And by here, I mean La Terraza in Old Sacramento. Despite what a solitary glowing review says at the above-linked citysearch page, La Terraza provided neither good food nor good service.

I dined there recently on a rather uneventful Thursday night. The restaurant was moderately occupied, but not crowded and certainly not brimming to the point where slower service would be expected or tolerated. We arrived to find 4 or our expected party of 9 waiting, by that time impatiently, for someone to take drink orders. You wouldn’t think it hard to give a restaurant too much money for a beer, but La Terraza seemed uninterested in turning a profit from our thirsty friends. Finally, once critical mass was achieved and after some frantic hand waving and gesticulating, over came the waiter and after a bit came our drinks.

The margarita I had was not worth the later $8.50 I was charged for it, however. I would pay $8.50 for a good cocktail - but this wasn’t a good cocktail, nor is La Terraza the kind of place where I feel happy to fork over that much.

The margarita, however, at least had some flavor - which is more than I can say for the chicken taco I ate which tasted like unsalted air, yet dripped with grease that implies at least some transfat-tastiness. The chicken had zero seasoning. The tomatoes were pale. The cheese was weak. The rice was bland. On a scale of 10, this meal actually took points away from me, that’s how bad it was.

It’s hard to choose the best Mexican restaurant in town, but at least the process of elimination can narrow down our options. Take out your red pens and mark out La Terraza immediately. If you must have a Mexican meal in Old Sac, at least opt for Cantina del Rio which, while not among my choices for Best Ever Mexican Ever, is so much better that I hate to insult it by having its name appear in a post about La Terraza.