Cocina Poblana
Emeryville, CA 94608
Phone: (510) 923-0497
08/27/2007 Posted by cricketfeet
A friend and I had lunch at this restaurant a few months ago. I enjoyed it enough that I got a take out menu and we order lunch from them at my office once every couple weeks. I love their carnitas and get carnitas nachos or carnitas huarachitas. I'm trying to make my way through the rest of the menu, but it's hard when these are so good. My family and I had dinner there last night and the restaurant transforms from lunch to dinner. The black tablecloths come out and the menu magically becomes way overpriced. My 8 year old son had the crab enchiladas, which were actually a good value for $12. They were FILLED with crab and came with rice and beans, which you would expect in a mexican restaurant. I stole a taste and the flavor was mild, but good. My 12 year old son got a chicken salad for $7. This was a good value for the price and a meal sized portion. My husband got the chicken mole for $14. This is where we started having a problem. His plate had a chicken leg and thigh quarter, covered in mole sauce, with a small scoop of rice. He likes the strong flavor of mole and this just didn't cut it for him. He had me taste it, and although I'm not a mole fan (because of this strong flavor coincidentally), I thought that the flavor was great. It was subtle enough that you could taste the chicken through it. I got the chicken pipian ($13), a grilled chicken breast covered in sauce, also on a plate with a small scoop of rice. The flavor was different than anything I'd had before and I really enjoyed it, but coming from an hour and a half long martial arts workout, my husband and I both were left hungry. Our dishes looked like a second or third course from a three to four course meal. I think they'd do much better if they acted a little more like a mexican restaurant and less like a stuffy dining establishment. I'll definitely be going back for lunch (they have a chicken pipian burrito that I'm dying to try now), but definitely not for dinner.
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