Concord NC

Memories of playing Joust and bank shots into the 50 slot of skeeball. Childhood memories of the robot band and the big purple Elvis bear robot in the side room. Dig dug, Defender, Rastan, Operation Wolf, Firefox (from the movie with Clint Eastwood), Burgertime, Galaga and the thousands of other choices to spend our precious tokens. The pizza coming in the room with the long tables, the ball crawl, the hidden area under the stage and more and more cool things that Chuck E Cheese brought to me when those things were like finding $20 to me is now.

All photos from Chuck E Chese in Concord here.

Now later in life this feeling isn’t completely lost, and neither is the huge choices with little money spent. Now this is the option that parents need to remember on a Saturday of Sunday afternoon located in Concord. For the past month this has been the $2 getaway for my 2 year old and a getaway from spending any amount of money to enjoy ‘watching her enjoy”. The games are different are far less important. The 1980s were the highpoint of arcade games in history and Chuck E Cheese was essentially the first modern arcade franchise. The times have changed the appeal of games and the $1 per game pricetag has lessened the appeal. Chuck E Cheese hasnt changed too much but the backbone role of the arcade games in their business model has changed.

You still get a number of games to play, most of which are not the simple chase and shoot games of the 80’s. The games are now generally prop associated action games form dancing to firefighting. Chuck E Cheese now more features items that are free with the goal of their business model relying more on bringing them in for free and selling them food and services.

At the location in Concord you have essentially 75% of the space used in play areas for the kids. The main play area looks like giant hamster world. The secondary and enclosed area for free play is for kids age 3 and under and is a free way for your kids to socialize and play without a dime from your entertainment fund.

If you havn’t been back to see Chuck E, or you havn’t thought to share what was likely so cool for you back int he 80’s and 90’s then get back there with $2 and enjoy the afternoon. If you have kids age 2-4, they can play most the day for free or ride a few 1 token rides. If your kids are a bit older you may part with all of $5 for what they will enjoy immensely. You owe it to pass on what you once thought was “totally awesome”, and they would now find to be “pretty cool” as well.

if you eat a lunch right before leaving you can get out without getting pinched for the somewhat elevated but generally tasty pizza prices. This is how I have been able to budget some extra money for my own eating and reviews.

Five Guys Concord

7741 Gateway Lane NW
Concord, NC, 28207
704-979-1283
All Five Guys Concord Photos

So I was reading letters to the editor of the Charlotte Observer food and entertainment section Kathleen Purvis. In one question to the editor was a comment about Five Guys franchise in Concord.

The letter proclaimed this place to be fantastic and hearty, and the editor replied with saying she had heard this same rumor and was going to give it a try soon.

Well I am happy to say i beat her to it. I was on my way to writing a piece on Chuck E Cheese being a classic part of childhood and a cheap escape for parents when I passed this place in Concord. After fighting the Saturday traffic in Concord, NC I managed to find a parking spot for Five Guys around 6pm on a Saturday. This location is side by side with a drive through Starbucks location so the parking lot is taking a life risk to drive in.

Walking up Five Guys struck me as the stepchild of a old favorite restaurant of mine called Schaller’s in Rochester, New York. Five guys is a very minimal white tile white walls and chairs sort of cafeteria look. There is no frills and this place looks like the kind of place you look for at 1am after a night of drinking. The location is open 11am to 10pm 7 days a week only, so you cant take that sugestion unless you leave the bar very early.

The location smells like cooking fries and the stacks of potato bags on the walls say they take great pride in making “home cooking” and not fast food. This sentence really sums up what you get at Five Guys. Everything looked and worked like you were at a family picnic and the burgers were getting made fresh at the park grill. The fries are true potatos cut and dropped in pure peanut oil so they come out heavy, greasy and tasting like biting into potatos and not frozen crisps.

You can see in the photos that we ordered two regular size fries, which is the smaller of the two sizes, and it filled an entire paper lunch bag to the top.

Again - This bag here only has two regular size fry orders in it.

This bag with only 2 orders of fries in it was heavy to carry soaked with grease and filled to the top like luggage. This monster sized order of fries was very impressive, like nothing I had ever seen.

The fries are very fresh and real but a bit heavy with grease for my tastes. We all agreed that still nobody can defeat the flavor of a McDonalds fry. While they are not as fresh or huge as these amazing fried, McDonalds still taste the best for some artificial reason. Keep in mind though, these are the most authentic and largest order of fries I had ever been served, just not my perfect style by my personal tastes.

