El Mezcal - 21st & Fairlawn

Usually, I am truly happy with my experiences at El Mezcal, but this last visit, not so much.

For the most part, I go to the El Mezcal on 5th and Topeka Blvd., but this time was for a friend's celebration so we went to the one on 21st and Fairlawn. It was a busy Friday night, right at 7 o'clock.

Cold, still-shredded cheese inside :(

We were seated pretty quickly and served drinks and chips and salsa. We ordered and didn't have to wait that long for food. This was surprising because it was pretty busy and there weren't many open tables around the restaurant. The only thing we had to wait for awhile for was our checks.

Then, we got our food.

Mine was cold. All of it. And I don't think it was because it sat in the window and cooled off, (at least in the case of the quesadilla) I think it wasn't even cooked in the first place. I ordered ala carte because I wasn't very hungry. I got a cheese quesadilla with a side of sour cream, a small order of guacamole and a beef enchilada, which turned out to be two, not one like I thought.

The quesadilla consisted of cold shredded white cheese inside a cold, un-grilled tortilla. I mean, I opened it up and the cheese wasn't even melted, it was still in little shreds (pictured to your left). I also never got my sour cream. I sent the quesadilla back, though, and asked for them to grill it for a minute because it was cold. I got back an entire new quesadilla that was hot and melty, but the tortilla was still not grilled enough to my taste. At least this time the cheese was melted and the quesadilla was hot.

The enchiladas were not what I was expecting, but they weren't bad. They were beef enchiladas smothered in a white cheese sauce. I was expecting a red sauce but this was alright. But, it was cold, too. This, I think, may have sat in the window for a minute. I didn't ask for this to be warmed up, I just ate it.

I understand the place was busy, but getting cold food always sucks no matter the case. I chose to send one item back instead of both, mostly because I wanted something to eat while the rest of the table chowed down. I usually don't like to send items back, but the quesadilla was unacceptable.

I've been to El Mezcal many times over the years and this was probably my worst experience. That being said, the good have outnumbered the bad so I will be returning, just probably to the one on 5th street.

Burger Stand - Fish Sandwich

I've recently re-visited Burger Stand and I have to say, I wasn't impressed.

With it being Lent, I decided to go for the fish option to see what they had to offer.  I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, mostly because it's a burger joint, not a seafood restaurant. That being said, I was expecting it to be good. And that's all it really was, was good.



I ordered their regular French fries and the hubs ordered some onion rings with his burger so we could share. The fries were tasty as usual -- crispy, salty and not too greasy. The onion rings are probably frozen and fried on site, but they were good.

Now on to the fish sandwich.

The fish sandwich comes with a spicy remoulade sauce -- which I didn't find to be very hot -- tartar sauce, pickle relish, tomatoes and lettuce. It's served on one of their normal buns, which is soft and chewy, but crispy on the bottom where it was obviously grilled.

My problem with the fish sandwich is that the fish was two thin pieces of fish stacked on top of each other. It seems to me that there was more breading than fish. By the time I was halfway finished with my sandwich, the breading was mushy from the sauce and I felt like I was eating mushy-bread-tartar sauce. By the end of it, I could hardly find any fish, it was all breading and bun and sauce. Plus, it just didn't stay together well. It was a sliding mess.

My idea of a good fish sandwich is one that has lots of fish in it, and yeah, it can be breaded but I would hope there's less breading than actual meat. Maybe these fish planks would have been good, just not in a sandwich. The fish itself was good, I just don't think it was good for a sandwich.

Burger Stand is a great place to eat, I just wasn't happy with this particular sandwich. Every Monday is half price for Washburn Students and Wednesdays is half price for teachers. They have all kinds of events going on there throughout the week, especially during the Washburn semesters.

I plan to return, I just don't plan to ever get the fish sandwich again.