Rosa Mexicano Restaurant Review

We went to Rosa Mexicano for my friend's birthday dinner. It was a great location and a fun environment with outside seating.

However, in regards to the food. It was the equivalent to generic cafeteria food. I ordered the chicken enchiladas with rancheros sauce. It just tasted like tomato soup thrown on top of a soft shell taco. It came out a bit cold as well. My friend ordered the carne asada which she thought was too salty and flavorful.

Chicken Enchiladas with rancheras

The alcoholic beverages were small and over-priced as expected for a Downtown Minneapolis locaton. The server also asked us if we would like some guacamole (for 5) with the complimentary chips and salsa. We all agreed guacamole sounded like a good idea until we saw the bill. It was $25 for guacamole, and it wasn't even that much guacamole. It was about two avocados, some tomatoes, onion, lime juice, and some salt. Super over-price. However, they were fairly accommodating with our special requests in food as well as when we were dissatisfied with the price of the guacamole they did change the price to a half order. 

Overall I'm glad we gave it a try, but I wouldn't go there again and would not suggest anyone to go there. If you are craving Mexican food in the Downtown area...Barrios might be a better option.

Copper Pot Indian Grill Review

Finally got to check out this place called Copper Pot Indian Grill in Downtown Minneapolis. I thought it was a cute place and enjoyed the quality of the food. My Indian boyfriend, however, was not impressed. He did seem to inhale his food with no leftovers, but he claimed it was because he had been craving Indian food for a while now. He thought the food took too long and was overpriced.

They brought us two thin flatbread with two different sauces. I have no clue what it was and neither did the boyfriend. I thought it was delicious like an Indian version of chips and salsa.

We started with the appetizer of Hyderabadi Chicken 65. It was a bit spicy but not "oh my god, my mouth is on fire spicy." It gave me a bit of a runny nose though.

For the main entrees, we ordered the dum puck with a side of naan and chicken briyani.

Dum Puck

Chicken Briyani

No clue how the dum puck is different from any other Indian dishes like chicken marsala, but the dum puck was made with lamb. In regards to the rice that came with my entree, I thought it was decent but it had a few hard pieces of rice in there. Being Asian and growing up on rice, I'm a total rice snob and biased to the Hmong rice I grew up with.

The chicken briyani was decent. It was basically a chicken pot pie with no broth but a ton of ice wrapped in a thin, hard and flavorless breading. The quality of the chicken in it was good though, except the meat was bone which makes it more difficult to eat.

I would probably try Copper Pot again, but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there. It is probably the second best place I've had Indian food in the Twin Cities though.

Let me know what you think if you've been there before or what other Indian places in the Twin Cities you've enjoyed.

Trieste Cafe Review

I don't know about you, but when I forget my lunch or am too lazy to make it the night before I want something cheap, appetizing, and fast. Most of us are only allowed 1 hour if even for our lunch so fast is definitely key.

If you are craving Greek/Mediterranean cuisine for a quick lunch, I would strongly suggest Trieste Café in Downtown Minneapolis. They aren't really easy to find as there is no signage outside of the building but just keep an eye out for the black board they have outside on the sidewalk informing you of their specials.


Prices had increased

The trip took me like 10 minutes. It was amazing...fast like Jimmy Johns. I thought they had great customer services also in spite of it being crazy busy around 12 pm. I ordered the gyro with rice for $7.50. The option sized was perfected. I inhaled it easily, and I know my coworker can usually make two meals out of her food.

Gyro with rice

On top of fast being a key factor of where I eat for lunch, I also am very into quality. What do I know about quality? Besides being a foodies, I grew up working in a restaurant. You know what short cuts people make and can judge poor quality a lot easier as I've been behind the scenes. My mother is a perfection in her kitchen and only uses the best ingredients at Asian Café in Eau Claire, WI so I can tell when people don't.

I mainly judge quality on freshness of their vegetables. You can tell most restaurants specifically chain restaurants do not wash their vegetables. That is disgusting and a main reason why I don't order salads. I could tell that my green leaf lettuce was washed. There was a few browned leaves in there though. Also most Greek yogurt cucumber sauce doesn't sit well with my stomach, since I'm lactose intolerant (growing up from WI it's hard to resist). However I felt fine after inhaling my food at Triste Café.

It's definitely a place worth visiting at least once. I'm not sure if I would actually dine in there though, it a bit of a strange layout and felt a bit tight and cramped. Also it was crowded and there was a lot of conversations going on so it made it hard to hear much of anything.

Have you been to Triste Café before? What did you think? Are there any other Greek restaurants you would suggest for lunch? http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/trieste-caf%C3%A9-minneapolis-2?select=XlKyGY0s79d0GQpW2fAT2w#vW4tLl_wYtEXx-53u5B6Vg