Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Montezumas at Mount Gravatt

Montezumas, Mt Gravatt
http://www.montezumas.com.au/



I’m undecided about Mexican food. I don’t know what ‘authentic’ Mexican is but what we’re lead to believe (from fast food joints and supermarket products) is that their cuisine is predominantly based on cheese, tomato and wraps. Which isn’t all a bad thing. I’ve never been one to turn my nose up at processed junk food; for health reasons maybe but I can readily admit there’s often a time and place in my life when nothing hits the spot as well as something meaty oozing with cheese.



And that’s basically what Montezumas is. I’ve been several times now and I usually go for one of the combination meals. As the name suggests, this is a plate with a few items on it and it’s great for the undecided.



Montezumas is a chain and each that I’ve been to is decked out in bright, primary colors and adorned with cute, ‘Mexican-themed’ décor. I personally think it makes for a great, casual party atmosphere.


The menu contains a lot of things with different names that I find hard to distinguish (taco, tostada, burrito, fajita) but the bottom line is that it’s mushy, hearty food with some kind of wrap/shell around it.

A lot of the combination meals come on piping hot plates and you are warned not to touch them because they’re hot. There’s something about human nature though… almost every time I’ve been to Montezumas, SOMEONE will no doubt touch the plate and exclaim ‘oh! That’s really hot’. Well… you were warned!

Most plates will also have a side of rice, beans (best described as bean mash) and maybe a salad.


Tostada platter with carne and chicken tostada and salad

When we went last night, I tried to be healthy and ordered a tostada plate. I didn’t know what a tostada was but Hien (who loves Montezumas and has tried a few things off the menu) assured me that it was a small serve. It ended up being a large serve and though I was told a tostada is like a wrap, my own conclusion is that Hien isn’t an authority on this at all because it was like a pile of salad on a pile of meat on a pile of beans on a hard corn circle. Impossible to wrap. I wasn’t sure how to eat it so I just fished out the meat and ate the salad. You can chose 2 variety of tostada in the platter and I went for shredded beef and chicken. The shredded beef was OK but the chicken was sooooo dry and bland. I just kept reassuring myself ‘this is probably very healthy’ but secretly wishing I had a creamy, cheesy version instead. I did like the side salad though. It was crunch, fresh and tangy.

Durango - chicken and sour cream enchilada, beef enchilada, beans and rice

Hien chose the Durango which had both a chicken and beef enchilada. He described the experience best by saying ‘mmm… now it’s time to dig into a pile of delicious mush of unidentifiable meat’. It’s not entirely fair because yes, you can tell the difference between chicken and beef but I kinda agree. I think Montezumas is a place where you can spend a while analysing the menu and deciding between minor differences of this meat/that meat, this type of wrap/that type of wrap. But at the end of the day, you get the same kind of satisfaction mixed with a sickly feeling ‘oergh too much’.

Montezumas makes for great comfort food, party food or hangover food. It doesn’t pretend to be gourmet and the individual items are quite reasonably priced. You don’t go there for subtle flavours that showcase different ingredients. You go when you’re hungry and craving large servings of hot, hearty, comforting and cheesy food.

There’s a bar there with a classic cocktail selection. What I recommend though is the sangria because I LOVE sangria and I love them more in 1L jugs.

Often I’ll regret going to Montezumas afterwards because I think ‘what HAVE I done to my waistline’ and also ‘I never want to think about cheese melting on rice ever again’ but there are those nights when nothing else will do.

6 comments:

  1. How ironic that I live right next to Montezumas Mt Gravatt, yet have never actually eaten there! I guess that for me, Mexican food is something that can be done equally as good at home... I might go there, eventually someday!

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  2. Hi Bonnie...
    Just be cautious because I'd had tacos and that made at home before and the ones at Montezumas were nothing like that. So at first I was disappointed but now I don't mind them because I know what to expect.

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  3. I ordered home delivery from Montezuma more than a year ago and it was utter rubbish and a complete waste of money!

    We each ordered a different dish for our group of 9 people but what we got was almost identical-looking mounds of the most unpalatable, unrecognisable and tasteless mush. None of us could bear to finish our servings.

    Having had both Mexican and Tex-Mex food in the US, I can say with certainty that Montezuma serves neither. In fact, it shouldn't even be allowed to serve food to paying customers because frankly, I've been served better food in a hospital as an inpatient. I would even go so far to say that it is the worst restaurant meal I've ever had. What really amazes me is how the Montezuma chain has duped Australians for so long.

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  4. Hi Chris...
    I think you are right on the money with both points there. I usually spend ages looking at the menu but really, why bother? The plates are all basically the same anyway!! There is a severe lack of Mexican restaurants in Australia (esp Brisbane), so much so that I don't even know what 'proper' Mexican food is supposed to be.

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  5. Have you tried Dos Amigos at Taringa? & Cactus Jacks at the Logan Hyperdome.

    I've been to both & to me they are much better than Montezumas. Dos Amigos' Jalepeno Poppers are my faves.

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  6. Hi Night Time Brothers...

    No I haven't tried either of those but I've seen Dos Amigos before & should give it a go. Thanks for the recs :).

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