The wife had the “small” bacon cheeseburger and I had the regular “cheeseburger”. Both of the burgers were doubles, both were stacked like “freak-burgers” and both tasted like licking the grill they were so authentic. My wife proclaimed it the bestburger she had ever had, and I wasnt far behind that assessment. The burgers here are excellent and taste like a backyard cookout with true grill flavor and neatly stacked and prepared while you watch.

Five guys take extra steps with large helpings and wrapping the burgers in real foil and not paper burger wraps. You will feel like you are at a cookout and getting the best grill prepared food you have had in years.

The walls of this location are littered with signs proclaiming awards they have won for the best food and fries, and I now agree that most of that is hard earned. This is a franchise that doesnt feel like one.

Five guys is like someone attending a softball cookout, handed everyone an employee shirt, and asked you what you want on your paper plate.

For fries this place has authentic and good true potatos fries in huge servings. In burgers, Five Guys has a real off the grill amazing fresh and authentic burger like no other you have had.

Our advice is sneak your McDonalds fries into Five Guys and order one of their burgers to go with it.

This combination would be the best burger meal you ever sat down to, this would be the all star of burger meals.

So is it a sport or not?

YES: Table tennis, boxing and hockey

NO: NASCAR, Golf and Swimming

I have heard some radio conversation the last few days about NASCAR in the realm of sports as a whole. I have also read a recent blog post by the Charlotte Observer blogger asking what is and isn’t a sport.

This conversation had been settled by my and a friend in our living room one late Friday night. We came to a final and perfect conclusion and system.

First off, you must approach all categorizations with no bias or predeterminations. I read a book recently about Anthropology that stated “you’d be amazed how many groundbreaking discoveries have gone on to prove the exact theory the researcher had preconcluded”. What this is to say is that if you go in expecting to find something a certain way, that is generally the way you will decipher it.

So for the what is a sport system we first broke up the categories that each “activity” would fall into and predetermined what each one of these categories is consisting of.

We came up with the following possible outcomes.

Every game or event can be one of the following.
1. A Sport
2. A Competition
3. A Game
4. Hobby
Every game in the world should fall into one of the categories based on what each is defined as.

1. A Sport: A sport is a physical competition that consists of some form of offense and defense. Each side should have to play both offense and defense, and each side’s ability to play offense and defense should affect the score or success of the opposing offense or defense.

By the above standard the following are sports: Football, soccer, hockey, volleyball, tennis, table-tennis, boxing, wrestling, baseball….etc….also.

2. A Competition: A competition is like a sport in that it generally but not exclusively is of the physical nature. A competition does not have offense or defense that directly affects the opponent’s offense or defense. In a competition you generally are competing against a possible score outcome, or competing to be closer to perfection than your competition. A competition is often marked with the ability to play the event with nobody else present and still be able to be marked against a opponent. A competition is also often marred by an event that pits you against both a generalized scoring system (time or “% of perfect”)and a field of more than one opponent.

By this above definition of (non-sports) competitions: Tour De France is not a sport as you could compare times of a one man track. Granted there is skill in positioning and defense of sorts, but you do not affect all opponents and times ultimately determine a winner. Most Olympic events are competitions and not sports. Archery, Figure Skating, diving, bowling, skiing, downhill snowboarding against a clock, gymnastics, Worlds strongest man, swimming and YES golf are competitions and not sports. Under this above definition we should also refer to NASCAR as a competition. While NASCAR fans will say it is taxing on the body and there is defense involved, it again ultimately comes down to the fastest time and 99% of energy exerted is by the car not the driver. NASCAR is actually a competition of mechanical skill and a competition of driving times. The reinforced evidence of this is the recent penalty on a team due to actions of the auto mechanic.

A Game: A game is similar to a sport as it often has offense and defense that are directly opposing another person’s offense and defense. A game is more often than not a sport without the physical opposition to your opponent. A game has the elements of both of the above without the need for physically taxing execution of the skill involved. In a game you are often defending your opponent’s offense with wit or strategy and not physical exertion.

By the above definition of a (non sport) game: A game would then be Billiards, Poker and other offense/defense non physical events. NASCAR almost fits this slot as well. So we have actually seen that NASCAR is a bit of a close call in many respects, but it really does lack the base essentials we use to define a sport.

