Merida's New Terra Restaurant

The Casual Restaurant Critic
You might agree or disagree with my opinions, but that's life, isn't it? And no, I get no commissions or kickbacks from any of the places favorably reviewed - I do this entirely for my own amusement and your information.

As of this moment, the Critic will present these reviews with the following classification scale:

horrendous, don't bother, not worth the price, time and/or calories

not really good, but has the occasional saving grace

average, some good points some bad, nothing special

good, only a few nitpicking details

really good, great food, great ambiance for what it is supposed to be, great

service and appropriate concept (everything gels, from silverware to furniture to

music to decoration etc.)

Terra
T H A T N E W P L A C E I N S A N F E R N A N D O

So many choices! Merida is growing up and new places to eat are sprouting up all over the place like mushrooms on - no, no, that's a bad analogy.

One of these new restaurants, along with La Mancha, that new place on Montejo owned by the Graps people, that new Taco Times bar next to Wendys and the Gran Plaza, etc. etc. etc., is TERRA, which is located in San Fernando behind the attractive blue and yellow Danesa ice cream place and that car lot where there is a huge electronic billboard which, among other things, announces the exact time only with a one hour difference. You can see this sign from the restaurant window so it makes a great conversation piece should things get boring. If you are visiting Merida and want to find TERRA, ask for directions to the old Relaciones Exteriores building or the most famous photocopy place of all time, Enrique Cantillo's CopyCoh. It's around there.

Back to the restaurant. Here, you have the opposite of the Critics' review of La Mancha earlier... in a nutshell, good food but not much in the way of art. There was, at the time of the Casual Critic's visit, some art downstairs but more bare walls and empty easels than anything. Maybe they were between showings or had just sold all the paintings, but it doesn't look great, especially since this is your first view of the place. Up the stairs you go and are seated in a what is a small space, about 10-12 tables, the perfect size for a restaurant in the Critic's humble opinion.

Among the items ordered were: the rib eye steak, lamb chops Indian style and a salmon dish. As an appetizer; mezze, three dips and some pan arabe or pita bread which could have been a little fresher. The plates were very attractively and sparsely prepared a la nouvelle cuisine and quite tasty, although the lamb chops weren't really as wonderful as the descriptive menu might suggest. Some confusion also presented itself in the form of the definition of termino ingles or blue rare, at least with the waiter who by the way seemed a little shy and had a hard time getting into the spirit.

It's important in a restaurant of this type and size that the owner, if he or she is on the premises, visits a few tables and chats with the guests especially when one is opening but there was no such person evident. A large Canadian flag hangs in the kitchen, so one can assume that the owner is Canadian and/or at least a fan of all things Canadian.

All in all the food is good but the rest of the concept lacks definition: this, however, is probably due to the fact that the place is new and these things will be smoothed out eventually. The Critic thinks that perhaps a few months down the road, another visit will be in order, to see what has evolved.

Casual Restaurant Critic Rating: 3