Reuben's - Big Island Edition

After spending half the day sightseeing in the pouring rain across the Big Island, we stopped for some yummy margaritas and NACHOS.  Grimm picked the restaurant, a place he has loved going to since he was a child.  Dez, Amy, and I couldn't wait since we are some serious connoisseurs of delicioso Mexican food. This was also to be their first appearance in the Nacho Blog.   We walked in and were greeted by friendly staff.  First things first, we ordered a pitcher of Li Hing margaritas.  It came to us blended even though we said on the rocks.  I cannot handle drinking blended margaritas because they give me intense brain freezes.  But we didn't make a big deal about it.  We drank it anyway and then promptly ordered another pitcher which she made sure was on the rocks.  There were many options of meat to put on the nachos but what caught my eye was chile verde.  Of all the nachos I have eaten over the years, I have yet to eat chile verde nachos.  The meat is definitely what made these nachos worthwhile.  At first glance, I saw a bunch of lettuce all over them and was sad.  Lettuce does not belong on nachos.  In my opinion it is a pointless filler.  Luckily these nachos were saved by the chile verde bursting with flavor in every bite.  As for Reubens, I loved the decor with the portraits of men in sombreros and old timey Mexico.  Definitely a great little find and somewhere I would come again.

 

Nachos (add $3 for deluxe) - Beans & Cheese $6.50, Beef or chicken $6.75, Steak or Pork chile verde $9.50

 

 

 

 

Shananigans (4.75) – PRESENTATION: WTF lettuce?  Fresh ingredients but too much lettuce.  Sacrilege. RAD: The chile verde is so damn good.  Super flavorful, perhaps the best chile verde in all the land.  The beans have kick ass flavor to them. LAME: Not enough cheese and super soggy.  FU lettuce. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3, too many toppings, not enough chips.  The chips get soggy AF.  These are good, but it is because of the chile verde that saves the day with its flavor.  The atmosphere is 1980s crushed velvet portraits of Latin heroes and old Mexico.  Our waitress was super nice.  The salsa is amazingly spicy and full of flavor and verde which is uncommon.  The margaritas were super yummy. 

 

Kellan and Grimm (4) – PRESENTATION: Everything looks very fresh.  The piping of the sour cream is cool! RAD: The huge chunks of pork. LAME: Too much lettuce.  Not enough cheese. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4.5, every chip has toppings.  Total old school Mexican = GREAT.

 

Amy T (2) – PRESENTATION: More jalapenos.  I've never seen lettuce on nachos, no olives, too much sour cream. RAD: Meat was awesome, sauce was great! LAME: Lettuce, no jalapenos, not enough cheese. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3, ok.  Lettuce takes up too much space.  Atmosphere is great, service is great!

Dez (3) – PRESENTATION: Lots of guacamole, diced tomatoes, lots of green lettuce, not very pretty. RAD: Lots of guacamole.  Pork is amazing, very soft and packed with flavor. LAME: Not enough cheese. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4, good balance but could use more chips.  Pork is amazing but lacking on other components.  Clean, good service, and friendly.

 

The aftermath...