The Agave Grill- Langley

So today is Meg and I's 8th Wedding Anniversary. To celebrate we decided to head out for some dinner. I decided that I would find a new place that would be a surprise for Meg. Knowing that she loves some good Mexican food, and since she has been in mourning since the demise of Chicken Bob's, I searched out some Mexican strange.


http://www.urbanspoon.com/ had all good recommendations for the Agave Grill so I decided that we would give it a shot. Located at 19988-84th Ave in Langley, the atmosphere at Agave can best be described as Cactus Club or Moxies, light on the Douche. It was classy with some very comfy chairs and decent sized tables. They feature their tequila bar quite prominantly with blue light that is meant to evoke the nature of the blue agave plant. I think. You bought it right?

We went on a Wednesday night and there were only a couple other tables filled so service was great and the waitress (Ellen) was very nice. Complimentary chips and salsa are first on the menu so I won't profile them as their own dish as everyone gets them. The chips were the tri-colour ones, warmed and lightly salted but from the bag and not made on site. The salsa was a "roasted garlic" salsa that had a fairly bland flavour and required a decent amount on the chip to get any impact. No spice or heat to speak of.


Guacamole and Chips Appetizer- The presentation is interesting. Two prep-cup shaped pucks of Guac with a star shaped chip standing between them on a bed of lettuce and two lime quarters. Ok, you got my attention, bring on the tasting. To say I was dissapointed doesn't quite do it. The guac had the requisite avocado, chunked, with tomato, onion, cilantro and that was about it. There was no garlic flavour, the lime helped, but I usually toss in some red pepper flake in mine to give it a bit of heat. My overwhelming impression was all show, no go. It was just flat and tasted like something was missing. We didn't even finish it, and in the realm of fat kids, that is not a good sign. At $6, I wouldn't order this again. There were other items on the menu that looked decent.


Chicken/Vegetarian Burrito- Megan and I both went with the Burrito. I went Chicken while Meg asked about the possibility of Vegetarian. Both were a decent size burrito that came with spanish rice, guacamole, and flaggings. The burritto had a light cream sauce on top that had a mild spice to it in addition to some green onions and tomatoes. The filling on the burrito was quite good as well. A good balance of beans and filling of choice.



The chicken in mine was plentiful and had been grilled prior to assembly. I was happy to see it wasn't the dreaded bag'o'chicken breast that some restaurants use. This tasted and looked like actual chicken breast that had been grilled and then used for the burrito. Nice touch, it made the difference in the taste.

Meg's burrito was filled with beans and fajita vegetables. Nice big chunks of al dente mushrooms, onion, peppers. This gave it a big flavour and a nice texture. At $14, the portion was decent but not impressive. I didn't go away hungry, but then again that may have been due to desert...


Deep Fried Ice-Cream- At $7 this desert comes with your choice of mixed berry, caramel, or chocolate topping in addition to the whipped cream. The Ice cream is rolled in corn flakes and flash fried. The ice cream is a good base, being a better grade of ice cream than first expected. The shell is crispy, but the star of the show is the sauce in addition to the ice cream. We polished off our smallish portion pretty quickly, but were happy with the order in general.




Verdict- Overall, the Agave is a nice place and prices range from mild to "on the expensive side" (at least in our budget). The main courses were good but not impressive. Megan described the cuisine as "Camexican," or a Canadian impression of Mexican food. Kind of like a tamed down Tex-Mex fare. The flavours were good, just very understated, now that I think about it, kind of like the atmosphere.

There were not lots of vegetarian options but the staff seemed very willing to accomodate. The wine list looked decent with a good balance of local and imported wines. Meg went with the house Red which was a Domaine De Chaberton at $9 for 8oz. They had other drink specials, with the focus on their tequilas and martinis.



A special note. If you are planning to use the Agave Grill as a location to break up with someone, don't. The cutlery at this place could double as a bayonnet or at least a trench knife. The forks wern't as bad as the knives, but trust me when I say, you could do some real damage with one of those knives. Utter the words, "its not you, it's me..." and you could easily end up with a knife in your throat, Criminal Minds style.



I don't know that the Agave Grill will become a regular in our list of "go-to" establishments, but it is a good place to try if you are looking for mild mexican, or "Camexican" if you ask Meg.