- Address:
- 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, 33410
- Phone:
- 561-625-3120
- Overall User Rating:
-
(3 ratings)
- Hours:
- 4-9 p.m. Sunday-Tuesday. 4-10pm Wednesday-Thursday. 4-10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 11:30 a.m.- 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday brunch
- Official Web Site:
- http://www.rosamexicano.info/servlet/locations/pbc41
The sophistication continues inside, as Rosa offers specialties ranging from traditional Mexican favorites to modern interpretations that showcase the restaurant’s creative approach to Mexican food, all served in an atmosphere that’s vibrant, yet still cozy and familiar.
La Mirada (The Look): Walking into Rosa Mexicano is different than walking into many other places. At most restaurants you need a minute or two for your eyes to adjust to the dimly lit surroundings, but at Rosa, the dining room is bright and colorful, just as if you were still outside.
The dining room’s décor is sophisticated Southwestern, with adobe-colored walls accented with fiery reds and oranges. This helps reinforce the fact that the restaurant is definitely laid back and fun. An air of sophistication comes from the natural wooden tables, chairs and paneling, all lightly colored, which keeps the dining room bright. Beaded tapestries are scattered throughout the restaurant. Woven tapestries hang from the backs of each stool in the bar area. These traditional designs are helpful reminders that you are in a Mexican restaurant.
El Acto de Aperture (The Opening Act): The starters at Rosa Mexicano include the ceviche de huachinango, red snapper and baby shrimp served with onions, olives, cucumbers, Serrano chiles and a tropical cocktail sauce, along with a selection of flautas and empanadas.
The signature appetizer is the guacamole en molcajente. The home-style guacamole is prepared tableside and served with crispy, not-too-oily tortilla chips. Watching the preparation should be fun, but, the person who made ours remained silent and stiff and never made eye contact with us, much less conversation. He just stood there and mixed the fresh avocado, tomato, onion and cilantro, which made the experience more awkward and uncomfortable than enjoyable.
For the price ($12) and the preparation, the guacamole should have been better. It’s not bad, but the flavors were a bit muddled, with the cilantro overpowering the rest of the ingredients.
La Comida (The Food): Lunch at Rosa offers many of the same dishes as the dinner menu. Quesadillas de pollo ($10.50) looked similar to the quesadillas available at many restaurants, but the full-bodied Chihuahua cheese and grilled chicken spiced with cumin and black pepper gave the dish a heartier-than-expected flavor.
The enchiladas suizas ($11.75), soft tortillas filled with moist, tender pulled chicken and topped with tangy tomatillo sauce, were flavorful, but the spicy sauce is everywhere, and those who only want to add a touch of it to each bite will be out of luck, because the sauce is unavoidable on the plate.
Carne tacos al asador ($14.50) were presented creatively, with strips of skirt steak and a layer of Chihuahua cheese on a small iron skillet, with a side of chile de arbol salsa and a stack of miniature tortillas for building the tacos. The steak was tough, but skirt steak usually is, and the spicy salsa meshed well with the meat and cheese. The tortillas were soft and warm and lacked the rubbery texture that’s all too common with soft tortillas.
El Servico (The Service): Our server greeted us quickly, although things seemed a little disorganized when another server greeted us shortly after we had placed our drink order. About halfway through the meal our server introduced another server to the table to let us know he would be taking care of us for the rest of the meal. While this seemed a bit strange, both servers were conscientious and quick with re-fills, which is particularly important when you’re eating spicy Mexican dishes. With the exception of our guacamole-maker, everyone we dealt with was friendly and competent.
Pensamientos Finales (Final Thoughts): The food at Rosa Mexicano was mostly tasty and well-spiced. The guacamole was somewhat of a disappointment, but the creative main dishes were filling and fun to eat.
The service was solid, although there were a few minor hiccups. Luckily, the décor put us in such a good mood we were happy to forgive a little bit. If you’re looking for a place to bring a date, some friends or the whole family, you can feel comfortable choosing Rosa Mexicano.
