We first tried the place with ME and her friend D, who is not only a local, but the one who reccomended the place to us. We ordered guacamole for the table upon D's reccomendation and it was awesome. Creamy and cold and a little spicy and a little chunky... even Matt tried it (remember... he is anti avacado! This is a big step!) He not only liked it, he has been asking if we can go back just to order it. So ha. Guacamole from Chapala :1, Matt's preconceived notions of avacado hatred :0
D ordered the chicken flautas in the Chapala sauce. She swears that the Chapala sauce is the way to go, but it wasn't for me... it was a brown sauce and tasted very meaty and rich... I think it tasted like it belonged on a pot roast, not a flauta. Hey... she likes what she likes. The flauta's themselves, though, were very good. Crispy and tightly rolled, these were very nice.
ME ordered the taco salad with chicken. This was LOADED with chicken.... I mean LOOK at it! The chicken was practically pouring out of the bowl! The salad was delicious and stuffed with a ton of delectibles... the standard lettuce, tomato, and cucumber were joined by black olives, mushrooms, green pepper and onion as well as cheese, salsa, and sour cream. The dressing on the lettuce was odd though... it had an Asian feel to it... it was very similar to the ginger sesame vinagrette I have at home. It somehow managed to work with all of the components, but it certainly was not expected! The chicken was cooked very well.. a bit citrusy, a bit spicy, all tender. This dish also came along with quesadillas.... soooooo much food. ME couldn't come close to finishing everything on her plate.
Matt ordered the fajita platter, and as his proteins (you can choose two, if I remember correctly) he chose the steak and chicken. Usually when you order fajitas you get your meats on a sizzling bed of onion and pepper.... and that's fine. Chapala didn't agree. Their theory seems to be 'more is more'. The plate was literally overstuffed (seriously... look at the shot I took!) with huge portions of each meat (a bit sinewy on the steak, chicken was delightful) and then a load of veggies. Peppers and onions were now joined by broccoli, carrot, squash, and cauliflower. Actually, thinking about it, this also seemed to have a bit of an Asian flare.... those are pretty typical stir fry veg, yes? Whatever. Long story short it was good and super generous. He got the Chapala sauce on the side and smeared it all over everything. I guess this meaty sauce made more sense on this dish, but I still didn't like it. Matt loved it though.
I ordered the beef burrito with Roja sauce. The burrito was a bit smaller than I expected after seeing the rest of the dishes, but it was seriously dense with filling. Strips of steak were mingling with peppers and onions, all of which were seasoned with a bit of garlic and a touch of heat. The sauce was thick and surprisingly sweet. It had a nice end kick, but I couldn't get over the sweetness... it was downright odd.
We will be back to Chapala.... most of the dishes were well seasoned and delicious, even if I wasn't a fan of either sauce that I tried (and despite the wierd Asian thing that they may or may not be trying to force!). The service was really great and the price was reasonable, especially considering the sheer amount of food that we each received. I will do a follow up on this baby next time we go, and let you know if there is a sauce that I enjoy after all!
Chapala
811 Highway 33
Hamilton- 08619
609-631-0062
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