Lucky 13? Maybe not...

So I heard about this awesome promotion last weekend. Trece, an upscale Mexican restaurant in Uptown, has a Monday night promotion where you can get an appetizer and entree for free!! It's Monday nights with reservation only and the promotion can end at any time. I was like "heck yea!!" and immediately called for a reservation.

Trece
4513 Travis Street
Dallas, TX 75205-4126
(214) 780-1900
www.trecerestaurant.com
Price: $$

The restaurant is very nice. The decor is chic and sophisticated and the color scheme is warm and comfortable. Later into the dinner it did get a little too dark for my preference but overall it's a very trendy spot.

Since they are giving food away for free, of course they want you to buy other stuff like alcohol and other starters.

Before we were seated, we ordered some drinks. The Blueberry Mojito (muddled fresh blueberries, Barcardi Silver Rum, mint, lime and a splash of agave nectar; served fresh or frozen) $11~ was SOO delicious. Very pricey though. I'm not a fan of mojitos because I don't like the strong mint and lime flavors. However, this drink was perfect for me. It was sweet, with just a hint of mint. Plus the color was really pretty. I recommend this to anyone who likes mixed drinks.

Once we were seated, the waiter asked if we wanted some guacamole (prepared table side). We got just one order of it...since there was more food to come. Guacamole en Molcajete (avocado, roasted tomatoes, red onions, jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, choice of mild, spicy or extra spicy) $12~
The guacamole was delicious...very fresh and bursting with flavor. The avocado was super creamy and I liked the large chunks of tomatoes. I'm glad we only got 1 order though because it's really expensive for the amount we got. Basically it's 1 avocado per order...PRICE-Y!

So they give you a special menu for the promotion. It has 4 choices of appetizers and 4 choices of entrees. For appetizers we ordered all 4:

Ensalada Verde (Organic greens, tomatoes, cucumber, roasted carrots, and queso panella with a pasilla cilantro vinaigrette) $8~ The salad was really good. The greens were pretty fresh and it was a nice sized portion. What I loved most about the salad was the dressing. It was creamy but not heavy...and surprisingly very flavorful!

Quesadilla con Pollo Jalado a la Parilla (pulled grilled chicken quesadilla with roasted poblano cream) $8~ This was yummy! The chicken had lots of flavor and was sooo tender. But the portions were small and the poblano cream was wayy too sweet. I actually put some of my salad dressing on the quesadilla and it was even better...or some guacamole on it was super good as well.

I didn't get to try these but my friends said they were good:

Nachos con Pollo (Grilled chicken, black bean puree, avocado, jack cheese, roasted tomato salsa and jalapeno jelly)
Trece Sofa de Tortilla (Ancho chile, tortilla, tomato broth, pulled chicken, pico de gallo, queso fresco, avocado cream and warm corn tortillas) $9~
Next are the entrees...we got 3 out of the 4 choices (the 4th was a vegetarian dish).

I got the Budin Azteca (Pulled Chicken, Serrano-Epazote Cheese and Smoky Chorizo Multi-layered Tortilla Pie with Roasted Poblano Sauce) $18~ This dish was hit/miss with me. The chicken was sooo tender and had bold flavors. I really enjoyed that part of the dish. On the other hand, I only saw 1 tiny piece of chorizo and didn't get much of the chorizo flavor in the dish. Also, I'm not a fan of enchiladas and the tortilla layers in this dish tasted just like an enchilada. Basically it was like an enchilada in layered form. I just peeled off the tortilla layers and just ate the chicken.

I also got to try the Tacos de Pescado (Fish tacos with jicama slaw and Trece tortilla rice) $17~ This was a disappointment. The fish were fried and a little too hard/crispy. They didn't have enough meat on the fish. But the flavor was ok. Also, it didn't come with any kind of sauce or pico or anything, so the entire dish was dry. Again, I poured some of my leftover salad dressing on them and it made it much better! :P

I didn't get to try the Enchiladas de Pollo (Chicken enchiladas with salsa roja served with black beans, habanero rice, crema fresca) $15~ But my friend says that the dish was dry because it didn't have enough sauce and there was hardly any cheese. I think most of us expect lots of cheese when ordering enchiladas. Anyways, he was definitely not impressed.

Even though it wasn't free, I still had to try the dessert. When trying a new restaurant you gotta try all aspects, right?? :P hehe. I ordered the Tres Leches Flan (with raspberry sauce) $6~ The flan was really good! It's a little denser than most flans I've had in the past, I'm assuming is the tres leches part. But I can definitely taste the milk in the dessert. But flans are normally pretty light on the flavor and I think the raspberry sauce overpowered the dish. I still enjoyed it and I think the price was reasonable.

Overall the meal wasn't bad, but for the price that we would've paid, it's DEFINITELY not worth it. My favorite parts of the dinner was the blueberry mojito, the guacamole, the salad, and the quesadillas. Seems like the night started off pretty positive then just kinda plateaued out from there. And even though I enjoyed those items, I would never pay full price for them. It was good that the majority of the meal was free.

I won't be going back for a regular meal there, but maybe happy hour in the future!!

Quality of Food:

Service:

Cleanliness:

Value (with discount):

Value (w/o discount):

Overall Experience:


~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~