We went to Jovita's the other night. Jovita's has been in Austin forever. It's never been a great restaurant, but it's fun, friendly, the food has been solid truckstop TexmMex and there's music. Also...you could get Pearl beer in bottles. Pearl is a pretty awful beer, but it's so much fun to go to a restaurant, order a Pearl and drink it out of its stubby bottle.
The Eggmen played Jovita's last Saturday night. They are a very fun Beatles cover band. Lots of Beatles fans from the pre-hippy days as well as fans from the hippy days crowded the joint. They danced all night. Watching the over 60 crowd get down was almost as fun as a Pearl in a bottle.
Jovita's changed their menu. It looked pretty good. Looked as if they'd decided to go more interior Mexican than truckstop TexMex. We were excited to try the new items.
We ordered around 6:30. I made the mistake of ordering a margarita instead of a Pearl. I think the only lime that entered the drink was the droopy one on the edge of my glass. The drink tasted of chemicals and something day-glo green.
The guacamole arrived about 45 minutes after we ordered it. It was fresh and full of big chunks of avocado, so I assumed they had to pick the fruit before they could mash it into its little bowl.
The Eggmen played. And played.
Now, the Eggmen are good, but really, I'm not a big Beatles fan. I know, this is blasphemous, but I'm not. The Eggmen were quite good, the crowd was lively, the energy high, but I was prepared for dinner and a few songs.
And my 11 year old, my husband and I were hungry.
The waitress looked a bit frazzled, but never commented on the fact that our food was not forthcoming. She brought more drinks...not a margarita for me.
Around 8, the eleven year old peaked in the kitchen and reported he saw no one there. I followed up on this report and indeed, we saw no one in the kitchen.
I stopped the waitress. "Is everything ok? Do you think we'll get food?"
"Oh yes, we're just backed up."
I took the eleven year old down the street to Whatburger. He ordered chicken strips and a coke. We drove back to Jovita's where my husband continued to enjoy the Beatles covers.
Nine o'clock dinner arrived. The waitress didn't even mind that my son had a Whataburger bag and coke cup on the table.
The enchiladas divociados were big, and the sauces were pretty to look at, and that's where the good things about them stopped. The chicken fajitas were salty and tough. The rice was not cooked...it crunched. If I'd had a filling or a crown I would have knocked it out!
Maybe the cooks quit last Saturday night. Maybe they were not prepared for a crowd on a Saturday night in Austin. Who knows, but we won't eat at Jovita's again.
If you want really good Truckstop Texmex enchiladas....go to the Dart Bowl.
Monday, August 30, 2010
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