Mass Fuego Food Review

Restaurant. Put the word into your search bar and you are likely to get the Wikipedia definition— “a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers”. While a place that qualifies as a restaurant might simply need to meet this criterion, the food industry would be quite unimaginative without several other factors. For this reason, I am on a journey to try new and inventive restaurants and cuisines, and evaluate them from several angles to present the most holistic review I possibly can. This is to be the first of many delicious adventures!

By: Anushree Samsi

As this is the first review I am publishing, I’m going to outline my system for evaluating restaurants on a holistic level. 

The Breakdown

A restaurant is scored from one to a hundred points–

• Presentation (how is the food presented on the plate and on the table?): 10 points

• Ambiance (how is the feeling and vibe in the place?): 10 points

• Service (how friendly, fast, accommodating, etc… are the people?): 10 points

• Authenticity & Creativity (how authentic are the dishes to the cuisine they serve? How creative are their flavor combinations and dishes): 10 points

• Food Flavor and Texture (how good does it taste? How is the mouth feel?): 50 points

• Memorability (how memorable was the location?): 5 points

• Value For Money (with cost in mind, was it worth it?): 5 points

While health is an important factor to note when reviewing a restaurant, I will leave it as a separate factor within this system because people have differing opinions on whether or not health is a decisive factor when choosing a restaurant. 

As an overall note, I do not mean to elevate my view to that of an expert. I also do not claim to be culturally knowledgeable. My goal is to purely share my own insight based on the experiences I have.

Getting Into It

With that in mind, let’s take a look at Mas Fuegos. 

Some Background: 

1. It features a Latin fusion cuisine and a tequila bar
2. It is located in Pacific Commons and is one of the area’s popular restaurants

Initial Impressions: The Pacific Commons area never fails to impress. In the evenings especially, it’s lit up beautifully. We ate dinner right as the sun was setting, which created the most picturesque view. The place bends around the corner acting as an imposing figure on the street corner–it’s pretty unmistakable. 

Ambiance (9): Upon entry, you could see the place was quite alive. They had booths, high tables, and chairs at the bar. The bar had TVs that streamed sports and the place was adorned with colorful lights and decorations. Everything was clean, modern, and crisp. I have nearly no complaints on this front. 

Service (8.5): The service here was awesome! The server came super quickly and was on top of taking our order while giving us adequate time to decide what we wanted. As we were ordering, she gave us her input on what we ordered, acting as a guide to the best foods/choices. She also checked on us frequently to verify that everything was alright. The only issue I had was that our order was messed up in a few ways, and there was confusion between other servers. However, for the most part, I would say this element was really great. 

Presentation (6.5): We ordered four main dishes–the Shrimp Empanadas, Grilled Chicken Fajitas, Double Decker Nachos, and Yucca Fries. I would say that my main problem with the presentation was the fact that everything was brought at one time which overwhelmed us with the dishes and didn’t allow us to enjoy each dish as it came. To elaborate, I believe that a trip to a restaurant is a journey—an experience of tastes and textures that begins with the drinks or appetizers and transitions into the main course. Desert is an optional but enjoyable end. When these elements are not presented in an order that allows a specific focus and appreciation for each dish individually, it ruins the experience. In any case, more specifically, the shrimp empanadas were overall good. I would, however, say that the lettuce overpowered the plate and hid the beautiful gold as well as the crimp of the empanada. The fajitas came with three separate plates: one for the rice and beans, one for the veggies and the chicken, and one for the flour tortillas. The rice and beans were presented quite nicely and so were the fajitas, however, the tortillas came wrapped up in a foil which made no effort to highlight the dish. Furthermore, the fact that they were presented on three separate plates made the presentation much less cohesive. The double-decker nachos were presented quite nicely —the guacamole was dolloped on the top with sour cream presented as a sort of glaze. I don’t think the presentation was necessarily interesting or inventive, especially because I believe the tableware and utensils used are very important as they can bring out the dish or make it very bland depending on how they are utilized. The yucca fries were presented even more blandly, which definitely reflects in the presentation score which I have. 

Authenticity & Creativity (6): When it comes to certain restaurants, authenticity requires tradeoffs with the ambiance of the place. This is definitely true for Mexican restaurants as I have tried quite a few and have realized that ones like Mas Fuego definitely lack creative authentic representations of Mexican food. On an overall basis, their menu was pretty stock. The shrimp empanadas were one of the only outliers in that regard, leading them to stand out on the menu.

Food Flavor and Texture (37): This is definitely the main section, and is worth a lot of points because it’s one of the main reasons people come to restaurants. Starting with the yucca fries, it had a super crispy outside and soft, delicious and delicate flavor on the inside. It was not good enough to entice me to grab another one, but it definitely was a great first bite of the meal. The item that was the biggest letdown was the fajitas, as the chicken was dry and flavorless. For this reason, I would recommend you stay away from the chicken when ordering. While the rice and beans were individually very good, when adding them into the tortilla with the veggies and chicken, the bite was texturally odd while also lacking a cohesive and delicious taste. While this statement might sound very vague, creating a taco is an art form where sweet, spice, acid, crunch, creaminess, fat, freshness, and tons of other components must come together. The harsh reality is absolutely nothing came together here. The dry and flavorless chicken pulled down the entire composition which was by no means rescued by the mild flavor of the veggies, rice or black beans. The dish was presented with a lot more veggies, which threw the ratios off further. The cheese and beans in the double-decker nachos were unevenly spread from chip to chip, leaving some completely bland and others overly cheesy, however, this is a natural phenomenon when it comes to nachos. Overall, I thought the combination of the four kinds of cheese was really delicious and I enjoyed the nachos greatly. I would only add that they should have added some more toppings, possibly a pico de gallo, to add some freshness. Lastly, I definitely cannot finish this discussion without talking about the shrimp empanadas which were definitely the highlight. When you cut or bite into the empanada, you get the perfect balance of a cheesy sauce with a bite-sized taste of shrimp. To round it all off, there is a crispy, fried exterior that texturally is perfect in the mouth. So enjoyable! 

Memorability (2): The colorful and happening ambiance of the place will definitely be something that is ingrained in my memory for quite some time, however, I wouldn’t say that anything was particularly unique or interesting about the food other than the empanadas.

Value for Money (2.5): The prices were pretty reasonable. While I found certain items to be pretty pricey for the relative portion sizes, it isn’t excessively priced. 

Overall Score: 65.5/100

Final Comments: At the end of the day, food commentary always has to nitpick at the negative details but I believe that this would be a great place to go with friends or family if you’re looking for some Mexican food in a celebratory and upbeat atmosphere! If, on the other hand, you are searching for authentic food and more inventive flavor combinations, I would recommend a smaller, more intimate business, especially a family run one, that focuses on bringing alive that aspect of the culture. I also stated that I would discuss the health aspects of the food, so I will touch on it briefly. I would definitely not recommend this place if you want really healthy food as it contains a lot of butter, oil, cheese and other unhealthy fats which can lead several of the dishes to be high in calories. There are, however, options that have more freshness and less of these fattier or fried elements. I think there’s quite a bit of diversity in terms of preferences taste-wise so if you read anything you might like, go give it a try!