| By Katie Venit
A & E Assistant Editor
Tired of the Pit, driven by hunger and inspired by the ad for a restaurant reviewer in last week's Old Gold and Black, I dragged my friends to Cozumel Mexican Restaurant, where, rumor has it, they serve large margaritas and don't card (they did this time).
Even though we didn't get the tasty beverages, we did get some excellent Mexican food.
I have no complaints about the food or the prices. My Pollo Fundido was so delicious and my dining companions said their food was excellent as well.
I've never had flan, so I decided to try some. A couple of my friends tried to dissuade me, saying it was like slimy, eggy, jiggly custard. I've never had custard, so I thought, what the hey. For all the other flan virgins out there, I highly recommend it.
The prices were also savory. Almost everything on the menu, including over 20 combination dishes that are ordered by number, was under $6.
My Pollo Fundido was a little more pricey, topped off at a whopping $6.95, and the flan was another buck and a quarter.
A fairly wide selection of entrees kept me from feeling confined to the standard there's-nothing-here-I-want, how-about-a-salad approach so often employed at the Pit. In fact, with the great food and cozy prices, it was better than the best night at our favorite on-campus dining hall.
Unfortunately, the service was only marginally better than the Pit. Some of the waiters working there speak with very heavy accents that make them hard to understand over the loud Latino music, and apparently orders occationally get confused.
Our waiter was not too bad, despite a couple of mix-ups. Two of my friends ordered the same thing, one of the combos with an enchilada, lettuce, tomatoes and a special sauce. Only one of them actually got what she ordered. The other got two burritos that were covered in what looked like bad chocolate sauce but tasted like bad plum sauce.
Another of my friends ordered a different combo, this one with a chicken burrito, quesadillas, the works. He got a single beef burrito. Both sent their meals back and, after much gesturing and loud slow English, they were happily brought the right dishes.
The next service complaint is a bit humorous. There is a certain busboy who works there who can't be any more than 16-years-old. He apparently thinks that there are no Americans who can understand Spanish. I'm only in Spanish 113, but that was more than sufficient to understand words like "novia mia" (my girlfriend), "rubia" (blond girl) and "bonita" (pretty). The rest of it was too fast to make out, but winks and nods are universal, and I assume it was along the same lines.
His flirting only got frustrating once when I had to let myself be tricked into agreeing to be his novia in order to have my water refilled, a valid threat in a Mexican restaurant.
This is apparently not an isolated incident. I've spoken to many people who've been to Cozumel and they also discussed the flirtatious busboy.
For anyone who does not mind having to work a little bit for food, Cozumel is a tasty place to go, and I'd go again in a heartbeat. However, next time I'll bring my Spanish-English dictionary and a hat to cover my blond hair.
Cozumel is only about 10 minutes away at 1540 S. Stratford Road. It's a nice place to soothe a sore wallet and sore stomach of the Pit's unique cuisine.
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