Tac/quila

For four consecutive years, Tac/quila has earned its Michelin recommendation, and it has consistently been one of the most popular restaurants in Palm Springs. It has been a personal comfort spot for me. I appreciate the consistent cleanliness, trendy and beautiful interior, and the cozy heated patio. The service is casual, friendly, and efficient, with bussers always on the lookout for dishes to collect and servers checking in often and keeping waters full. In terms of the menu, the carne asada is my usual go-to. It is consistently well-seasoned and perfectly cooked with the usual yummy sides. However, on my most recent visit, I decided to go with the seabass plate. I wanted to switch things up, and based on my positive experiences in the past with the carne asada I had faith that the seabass would be good too. Unfortunately, this visit didn't quite hit the mark. The food took longer than usual to come out. We waited about 20 minutes just for drinks, and nearly 40 minutes for entrees. When the dish finally did arrive, I was a little surprised to see my plate. Things were all over the place, and everything was drowning in sauce. The tomatoes were thrown into the dish randomly, the colors were clashing, and there was just too much going on. Aside from the presentation, I was a little underwhelmed by the execution of the dish. The prawns were slightly cold, and I found them to be a little underseasoned. The seabass was also overcooked. The meat was dry and lacking a nice crust. What really carried this dish was the sauce. It was buttery and rich, working really well with the fish. The rice also being soaked in the sauce gave it amazing flavor and overall made the dish much better. The dish also came with a lemon, which provided some much-needed acidity to cut through the richness of the sauce. This made the dish more balanced; however, the inclusion of the jalapenos didn't really add much. They weren't really spicy and were hard to incorporate into any bite aside from with the rice, while also being unappealing to look at due to their color and random placement. The biggest problem for me was that the seabass did not feel highlighted in the context of the dish. It was the weakest component, with the prawns, rice, and tomatoes all outshining it. While Tac/quila remains a Palm Springs staple for me, this visit fell uncharacteristically flat. Between the slow service and the execution of the sea bass, the experience didn't live up to expectations. Things weren't so bad that I wouldn't return, but I do hope to see a return to the standard that I remember.