Hipster prices on street food. Runny tacos. Consistently inattentive, even combative, service.
Guacamole and tamales ain’t half bad. And some of the drinks – when you can actually order and successfully receive one.
Clearly I’m not a huge fan of Round Corner Cantina in Lawrenceville.
I wanted to like it. Each of the five or so times I’ve been there, I hoped my experience would be different. I have friends who like it. And I’ll still go in a group, but it’s not a place I’d choose to go on my own.
When it comes to the food, I have high standards for this kind of thing because I grew up with amazing versions of it, plentiful and cheap. Mediocre or good-for-around-here doesn’t cut it with me. The service – well, I do expect to be treated like a human who plans to spend a little money, which I don’t think is too much to ask.
Seven or eight bucks for generally slapped-together tacos that arrive in a puddle and continue dripping on the plate? After I had to shoot flares to get a server’s attention? No thanks.
The setting is nice. The large paved patio out back, some of which is covered, is a delightful urban refuge with room for a group of a dozen folks hanging out together. Self-service water stations are a fantastic idea to free up servers to, like, serve. Still don’t get the video surveillance cameras mounted near the sign out front, but whatever.
And the menu takes a shot at being something special. Huitlacoche tacos are why I went in the first place. They call it “corn truffle,” but it’s really a funky, mushroomy, earthy-tasting fungus more commonly called “corn smut,” which I agree is probably not a name appetizing to most people, unless you’re really into veggie porn in ways I don’t want to know about. Pennsylvania is one of two states the US Department of Agriculture allows to cultivate it, and I’ve seen it canned, but it rarely makes it on to many menus. If I remember right, Salt of the Earth used it as a component in one dish on its ever-changing blackboard menu.
It’s good. Which helps. Because it’s an ugly damn thing. The sort of thing anyone who demolishes abandoned, water-damaged houses might find familiar. Handled properly, it’s kind of wonderful, like an underappreciated, and therefore surprisingly good, wine you got for cheap.
But at Round Corner, they add more regular corn, cilantro and an avocado salsa that overwhelm the star ingredient and bury it under layers of bright, sweet fattiness. Makes it taste more like black beans or something more familiar. The potato in the huitlacoche tacos takes away from both the texture and flavor of the corn smut, which is the whole reason I ordered the thing. Add in a mediocre tortilla and it was, at the least, disappointing.
I give them points for the micheladas on the list. In Mexico – actual Mexico, not resort Mexico — they’re simple beer cocktails you can order cheap and huge and there’s no set recipe. Beer and lime juice over ice in a glass or even a Styrofoam cup with a salted rim is the most basic way. Some recipes add heat from chiles or glugs of Clamato or tomato juice or, or, or – sort of a Puttanesca at that point, in a weird way.
I make them a bunch at home and as much as I like craft beer, this is best with something cheap and Mexican. Not just cheap. Red Stripe, Heineken, Busch – not the same. I like Victoria if I can find it, which I never can, or Bohemia. Other Mexican beers work just fine.
They make one with a house bloody Mary mix and a spear of de-seeded, de-ribbed jalapeno that I like, especially when it’s hot out. They call it the Espana. Good way to lose six bucks.
So. Service. I just can’t get over the feeling that they hire people who don’t like people. Of the handful of times I’ve been there, I had one server who seemed to care at all. Worked her ass off for our table, even when the bar got backed up on orders.
She’s the exception. I wish I knew her name to credit her publicly. The others forget orders and don’t seem to care – “Oh, right. Well do you still want it or what?” is a favorite line I got one day — don’t come back by even a packed table dripping with money to spend often enough for new orders, toss plates on tables and generally seem like they’d rather be anywhere else. And getting a check can age you noticeably.
On one trip the mole sauce was burnt. Burnt. So we tried to send it back. The waitress went away, then came back and argued with us. Said the kitchen told her it’s supposed to be smoky, to taste a little charred. That’s all well and good. Those are even some of my favorite flavors. But this was B-U-R-N-T. So she argued some more and at first wouldn’t even take it off the table until I insisted. The hell is that?
I’m not a sultan. Not an emperor. I don’t need to be waited on hand and foot to feel taken care of. Just be attentive. Realize that I’m there. Try not to forget about me. If you’re backed up, tell me. If the kitchen got orders for a table of 13 people right before I ordered my thing of chips and salsa, let me know it’ll be a while. I’ll understand.
But don’t dismiss me. Don’t argue. Feel free to investigate a situation or a complaint and explain what you found out, but don’t pick a fight.
Or, rather, do. Then don’t be surprised when I tell the internet.
I hate that place. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. The surliest staff and least useful bartenders in the city. If they didn’t have a patio, I’d never set foot in there. And even then, I am less impressed every time I show up. Thank you for saying what we all think. Also, now that Las Velas has re-opened, we’re not stuck with Round Corner any longer. Huzzah!
glad i have not eaten there…and after this review, i won’t add it to the list of places i need to be!
I’d rather take shitty service and the atmosphere at Round Corner than the hour + wait for food and absent-mindedness of the servers/management at Las Velas any day. Hipster mexican is better than half-assed suburban-style mexican.
Been to Las Velas just once, after PodCamp on Saturday. Don’t really have an opinion of it yet. It’s been that bad for you?
Every time I’ve been, before and after the fire, the food takes forever to arrive and isn’t spectacular. They can’t seem to handle large groups efficiently, even when told well in advance (for Em’s b-day).
On another note, I’m sure Round Corner will suffer greatly once Verde opens.
Verde just popped up on my radar. Looks promising. http://verdepgh.com/blog/
I’ve only been there for drinks (classic Mojito, hard to go wrong) but definitely appreciate the heads up 🙂
I agree completely. One of my waitresses was so combative that when I questioned her for overcharging us on drinks that should have been at the happy hour price, she told me she couldn’t be expected to remember exactly everything we ordered. I wish this were still the Round Corner – a hole-in-the-wall dive where drinks were cheap and the decor wasn’t much to look at, but the service was a thousand times better.
I wish I had been able to experience Round Corner before it was the Cantina! Before my time!
It was a great place to take shots while the sun was still up.
Completely agreed. Atrocious service. I wanted so badly to like this place, but after several attempts at redemption, I’ve finally let it go. Haven’t been back to this place in over a year.
Check out Patron in Fox Chapel.
Never been. What do you like about it?
hipster shit food..the place sucks..at least you went back to give them another chance..they were so rude and obnoxius over a crappy meal..i want to go all brooklyn on the guy…
love enophiledude
Funny…I have an intense dislike for the place after they wouldn’t let me come in with my 8 month old to eat lunch…at 1:00 on a Saturday. Really?
Ha! Abby – so agree! Same here!
The place is a BAR……not a RESTAURANT!!!!! Get over it