Paloma Blanca

One of the restaurants that we planned on eating at while in San Antonio was Paloma Blanca, an upscale Mexican restaurant.  My brothers ate there when they were visiting my mom in August, and they have a gluten-free menu for Liz, so we planned a trip to the eatery.

The restaurant was seated just off the main drag in San Antonio.  In front of the place was outdoor seating and a big tropical garden.  We entered into an oversized foyer with couches and tables and were promptly seated at a table in the restaurant.

From the start, there were some things about the restaurant that just didn’t match.  For starters, the décor was that of a trendy wine bar, yet this was a Mexican restaurant.  The wait staff was all dressed in white shirt and black tie, but their mannerisms did not scream class.  Also, though there were food preparations made to impress, the actual preparations were lacking.  I will explain.

We all sat down and started off with some margaritas.  There were three levels of margarita based on the tequila: silver, reposado, and anejo.  Liz had the silver, and I had the reposado, as I feel that anejo is sipping tequila, not mixing tequila.  The margaritas were good, made with fresh ingredients, but just seemed a bit boozy, like they weren’t mixed right.  They were still pretty good, but in an upscale restaurant, I want a perfect margarita.  While we drank, we snacked on homemade chips and salsa.  There were also GF chips and salsa brought out for Liz.

The next piece brought to the table was a tableside preparation of guacamole as an appetizer.  This is a staple in the upscale Mexican restaurant, so I wanted to see their take on the tableside preparation.  A fellow came out and set up a little tray table with a plate of ingredients and a lava stone bowl in an animal shape.  He showed us the plate of ingredients, and then proceeded to grind them all up in the bowl, but he had no more words, nor did he ever look at us again.  He looked like a man who hated his job or making guacamole for tourists.  The guacamole ended up being unbalanced and overly spicy.  There was way too much red onion and hot chili pepper in the guacamole, and my mouth burned for the rest of the meal, making it harder to enjoy.

Before the entrée, I was ready for margarita the second and they brought out a margarita, but not the same as my previous one.  I was served a cheaper margarita, and charged the mid-tier price.  I could tell by the color and flavor, so I flagged down the waiter.  He took it back to check with the bartender, because I was evidently lying.  He brought back the proper margarita with apologies.  I was glad that I have a connoisseur’s palate, or the restaurant would have pulled the old bait and switch on the margaritas.

The entrees came out after that.  I had a taquito mole plate, which was on the specials menu.  Also on the table were a GF vegetarian chile rellenos, an appetizer sampler, and a chicken fajita with a beef taco. 

Liz was unimpressed with the chile rellenos.  She didn’t feel that it was cheesy enough, but she appreciated the GF menu.  My mom’s appetizer combo had quesadillas, flautas, nachos, and jalapeno poppers.  The nachos were four individually prepared chips.  They were covered with bean, then melted cheese and a jalapeno slice…A very interesting take on nachos, and pretty tasty.  The rest was ok, but nothing out of the ordinary. 

Mark, one of my mom’s friends, had the fajita and taco, and it came out sizzling.  It smelled good and got a good response from Mark, but again, it was nothing I hadn’t seen for a few bucks less elsewhere. 

Finally, my taquito plate was presented nicely.  There were four taquitos displayed unrolled on my plate.  I rolled them and took a bite.  Maybe it was just my mouth still burning from the guacamole, but I could hardly taste the food.  The mole was thin and watery, and had slight chocolate and spice flavors, but it was so subtle that this potentially exciting dish fell flat.  All in all, the food was mediocre for the price.

For dessert, though we were stuffed, Liz and I split a flan.  Our waiter had suggested that we split a tres leches, but evidently did not remember that Liz was gluten intolerant.  We counter-offered with the flan and asked him to check with the kitchen to see if it would be safe for Liz to eat.  It was and we ate it.  It was a hearty flan, caramelly and full-bodied.  It was much more of a chunky custard than a delicate flan, but it tasted good.

In the end, we all felt that Paloma Blanca put on airs.  It tried to be upscale and it charged upscale prices, but it failed to deliver beyond the expectations of a neighborhood Mexican joint.  We liked the food for the most part, but felt execution was lacking.  Would I go back again?  Sure, as long as somebody else picked up the tab.