27 March, 2019

Today’s subject is Food in Mazatlán!

Had to take my laundry to the lavandaria, so I decided that I would take my walk and have breakfast at La Marea Mazatlan. La Marea Mazatlan recently started serving breakfast and I’ve been wanting to see what’s offered, and give it a go.

I will start off by saying I did try to have breakfast there one day last week, but the hostess left to seat a party there before me, and didn’t return in over 5 minutes. They seat the lower level for breakfast, so I had no idea what she was doing as I couldn’t see her. Worker bees were milling around inside the top floor though, and no one bothered to acknowledge that I was standing at the podium. So be it, I wasn’t all that hungry, and getting back to my walk seemed more important than waiting unknown number of minutes for the hostess’s return.

Today the hostess was there, and immediately sat me at a nice table overlooking the water. The lower level has sheer curtains that were partially closed – obscuring their million dollar view. I’m not sure why they would do this. Anyway, I looked at my watch – 10:30 on the dot.

Turned my coffee cup right side up so the server could see I did indeed want coffee, then began to examine the menu. It’s nice. There are a good number of items to select from. I decided that I’d try the ‘El Quelite’ dish. It’s now 10:35. 10:40. 10:45. At 10:50 I got up and told the hostess I’d been there 20 minutes without a server ever coming to my table. Yes, I did see her. She went to the table to my left. She went to the table behind me. She went to the table to my right. Several times to each. She NEVER once looked at me, so I had no way to get her attention without physically interacting.

I left, just as I had the time before. Note to La Marea Mazatlan – if you’re going to do breakfast, staff accordingly. You need two hostesses (or a hostess and a manager). One should remain at the podium to greet while the other seats. You need competent staff in your dining room. You REALLY need to do this on cruise ship days (today there were two) as your location gets a lot of tour traffic. Lunch seems to go fairly smoothly, other than your occasionally being out of all forms of dark beer. Yes, you only have one hostess at lunch – but she’s on the same floor as her podium, and if she gets tied up at a table, she can at least see that she has people to seat.

So, I had the fritatta at Via Condotti. It was pretty good. A little dry, but the flavor was nice. Next time I order it I’ll ask for some salsa or ketchup. And I don’t know how they do it, but Via Condotti has the BEST cafe americano in either Mazatlán or Seattle. 🙂

Last night I made the trek to Tacos raymundo. For those who live or visit Mazatlán, Tacos raymundo is about 2 blocks West of the park on Zaragoza. They have an indoor seating area on the North side of the street, and a few seats across the street where their mobile cooking area is. I tried both the papa loca and the quesadilla. Excellent, although one of the two would have been plenty for one meal. I’m glad I had a hefty walk to get back home.Tacos raymundo is open, I believe, from 7:00 pm each evening so early bird gringos are out of luck 🙂 Plan your late lunch accordingly!