text: At La Paz I was so ready for some fresh Mexican food with interesting flavors What I got was generous portions of stuff that mostly tasted like it came out of a can or a freezer with perhaps a quick pass through a microwave Yuck No bright bold favors with the exception of the smoky salsa which was interesting Just blandness flavorlessness and driedout or mushy textures Way belowaverage food quality was saved from one star by the apparent cleanliness and duecor newnessnnIt was about pm on Friday the day after the Fourth of July I took my elderly mom out for a rare restaurant dinner When we arrived the restaurant was almost desertedalways a bad sign Because of moms wheelchair we were seated in the huge third room that was made up entirely of tables with hard echoy surfaces everywhere The room cried out for a little fabric or something soft to make it cozier and more inviting this had the ambiance of a cold whistling airport waiting area nnWe were alone in there except for the two people at an appealinglooking outside table who were soon forced in by a rainstorm It took them three trips to empty their table themselves and decamp to the insidewith zero help from the nottobefound wait staff We felt pretty neglected too They never did fully set up our table I finally got up and commandeered some salt and pepper from another table about of the way through the dinnern nThe relatively short plasticcoated menu had some appealingsounding entries that had us psyched chargrilled chicken with mango salsa coconut rice and black beans for example I was also intrigued by the Mexican Flag enchiladas which were supposed to be three types of enchiladas covered in three different sauces representing the colors of the Mexican flag Yum rightnnUh nonnWhen the food first arrived after a reasonable but longerthanweexpected wait mom tried to send it all back She was right but I intervened and we listlessly ate it all As I write this my tummy feels like it is loaded with lead UghnnFirst the coconut rice had been replaced with a truly awfultasting mushy excuse for Spanish rice Where is the coconut rice Coconut rice is the reason we ordered this dish we said Oh we are out of coconut rice the waitress explained without apology We think substituting food without asking us first is a major nononnThen the food on both plates did not look good The bite of chicken mom tasted was hard to chew and she said it tasted miserable I thought it was okay but flavorless It was one of those massive chicken breasts that had been portionreduced by horizontally slicing not pounding the chicken to make a thin piece with a huge footprint There was maybe a teaspoonful of presumablybottled mango salsa that was amazingly flavorless on the obviouslynotmarinated flavorless chicken nnThe refried beans were heaped in a stiff vertical stack at least three inches tall and visually similar to the cliffs of Dover with that freshfromthecan flavor At least the tea tasted good and there were some tasty bits of steak in the enchiladas nnAlas the enchiladas sat too long under heat lamps before serviceThe enchiladas may once have had sauce on them but once served no sauce remained at all just a bit of dried coloration on top Above that was a thin layer of driedout cheesecheddar on one and white cheese on the other two The Mexican flag idea was completely lost We ordered little dishes of the missing sauces and poured some velveetalike melted cheese over top of the rice to make it edible and soldiered onnnA Mexican entree should be vastly better than this With tip our check exceeded no drinks other than tea no appetizers and no dessert an amount that should have allowed us to eat pretty well at many much better restaurants Mom and I will not be back to La Paz