A Hobby: A hobby is the newer term we came up with to deal with these new events or games that are trying to call themselves sports. A hobby is an event that is not originally set in competition and has been transformed to fit a scoring system. A hobby is also an event done generally for fun in most cases examined and the scoring system was an after thought.

Under this definition of a (not sports) hobby: A hobby includes skydiving, skateboarding, snowboarding (freestyle), paintball, aerobics, surfing. bodybuilding, cheerleading and similar fringe activities that die-hards try to push as being a sport.

I have heard all the arguments, and most often people try to justify their own sport by stating it has defense or it is physically demanding. I know that Bodybuilders, swimmers and golfers are in better shape than most right fielders and first basemen, but you must adhere to a strict predetermined definition to be able to sort out the intentions of everybody to justify their own sport, event, hobby, competition or fun habit.

Are there events or games that break through these definitions? yes I am sure a few can be found, and i’m sure a few like golf not being a sport will upset some people to try to find exceptions but a strict rule set exposes the problems with these assumptions.

I went to this post:
http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/blog.php?p=2297&cat=16

Where lots of angry people are screaming their favorite thing to watch “is” a sport. These people have tried to make a point to fit their preconception or personal choice of activity; this is very unscientific in approach.

here are the common arguments you may have brewing in your head as well.

“Poker takes skill too. So do bowling, hunting and fishing, the latter two I consider survival traits. ”

Skill in itself is not in anyway associated to sports. Spinning plates on a stick in Vegas takes skill too, and that is not a sport. The above definitions I have provided are not designed to try and get “my” sport into the realm of sport, they are generic and draw definitive lines on how the activity is played and won. A sport is not “hard to do” or is “physically challenging”, a sport is a form of direct competition between two parties based on physical goals as better defined above.

“There’s a very fine line with this. I draw it at gasoline. Now, riding a bike (Lance Armstrong) is a sport. Why? Leg power makes the bike go, not gasoline. ”

Again, physical exertion is not in anyway a part of what makes a sport. Mowing my lawn with a rotary mower is varying hard to do, and I can do it faster than my neighbor, but I don’t call him and tell him I beat him today in the 400 meter lawn mow event. Physical activity done for my own goal and not to counter competitors directly as described above makes a competition to achieve a common goal in the shortest time, and not a sport.

“The physical demands of driving NASCAR outweigh the physical demands of baseball players. So unless you believe baseball is not a sport, your argument is not valid. ”

Again, a person tries to point out that because it is taxing on the body it’s a sport, and that is in no way directly connected to what defines a sport. While NASCAR is somewhat close to making the grade, and almost fits the definition above, the fact that it is a competition of engineering as much as driving defeats any arguments making it a full fledge sport by definition. And as stated above, since we are all doing the same thing to get the best time only and that determines who is best, that is a competition not a sport.

“At the highest levels, Auto Racing Teams (drivers included) are as much athletes as any player in the NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB! Because some people don’t care for Auto Racing, you included, doesn’t make it any less of a sport. ”

Nice thought by this argument but Athletes are not people who compete in “sports” they are people who compete in athletic events or activities. A bodybuilder is an athlete, a rock climber is an athlete, and a person setting the world record for chin-ups is an athlete. These people train for Athletic competition and thusly are just as likely to be part of a “competition” and not a sport. As I defined above, and which is the group I put NASCAR in.

** all arguments about how I or other spectators could not drive a NASCAR are just plain silly so let’s not post that garbage here. I could also not type 90 words per minute; it doesn’t make it a sport or my lack of ability.

“take basketball, swimming, track, cross country, soccer… HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A FAT PRO SWIMMER???… you know why? because besides the skill (you need it in any activity) it takes incredible amount of physical training! ”

This is plain silly in itself. Suzanne Sommers looks great on her abflex commercials but that doesn’t make Abflex a sport. Physical shape has nothing to do with what is a sport. baseball is a sport because you play defense and the opponent plays offense directly opposite of your efforts. it is a directly opposing competition in effort to determine one winner and to deter the opponent from being that winner as well.

in the end you make your own definition. I think I have made the most scientific one above and stuck to my guns and it fell nicely into place and seemed to categorize everything nicely and as it should be. A sport is not just hard to do or what i see on ESPN TV, it is something that has score, offense,defense, a winner, a loser, and a way for one to make the other. Take away any of these elements and you don’t have what is a true “sport” by definition.

