I had read so much about Agave Y Aguacate, and being a Mexican food lover, I was eager to try these dishes. I e-mailed the owner of the restaurant requesting a reservation for 10 people (grew to 12 ppl when two friends joined us at the last minute), and he promptly responded confirming my request. That was a good start.

When we arrived for our reservation at 6:30pm, we were guided upstairs to our seats, and by 7pm the place was packed. We all decided to start with one dish, even though our waitress suggested that we each get at least 2 dishes because on average people eat 2-3 dishes each. We would have started with 2 dishes, if not for the prices. 5 out of 12 people ordered the chicken tinga, and 4 people ordered the flank steak, 1 ordered the tongue and one ordered the meatballs (can’t remember the prices of all the items, and they do not have a menu online–something I hate). I asked our waitress if I could get my chicken tinga without onions, and she said “sure, no problem.” I was the only one that ordered a second dish. You see, I grew up on black bean soup, and for $9, so I figured it would be an amazing soup to charge that much for a soup made from beans; not exactly an expensive ingredient. When the dishes arrived, our first thought was that they were small plates. But they did say that they were tapas, so we could not complain about that. My soup was tiny and it had no flavor. It was so bland, that I imagined the chef throwing a can of black beans and a can of tomatoes into a blender and blending it for 2 minutes and then pouring it on to a bowl. The chicken tinga arrived with no onions on top, which was a relief. But as I looked more closely at it, the chicken was swimming in onions! How can they miss that?

I asked my friends if they were enjoying their dishes, and the consensus was that the food lacked flavor and that the portions were too small. The price simply did not warrant the quality of food we received. So when our waitress returned, we asked for the bill rather than order a second round of plates. I also felt bad for the friends who ordered a beer. $8 for a can of beer? Are you kidding me? This is not a ballpark!

                              Tiny Margarita ($12+)

Sopa Tarasca, $9

The plate was very shallow. So you really had only about 4 spoonfuls of the soup.

Chicken Tinga, $13

 Chicken Tinga with “no” onions. Right. Sure, the pickled onions were removed, but onions were also at a 50/50 ratio to the chicken!

 Chile Poblano Relleno $12

 Lengua (tongue) de res (of beef) $14

 $8 canned beer!

 Albondigas Estilo Guanjuato (meatballs) $12

 Salpicon de Res $14

 Beans with pork (can’t remember the official name and price). The pork was soggy pork fat.

But hey, at least I can now check this place off my list. Coincidentally, several of my friends remarked how they now had a new least favorite restaurant in Toronto. Yeah, it was that bad.