Las Carretas

Arriba!
Fancy some Mexican food? Las Carretas is one of the restaurants in Taipan that stood the test of time, it’s been around since god knows when and they are still churning out great tasting food. The place is decorated with heaps of Mexican memorabilia and the walls are colourfully painted with vibrant and funky designs. It’s not a very big restaurant so the seating is a little cramp here. Rest assure that the food makes up for the lack of space. They serve complimentary nachos here, it comes with some fresh tomato salsa too. That’s a nice touch.
Now the portions here are little small considering that the prices here are a little high. The waiters here are very friendly and attentive; they’re always wearing a smile on their face. It was our first time trying out Mexican food so we were a little lost. The waiter recommended are dishes and we finally made up our minds. I had the fish with baked potato and my boyfriend had the enchiladas. The fish was pretty good, it comes with some rice which was very savoury and a whole baked potato dressed with some sour cream. It was a pretty hearty meal. The enchiladas were alright, I’m not sure if they supposed to be soggy but it tasted good. They don’t have many dessert items but the brownies if sinfully good.

Las Carretas is the place to go if you ever want to have a taste of what seemed to be Mexican food.
What they serve in this restaurant is astoundingly large, ranging from your usual fajitas to your quesadillas, which admittedly tasted as good as it looked on the menu. Apart from that, they do have your Western favorites like steaks and related desserts. That, of course, brings me to this question; why not just serve everything Mexican? If you do, don’t you think that humans of our brain capacity will just be attracted to the prospect of ‘just Mexican food’, and thus drive more customers into this restaurant?
That being said, everything here tasted decent, but should a themed restaurant touch something that they should not? Hmm. That remains to be said, because their dishes do taste pretty good.

So my friend brought me here in hopes that I would like Mexicab food as much as him. I haven’t tried any Mexican food besides Tacos, Nachos, burritos and fajitas. My friend wanted me to try their steak here and many more other dishes since it was his treat. I actually just settled for the steak cause I was a little full after a heavy tea.
Honestly, the steak was just «meh». If I would to rate, I would give it ⁶⁄₁₀? The meat was good but it somehow was missing something or rather it tastes a little off. Probably it is an imported slab of meat or it was not cooked properly. I do like my steaks well done though!
Yes, pricing here is a little high but lucky for me, my trip here in fully sponsored! :p

Las Carretas was my first experience for Mexican food and it really set the bar pretty high ! I love everything about Las Carretas. I’ve been to the USJ and Jalan Semantan outlets and I love them both. When you walk in, you instantly feel like you’re in a different place. A little like Mexico at night perhaps? ;) The décor includes car number plates, artificial coconut trees and many photo/​article frames that make you feel really excited to be there.
The first time I went there, my friend insisted that I try their Mussels in coriander and habanero dish. I personally wasn’t a fan of mussels but the second I tasted the broth, I absolutely fell in love with it. It was so creamy and tasty. Besides that, I’ve also tried their fajitas, quesadillas, crusted NZ lamb rack and their mouth watering brownie. I have never tasted a brownie that good before !
I love going to Las Carretas not only because of their food, but also because of the friendly service staffs there. They’re always there to greet you with a smile and cater to your every need without hesitating. A really great job with the food, service, hospitality and all round goodness ! Definitely a restaurant to go back to many more times

Before Las Vacas came along, this place had the best steak in the world! Okay… well not really in the world but in town. There’s no other steak houses like Las Carretas that proudly embraces the Mexican lifestyle. Everyone in this steak house looks like a cow bow, yes they wear hats — I’m not sure if they still do now.
Basically when you walk into this place, you will smell the energy of… MEHICO.
The walls, the music, the ambience everything about this place gives it that vibe. I’m completely basing this vibe off off the movies, but real talk though… Las Carretas steaks are amazingly succulent, tender, moist and I assure that you will not walk out of the place without feeling satisfied.

The ambience and menu was quite similar to most Western/​Mexican places. Service was slow and the waiters were not attentive. The food was actually good so I may actually go back there though. Seating in their Taipan outlet was pretty tight as well so make a reservation in advance just to be on the safe side.