maria maria

Maria Maria is a new place that opened in San Diego. It's a chain. It's themed. It's a chain themed around Carlos freaking Santana. That's a triple fail. Would never go to a place like that. What's that? There's a Groupon? Oh, I'm there.

So obviously, I'm not expecting much. I have thoughts of the atrocious Hard Rock Cafe in my head. But...it's really kind of nice inside. The salsa the brought out with the chips was on hit.

The one in back is your basic, gringo salsa. But Maria Maria leaves very large chunks of really good tomatoes in the salsa. Wifey, who is not a fan of tomatoes in the first place, did not dig that. I, who loves tomatoes, did. The salsa verde, which at most places is the mildest salsa, packed a lot of heat. Hottest green sauce I've had outside the Mission District taquerias in San Francisco. The one on the right was basically a watery version of Rubio's smoked chipotle salsa.

Looking over the menu, there was one dish that stood out. Chicken and Mole Tortilla Casserole. I had to order it.

And I'm very glad I did. Best mole I've had in San Diego. Lots of cheese. Awesome tortillas, and lots of chicken. It's pricey, but I thought it was worth it. But if someone want's to argue that the prices are too high, I'm not gonna argue. But I will be going back to Maria Maria, and this casserole is the reason why.

I should note that we ate in the bar and our service was atrocious. The table next to us had a different server, and she rocked. We had server envy. Oh, and did not dig guitar playing guy. Tears In Heaven? Really? Nothing like hearing a song about Eric Clapton's dead child to make a festive evening!

I told a co-worker about Maria Maria, and she said that she had heard nothing but awful things about it. That's kind of weird. I had such low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised. Maybe other people's expectations were just way higher than mine?