C: Is for Crises in Cuisine!

On Sunday Liz and I went flee marketing. We got started late and Liz hadn't eaten and thus her blood sugar started to drop. Since I had to diet the next day I suggested Harry's Burrito's so I could quench my cravings for Mexican food. I had passed but had yet to have tried Harry's and Huevos Ranchero's was calling my name. Located at 241 Columbus Ave off 73rd I have since learned this is also the owners of Benny's Burrito's. As I said Liz needed food so I figured Mexican would give us chips and salsa. Wrong! After waiting about 20 min to order Liz ordered a Bay Chicken Burrito no rice and beans substitute soy for the cheese and sour cream and add guacamole. The waitress asked if she wanted rice and she again stated no! I ordered the craved Huevos Ranchero's asking to make sure the eggs were over easy. I even went to the length to tell her that I do not eat eggs unless they are easy and told her it's the same way with my meat. Walk, talk and mow or "asta la vista, baby"! A half an hour later the food arrive and you guessed it rice and beans were in the burrito and the eggs medium. So we sent it back. Still no chips, and we have been there almost an hour. The waitress completely apologizes and promises our food will be returned the way we ordered it promptly. Another half an hour and the food comes back. This time my eggs are as hard as a rock and everything else is cold. Liz who by this time is on the verge of fainting and eats it anyway. It turns out hers is missing cheese. The manager comes next and promises me a meal that is edible. Liz gets the waitress to bring her cheese who by this point is nasty. My food comes this time in 15 and the eggs though still not as easy as I would of liked, were at least tolerable and we had other places to go and friends to meet. We asked for the check and paid it. They had charged us for everything. I thought $26.50 was alot for an Ice Coffee, Pepsi and our two meals but we paid it. Because the waitress was so horrid we did not tip her. It turns out that was good because I already knew I would be writing about this so I grabbed the take out menu. The waitress had over charged us our bill should of been just under $20. Instead of charging $8.25 she charged $15.95 for the burrito which makes it $7.70 over for the wrong item that was brought back and was cold when it returned. I thought we had, had an isolated incident since the manager when I asked why this had all happened attitude was hey shit happens, I was wrong. I researched this restaurant and this is what others had to say.

OMG how can you fuck up Mexican food?!? Well, I will tell you that Harry's Burritos has figured out that secret. I would have preferred Taco Bell. This place made me not just want to run to the border to but run to the bathroom and spit out the garbage they served. Everything they serve had no flavor, was soggy, and pretty much uneatable. Also, no chips and salsa while you wait, you have to pay for that. Talk about totally wrong. They call themselves "Cal Mex," which I assume stands for California and Mexican, well I am a Mexican from California, and I can tell you that even the food scraps on the floor of one the Mexican restaurants out there would have more flavor than anything they would put on a plate at Harry's!

San Francisco, CA
1 star rating

Are you F***ng kidding me?? Is this dump still here?? I ate here a few years ago while visiting and I was overwhemingly disappointed. I remember ordering the chicken quesadilla and it was the worst thing ever. Flavorless, boiled chicken meat in a soggy tortilla. YUCK!!! And the fact that this place claims to have "Mexican food from San Francisco's Mission District" (this better not still be stated on their front window)... well let me tell ya something...I live in San Francisco and have been eating the best damn burritos and Mexican food north of the border all my adult life (and yes, the Mission is where the bulk of the good, cheap stuff is). For this place to state that it's "authentic" and from "the Mission" is completely false and gives the REAL SF Mission mexican food a bad name -- 'cuz it ain't! New Yorkers, come on over to SF and you will have the best meal.
And who the hell names their Mexican restaurant "Harry's"???

Emily L.
New York, NY
1 star rating

Yuck yuck yuck. It's not just bad mexican food, but bad food in general. The beef in my burrito was stringy and the rice and beans were flavorless. I added a generous amount of Tapatio, but to no avail! Also, corn fritters served with maple syrup at a Mexican restaurant? Whuh? Big portions, but who wants a big pile o' nasty?

John Z.
Long Island City, NY
1 star rating

Cutting to the chase, this place BLOWS. There are so many places in the city where you can get good cheap eats, and this is not one of them. Was wandering around the area looking for cheesy goodness and thought this place might fit the bill. I wasn't expecting anything great, just average americanized mexican food. What we got was worse than that. The nachos were COMPLETELY soggy (as in soaked through with tomato water). No flavor. The chicken enchilada was bland and lifeless. It was like they took a boiled shredded chicken threw it in some wrapper with some uncooked beans from a can and served it out there with a heaping of sour cream. My fiance's artichoke quesadilla didn't fare much better. TOTALLY flavorless. It was actually as if they set out with the goal of removing all flavor from their ingredients. We also distinctly noticed how incredibly sub par the ingredients were and this is coming from people who generally don't care about stuff like that. Atmosphere? Worse than Mcdonalds. RUN AWAY!!

Daniel C.
Boston, MA
2 star rating

So let me get this straight... you don't get free chips and salsa while waiting for your meal? What planet is this? When asking the waitress about this she replied, "You have to 'ask' for it." I really didn't feel like clarifying whether you have to "ask" for the free chips and salsa or if it was something on the menu you had to "order." This is all besides the point. I've enjoyed the Jamaican Jerk Chicken burrito I've had at Blockheads exponentially more than the Blackened Smokey-whatever Chicken burrito I got here. I mean, it was good but when you can have something just as good if not better for a little cheaper elsewhere, why would you come here again? (plus Blockheads has round the clock margarita specials, whereas you will get a good margarita here but it will be triple the price unless you show up at the right time for the specials) I have to give it a 2er just because I don't see the point of coming back here when Blockheads is in existence.

K N.
Los Angeles, CA
2 star rating
CUSTOMERS do NOT come first...

The food is San Francisco Mission Style Mexican food, which is as "gringo"-fied as you can get. Seriously, go to Chipotle, or if you can hunt down a Baja Fresh, you'd get a way better meal. The service SERIOUSLY SUCKS here. I'll eat here if I'm craving some mediocre guacamole, or something that reminds me I should return to California for some REAL mexican food. Better yet, I'll go south to Rosarito for some deep fried lobsters...

MARIANA L.
New York, NY
1 star
And I thought I was the only one that kept getting the guacamole excuse... In fact, I don't think I have every actually received guacamole any time that I have ever ordered it.
The service is mediocre at best. My mother dined there and got a cockroach in her burrito. This is a woman who is deathly afraid of roaches, and never wants to go back to that area of town again...
My friends who ate there last weekend ALL got food poisoning the next day, (of course, they didn't consult me before going there). Obviously, my experience was not unique.

Steve C.
New Hyde Park, NY
2 star rating
The food is really great but the service is absolutely horrible! Every time I have ordered from Harry's they have forgotten the guacomole- EVERY TIME! And every time I called to tell them they gave me some crazy story. "He must have dropped it on the way" and a slew of others. They charged me for the guacamole every time. And the worst part is that they offered 2 free lunches for my trouble and when I called to redeem them, they told me they had no idea what I was talking about! Harry's get your act together!

I have learned my lesson and will now research before I choose a new place in NY and that is a F.A.C.T.