Mojito is sublime

Looking forward to you opening for lunch, soon we hope! Hope you have a great derby week!

A friend and I hit Mojito last weekend, early thankfully, and had one of the best meals I can remember. Started with a pineapple Mojito which was delicious, my friend had a margarita with was really tasty as well. We probably overordered, but we couldn't decide and it all looked so good. The Ensalada Mediterranea was very good, sweet yet not too sweet. The Sofrito Mussels were yummy in a tomatoey broth that would have made an excellent soup. The Gambas al Ajillo were perfect, the garlicky olive oil was sucked up with lots of good bread...I could make a meal just out of this dish. Croquetas de Yuca were a suprising find, I wasn't sure what to expect, but while looking like fried cheese sticks they tasted quite unlike anything I've ever had, and dipped in the smoked honey they were amazing. How in the world do you smoke honey?? The Pincho de Solomillo was probably the best, beef filet cooked rare to raw and with a port reduction sauce and blue cheese...incredible. This place was packed, with people waiting everywhere. Worth the wait I should think, this is my new favorite restaurant.

I know Fernando reads these boards so I am curious to know what his response will be. Lori mentioned that they waited 30-40 minutes while there were multiple open tables. My parents went to Mojitos last Friday and they also waited over an hour while there were multiple open tables, they eventually left without being seated. I not trying to bash the place I am just curious why multiple tables would be left open while there are people waiting to be seated? Could it have been they were a party of 2 and the tables that were open were 4 tops? Like I said not trying to flame just curious?

So last night I took 7 of my middle school kids and two of my volunteers to Mojitos. I was a little nervous because I knew these kids weren't quite as open to new foods as my high school students. Wow. What a great night. The kids tried everything, and loved almost all of it. These are kids that have never had anything like this before, but they all loved it. We had the shrimp in olive oil and garlic, the paella, the croquettas, the sweet potato fries, some skewers, the calamari, and the queso fundido. It was all excellent. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Fernando, you did an excellent job. My students can't wait to go back!

Kris

We went to Mojito last Saturday night with another couple. We arrived at 5:50 p.m. and were told there was 35 minute wait. We gave the hostess our cell phone number and told her we were going for a walk. We took a nice walk over behind TJ Unitarian Church and came back 20 minutes later as the phone went off. Our shared orders included the Mediterranean Salad, Vegetable Tabla, Sweet Potato fries, two tortillas without meat and an order of guacamole. All were excellent. I had a traditional mojito that was very nice. Service was attentive, but not obtrusive. Each couple's check came to around $24.50 plus tip. Overall, a great evening IMO. I think I just talked myself into one heck of an appetite and will go back tonight.

[quote="Jeremy Coker"]I know Fernando reads these boards so I am curious to know what his response will be. Lori mentioned that they waited 30-40 minutes while there were multiple open tables. My parents went to Mojitos last Friday and they also waited over an hour while there were multiple open tables, they eventually left without being seated. I not trying to bash the place I am just curious why multiple tables would be left open while there are people waiting to be seated? Could it have been they were a party of 2 and the tables that were open were 4 tops? Like I said not trying to flame just curious?[/quote]

As a hostess, i get this question alot.. some people get VERY upset when they are told there is a wait but we appear to have open tables. Although i cant speak for Mojito, ill tell you what i tell our customers...

The tables that appear to be open are being held for reservations. In most busy restarants, reservations are plotted on the floor chart before the night begins. Although we often switch parties around to accomodate for "walk-ins" there comes a point where we cannot continue to seat these ppl because we simply will not have enough tables available for reservations.
Its rare for a table to sit unoccupied for more than an hour, but its definitly possible. Say the only open tables have reservations at 8:00, and you walk in at 7:05. It wouldnt be possible (or enjoyable) for you to have 55 minutes with a table before you had to be up so that we could seat the plotted reservation, so at that point you just have to wait for another table to open up.

hope this answers your question

Madi said

The tables that appear to be open are being held for reservations.

