Tres Agaves = Tres Malas Experiencias

So.....Tres Agaves. Before this past weekend I had only been there for margaritas and chips and salsa at the bar - which were fine. However an experience I had there previously should have set me up for the disappointment of this past weekend. A couple of months ago I was sitting there at the bar having a nice cold margarita on the rocks with a galpal from work. I remarked to her that the margarita, while good, was not the best I have ever had. Because I had margaritas with Patch when I visited her one summer in Chicago, at Rick Bayless' restaurant, Topolobampo, and it was the freaking best thing I have ever had in my life. We GUZZLED them all night - something I have never done with margaritas. It was like drinking lime-flavored heaven in a glass. And while the margarita at Tres Agaves was good....heaven it was not. I was speaking quietly about this to my friend, and the bartender overheard and came over and gave me a lecture about how Rick Bayless does x thing wrong, and the bartender did it right, yadda yadda yadda - picking a fight with me about this stupid cocktail!! And it WASN'T as good! I'm sorry! Maybe I was being a little rude, but I paid for the drink and was planning on paying for more of them until the little argument. I told him I thought his drink was quite good and I would tell him I liked it best if that would make him feel better. He left us alone and we went on to District.

So anyways, maybe after that little experience, I should have known I would be disappointed with Tres Agaves once I actually got the chance to eat there. But I had high hopes. The restaurant has been on Michael Bauer's Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants List for years. I am generally a little wary of upscale Mexican, but experiences at Topolobampo in Chicago, and Mamacita in SF (which I will write about at some point) lead me to believe that this might be a good thing.

I was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.

I will start with the good though. We had a reservation and they seated us immediately, even without our entire party there, which I thought was great. They immediately brought us two big bowls of chips and two kinds of salsa - a chopped pico de gallo, and a cooked tomato salsa. The pico de gallo was sort of watery and lame in my opinion - especially considering the great tomatoes available right now. But I really thought the cooked salsa was excellent. Very very tasty, would give my Latina mother's salsa a run for its money (it would lose, but it would be a close race).

Another good thing - some of my friends had a special margarita made with jalapeno, which they all loved - the Sweet Heat. So I would recommend that. We ordered a couple of pitchers of regular margaritas, and they were ok. Not great. They were fine. Too expensive in my opinion - 36 dollars for a pitcher with 4 sub par margaritas. But we enjoyed them.

The food, besides the salsa, was not impressive. I wasn't super hungry, so I ordered one of the $12 ceviches - ceviche being one of my most favorite foods in the history of the world. I had the bacalao - rock cod with chile de arbol, avocado, onion, cilantro, and tomato. It was ok. It was tiny, first of all. And it was served in a tall shot glass basically - which made it hard to eat. The fish was ok. The brine was too limey and watery at the same time - needed more salt, more avocado. Patch had the Durado ceviche - albacore with lemon juice, preserved lemons, cucumbers, and habanero. I had a taste and it was better than mine, but the same tiny glass. My friend R. ordered the chicken sopes, which were absolutely pitiful looking - three tiny (maybe 2 inches in diameter) sopes with pathetically dry chicken and a little chile on top. She remarked that it looked and tasted like it had been under a broiler. Another girl ordered the queso fundido, which also did not look particularly appetizing. The server brought us a bunch of sides to the table - refried beans with chorizo, vegetarian pinto beans, cabbage salad, and tortillas. They were all just ok. I sure didn't taste any chorizo in the refried beans.

The servers also seemed in a hurry to clear our table. Once we ordered the food was out way, way too quickly - we had little time to sit and chat. Once we were mostly done the food was whisked away quickly. But then the check. never. came. Finally after about 45 minutes of sitting there we flagged down our server and made it out of there.

Part of the problem with Tres Agaves is its location. It is a block from the ballpark home of my beloved San Francisco Giants. The before and post game crowds can be very annoying, and are generally looking for their food to be quick and easy. But if that is the kind of place Tres Agaves wants to be, and the crowd they want to cater to in general, they need to lower their prices.

All in all, I was not pleased. I would stop in for a drink and some chips and salsa before a game at the bar, but I will not eat another meal there if I have any control over it. Mamacita across town is just too good - not to mention the deliciously cheap and authentic Los Jarritos.

Food - (2)(1.5 for food, but it gets a boost because of the yummy Sweet Heat cocktail)
Experience - (2)
Total - (2)
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Yelp Reviews for Tres Agaves
SF Chronicle Review for Tres Agaves