Gloria's - 3309 Esperanza Xing, Austin, TX 78758

I'm sorry, but no.  Gloria's didn't do it for me.  At all.  I went with a group for lunch.  The service we got, despite our group being big, was quite good, but the food was terrible.

I was excited to try the black bean dip and the salsa, but my excitement quickly faded when I discovered how bland and overpoweringly tomatoey the salsa was.  I think they could have employed some different flavors in there if they'd tried, but they didn't.  The black bean dip was better, but it was by no stretch great.  I was hoping this stuff would set my mouth afire, to no avail.

For lunch, I got the Tostada Dinner.  It had ground beef, refried bean paste, queso fresco (the crumbly white cheese), lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.  Each of these tostadas was built as if I had a mouth that would open to the height of the Sears Tower.  But it didn't much matter, as almost every single topping fell off of each of my tostadas as I initially picked them up.  Way to go, guys.  This is why you shouldn't over-shovel the toppings onto the tostada shell, unless you're going to give me another shell on top to anchor everything.  Bah!

I couldn't taste the queso fresco at all (this was after I lumped everything back onto my tostada shell via fork).  I think shredded cheddar, or pepper jack, would have been better.  And the lettuce?  It was Romaine.  I like Romaine lettuce, but I think it really stifles Mexican food.  And, well, there was just too much of it [see earlier rant about my tostadas falling apart].  I tried removing the Romaine again, so I could actually taste the meat, beans, etc, but then everything else fell off the shell again.  This was a Laurel and Hardy bit in the making, folks.  I finally just ate the meat and beans on each shell and called it quits.  Those ingredients tasted just fine, but I honestly couldn't tell they were actually on there until I removed most of the lettuce.

Oh, and our lunch menu had my meal priced at $10.99, yet the online lunch menu I just eyed has it priced at $7.99.  WTF?  Is this a special screw-Austin lunch menu?

Never again.  G-L-O-R-I---NAY!