Posted by Peter Liu in mexican, restaurant review on July 3, 2007 at 7:25 am

Hernando’s Hideaway
545 Yonge Street
416-929-3629
52A Wellington Street East
416-366-6394
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and cocktails: $48

Having been to both Hernando's locations I can now compare the two, from the taste buds of someone relieved to eat Mexican food that didn’t originate from a drive-thru. My trip to the first Hernando’s was actually a fluke. A communication misunderstanding between friends brought us to the location on Yonge, and it became something I'll never be allowed to live down.

I couldn’t find the place when it first came time to capture the restaurant on camera. Not till I crossed the street did I realize that Hernando’s Hideaway lives up to its namesake. The restaurant sinks into the ground off of the street. A flight of stairs led me deeper into the rabbit hole. The atmosphere was a bit stifling; by that I mean the overall environment of the restaurant. The décor was rustic, and the furniture painted in gaudy colours. The giant lizards on the wall were a nice touch. I wondered what it’d feel like to sit right under one of those, and whether he would flick off bits of my meal as I ate it.

We were quickly seated, but after drink orders, service seemed to lag. It could have been because our server doubled as the bartender, or because there was only one person at the bar. Knowing full well we had gotten our server’s attention seemed to win us more time for him to ignore us. Our dinner orders ended up being taken by a different server entirely.

Initially, the food looked really promising when it came. We ordered the Grilled Veggie Fajitas ($15.99), Veggie Quesadilla ($8.53), and the Grilled Veggie Burrito ($11.93) respectively. Upon closer inspection, some things about our food seemed amiss. Dinner portions come with a side order of rice and beans, and both looked quite dry on first glance. The beans are mildly spicy, and come lightly smothered in cheese. The rice tastes just like the Taco Villa rice I used to serve during my teen days working there. The shocking part came on my second or third bite into the beans, when I bit into something I could only describe as a small pebble. It was rectangular, black, and definitely didn’t belong there. My friends actually heard when I bit down on the pebble, and it scared them out of eating their beans.

Along with the grilled vegetables, the fajitas came with some sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, and shredded lettuce. I noticed it was quite brown, and not that fresh-looking. My friend complained that her grilled vegetables were dry. I found my burrito to be filling if nothing else. I tasted carrot, broccoli, some spiciness, and a huge amount of rice. The flavours just melded together and tasted like, well, a burrito. All in all, the tastes were quite average, but it was the quesadilla that left me wanting more. I only tasted a small piece, but I could clearly taste the fusion of tortilla, vegetables, and Jack cheese. It was light, it was filling, and everything a quesadilla should be.

This desire led me to the second Hernando’s location, on Wellington. This one was on street level (thank-god) and almost seemed more posh from the get-go. Going up a flight of stairs this time (I guess it’s a theme) led our way to a surprisingly large space, dim and decorated by cool blue-hued colours. Strings of lights gave the restaurant a whimsical charm. And yes, the lizards are there too, only smaller.

It was still early and there were only a smattering of customers, so we were seated quickly. Throughout dinner our server Jake was simply awesome; he gave us enough time, took our mutual indecision in graceful stride, and was very efficient all around.

Having been exhausted from an awesome pride parade, our weary group decided on the Mexicali Nachos ($9.49), followed by a Taco Salad ($10.49), a Chicken Caesar Salad ($12.49), an appetizer-sized Club Quesadilla ($10.47), and two Veggie Quesadillas ($8.53). The first thing I noticed about the plate of nachos was its size. The preparation method looked very different from the usual mix of nachos and toppings together in a large pile as in some other restaurants. The cheese was light, the nachos were crunchy, and didn’t seem to be overly fatty, like some restaurant nachos can be. I never heard any complaints about the food at all; I do know I was the last person to finish eating.

The quesadilla lived up to my expectations. The taste was almost exactly the same, though I tasted a lot more shredded carrot. The rice and bean side dishes looked better as well. The rice still looked the same, but the beans looked very moist, though I couldn’t taste the spiciness this time around. For dessert, we had Fried Ice-Cream ($4.86). It was covered in whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The fried ice-cream itself made us all act like hungry-hungry-hippos with our spoons, trying to snag the ice-cream and slowly carve out a piece.

In retrospect, I would have to say that the Hernando’s location on Wellington is better, if I haven’t made that point already. I think the other location just has some kinks to work out. If both the quesadillas at both locations taste just as good, they’ve got to be doing something right.