Fast Food Mexican
DESCRIPTION: It is what you would expect from any other Rubio's. This location and the new location in Walnut have stood out with great customer service!
DATE: 2004-01-14
FOODRATING : 6
SERVICERATING : 10
AMBIANCERATING : 8
OVERALLRATING : 6
RECOMMENDED DISHES : Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos

Bad food, terrible prices, awful all around
DESCRIPTION: Terra Nostra sounds exotic, and Steve Knight wrote a pleasant enough review of this Brazilian Barbeque for elmerdills.com, but don't fool yourself. My family and I ruined a fine Friday evening venturing outside of our normal variety which includes just about everything...but Brazilian BBQ. Terra is located in an older poorly lit shopping center (Even their signage lighting was burnt out.), but we set our biases aside and went inside to find an aging decor of cheap tables and even cheaper uncomfortable chairs. Only a few tables were occupied at 7:30pm, but AGAIN we set our biases aside...The waitress was kind, though she didn't explain how things worked until we asked...after sitting there for 5 minutes staring at each other. The "all you can eat salad bar" was the worst I've ever encountered; poorly attended to with food drying out and cold. Many of the 20 or so selections of vegetable, rice, and bean dishes offered in the salad bar were new to me and of the 8 or so I tried, they were all very bland, poorly prepared, some over cooked and some undercooked, and overall just downright state-pen fodder. Ok, at least there was lettuce. Well back at the table...15 minutes pass...this is supposed to be a BBQ, so where is the meat? Well, there is one attendent that wanders around to each table offering a slice of meat off of a long skewer that he has just pulled off the grill, he obviously doesn't have enough meat to go around, and we're offered about half an ounce of meat each when he comes to our table. I tried three different kinds of meat, all were grissely and fatty and lacked any seasoning to speak of...the worst part being that it took another 15 minutes of staring at my family members - who are all nice looking folks I assure you, but in order to get 1 and a half ounces of meat??? The dinner price per person is $17.75 for ALL YOU CAN EAT. Well, my family and I had enough AWFUL food after the 30 mins we were there. The interesting part was that the waitress wasn't the least surprised when we so promptly asked for our check, nor was she surprised in the LEAST when I told her we wouldn't pay the full amount of an OUTRAGEOUS $17.75 per person. Don't waste your time or your money at Terra Nostra. I will add that Steve Knight's review was written almost 4 years ago, things seem to have changed at Terra, but not to his benefit.
DATE: 2004-09-18
FOODRATING : 2
SERVICERATING : 4
AMBIANCERATING : 2
OVERALLRATING : 2
RECOMMENDED DISHES : None