Next on the food tour, Food Tour: Young & Hungry Part Two: It's New & Maybe For You, we will be stopping at the newly opened Quiote Tequilaria.
Quiote focuses on elevated authentic Mexican Cuisine also with a focus on craft cocktails made with Tequila and Mezcal.
Located in the same space that Ciro’s once was, Quiote now has a place to welcome guests to have an enjoyable and thoughtful experience
During our visit we had several dishes.
*Camerones a la Parilla
*A la Ceasar
*Lamb Birria
*Charred Quail
*Helado De Horchata & sweet plantains
Cocktails:
Margarita and the Bien Amigos
It's good, fresh, authentic and delicious. They grill everything and the grill leaves a very distinct and delicious flavor on the meats and seafood. The Camarones a la Parrilla is a good example of that; That was the starter I ordered as my main dish. I was very surprised by how large the shrimp were and how much you get for the price. This, for me, is a full meal. The only thing that I didn't like is that a lot of the shrimp were cooked onto the shell, so I lost a lot of meat that remained on the shell as seen below.
The shrimp has a seasoning and marinade that has a gentle heat that builds up the more you eat them. They come with two side sauces as well. This dish is a keeper.
The birria tacos were great as to be expected. You only get two for 17 dollars served with consomé on the side for dipping.
I ordered the Quail and then my husband decided to eat it. The Quail is presented beautifully and the grilling on it was terrific. The grilled Quail in the petal sauce was 40 dollars which was the most expensive item we ordered; the shrimp were 21 which was a very fair price. Now for 40 dollars you can expect two small flattened quail. It doesn't seem like a lot of food to me so I would say some of these are smaller bites that will add up.
The star of the night was the Helado De Horchata and brûlée sweet plantains. Yay, my husband loved this. He loves ice cream and platanos and so this dish is just such a savory sweet marriage that was right up his alley!
So, I have talked about the food and it was a 5/5. Then is there anything else? Yes, there was only one issue I had. You guys probably know what it is before I even write it
Hospitality
Gluten-free menus and training.
Both of these issues are one in the same right. When I was asking what options were gluten-free on the menu (or if they had a menu that already had the items marked down) our waiter was super dismissive. They were just like...uh yea most of this menu is gluten-free like 90%. There were three things on the menu that automatically stood out as not gluten-free yet he was saying just about the whole menu was gluten-free. Anyhow, I asked can he check or at least write down that the order is for someone with Celiac Disease not just like requesting gluten-free for allergy or lifestyle etc. He just staired at me and was like hmm and just said "k" while looking at me funny. So then I started looking at him like...are you taking this seriously lol? No lie, this was the start of dinner and I was ready to walk out because he was just not acting serious. So, when I asked about the Quail I asked about the mole (because some mole's may be made with flour) I got the same dismissive attitude. They were just like yea it should be GF and I asked what was in it and they just start naming random spices and at no point, even though I asked, even though the Chef was actively walking around to tables speaking to people, he never asked if the items I ordered were gluten-free.
Then a manager comes to the table and is like y'all good? and I am like yea I just want to know what's in the white mole and HE gives me the same look. Like the SAME LOOK. And he too wouldnt give me a straight answer.
So, what is this? Well, I can tell you it seemed rude and dismissive and it was bad hospitality. Now, the person who greeted us was warm, friendly and welcoming. I didn't get that at all from these other two people and it's crazy because literally says on their website, website pride ourselves on warm welcomes and hospitality.
I didn't get that. Not even a smile or my dietary restrictions being taken seriously.
Ultimately, what I ordered was gluten-free because I knew what to stay away from on the menu. I did ask for no white mole and the Quail was served with it anyway. This dinner was a 5/5, but service was a 2/5 because I had to choose to stay and possible get glutened (because no one was answering my queations) or leave upset and dissappionted. These things can be easily fixed by having Chef mark what's gluten-free on one menu and have that available for anyone who asks. And Lastly, some basic training in food allergies, dietary restrictions etc and just taking people serious when they are asking "what is in this dish". Gluten can be hidden in anything especially sauces, salad dressings and marinades.
Asking is not that hard if it means not losing the confidence of your customer.
I hope this was a one off really weird experience in an otherwise great dinner.
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