Rosa Mexicano

There's two things I don't like about Rosa Mexicano. The first, and bigger, is that it is so blatantly commercial, kind of like a Starbucks version of a Mexican restaurant. It is brassy, designed, loud in a way to give it an artificial buzz, efficient in an amateurish way. It is not pleasant to be inside and a good restaurant experience is always about more than the food.

The second thing I don't like, however, is the food. It's not bad. There is a reasonable approximation of some Mexican flavors and dishes, but again in a sanitized and commercial way. The quesadillas are like from cookie cutters and you do find yourself wondering how many of these dishes arrive at the restaurant in a package. We got the starter of 3 vegetable quesadillas, including one with huitlacoche, which we grew to like in Mexico. The mole I had (it was a special and I don't recall the details) was OK. I'm not saying it came out of a jar, but you had to wonder when and where it was made. The portions are relatively small and prices are relatively high.

The chain recently installed its third DC restaurant in what for a long time was a sleazy Brazilian restaurant, so it's bound to be an improvement to the neighborhood. But I won't rush back. I find the food at Surfside better and the atmosphere more congenial, and I'd make a return visit to DF Centro before RM. Oyamel even on a bad day, per our last visit there, is an overall better experience.

I think it's probably impossible to find good Mexican food this far east. I don't expect to have Mexico City or San Miguel quality here, but we do have the feeling that there's probably some hole-in-the-wall Mexican in DC that would be a better eating experience than RM. What we really need to do is go to Oaxaca!