ALEX's PASTA place

This is a new place across from the back street entrance to Chopsticks, down the street from Telcel and next to the closed casino in Ajijic.  Serves from around 12 to 5 pm.  Smallish, but looks inviting.
Has anyone on here tried it yet, and whaddya think?

There are a number of reviews on TOB, ranging from "the best meal I've had in Mexico" to just awful, soupy lasagna.  
The reviews are so polarized that I'd like to hear from the eating public on here before spending my pesos there.

Four of us dined there today.  We could not have had a more pleasurable dining experience.  

It seemed to me that the comments on the other Board by persons who had actually dined at the restaurant were decidedly positive, so I found it curious that a few people seemed to suggest the reviews were more in the field of half good and half bad.  

So, I looked at the numbers:  17 persons on TOB made comments.   Of those, only 10 had dined there.  Of those 10, 8 were as pleased as we were today. (From the behavior of the other 15 or so people dining there this afternoon, it would be easy to conclude another 15 or so people were also very pleased with the food, the service and the atmosphere.)  

Only the lasagne took a hit.  1 of the 10 had a so-so response to what he saw as a "small portion" of "lukewarm" lasagne but will go back.  A second person found the lasagne soupy with too much filling and too little pasta, requiring a spoon to carry it from plate to mouth.

Today, I ordered the lasagne because of those two comments.  Clearly different strokes for different folks.  Yes, the use of fresh tomatoes to make a sauce that is not overcooked does produce more juice, but for me that is what bread is for:  soaking up the flavorful juices.   Yes, the use of freshly made pasta sheets does result in feather light/melt in your mouth layers of pasta that could easily be mistaken for filling, but some of us like feather light/melt in your mouth pasta.  No, it is not a huge portion of lasagne but I shared bites of mine with everyone at my table and did not leave hungry.  And, yes, the temperature of the lasagne was closer to room temperature, but I like lasagne best when it has had chance to reach room temperature.  

My three friends ordered different items and were uniformly happy with their choices.   Oh, and the plates on which the main courses were served were all appropriately hot.

Of the remaining 7 commenters, 6 were either asking questions (where, hours, etc.) or commenting on the comments and did not appear to have any direct experience with the restaurant.  The 7th person reported positively on the Chef-Owner's previous restaurant in GDL and thought it was great news that Alex had opened a restaurant locally.

Will you consider it worth your pesos?   Possibly.  Possibly not.   If you enjoy dining at La Una, or Hosteria del Arte, or Hacienda del Lago, or Ninette, (or miss Laurent) and make trips to Guadalajara to dine at Alariz, Alcade, or Allium or Lulu Bistro, you will likely find Alex's Pasta Bar well worth your pesos.   If not, probably best to save your pesos for what you do enjoy because life is too short to do otherwise!

Nice review! I hope you will continue to share your dining experiences.

oncesubtle wrote:Nice review! I hope you will continue to share your dining experiences.

The thing I liked best about that very good review was that it got right down to describing the dish. I consider food reviews that consist of raving about their experience or condemning it without getting specific about the food or the service to be utterly useless.
This one convinced me to never order the lasagna, even though ManyMoons likes it that way. Not my cuppa. The lasagna I like has been made hours before to allow the juices to absorb. The pasta is firm; the layers are definable. Fork appropriate. However, that's just my preference. Whoever orders it from that restaurant now knows just what to expect.
I will try Alex's, since everyone in the party seemed to be happy with the other dishes.
Kudos to the review. Excellent.

Agree with Subtle and Gringal. Excellent review and for all the reasons Gringal mentioned. Unless a reviewer tells me why they thought the dish was terrible or wonderful I have no idea if it will appeal to me or not. (Since my taste for lasagna is more in line with Gringal than Alex I also would skip it there. But, I look forward to trying other dishes from the menu.)
I too hope we hear more reviews from Manymoonsago.

Lady Otter Latté wrote: (Since my taste for lasagna is more in line with Gringal than Alex I also would skip it there.

Me too!  It's a condition of all "left of center liberals"     ........      Again, me too.
The older the lasagna, the better....well, at least until the blue stuff shows up.

slainte39 wrote:

Lady Otter Latté wrote: (Since my taste for lasagna is more in line with Gringal than Alex I also would skip it there.

Me too!  It's a condition of all "left of center liberals"     ........      Again, me too.
The older the lasagna, the better....well, at least until the blue stuff shows up.

That blue (or green) stuff...........no.
Before I got too lazy to make it (it's a time taker), I'd make it the day before and refrigerate it overnight. That way, no runny stuff. Stands on its own. Best thing, it's a great feed-a-gang dish and just about everybody, including Garfield the fat comic cat, loves it.

And by all means, let's help each other get the most from our dining out pesos with those good reviews.