With all this being said, I can’t wait for the ESPN Winter X games to introduce a blogging while drinking Miller High Life category, maybe then my sport of typing and drinking simultaneously will get the media attention it deserves. After I bring home the Winter X gold in that sport I will go for Olympic typing glory.

(For the record and sake of arguments that may arise, I have competed in Wrestling, Soccer, Volleyball, Softball, Bowling, Billiards, Football, and Cross Country Running at a reasonible level in my lifetime.)

3 Stars 

By: Charlotte Critic
8629 Concord Mills Blvd
Concord 28027
(704) 979-3366
Menu Features: hot salsa,tacos,burritos,guacamole,nachos,totillas
Pictures from Charanda

Got a chance this week to try yet another great Charlotte Mexican Restaurant.

Charlotte seems to be a hot bed of Mexican food which is fantastic news as long as the quality remains on par with my last few outings. Charanda Mexican Grill & Cantina is located right by the excellent Concord Mills mall.

Charanda is actually past the mall which for now may be a liability for them. Charanda has the task of competing with dozens of top end franchises that all fall in the same cutomer demographic in this area.

can see the main competition for them reviewed and a ‘Critic’s Choice’ here at On The Border Mexican grill which is just up the street from Charanda.

The Ms. and I visited Charanda on a weekday at 3pm, as we have learned many lessons about dinging in this area during the peak hours, most restaurants near the mall worth visiting will bring a 45 min + wait with the meal.

As you can see we were greated by a somewhat empty location and really helped us to sit and chat with the staff a bit. All of our staff was of course bi-lingual, and there is something very settling about getting a great mexican meal from the real deal native Mexican-Americans, it tends to bring a bit more flavor with it and pride in the establishment.

As you have seen the setting is very comfy, medium dim lit, and probally a better date stop than On The Border. They are a bit better spaced out in there, and have a higher percentage of booths to tables, since everyone loves to get a booth this is great.

I am only going to warn patrons once, the salsa is a bit hotter than standard free table salsas.
Most franchise style setting tend to serve mild/medium on the table (so they dont get sued?), Charanda definately served it up authentic and as most gringos would consider medium to hot.

The chips and shells used in the meal were free and clearly made fresh much like they do at on the border to our praises. Our service was friendly and fast but hard to consider that at 3pm on a weekday.

When the meals came the same standard held true, and the food was a shade hotter than standard gringo/mexican restaurants tend to serve. I enjoy hot food if the flavor is just as powerful as the heat, and I was very happy with the freshness of the Jalepenos / lime juice and cheeses in the burrito verdes i had, the flavor was excellent.

Throughout my entire meal i was teetering 1 inch from a “food sweat” from the heat, but I never even thought about stopping as it was excellent fresh and flavorful.

The Wife had Chimichangas, and too was blown away by the heat and spice. Her tolerence is a bit lower than most people for hot food but still it was exceptionally spicy for her taste when she asked for a mild suggestions to the waitress.

The wife too had a very hard time stopping though as the food is extremely flavorful with fresh tasting ingreients and salsas. If you wish you can read another recent review of Charanda here at the Charlotte Observer. All in all the flavor, strength and authenticity was once step ahead of the nearby On The Border Mexican Grill. The setting was also a bit more my style than On The Border, though that is a matter of taste as they are both very nice.

Charanda should take the time to invest in a bit more stylish dishware to present the meal with, and the overall food presentation was just a shade off the excellent presentation and food down the road.

I really would have to spend a bit more time enjoying the fine food at Charanda to make the close call on the best mexican dining in the Concord Mills Shopping area, but if you are out with the boys and looking for a bit of heat and real high quality ingredient flavor I say choosing Charanda over On the Border would never be a mistake.

The Concord area is definately blessed with great mexican restraurants.

Fire Mountain Grill

3.5 Stars 

Charlotte Critic
8601 Concord Mills Blvd
Concord 28207
mber: (704) 979-1055
Menu Features: buffet,chicken,biscuits,steak,pork chops

