Review: Desperado

570-E Sargent Avenue
(204) 475-2870

Desperado is a new addition to the West End neighbourhood, opened in early 2010 by two friends. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly in a city where the best chicken fingers come out of a Chinese kitchen), one of the two owners is Portuguese, and he’s the one manning the kitchen! This little joint has undergone extensive renovations to the interior and exterior; though, to be honest, you can’t tell. The dining room looks remarkably lived-in, with a wonderfully tacky, fully-stocked tiki bar, complete with corn-husks. The decor is a little dated, despite the restaurant being new, but it’s comfortable and clean.

I visited on a Tuesday evening and though the restaurant was never busy enough to fill all twelve tables, there was steady business and what looked like a good amount of drop-in diners, which really bodes well for Desperado, so long as they can meet people’s expectations for Mexican (cheap and tasty!) in our city. My visit was with my supper club, a raucous group of four women (Colleen, Carolyn, Kerri, and myself, Anny) that provided entertainment for the entire restaurant, including one or two incidents of whiplash for the men sitting at the bar as we hashed over our typical supper club topics: sex, bathroom habits, high school reminiscing, workaholics vs. travel bugs.

I was the first to arrive, and it’s clear the front of staff (all two of them) are still getting their bearings. However, the little hiccups in service leaned more towards endearing than annoying. Once everyone arrived, our first order of business was deciding between the sangria ($5/glass or $18/pitcher) or margarita ($4.50/glass or $22.50/pitcher). Being savvy women, our calculations quickly proved that the margarita pitcher wouldn’t save us any cash. Then came the cutest moment of the evening, when I asked our group, “So, do we want to order a pitcher of sangria?” and our server responded with an enthusiastic and very convincing, “Yes!” Take note, servers-in-training: successful, non-irritating up-selling.

The sangria was perfect. Red wine, very fruity, chilled with ice cubes, and garnished with fresh chunks of orange. The alcohol was dangerously undetectable and by the end of our second litre, we were all happy. We also ordered the $3 basket of chips and salsa, both house-made. It was the perfect size for four to snack on before diving into our meals. The chips are generously sized, crispy, quite salty, and looked but didn’t feel or taste greasy. Carolyn remarked that the salsa tasted like what she’d had in Mexico, and I thought it was a pleasant, sweet-tasting fresh salsa with onions and a hint of green, which I think was cilantro. 

We were a bit leisurely in ordering, which contributed to a fairly lengthy amount of time between getting our first drinks and our meals. I suspect, however, that the kitchen normally takes a little longer to get their plates out. We love to chat, so this didn’t bother us very much, but I noticed some disgruntled customers antsy for their drinks.

We all tried entrées off the menu, not being particularly tempted by the roast beef special. Kerri really enjoyed her scallops and prawns, which came sizzling hot with grilled peppers and onions. Colleen polished off her beef alambre in record time, encouraged with the spice of hunger. Sizeable cubes of top sirloin are skewered alongside mushrooms, bell peppers, and red onion. I had a bite of Carolyn’s main and we both thought it was tasty, but the chicken was rather overwhelmed by mushrooms, peppers, and onion. My chimichanga was flavourful and filling, but it could use another kick of spices. The beef was shredded and tender and the jack cheese was a nice touch on top of the ranchero sauce. A note about spice: we asked for medium and only Carolyn’s dish (the diablo) had the slightest hint of a burn.

All of our mains came with side dishes, which included Mexican rice, refried beans, and a bit of vegetable or salad, as well as fresh tortillas for Kerri and Carolyn and guacamole for me. The tortilla is house-made, soft and complementing the dishes well. The other sides were disappointing, though. I can appreciate that the side dishes are house-made, but they’re under-seasoned and kind of under-cooked, resulting in bland dishes that were many steps down from the fresh salsa of earlier.

Though the entrées filled us all up, when the server presented us with a dessert menu, we had to bite. Unfortunately, I became so excited I didn’t write down the names! All three desserts featured crispy tortillas and we ordered two. We had the first with sautéed banana, pecans, cinnamon-sugar, and whipped cream. It was quite sweet but good in small amounts. The second was a two tortillas sandwiched and topped with strawberries that had been cooked down. It was light and refreshing - a good end to a heavier meal.

All in all, we had a great time. We’ll be back on a Wednesday night for margarita night ($4/glass). I’d also like to go back to try some of the more interesting appetizers, like the tortilla soup ($3.75), taquitos ($7.50), or chili flautas ($7.75), or for the daily special ($8.95-$10.95). They also have six types of tequila, a short wine and beer list, and a huge menu otherwise!

Drop by and give them some love! It was awfully quiet when we left.