Canyon Cafe, Plaza Frontenac - Visited November 2013


This past Saturday it was my pick for lunch, and since we were going to look at the gingerbread houses on display at Plaza Frontenac, I thought we should eat somewhere there where we had not been before - the Canyon Cafe. We had perused the menu before going to make sure there was something there for folks who did not like something too spicy, and they appeared to have burgers, so that was good enough for me. Off we went to the mall with the nicest restrooms around!

I believe the last time we has actually eaten at the Frontenac mall itself was when our real estate agent took us to Cardwell's after we sold our last house in 2009 (although we have been to the Brio Tuscan Grille in the lot). The place was pretty roomy and fairly busy for a Saturday right before noon. My daughter liked the decor and we were seated at a nice table where we could watch the people waiting to have their children sit with Santa. We were all thankful we did not have to deal with that!

For our group of five they served us two baskets of chips and two little containers of salsa which was quite generous, but took up a lot of room on the table. As for the chips themselves, they tasted very fresh and there was a good variety of them. The salsa was not hot at all but had a very pleasant, unique flavor to it. Since my son and I were the only ones who liked salsa, we eat could claim our own salsa bowl. Soon one basket also seemed to be parked right next to me, and I made short work of it while we waited for our food.

My daughter ordered the carnitas platter, my son ordered the classic canyon burger, my wife and mother-in-law bother ordered plain burgers and I ordered one of the lunch specials, a blackened tilapia taco with margarita slaw and some house salad on the side. My wife and mother-in-law were unimpressed with their burgers, and my wife particularly did not care for the pepper that was embedded in the bun. My son thought his was okay, since he did have bacon, BBQ sauce and pepper jack cheese on his. He was particularly fond of the pepper jack cheese, which I believe he had never tried before. My daughter did enjoy her carnitas platter, although she thought the meat was a bit fatty, and that the rolled up tortillas were difficult to pull apart. She let me have her black beans, but unfortunately they were completely flavorless when eaten plain. I did enjoy my fish taco, but it sure was tiny! Luckily I was able to fill myself up on their delicious chips. I think next time I may just order water and eat chips for my whole meal.

The service was okay, but it did seem a bit slow at times. However, I believe none of us were overwhelmed by the food so we may not return. The prices did have a "Frontenac premium", but at least there were lots of fresh chips and even a white chocolate wrapped treat at the end. All in all, not bad, but probably not worth the price.

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