EL MOLINITO

First time at this Mexican restaurant. Its so close that on a warm summer's evening we could walk to it; on the corner of Wrightstown Rd. and Pantano.

Its a really large place and has several rooms; some of the rooms are stark and too bright with no decorations at all but other rooms are filled with murals and wall hangings.

This is a mixed review because the prices were good; portions large and the food was ok. However, the bathroom was horrid; very dirty and one toilet was spewing a steady drip of water. and the service was desultory and slow (we waited about 20 minutes before our food came out; usually at Mexican restaurants the entree arrives almost as soon as you say LADA; like in enchiLADA.) and even then it wasn't all our food because our waitress said they had no ground beef to put in my chimi so i had to pick something else. which i did; chicken which was quite tasty and i have some left over for lunch too.

Also bill's order was incorrect and the beans were a lukewarm soupy swirl of beige; totally unappetizing.

However, (back to the positives), bill liked his tamales and the guacamole and as i said, my chicken was good. uh oh, another negative; the chips were cold and stale.

But we will be back maybe in 6 months.?? there are a couple more Mexican places we want to try that are close to us now that we are east-siders.!

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKNGJAY, PART 2

We loved the first movie; didn't like the 2nd one (too many endless battles); really enjoyed the 3rd one (lots of character development); and this last one was a mixed experience.

The first 2/3rds were excellent (a 9). Katniss and her team of friends including a gradually  recovering Peeta joined forces to take District 2 and then eventually the Capitol with an intended assassination of Snow. It was fast paced and the tension was incredible as they marched and hid in the city approaching the Capitol knowing there were booby traps set up in lots of places.

They had an app which would alert them to bombs and guns. And there were several especially exciting scenes having to do with molten oil and an attack by the Mutts. Oh, and then an escape through the sewer system. Really good.

But when Katniss and Gale were in the crowd of other refugees marching into the Capitol, it got very dull and slow and boring. The unification of the Districts and the overthrow of Snow were anti-climactic and by the time it happened, i just didn't care.

The dullness ratcheted up even more in the last 10 minutes when Katniss and Peeta got together again. This part resembled a Disney like Nicholas Sparks land of cotton candy.

ECLECTIC CAFE

We used to come here all the time after a hike on Mt. Lemmon during Tucson #1. then during tucson 2, our favorite waitress had retired (a clone of barbara streisand and very efficient), their prices had gone up, portion sizes down. So we quit going.

Now that the cafe is located in 'our hood', we decided to give it a try especially since i had a coupon. unfortunately, the coupon had expired which i didn't find out till we were settled in our seats.

For a little over $21 we shared a curry chicken salad with cucumbers, avocado, berries and "Wilcox tomatoes" (really Safeway). It was  flavorful and we got a side of their russian dressing which was just perfectly seasoned and also a side of creamy dill which was also quite good. The portion of chicken salad was fairly small.

The salad came with 2 rolls which were a tad doughy but fresh. We also shared a  slice of quiche lorraine which we enjoyed.

We were certainly satisfied after our dinner but we wouldn't make this restaurant a regular part of our dining circle.