitchen to check this and that. "Is it breast meat chicken?"...hold on..."Can I have black beans instead of refried sludge?"...uhh, let me check. Still, in the end, we got what we wanted (well, not black beans, but sorta dryish pinto beans...anything is better than lardy refried beans!), and she was very friendly about it.

La Dinero Damagita: Something less that 200RMB for two people.

El Summarinosa: It is certainly not the slightly foo foo Euro-Mex type of food that you will find at Mexico Lindo. Instead, it is more like a dressed up Taco Bell on plates (not to be confused with Taco Bell Grande which was very badly localized in terms of ingredients). So if you go with the right mindset, you will definitely be satisfied. If you are looking for a 5-star hotel presentation, or big showy "shrimp ceviche mole volcano mountain" dishes, then you will not like it.

By the time we finished our meal, the downstairs eating area was packed full. A good sign that Peter's may have some staying power. That's good news since...

A new Mexican food king has been crowned for Shanghai: Peter's Tex Mex! Not the best quality, for sure, but the best that we currently have to choose from. I originally gave it 3.5 Zimbu bananas out of 5, but since my accounting department says I need to round up, in the end, Peter's earns 4 Zimbu bananas out of 5!

 

5 months, 2 weeks ago

nytoshanghai

I agree with everything Zimbu had to say, but he failed to mention the desserts...They are GOOD!! Also this is a good place to Sherpa from because the food delivers pretty well if your not interested in leaving home.

4 months ago