Cenote

After finishing our closing show for Paper St Theatre's Christmas show, we went out for drinks to celebrate - which of course means nachos!

We went to Cenote, a fairly new place in Victoria right downtown below Lyle's place. Very funky, great art on the walls and very friendly service (they even turned down the speaker that was blasting music too loud for us to converse).

Here are the nachos (half-order $11.95) as they arrived:

The cheese coverage looked great when they arrived, but we quickly discovered that it was only one layer - meaning half the chips were left without cheese. The cheese was an aged cheddar, and fairly melted, but could have been cooked longer. The toppings included fresh tomatoes, olives, hot peppers and the kicker: fresh basil!

The salsa was also fresh and finely chopped making it very easy to scoop. Although, I would have preferred if the salsa and sour cream had been served in a separate dish.

The basil and fresh salsa were a plus, but in the end, it's really cheese per chip that makes nachos the delicious snack that they are.

I'm going to have to give Cenote's dish 3/6.

Side note - my partner got the vegan chili, which came with chips at half the price and were the hit of the table. If I went again, I'd go with the chili over the nachos.

Fernwood Inn

Fernwood is one of the funkiest neighbourhoods in town - it even has a sign in the square to slow for bubbles. And what's a neighbourhood without a pub?

The Fernwood Inn was restored from the George and Dragon in 2007 and has been a vibrant spot ever since. We went to see A Christmas Carol at the Belfry Theatre, and decided to grab drinks and eats after the show.

I ordered a half order of nachos (always a plus!) and here's what they looked like when they arrived:

The presentation was great, true pub style with the checkered wax paper and the dips on a clean square side plate. The serving was appropriate, with a large helping of tri-coloured chips. There was a definite southwestern flavour to the nachos, with a taco spice sprinkled on top and lots of corn.

However, the meal itself left a lot to be desired.

The cheese was not melted all the way though, the chips were very oily -  so oily they soaked the paper right through. The toppings were mainly corn and tomatoes, lacking any hot peppers (and I don't really like corn). The salsa was in a dippable dish, but not saucy enough to scoop without making a mess.

The cheese was piled on thick, but as it wasn't cooked enough, I didn't even want to finish the serving. I expected better from the Fernwood.

I'd give these nachos 2/6.