 AMIGOS MEXICAN CANTINA 20 South St., Milford 673-1500; amigosmilford.com
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Sometimes I think in a previous life I was born in Los Angeles and roamed the streets sampling the fares from food stands in places like Olvera Street, biting into tasty fried taquitos dripping with guacamole. Such is my love for Mexican food, which at its best is simple, proving that food doesn’t need to be fancy to be great.
I have had people bemoan the lack of good Mexican restaurants in this state, but I point out to them that this is not true. I can still recall the days when there were only two to speak of in Southern New Hampshire: The Hacienda del Rio in Nashua and Tortilla Flat in Merrimack. Both are still in business, but in the ensuing years, many, many new Mexican eateries have grown up around them, some of them quite good; others not so good.
Amigos Mexican Cantina in Milford falls somewhere in between. Having planned to review Rachida’s — a Mediterranean restaurant in Milford — only to find it had closed its doors recently, we went in search of another restaurant, which is how we stumbled upon Amigos, located near the Milford oval, just up South Street.
Amigos really is a cantina in Southwest tradition, meaning it’s primarily a bar or a saloon that serves food. Half of the restaurant is taken up by the bar, which early on a Saturday night, was quite full. The other half is a restaurant with roughly 20 tables, that on that early evening were also mostly full. It’s noisy and lively and we were encouraged by the crowds, figuring that such a popular place must serve good food.
And good drinks, of course. All margaritas are not created equal. And a good Mexican restaurant must have good margaritas. Amigos’ margaritas, I’m happy to report, were very good, and quite reasonably priced.
As we sipped our Rio Grande margaritas (made with my favorite tequila — Sauza Hornitos — and a splash of cranberry juice) we tackled the menu. It’s extensive and it carries both the simple Mexican fare that we love as well as some of the more gussied up Southwestern- and Tex-Mex-inspired dishes.
One of my dining companions skipped the appetizer, but I began with an order of Mexican Shrimp ($8.95), medium-sized shrimp sauteed in what Amigos describes as a spicy pepper and butter sauce. The dish is almost like a Buffalo-style shrimp, which may sound odd, but is actually quite tasty. There was just enough spice and the ranch dipping sauce made for a tangy accompaniment.
My other dining companion ordered a cup of five-chile chili, made (in addition to the five different chile peppers) with beans, beef and pork and topped with melted cheddar cheese. It was delicious starter with plenty of flavor and just the right amount of heat from the chiles. The only complaint about it, he said, is that he should have ordered the bowl.
It was a great start and we had high hopes for the rest of the meal. But our dinners took quite a while to arrive and in the meantime our waitress never came back to inquire whether we’d like more drinks despite the fact that all three of our glasses stood empty for quite some time.
Finally the food arrived. One dining companion had ordered the Enchiladas de Casa filled with refried beans ($8.95). The meals at Amigos come with two choices from a dizzying array of side dishes. He chose black beans and French fries. Fries are a somewhat unusual side dish at a Mexican restaurant, but Amigos has not only French fries, but Cajun fries and sweet potato fries as well.
While the fries were actually fairly tasty, my dining companion’s overall summation of the rest of the dish was “bland.” Refried beans usually aren’t exactly a taste symphony, but even covered in enchilada sauce, the enchiladas didn’t have much taste.
 Amigos is a cantina in Southwest tradition — half of the restaurant is taken up by the bar; the other half is a restaurant with about 20 tables. (NANCY BEAN FOSTER photos) |
My other dining companion opted for the ubiquitous Mexican-restaurant dish— beef fajitas. His dish arrived long after the other two. It was delivered one item after another with large gaps of time in between. The tortillas were brought with everyone else’s meals, then many minutes later, the beef, onions and peppers came out, but no sides or accompaniments that normally come with fajitas. Really, what is a fajita without the salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole? Just grilled steak and veggies. After we flagged down the waitress, the accoutrements arrived four or five minutes later, when my other dining companion and I were finishing up our meals. Not a good dining experience.
Our waitress was effusive in her apologies and indicated that there were problems in the kitchen. Having spent a few years as a waitress, I can understand the kinds of things that can go wrong when the kitchen isn’t firing on all cylinders. But I don’t think that accounted for all the service problems that we had.
We really want to like Amigos — it has an interesting menu, a fun atmosphere and some good things going for it. We hope that the night we visited was simply a bad night for them. Hopefully a future trip will find things much improved.
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