Romanti-Ezer

I am very disappointed with Romanti-Ezer’s current open hours. This has been determined by their clientele that appears to mostly be late night drunks in search of generic cheap Mexican eats.

They now close at 6 pm! BOOOOO. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays they reopen again at 9 pm, for the drunk crowd. Closing at 6 pm means the dinner crowd – that’s me – couldn’t drive enough business for them to be open at that time.  I could cry.

That does mean lunches are available, but this is downtown, and I work in Ellwood. Some would call that north county. Needless to say, I must hereby give up all hope of eating here except on the rare occasion that I can make it for a Saturday lunch. Why not go after 9 pm Thursday, Friday or Saturday, you ask? Because the menu during that time is reduced to a few popular dishes for the drunks. Burritos and stuff. No more birria hurraches, no more chicken mole enchiladas.

Gone, also, are the fabulous tamales. The ones that were to replace the tamales from Our Lady of Guadalupe during Fiesta. First, they said the woman who made them was on vacation, visiting her family home outside the US. And recently they indicated she might not be coming back. No more tamales!! Pity me and my sad little stomach. :(

Today’s visit is the result of three failed attempts to dine here in recent weeks and always finding the restaurant closed. They had special open hours due to Fiesta, running the limited menu. The mole enchiladas and hurraches that I’d talked up so much were not available.

We ordered the chicken mole burrito. We received a mole burrito that was not chicken. Pork or beef, we weren’t sure.

Of course, it was good. A treat to my friend who finally ate here for the first time. It is all about the mole, after all.   It was an enormous portion and fed myself and Ted. He loved it. But he also doesn’t *know* about the wonderfulness that Romanti-Ezer can be. Sigh.

Other musings:
18 May 2009
15 March 2009
7 August 2008

Romanti-Ezer
701 Chapala St
Santa Barbara, CA 93190