Restaurant Review For Fire Mountain Grill
Fire Mountain Grill and Buffet
“Hot off the grill” So I got a chance to try Fire Mountain Grill yesterday, and as I pulled up I was starving for a big meal, so it turned out to be the right choice.
I got out of the car and asked an older gentleman leaving if “this place has good food”,
he said “it’s ok, like all the rest of them”. Now I didn’t know this was a franchise when I pulled up so lets treat it and review it as a one of a kind. Turns out Fire Mountain is part of Ryan’s Restaurant Group, Inc. which also has
Ryans Grill Buffet Bakery under their wings.
They are online here http://www.ryansrg.com/index.php. So we enter and realize it’s a buffet eatery, and almost leave. I do like the service aspect of dining out. One look at the size and scope of food kept us from turning back though. We paid in advance which was .20 for two people with drinks. This covered a lot of expensive higher end food for a buffet as well as drinks, desert, fruit, salad and more. To say this is a “Southern Dining Experience” would be like saying “Shaq is kinda tall”.
The buffet has fried okra, 4 kinds of biscuits, rolls, fried chicken, ribs, corn and just about everything else that is cooked incorrectly from Pennsylvania on up. The hostess also informed us that steaks and chicken breast would be going at starting at 4pm.
The main staples on the buffet included:
Fried Chicken
Salmon
Ribs
Pulled Pork
Hamburger Steak
Grilled and Rotisserie Chicken And everything mentioned here was better than I could have expected for the total check I paid to get in. Clearly if you wish to put this against a more generic ponderosa style buffet, you are getting much better quality and choices of main dishes. Being a Yankee by birth like I am left my head spinning with choices. My mouth is watery now thinking about that spread. The rolls brought to your table by the waitress and the fact that she keeps you soda filled is a great touch too, the rolls were fantastic and buttery. So what did I use my limited stomach space on?
The pulled pork is always my first choice, and always easy to be happy and full with. This was the only thing I was not thrilled with on the buffet though. Fire Mountain really needs to put a few extra sauce choices when serving pulled pork, as it was a bit bland. The fried chicken came next, and the pieces were crispy, large, packed with meat and tasted excellent. I suppose you cant serve up the south if you drop the ball on this item, so they did it justice plus. The ribs are not something I normally go after, but glad I did. Another excellent, spicy, large and tender addition to my plate. The grilled chicken, wings, biscuits, rice, mac and cheese all were tasty good quality items I recommend. Hows it look? Fire Mountain basically looks like a softball team picnic inside. Lots of tables, pull up style chairs, wood accents and nascar/NFL banners and advertisments everywhere. You get the large grill where it can be seen, and lots of friendly people shuffling around looking at the large spread. If you are looking to get very full for a decent price, and looking for a cut above the normal sissy buffet then this is a solid choice. How could they improve? knock a buck off the price of the buffet would help, perhaps upgrade the seating and make it feel a bit more family apealling or warm, and offer more sauce choices to go with all that glorious meat! In all I liked it and will be back whenever I got an urge to undo my belt and go through 200 napkins in the process.

On The Border Mexican Grill

4 Stars  
Charlotte Critic

8001 Concord Mills Blvd
Concord 28027
704-979-9029
Menu Features: tacos,burritos,guacamole,nachos,totillas

On The Border In The Photo Gallery >

Restaurant Review For On The Border Mexican Grill in Concord & Northlake
Just got back from the On The Border Mexican Grill located in Concord near Concord Mills Mall.
And I am glad to say…”I am glad”. Driving the area I had a choice of Pizzeria Uno, Olive garden and a few other staple franchises that all offer a decent meal for about -30 for two. Having passes On The Border many times and since mexican restaurants are my favorite we decided to try. We went at 4pm which is important since you will run into major crowds in Concord after 5:30, so go in the afternoon, or just avoid this traffic jammed area. The place is nice enough and on the same level as the before mentioned Olive garden and Pizzaria Uno that it sides up with. A nice open atmosphere with mustard and green sponge painted walls keeps with the psuedo-gringo-mexican atmosphere. I think aside from about 2 bus-persons, we were the only ones who actual spoke spanish in the entire place. I only say this to let you know this is not a place to find mariachis, but a place to find SUV’s and plenty of blonde gringos. A great place either way, so lets leave that thought behind. The restaurant is very open and comfortable with a seperate cantina on the right side when you enter. The seating is a little close together, but that is likely due to this area being amazingly busy. I ordered the steak bourrito, and MS. Critic ordered up the dinner supremo, which is a hard shell taco, flautas, y una enchilada. A mexican restaurant means chips and salsa to start with. This place has very freshly fried chips, and they are worth mentioning. They are good enough to be mentioned, which is to say excellent. (the salsa is medium so you know) The food was a bit slower than some other places weve been and likely due to being so fresh, so I am more than happy in waiting a few extra minutes for clearly superior food, which is what we received. It has been many years since I have had an excellent bourito, since a place called mariachi’s in Clearwater, Florida, and this was the day to end that streak. The Steak bourito was excellent, extremely soft and fresh, and bathing in an excellent spicy sauce. The black beans with cheese on the side and mexican rice was perfect as well. I eat black beans and rice about 4 times a week, and thinking about theirs is making me hungry again. The Ms. was a little surprised as her “Dinner supremo” was spicier than she likes, but excellent all the same. The hard shell taco was not a prepackaged shell, but a fresh fried shell like I hadnt seen in a long while. The menu has a decent but not huge selection, and that wont be a problem for anyone. The prices are about - a plate, with the two i described both being about each. Our server was Jessica, and she never missed a beat filling drinks, filling chips, or with the check. We were very pleased in every way, and both agreed this is an editors choice mexzican restaurant. This will definately be on the list for Best of Charlotte when 2005 comes to a close. Great food, extremely fresh and great portions,Fresh shred steak, not ground beef Great service, good menu, clean atmosphere, Great chips and shells, End review, Im going back ASAP to review some more

