Royal Palace - Carrizo Springs, TX

With a name like Royal Palace you'd expect a meal fit for a king. At first glance this restaurant seems like it is ready for some action and that they have got their stuff together. Either I'm having some really bad luck or Carrizo Springs is a culinary wasteland. In a part of the country that is making people rich with shale oil, this booming town is unfortunately not on the mountaintop when it comes to restaurants with excellent food or service. If there is one thing I learned from my Dad it is that you can learn a lot from other people's mistakes and if I may say it was a mistake to go to the Royal Palace. Let me provide my observations and you can be the judge.

Taking a short trip down to pick up my wife after her week long stay while she was assisting her mom it is always a goal of mine to eat somewhere I've never eaten before. Although it doesn't happen every time I try to seek out places that may be worth a trip. Coming to a restaurant in the early afternoon between the hours of 2-5 pm in a small town is a little bit of a gamble. Royal Palace to me is an idea that is good. The concept is sound and I think the folks who own and run this place have their hearts in the right place. Unfortunately, execution is not one of their strong points. I should have known better when I read the menu. There were quite a few spelling errors even on foods that were Mexican.

When we walked in we were greeted by a young lady who told us we could sit at any booth we wanted to and being the lovey dovey couple we are we were fine with that. The decor here is an interesting choice and I must say not very original considering that just a few miles up the road at another restaurant they have many stuffed deer, wildcats, and other wild game. I'm going to assume that since this restaurant is in south Texas that the folks who own it are quite proud of their big game kills and that they display them to show they are great hunters and also as an attractant to hunters who may stop by. A little etched glass and some fairly generic decor weren't the worst part of this restaurant and I would say are at least somewhat inviting. I was amazed at the level of technology here. POS systems with touch screen capability right at the front not to mention a few flat screen TVs strewn about the restaurant. This place seems to be a "money-is-no-object" type of place. There's plenty of dining space in here with big tables and separate sections that can be enclosed behind glass doors.

After we were seated, I took a look at the menu and there was nothing out of the ordinary except a parillada platter with tripas on it. Otherwise the menu contained a few other Mexican plates, steak entrees, seafood, and "American" fare. Our waitress asked if we'd like some chips and we looked at each other and had to make a decision. We've been trying to eat healthier but egg white sandwiches for breakfast and turkey burgers for lunch left us a little more open for a bit more caloric content than what we have been having so we said: "YES!" When I saw what she brought out I was excited. I saw 3 different types of salsas. Usually when a place takes salsa seriously you can expect to get some pretty good if not excellent food. I must say that the salsas were the highlight of the meal. A red sauce, a green sauce with a aqueous consistency (yes, words with friends buddies, I'm going to use that word on you sooner or later) and a more coarse type Pico de Gallo salsa that was mostly onion with very few peppers. The green sauce was very tasty even if it was being served on cold chips. The red was very close behind. I have to say, Alfalfa from the Little Rascals would have loved the coarse salsa as it contained enough onions in it to make even an ogre cry!
Here's a pic:
This seemed appetizing to both of us. My wife and I enjoyed this part of our meal for the most part. The meal did take a quick trip down hill though.

I ordered a Tampiquena Platter which consisted of Beef fajitas, beans, rice, enchiladas, beef taco and some flour tortillas. Having worked in Mexican restaurants and kitchens in the past I'm well aware of certain procedures that are employed when getting food ready to serve. Refried beans, rice, taco meat and even enchiladas are put on a plate and normally put in an oven to heat up. This doesn't bother me in the least bit because if you are watching your food, its not too old, and you are rotating your food out as it gets to a preset time limit you won't have any problems. The problem I have is when you put beans on a plate that have rancid bacon grease in them. Another problem is not cooking fajita meat when the customer comes in. Yes you can do some precooking of the meat but when your meat is tenderized with a blade tenderizer (which tends to speed the drying process) it is not going to be long before you have meat that is more of a consistency of a dried out caterpillar than a savory piece of beef. Although the meat was chewable it would not have been palatable without the liquid salsa or the viscous guacamole they provided. I normally eat fajitas slathered with a little bit of guacamole, some salsa, a few of the sauteed onions, on a WARM, SOFT, FLUFFY tortilla. These tortillas were a Sonoran style flour tortilla but the cook didn't know when to stop heating them. Crispy flour tortillas don't do it for me. As the meal progressed I tried the Enchiladas and I'm almost certain they got a generic can of Chili, dipped their tortillas and wrapped a little cheese in an voila you have a great El Patio style frozen dinner type enchilada. If I had a record book I would have to put their Spanish rice at the top of a few lists including but not limited to: OMG what did they put in this?, TLV Rice (tasted like vomit), Not just Chunky but Funky AND Clumpy. The taco wasn't half bad. I left at least half of my food on my plate and I'm thankful I did. I don't know if I could have stomached the rest of it.
My wife had a Mahi Mahi fish dinner with steamed vegetables. She said it was OK but not at the price we paid for it. I'd have to agree with her except that I'd apply it to the whole meal.

On to the ratings:

Atmosphere:

This is simply because there has been some thought put into the decor and this place seems nice enough but there seems to be a split personality here: is this place a sports bar or an elegant restaurant? If the drive through window outside is any indicator I'd say multiple personality disorder is definitely a part of this restaurants psyche.

Service: I honestly think our server wanted to do a good job. I find fault with management. If you are going to serve something be prepared for questions. Know your menu. Know what scampi means. Know what a Chardonnay is (no I weren't drinkin' peeples but the couple at the table next to us were "NOT AMUSED" at our mutual waitress' lack of knowledge in the restaurant biz.) After we had taken a good bit of salsa in we drained our drinks and we had not yet had any refills. She came over and asked us if we needed any more drinks before we even had gotten our meals. REALLY? Immaturity, lack of training, and poor management didn't really give this poor girl a chance. I have to put a 3 on this simply because she tried really hard.

Price: Prices are WAY too high for the quality of food they serve. There are restaurants in this little town that are much cheaper, have much better service, and much better cuisine than the Royal Palace. I can't say names but DQ, McD, oh what the heck even Sonic, Stars, Subway, and Churches have better food than this place at prices that are much easier to stomach.

Overall: I can't bring myself to give it anymore than one blue ribbon and this is all based on the fact that we got 2 salsas that were very tasty. Other than that our meal wasn't very good.
I usually like to try places a couple of times before I pass judgment on them but this place didn't have enough good things to make me want to come back to. If you are dum. . . .er, uh brave enough to go eat here then I recommend that you go during a busy time. When a restaurant is busy they tend to put out fresher food and some cooks rise to the occasion when they are put under pressure. Perhaps this place is one of those places.