QUINTESSENTIAL GREASY SPOON BUT THE FOOD IS "FAIRLY" GOOD. (Rated 27th on the 2018 Mr. Sensitive list of Mexican food restaurants in the Las Cruces area.)
UPDATED 2018********
February 2018 reevaluation of the Moongate Cafe lifted it up quite a few spots in the Mr. Sensitive rankings of Mexican food restaurants around town. During my 2018 visit I noticed a fresh coat of paint on the walls and ceilings and new blinds. Same old carpet and banquet chairs with rips in the seat covers however. Otherwise the place seemed to be fairly clean. Ambiance still rates about a "C." OK to dine but not thrilling. The service was friendly and fairly efficient if not professional. Rate the ok service a "B." No complaints.
I ordered the STUFFED SOPAPILLA PLATE. It came with beans and rice. No chips or salsa were served with the meal. The rice was not properly salted and very bland. Rate the rice a C-. The refried beans were fairly good. Rate them a "B." The sopapilla shells were light and flavorful....very good. The green chile was packed with spicy green chile....quite up there on the heat scale and very tasty. The red chile had a most pronounced red chile flavor and it was also very "hot." This was some of the better chile con carne served around these parts....a good introduction to New Mex food if you are just passing through on route 70. The overall meal rates about a "B+" to an "A-." Quite satisfying.
Given the friendly service and slight upgrade in the physical condition of the restaurant, the friendly service, and the very good food......I have raised the overall dining rating of the Moongate Cafe to number 27th on the list. The food probably ranks in the top fifteen.
Give the Moongate THREE-AND-THREE QUARTER STARS (3.75)......meaning well above average.
BOTTOM LINE: WILL I RETURN TO DINE? PROBABLY NOW AND THEN. BUT NOT OFTEN.
Original review appears below:
You have probably driven by the Moongate Cafe numerous times on your way over the Organ Mountains. It sits alongside Route 70 just this side of Gonzales' Nursery just a little bit before you get to Organ. The front of the cafe is simply emblazoned with the large letters, "Restaurant." The parking lot remains dirt and gravel.
Inside the cafe you will find approximately seven large and fairly comfortable booths and several heavy wooden tables with chairs. THE AMBIANCE IS A MIXED BAG. On my visit the cafe did appear to be reasonably clean, but it has an old and tired look to it. IT DOES NOT EXACTLY INSPIRE CONFIDENCE! The carpet looked like it had not been replaced in thirty years and it did not appear to be very clean. Some tears were apparent in the seats of the booths.
(This situation only appeared worse on my next visit in 2013.)
Eight or ten customers were present while I dined there. Most seemed to be regulars from the neighborhood. Their loud talk and free banter with the woman waiting tables was continuous, unrelenting, and was somewhat annoying. The waitress was giving as good as she got and clearly encouraging this "neighborly" spirit. Indeed, some of the more overly-talkative types did not even appear to be dining, instead just hanging around and enjoying the banter. Now I am sure that the locals all like this friendly place where they are well known, but for those of us who seek a quiet or peaceful meal it was not to be found here. Truthfully, I can only rate the ambiance a C. The woman waiting the tables was ok, just ok. She did her job and was pleasant enough. I did get a refill on my drink. Rate the service at Moongate a B minus.
The menu at Moongate, I must say, is outstanding. The choices seems unlimited, from steak fingers to steak, from chops to burgers, from Mexican dishes to salad. To get a good sampling of their Mexican/New Mexican food which I had heard was good, I ordered the stuffed sopapilla plate with a side chile relleno. Chips and salsa do not come with the meal and cost an additional $1.75 should you want them. I did not order them.
Two men were cooking in the kitchen and my food arrived at the table timely. The beans and rice seemed marginally better than the usual around these parts. The sopapillas, one stuffed with green chile con carne and the other with red were better than the norm. They were both very good. The chile sauces themselves were very good, particularly the red which I would say is one of the better ones around town. Rate this dish a B+. It was quite good with lots of flavor in that red chile.