Casa Macias Mexican Grill

2 Stars 

Charlotte Critic
10009 Weddington Road
Concord 28207
(704) 717-2555
Menu Features: food, pollo fundido,casa macias,mexican grill,mexican in concord,concord restaurants,concord places to eat

Photos from our visit in the gallery >

Restaurant Review For Casa Macias Mexican Grill
The Mrs. was pushing for another stop at the very tasty Fire Mountain Grill buffet for the huge selection, friendly service and great fried chicken, but I wielded my veto power and pushed for more mexican food since I can never get enough of it. The traffic at concord off Rt 85 was so great turning left during this tax free weekend that I too a right to see what could be found that was new and fresh. In the end I found new, but definately nothing too fresh. About one block from 85 heading toward the track you turn into a brick plaza and here is Casa Macias in the corner, … another in a long line of great Mexican grills? With a flat glass bar style front Casa macias is simple and clearly not trying to be anything but a traditional restaurant in appearence. They have white tile floor and white archways decor which really seemed to say “lunch-crowd” and not “dinner hot spot”. if you are looking for a well lit and bright booth type of sit down the decor here is what you crave. With any Mexican restaurant in Charlotte or moreso in Concord, NC you really need to be ready to compete and the bar is reasonibly high in this block. I speak of this need to stand out in the review of the pretty tasty Charanda here. At Casa Macias you get a more lunchtime feel from the decor but clearly this is a lower level of quality than Charanda and On The Border will offer you. Three of us ate, and I was addmitedly distrcted by my company on this visit, but not enough to not have a strong opinion. The three dishes ordered where the Pollo Fundido, which is a white cream sauce Chicken Burrito that is often one of my choices at mexican restaurants. here is the recipe to give you an idea of what goes into it. This is the one dish at the table that was a definate hit. This has been good anywhere I have it and seems like a smart move to make this a staple of your ordering out rotation. Here the pic of what was served, the Pollo Fundido at Casa Macias. Also at the table we ordered a steak style burrito with white cream sauce, which was actually pretty simple with little flavor or spice to it other than the standard heat. It was pretty good and a decent choice but came with no sides and was actually pretty tough (tortilla and meat) which can be a sign of pre-prepared or shelved before I got there. The Ms had ribeye steak with rice and beans, served with flour tortillas and fresh dressings to roll the plate contents if you desire. Her meat was a bit tough too, but for the most part everything was fair. The real detraction for this stop was clearly the service lacking hospitality. Of the 1 bus-person and two male waiters we dealt with we seemed rushed and not overly welcome the entire time. I felt an air of impatience from the waiters and we sat and watched our glasses fall empty with only about 4 tables full in the entire place. The final time when our table was cleared I felt like the waiter was about to snap from impatience and clearly seemed irratated by his job. This would be Saturday August 5th at about 4:45pm, in case the management wants to see who was having a bad day. When I stack up this experience against the other two choices nearby of On The Border and Charanda, I really felt like Casa Macias was not even trying to do their best. They served up simple and fair food and did it with a non friendly air.

I really think that sentence sums this location up perfectly, “I really didnt feel like anyone was trying”. I can only assume they are upset to have the inferior location and are not willing to try to win a crowd with the best pricing, service or smiles. I will not spend my money here again, not when the choices right around the corner are much tastier and fresher (On The Border), and more authentic (Charanda).