Barbacoa: Sous Chef Sam's First Post!

Hey! It's Sous Chef Sam. I recently was so disappointed with a restaurant that I felt obligated to write a review for my uncle Jeff.

We hiked up Neff's Canyon, at the foot of Mt. Olympus, today. Jeff brought his high school friends from back-in-the-day, who hiked that canyon with him many times as teenagers. We crested the third highest peak around, so my buddy Chris (who came along) and I called it Bronze Peak. It took hours to climb and minutes to descend. I was famished, having had only a small granola bar and Shaun White mint gum for the entire hike. I also tried to find wild things to eat, but all I found were berries that didn't look like they could be trusted. We wove the car back into the valley, and parked at Barbacoa on Wasatch Blvd. It was hard to tell what to get, since you only see the menu about four feet before you are expected to order. However, I had almost fallen to my death an hour previous, and I just wanted lots of food, now. The nice lady let Chris sample the mango chicken, but he later told me it was seriously lacking flavor. I tried it too, and I agree. I'm not sure how you can water down chicken, but they did. I ordered a Barbacoa Beef burrito. I was warned it was spicy, as there was a fire symbol on the menu. It cost about seven dollars, and I skipped getting cheese and guacamole, because they were an extra 99 cents EACH.

The burrito was big! I was happy, despite the weird pricing. I sat down to eat after getting water with lemon. Now, it may just be my Dutch genes, but this thing was too hot. I wanted to wolf it down! However, each bite seemed to have three whole drops of Tabasco sauce. I love that stuff, but it slowed my eating to the point that I had to open it up and pick out the non-flaming parts with a fork so I could continue. The water was terrible. At the foot of Mt. Olympus, water should be fantastic (Chris and I found a spout where Olympus Water trucks fill up, and we filled our bottles before climbing.) Any time I wanted to reduce the heat in my mouth so I could continue eating, I had to drink something else entirely. It was clear, but it tasted like it had come out of a mop, and smelled that way too. Maybe they put bleach in their water to kill germs. I thought it was a fluke, but the refill was the same. I couldn't enjoy anything I put into my mouth, and the fact that they also sell Barbacoa's brand hoodies made me scoff at their cheap attempt to seem like a quality eatery.

A food place should serve good food. This place was very clean and pretty, but so are butterflies. And they, like Barbacoa's, taste bad. I would know. If you want quality Mexican, try Rubios in Sugarhouse, Beto's in Holladay (they may have changed their name,) and Jeff says La Fountain is very good.

Adios!