This is my third review of Los Cucos (...going back 10 years to my first one in 2015), and is likely my last review.
For date night last night, my wife and I patronized Los Cucos here in Sandy, as it had been at least four years since we last ate at this restaurant. We were seated immediately, but it was almost as if we were in a different restaurant from what we remembered from our past visits. Last night it was bright, stark, noisy, and felt like a sports bar with all the many flat-screen TVs on the wall. They even had a huge speaker system hanging from the ceiling, set up, no doubt for large parties? Not what we expected for a well-patronized Mexican (Tex-Mex?) restaurant in Sandy. Rosa was our server and did a nice job taking care of us, but it really went downhill from there. The menu was impressive, I'll give them that...but so were the prices (and not in a good way.)
My wife ordered Las Sebas (a mini smothered chimichanga with chile verde and two fried taquitos, served with rice and guacamole), and I went with my fave, Carnitas (chunks of slow-cooked pork loin served with tomatillo sauce, sour cream, fresh sliced avocado, onions, pico de gallo, rice, "borracho" beans, and tortillas.) Sounds de-lish, right? Keep reading. I also has a large Margarita ($12.25 + rocks & salt)...and we both enjoyed the chips and salsa...with a warm red salsa and a cool avocado salsa.
Then the robot appeared. Yes, of all places, they use a robot to deliver the food to our table...but it still required a server to pull the plates off the robot and put them in front of us. A robot? Really?
Our delivery robot stopped just shy of our table right there in the middle of the aisle, and it sat there...for 3-4 minutes waiting for staff. That was 3-4 minutes of our food cooling off even further, not to mention the time it took in the kitchen to load it and the time it took to crawl halfway across the restaurant to our table. Gimmick.
I'll speak to my food as it had a nice presentation, but after digging in, it was lacking in many respects. The carnitas were chunky and moist, but damn those big fat globs that were hidden under the meat. Yuck. Honestly, I get much better carnitas locally from Gual Bertos and La Hacienda here in Draper. And the tortillas? Worthless. They were just dry, flaky, cold, and crumbled as I tried to roll them. I had one bite of one. A total waste.
The rest of my plate was OK, especially the "borracho beans". The rest was OK but there wasn't a lot of it...and a fair amount (pico de gallo and the lettuce) was hidden under the two flat pieces of lettuce that the kitchen used to decorate my plate. All in all, it didn't seem worth the $21.00 I paid for my entree. I also took about 1/3 of my meal home in a hinged lid container.
The whole experience could have been way better. The ambiance was terrible, the food was OK, service was good (but seemed rushed as Rosa brought us our check halfway through our meal and then immediately asked us if we wanted containers for take-home...what?), and the cost (the two entrees, a Sprite, and a large margarita) was $69.63 out the door with gratuity. Hmmmm. No value there.
As I said earlier, it really could have been better. A lot better. And just how did this venue get voted "Best in SLC" for a Mexican Restaurant?
2 Stars, and we're never coming back.