Sabor Restaurant [Closed]
This entry was posted on 7/18/2006 10:44 AM and is filed under Casual Chic - Jeans Allowed, closed.
UPDATE: CLOSED DECEMBER 2006
Sabor bills itself as a "modern Mexican restaurant with a seafood influence," which is an apt description for this new restaurant located in an old strip shopping center on Montrose that formerly housed a hole in the wall Tex-Mex place. The decor is contemporary minimalist with a few southwestern colors on the walls. There's an absence of pinatas or serapes. The restaurant is owned by a former Vallone group employee.
The place was pretty busy on a recent Saturday evening, although not packed. The service was very good. In fact, too good when it came to the arrival of food. If you want to linger, don't place your order. Both our appetizers and entrées came in less than five minutes of placing the order.
We tried two of the signature drinks -- the blood orange mojito (rapidly becoming their signature drink, according to the waiter) and the regular mojito. Both were o'kay but nothing special. Good mojitos are labor intensive drinks and most places don't spend the time to muddle an adequate amount of mint in the glass. (If you are ever at Bank during kumquat season, try the kumquat mojito; depending on the bartender, Mi Luna also turns out a pretty good mojito.)
The food selections are quite limited, particularly for a Mexican restaurant where you typically see many choices. There seems to be a trend (e.g., Dolce Vita) with serving appetizers that are designed to be shared. Sabor offers a variety of starters that the menu actually tells you are for sharing. The seafood cocktail had great fresh shrimp and crab, but the overly sweet tomato sauce didn't really appeal to us. We should have tried the ceviche. Our entrees were o'kay -- pulled pork in a sauce that needed a little more oomph and chicken enchiladas suiza. We will say that the restaurant seems to do well with salsa type sauces -- both the salsa served with the chips and the green suiza sauce were very good. The refried black beans and rice were well executed.
We had somewhat heightened expectations because of the Vallone connection, but we wouldn't categorize this restaurant as a disappointment as it doesn't try to be overly ambitious. We're just not sure it will succeed.
1308 Montrose Boulevard
713/807-8996
