Salsa's

***This is a Before and After review***

Before. 11AM Friday, 1/4/2008.

I've read the reviews and decided on the Beef Chimichanga. (thanks Todd K.) I know not to expect too much from the chips (thanks Debra R.) and salsa and to stay away from anything prepared with shrimp. (thanks Brian B.) I'm definitely looking forward to a few carafes of Sangria.

Star prediction: 3 Stars.

After. 11AM Saturday, 1/5/2008.

First, the food & service: The chips were average. I'm fine with average chips when they deliver such an extremely above average salsa. Seriously, this salsa brought the heat! My beef chimichanga dinner ($10.95, picture uploaded) was a very good value. It was served with three sides: black beans, rice and a fresh vegetable mixture. Overall, the food was good and I left fully satisfied. The service was prompt. We received the complementary chips and salsa only seconds after seating ourselves. Our servers were polite and the food was prepared quickly.

Second, the drink: The deep red-plum colored sangria was both sweet and spicy; with hints of cinnamon in every sip. It lacked chunks of fruit but that didn't deter us from drinking two carafes (about 2 liters). Thumbs up, its a must try.

Lastly, the decor & atmosphere: Lets not pull any punches here, the decor is poor. The walls are adorned with meaningless/generic Spanish items and the paint job must have been outsourced to Labor Ready. The atmosphere was cozy, lively/energetic/upbeat and overall pretty decent. There was a wait starting shortly after we were seated at around 6:45PM. Lets move on to the bathroom. It was small and the door literally hits you where the good lord splits you. I think they need to work on the door hinge tension. They also need to increase the size of the paper towels that are automatically dispensed. I have man hands and needed three to sufficiently dry my hands.

Interesting events that make the night: Mid-meal the untouched tableside hot sauce exploded. Its cork unexpectedly and loudly popped off and shot straight up, into the ceiling. This caused us to erupt in laughter which inevitably brought stares of confusion from the other patrons.

Overall 3.5 Stars.

I freakin' love Mexican food and Salsa's is right up my alley. The place is cute but small -- I can imagine it getting overly busy and crowded. Plus, they seemed only to have a standing AC so I can imagine everyone getting pretty sweaty as well.

As soon as we sat down a heaping bowl of chips and salsa and a water pitcher were put on the table for us.. Our waitress was super friendly and very accommodating. I ended up ordering the ground beef tacos and loved that they offered a few types of tortillas and black/refried beans. It was a TON of food for a really good price and the tacos were delicious. My friend's nachos looked ehhh and she only ate about half of them.

It's too bad I tend not to drink on week nights because the margaritas on everyone's tables looked awesome. I'm going to have to come back on a Friday night.

I love Salsa's. I went here regularly while I lived in Boston, and make a point of visiting on my annual trips home. It's delicious. Things that are more specifically delicious:

* The chips and salsa they put out before you order.

* The Mahi Mahi Chowder. Cream base with cilantro and garlic, and, I assume, ground up leprechaun or something because it tastes so good something unholy must have happened to it.

* The fajitas, in part because they serve as a vehicle to put more salsa into your mouth.

* The Papa Taco, a stuffed potato that will kill you instantly.

very nice; quality mexican food, well cooked, nice variety (my wife is vegetarian--she had awesome choices). Pros: Food quality and quantity--dishes large, my chimichanga was great, had the tinga (tasty filling) my wife had the cheese enchiladas with their green verde sauce which was top notch. Yeah, I had some of her food--Who are you looking at? My kids love the rice and beans, they were nice enough to offer corn shell tortillas for free. Cons: Small dining room, very very loud at times, a tad expensive. Enchiladas, chimi + rice and beans and $6 guacamole (yup $6) was nearly forty bucks with tip. No drinks, either.
My service was great, but there were few patrons.

I really like the vibe at Salsa's, even though I wasn't super impressed with my chicken quesadilla. For starters, it came in taco form. And no, I don't care if that's traditional; I want cheesy, messy, sloppy, and massive. What I got was sweet-looking and simple: just chicken and cheese in three little shells.

I went with my sister (now a Boston local), who ordered some kind of grilled chicken salad, which was a bit dry, but had much greater variety as far as the vegetables than I'd anticipated.

Our waitress was nice, but not as attentive as I'd have liked. Basically, I feel like I ran out of water in my glass and stayed that way for a while.

Overall though, pretty good time in a local spot.

I appreciate it when wait staff (in this case a waitress) is honest about a food selection and tells you people don't like it and often send it back! And for all of you yelpers who are wondering what that choice was - mahi mahi tacos.

I went in on a Wednesday night and it wasn't very busy, but service was kind of slow. But I won't hold that against them because there appeared to only be one waitress working the floor.

The chips were really good. Freshly made & very salty, just how I like them.

I had two shrimp tacos and a chicken taco with rice and beans. They were very accommodating when I asked to have a mix of refried & black beans! The food was good. Not amazing, but certainly not the worst I've ever had. I didn't have one of their nightly specials, but the person I was with did and it was a steal - $2 tacos (excluding sea food).

I'll be back because it is convenient and I was happy with it. There are a lot worse options in Southie.

- $5 margaritas suck. Gross.
- SLOW SLOW SLOW SERVICE.
- Waited 15 minutes to get sat
- No waters. No salsa.
- Only good thing was food was good.
NOT RETURNING.
AWFULLLLLLL SERVICE!
Wasn't even that busy! Don't waste your time.

I was ready to give this place a solid four stars because I love the food, but I recently had an interaction with the owner that caused me to bump it up to five.

I love this place but always thought it was bootleg that they didn't give free refills (seems minor, but it's just annoying) and that the guacamole appetizer was $7. I was bored at work one day and decided to drop the owner an email. I received back an extremely detailed email as to the entire nature of his business...he justified some of the costs I called into question, and then completely agreed with me when I told him the refill charge on sodas was archaic. The policy has since been changed and refills on soda are now free. He didn't have to do that...but he did because he took feedback from a customer. That's customer service that you really don't find every day.

At a lot of places, you get the feel that they couldn't really care less if you left full and pleased or empty and disappointed, so long as they got your money. That's not the case here.

The owner is awesome and so is the restaurant. Go here.

Literally the worst restaurant I've ever been to.

There were less people in this restaurant than I have fingers, yet making eye contact with multiple servers and clearly trying to get their attention yielded no results. Apparently, a small basket of chips and three scoops of salsa is enough to hold us over for 30 minutes.

It amazes me that a "restaurant" could let potential patrons sit ignored for 30 minutes, but the icing on the cake was when a table next to us was seated, given chips, and immediately asked for their drink orders. The wait staff here made me feel more invisible and inadequate than any out-of-my-league girl at any bar ever has.

We ended up walking out. A desire for hot, delicious spices in my stomach ended in an empty, hot feeling of hatred in my heart. Ignore this restaurant like they ignore their customers.

This place is a solid 3. They have pretty good salsa but the cold chips are a pet peeve of mine. My love for Mexican restaurants is based solely on whether or not they serve warm, salty, greasy chips. When I want cold, dry tortilla chips I buy Tostios and eat them at home. When I come to a restaurant, I want warm, fresh chips.

But, the food is okay here. And the service this past Sat. afternoon was pretty slow, yet accurate and friendly. Kind of like in in Mexico...minus the beach, sunburn, hangover and tequilla poppers.

Mexican food in Boston is pretty limited, so I'm glad this is even an option. Oh, and good news - they have a liquor licences now and can serve "real" margaritas.