Apparently La Playa Cancun used to be in Danville before it moved to the end of the strip of businesses on the edge of Bloomsburg on Route 11. Currently Danville has another Mexican restaurant that I'll get into in another review, but if history has anything to say about it, Danville seems to have a history of gaining and then losing Mexican restaurants.
It's Bloomsburg's gain. La Playa Cancun sits in a mini-mall strip next to a Loan Agency and a Rite Aid, and almost every time I've eaten there, it's not been exactly stuffed with clientele. In fact, there have been times where my wife and I have been the only two people in the restaurant.
Except this past Friday, that is. We were looking for a place to go on Valentine's Day, and wouldn't you know it, every restaurant was absolutely packed with people. We thought that we would drive to La Playa Cancun, because usually we've had no wait to get seated. This time, however, we would wait a loooooooong time.
It's not La Playa Cancun's fault that it happened to be the night where most couples go out to share in a nice meal. However, there were tables there that sat empty, and people weren't being seated at them. I though that maybe they were reserved, because the person at the front desk kept asking for reservations- but then I watched for the rest of the night, and THEY NEVER SAT ANYONE AT THESE TABLES.
At one point, a lady came up to the counter, visibly angry, and complained that they sat there a whole hour and still had not received their food. They apologized and explained that they were busy. I'm sorry, but an hour? Even a busy night is no excuse for that amount of time.
Okay, let me stop ranting about waiting. Part of that is my issue because, as my wife would tell you, waiting in line is not something I'm very good at. I get antsy. I make snide remarks. I do things to ease my frustration, such as turning all of the business cards backwards on the display on the front counter, and make sculptures with the toothpicks and peppermints that sat there.
La Playa Cancun usually boasts great food. I have had fajitas, an assortment of burritos, and seafood dishes, and they have all been 1.) quickly prepared and 2.) full of great Mexican flavor. La Playa Cancun is a pretty "by the numbers" Mexican restaurant, especially compared to La Casita de la Familia in Shenandoah, but they do "by the numbers" pretty well. They are always willing to refill your chips and salsa (their salsa is pretty good, too), and I have yet to have a subpar meal.
I can't say that my meal on Friday night was "subpar". I can say that there were little things that were "off" about it. I had the Burrito Texano, which was a steak burrito that had rice and beans mixed inside with a red sauce poured over the top. By the way, we did end up waiting about 45 minutes for our food to be served.
My steak was very, very tough. I tried "bringing it back to life" with the red sauce, but that didn't work very well. It was like eating a beef jerky burrito, which isn't bad because I like beef jerky, but that's also obviously not what they were going for.
My wife had the El Burro Chocho, which is a chicken burrito topped with a ranchero cheese sauce. She has had this dish practically every time we've eaten here, and again, it was a bit "off". The chicken was extremely well done, while it has usually been perfectly tender and juicy. The cheese sauce was dried on the top of the burrito, as if the whole thing had been cooked too long.
We've never eaten here before when the place has been crowded. Usually I've enjoyed what I've had, but on this night, I found myself disappointed. I will say this- if you have a pretty good menu, as I feel La Playa Cancun does, you need to be able to show it off on a night when you know your business is going to be more than the usual.
I would recommend that you would go there anytime BUT dinnertime on a Friday night. You'll have good food if you go on the off hours. They will take care of you, be concerned that you are enjoying your meal, and be willing to go the extra mile for you. On Friday night, it will all of a sudden turn into an experience where you are left waiting for your food for a while, and then when it does come, you'll be fairly disappointed.
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