April 11, 2008

Restaurant review: Red Tango

By Stan Dyer

This was my return visit to Red Tango, but I found little to alter my original opinion. I am aware that people love this place and many offer glowing reviews, but, frankly, I am not impressed. Yes, the food is good, but, for the most part, this restaurant seems very ordinary, and a bit pricey.

Located just east of Harlan on 38th Avenue, the building is very similar to every other building in the neighborhood. There is little to set it apart aside from its sign. Once inside, there is nothing about the restaurant to indicate that any time at all was spent designing a warm, inviting interior conducive to dining. Nonetheless, I know that outward appearance is not always indicative of the product inside, and the proof of the pudding is in the taste.

To begin our meal, I decided to start with one of the "featured" wines. Our waiter informed me that the "featured" wine we chose was not in stock. What? I find it peculiar to feature a wine that is not in stock. It seems to me a good wine menu should accurately reflect a restaurant's stock. Attempting to order a different bottle, I discovered that many of the wines listed were not available. Apparently, the restaurant is in the process of changing its selection of wines. Again, a good wine menu should accurately reflect a restaurant's stock, and not, "This is what we have. Take it or leave it."

While browsing the menu, I was pleased to discover that many of the entrees were offered "vegetarian." It turned out to be a ruse. Most of those items offering the vegetarian option were already vegetarian items with a slab of meat, a cut of fish, or some prawns thrown on top. To change it to the vegetarian option, the chef simply did not add the slab of meat, the cut of fish or the prawns, but the restaurant did not change the price. Does that seem right to you?

Just as before, I found the portion sizes to be small for the price charged. Most of the entrees were priced at $17 (actually $16.95), but a few, like the steak were a lot more. The steak (purchased by a companion), was $24.95, but it did come with tiger prawns, asparagus and choice of soup or salad. You can judge for yourself. Three of us had the Torta de Papa, which was like a potato pancake with vegetables and cheese sprinkled on top for $17. One had the Lomo Relleno ($17), one had the Relleno with Salmon ($17) and one had the aforementioned steak ($25). Check out the pictures that accompany this review to see what we got for our money.

As for the service, that did little to improve the situation. Granted, we did not all show up at the same time, and I can see how that can throw a waiter out of his rhythm, but enough is enough. Three times we asked for more bread. We are still waiting for that bread. I can understand service being slow on a busy Friday night, but it was not that busy for this guy to be so ridiculously slow. When it came time for the final tally, we waited patiently 20 minutes before asking the manager to produce our check. We left a nice tip, but I felt cheated all the way around. Will someone please tell me why people love this place so much? The food is good, but it is not that good.

Over all, I generously rate this restaurant a "B." I have to admit that the food is good. Other than that, I can think of nothing else special to say about the place. It is not particularly clean, the seats do not match, and our particular waiter treated us like an afterthought. I think I'll wait another year before I try Red Tango again.

Red Tango is located at 5807 W. 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge. The phone number is 303-420-2203. They are open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. They open for dinner at 5 p.m. nightly and close at 9 p.m., except on Fridays and Saturdays when they stay open until 10 p.m. They are closed Sundays.