The relleno, however, was a little disappointing. Too much cheese over the top and not enough of that good green chile flavor. The deep frying process or whatever process they used, charred or burned the chile's coating a little. The cheese in the relleno seemed to overwhelm what little taste there was to the chile pepper. Rate the relleno a C+ only.
I was inclined to give this little cafe a three-and-a-half star rating despite the TWO STAR AMBIANCE because most of the food seemed quite good. But, alas, the ambiance is just not fit for a nice meal. If you go for the food...ok, but don't expect a nice dining experience unless you are the type that wants to engage the neighborhood crowd in trite conversation. Also the prices are not exactly cheap here as you might expect. My sopapilla dish cost $9.00...and that is with no chips and salsa. You can get many better meals for less money at much nicer places closer to town.
The following day, as a case in point, I enjoyed , at another restaurant, what is perhaps the best taco plate in town, three tacos al pastor with beans, rice, chips, and two salsas...at a price of $7.00. And the restaurant and service were far superior to Moongate.
Out of five possible...for the food and dining experience...rate the Moongate Cafe...THREE STARS. The food alone might rate three-and-a-half to four stars.
I really do want to go again sometime and try other dishes, but the atmosphere is keeping me away!
**************Twenty months later, April 2013, Mr. Sensitive paid another visit to the Moongate since the food in 2011 was good enough to warrant another go-around. Again, the tables appeared clean but the décor had not improved; in fact, there were probably more tears in the chair and booth coverings than before. FROM WHAT I COULD SEE THERE WERE UNREPAIRED TEARS IN VIRTUALLY ALL THE COVERINGS OF THE BOOTHS AND THE CHAIRS. THIS SURELY DOES NOT INSPIRE CONFIDENCE. The blinds were bent or missing in some places. The antediluvian carpeting was still there. IN 2013 I WOULD SAY THE AMBIANCE OF MOONGATE RATES A C-....meaning below average. This is not exactly a thrilling place in which to dine.
The place was much quieter and much more relaxing this time around. The service was pleasant and efficient. Rate the service a B this day.
I ordered their "FULL MOON TACO" AND A RED CHILE MEAT BURRITO. (See the photo of the Full Moon Taco on this web site.)
Again....no chips or salsa served with the meal.
Don't think "typical taco" when you envision the Full Moon. You can actually see a photo of it on a couple food web-sites on the net. This meal is what is generally referred to as a "sopapilla compuesta" in numerous restaurants around town. The Moongate advertises it as made with fry bread. The shell or bread was freshly fried and prepared perfectly. It had a lightness to it and was done just right. The flavor was good. On top were lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, refried beans (with some whole beans), sour cream, and green chile con carne. I ordered some guacamole on the side to try this out. THE GUACAMOLE WAS NOT VERY GOOD....RATHER FLAT IN TASTE. It certainly did not taste fresh! Rate it a C-..... NOT GOOD AT ALL. The beef in the chile was tender and the green sauce flavorful. Rate the chile con carne a B to B+. The refried beans were just ok. The lettuce was not thinly shredded and seemed too thick in places. It was not as fresh as it could have been. Still, while this was one of the prettiest Mexican dishes you will find, at the end of the day the Full Moon Taco rates a B.....good but not outstanding.
The red chile con carne burrito was just o.k. I was expecting better as in year 2011 I had some red chile at the Moongate that seemed to be very good. This time the chile had a slightly orange appearance (never a good sign in my experience) and the flavor was somewhat mediocre. I would rate this burrito a B-. Certainly nothing special.
While the food at the Moongate is not bad I still must rate the overall dining experience, considering the ambiance, only THREE STARS....meaning very mediocre. The food is "fairly" good but the ambiance drags this place down. If the food was super-fantastic I could see dining here, but the food is not good enough to justify spending time here. I am in no hurry to return. THE FOOD IS JUST O.K. AND THE AMBIANCE LESS THAN INVITING. I can't say as to whether or not I will return here. After all, what for?
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