In a nutshell:

Mexican food in Gurgaon – value for money, the taste will most probably appeal to those who have not tasted the ‘real thing’ but unlikely to be liked by those who have tasted the ‘real thing’.

Address & other details: Picante

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Meal for 2:Rs. 300 onwards

Short Description – In case u r in a Hurry:

I am still amazed why this place is called a ‘Grill’. Coz they don’t seem to b serving anything that needs a grill. Infact they have a lone burger in the menu card & that also is a vegetarian burger. That’s as strange as it can get.

The board outside says – Picante ‘Home to the Legendary Burritos’. We ordered it & came the reply – Sorry Sir, Burritos not in stock. Whattttt???? Its like u go to an ‘Apple’ showroom & they say ‘Sorry sir, we do not have ipod’.

Very good staff – cooperative, knowledgeable, polite.

Location is a disaster for ordinary citizens of Gurgaon. I guess generally office goers in that huge office complex visit this eatery more often than others. For aam aadmi like us, even getting a parking in & around the building is a big thing……………let alone searching for the eatery by using Indian GPS (bhaisahib, Picante kaha hai?) in absence of any directions to reach the restaurant – from the entrance to the complex.

Food was overall ok. It cost Rs. 400 for 2 & was filling beyond imagination – I felt like we had eaten a 5 course meal. But end of the day, inspite of the ‘quantity’, the tastebuds were not smiling. The taste was quite average – almost nothing stood out & left a mark.

Good effort & thought on part of the Owners – However, the eatery is yet to bank in on the huge potential of good tasty Mexican food that is not too expensive.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:

The funda in this place is that on the counter there are approx. 20 – 25 little boxes that contain – Options between 2 types of rice white colored rice, red colored rice, 2 types of beans – white / brown, 2 types of chicken , 1 kind of lamb, capsicum & onions sautéed in spices, grilled vegetables, 2 types of cooked salsa, 1 uncooked salsa, sour cream, lettuce, shredded cheese, grilled paneer & onions & pepper.

U can actually make ur own food by choosing the filling for the item that u want to eat – tacos, burritos, Naked Burritos, nachos, salad etc. Whatever u choose, the filling can be same in all or permutations & combinations of the contents of the little boxes mentioned above.

So u can stand at the counter & keep saying ‘For my Burrito I want this I want that,I do not want this, I want less of that’ etc& for my Tacos I want blah blah’.

In case u r a regular here, u may know what u exactly like. But if u r new to this place, it might be quite a challenge to get the proportions right – a good idea is to tell the server to give u the ‘original version’. That’s what I did.

In absence of the Legendary Burritos, we chose tacos & Naked Burritos (basically that means no Burritos).

The tacos were served in a very interesting way – A basket was wrapped with aluminium foil & the tacos were placed on top.

The tacos that we had were ok to taste – better than in most places in Delhi but no where as good as the Mexican grills in USA e.g Mi Amigos in Phoenix. There the complimentary tacos come before food arrives & u cannot just stop ur hands from finishing off the huge complimentary bowl.

The tacos at Picante were thin but not as crispy as the original ones – I wud say ‘suboptimal’ – little less than good or just about good.

Chicken / lamb pieces did not make their presence felt. Chicken Blanco was ‘chicken marinated in traditional adobo & grilled’, Chicken Oscuro was chicken marinated in special Mexican Chillies & Grilled’. The lamb option was ‘Lamb in Honey chipotle marinade’. However, they wud have contributed to the overall taste of the taco or the burrito.

The naked Burrito was also ‘almost good’ but not yet ‘good’.

Check this place out if u r dying to have Mexican food in Delhi NCR coz there r not too many good options available. U might quite like it if u have not had Mexican food in Mexico or the Mexican Grills in USA. Infact, they seem to be quite popular – Just saw in their facebook page that they have delivered 10000 burritos.

However, if u have had the real one, it will be very difficult not to be frustrated. I will surely not come back to this place to eat anything again.