Tila's Restaurant and Bar

Tila's is somewhat of a mystery. It has very good recipes with inconsistent execuation. They add to the tension with consistently slow service. I usually order the chicken glazed with rasberry and jalapeno sauce. The glaze is a nice contrast to the sligh jalapeno flavor and keeps the chicken nice and moist. This time, I ordered the pork medallions in some sort of purple sauce. Rekha tells me the purple probably came out of a wine sauce mixed with cream. Whatever it was, I wouldn't order it again.

Craig had the carne asada--richly seasoned and yummy tasting. Like the combination platter his wife received, my pork medallions, and Rekha's chicken, it comes with grilled vegetables and a grilled scallion. Combine the scallion with the red pepper spiked salt and you get an excellent flavor. After finishing dinner, we considered dessert, but after waiting 15 minutes for the waiter to show us the dessert menu, we decided to pass. I'm still wondering if I should have ordered the sometimes excellent dulce de leche crepe.

So the food was good, but the service was once again slow. From what I hear, the service is always slow. I don't know if it's the size of the kitchen or staff, but they have got to solve this problem if I'm to recommend the food. Also problematic are the margaritas. Often weak, never frozen and always late, these are supposed to be one of the special drinks.

I think of this restaurant as my slice of New Mexico and Mexico fusion. I go for the flavors and the hot chips and salsas. I wait so long between visits because of the parking (you have to do the free valet parking) and service. When the weather is as beautiful as today and you have time to wait for food, spending a couple of hours at Tila's isn't so bad.
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On another note, we saw Kung Fu Hustle. Very fun movie to watch. It inspires me to go check out Shaolin Soccer. One of these days, I'm going to put together a list of my favorite subtitled movies. I suspect this movie will make the list.