Madi this is very reasonable to me. However, I'm under the impression that Mojito doesn't take reservations. The exception I was told was for Oaks and Derby.

Jeremy: Let me start by saying that I'm really sorry that your parents had to wait for an hour and leave. Believe me as a business owner you don't want anybody to leave your place upset because they had to wait for
too long or have empty tables, but at the same time you have to control how much you can handle. Mojito is a new restaurant that is only been open for two weeks, now on our third week. I think we did a good job training our staff before we opened, but you never know how is going to be, until you actually open the doors. Sometimes we have to control the chaos by slowing down the siting so our kitchen and wait staff can provide better service. You deal with the problem of making people wait at the door or siting more people than you can handle and then they have to wait for their drinks and the food takes to long, etc. Having said that, I'm not by any means trying to make an excuse, we are working on fixing the problem. So please accept my apologies and read the private message that I sent you. Thanks Fernando.

No we don't take reservations, only for Dervy and Oaks. Fernando.

Thank you Mary Anne for your comments. Fernando.

We ate at Mojito's tonight. The food was superb. We were especially fond of the steak chimmichurri, the seafood paella, and the donuts (I don't have the menu in front of me and I'm terrible with Spanish). The absolute star of the evening, though, was the goat cheese flan. Good golly Miss Molly--that was something.

The service was good with a significant exception. The person who brought out the Paella forgot to bring a serving spoon. And that was the exact time our waitress did a bit of a disappearing act. We had to go hunt her down for a serving spoon and drink refills (it was actually a good bit of time, we used our knives to scrape out a first serving of Paella). She was very pleasant and we had good service otherwise. The Maitre D' (hostess?) was really great, and she brought by an unordered dessert. I don't know if this was just out of the blue or if she noticed the lapse in service.

Whatever the case, the food was incredible and I have no doubt they'll work out service issues.

I really appreciate your response to my question. It is very hard to convey tone on a message board and upon re-reading my post I feel it comes off more harshly than I intended, I honestly didn't mean it to sound like a complaint. I really was just curious about how restaurants handle situations like that. Being that I never have worked in a restaurant I didn't even think about the stress the kitchen would be under and I totally understand why there would be open tables. I love to eat out and one of the reasons I love this board is it gives us (non-industry people) the opportunity to have a backstage pass into a fascinating industry. My parents totally understood that you had just opened and were not really even upset by it. I had just seen the other persons quote about seeing empty tables and it made me remember my parents telling me about their experience. They will definitely return!

A friend and I hit Mojito last weekend, early thankfully, and had one of the best meals I can remember. Started with a pineapple Mojito which was delicious, my friend had a margarita with was really tasty as well. We probably overordered, but we couldn't decide and it all looked so good. The Ensalada Mediterranea was very good, sweet yet not too sweet. The Sofrito Mussels were yummy in a tomatoey broth that would have made an excellent soup. The Gambas al Ajillo were perfect, the garlicky olive oil was sucked up with lots of good bread...I could make a meal just out of this dish. Croquetas de Yuca were a suprising find, I wasn't sure what to expect, but while looking like fried cheese sticks they tasted quite unlike anything I've ever had, and dipped in the smoked honey they were amazing. How in the world do you smoke honey?? The Pincho de Solomillo was probably the best, beef filet cooked rare to raw and with a port reduction sauce and blue cheese...incredible. This place was packed, with people waiting everywhere. Worth the wait I should think, this is my new favorite restaurant.

Ditto on the pineapple mojito...it was the highlight of the night

I stopped by last week. The place looked and smelled great but I don't like to wait, so I moved on. I guess I will wait the next opportunity. Sounds like there is always a wait.

Mojito is now open for lunch Monday thru Friday 11pm to 2:pm
and Saturday 12:00pm to 2:30pm
I hope I'm not breaking any rules. Thanks Fernando.