Hall Of Shame, Page 2

How far they have fallen.

We used to have a favorite Mexican restaurant in Lorain on West Erie Avenue. Well, Mexican food isn't my favorite, but if you have a good margarita to back you up, I could love your restaurant! This restaurant was called El Castillo Grande and it was. It was a huge castle looking building, right on the lake. They had a fantastic bar room in the back of the building, with the wall all windows so you could sit and look out over the lake. It was beautiful. Plus they had great margaritas and their staff was always super. We've taken almost everyone we know to The Castle at one time or another.

Then, they closed.

What the heck? That bar room alone should have been a gold mine for them. The bar room AND their margaritas? I couldn't imagine what happened.

So, it was closed for a few months. Then the signs came up that they were reopening as another Mexican restaurant. I did miss that bar room looking out at Lake Erie. It's finally reopened, as El Arriero. They've even tried to improve on a good thing! They knocked a hole in the wall of the bar room and put a door out there. Outside of the door they built a beautiful wood deck.

We went to El Arriero about a month ago. The deck wasn't ready yet and they didn't have their liquor license in yet. But, we ate there anyway. Ron had a good meal and I ordered the Hawaiian Fajita. It was a chicken fajita but it also had shrimp and pineapple in it. I gotta tell you, this was one of the best fajitas I ever had! I'm not even a big fan of shrimp but I loved it.

Unfortunately, when we're almost finished with dinner, it started to hit me. I was not feeling well. Half of my lower lip went numb on me; it felt like I'd had a shot from the dentist. The stomach distress though was beyond belief. Let it just suffice to say that I was one sick puppy. The numb lip made us think allergy. To what? While I don't eat shrimp often, I've never gotten sick from it. Besides, I've eaten more than my share of crawfish in my day and I've never gotten sick from them. They are basically shrimp, but the freshwater version. Anyway, somehow I lived through that day.

Now it's a month later. The liquor license is in and the deck is built. After the movie on Saturday, we wanted to give it a try. It was a spectacular day so we asked for a table outside. I wish I would have had my camera because Lake Erie was flat, calm, blue as blue can be. It was unbelievable. Then we ordered.

As good as the Hawaiian Fajita was, I was afraid. I chose another dish. Ron, however, wasn't afraid. He ordered the Hawaiian Fajita, since he remembered how good it was when I had it!

So, let's start at the beginning. Chips and salsa. They have to have the worse salsa of any Mexican restaurant I've ever been to. It's just too sweet. Salsa should have a little kick to it and this was basically tomato juice, a few onions and some cilantro. Not good.

On to the margaritas. Um, yeah. Not good. This had the worst sours mix in there I think I've ever tasted. I do consider myself to be somewhat of a margarita aficionado and in my expert opinion, this just sucked. That should have been enough to put this on the "do not go" list of restaurants.

Then it happened. After we got home, Ron started to feel ill. A few hours later, he's almost doubled over with stomach pain. Yeah, been there, done that. He did make it through the night and then he felt a lot better. But trust me, nothing in that restaurant, even the view, is worth getting that sick over.

Shame on you, El Arriero. Two strikes and you're out. Here are two patrons that will NOT be back.