27 November 2017

Carbon Canyon's Cabin Eats Restaurant

The latest restaurant to operate in a spot that has had several over the years in the largely-empty Olinda Village shopping center is Cabin Eats, which opened within the last few weeks.

It's a pretty sparse interior with plastic folding chairs, basic folding tables and not much in the way of decor.  A TV sits high in the corner and there are a couple where there is outside seating.

The restaurant is advertised as being open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day and offers Mexican and American food. The menu has breakfast and lunch sections, though, for some reason, there is no separate dinner portion. 

Going there last night, our group of three had nachos, a veggie burrito with red sauce, and cheese enchiladas with mole, along with a Caesar salad.  American selections include fish and chips, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a variety of burgers and the breakfast menu will be worth a visit, as well.  Drink are sodas and water with no alcohol served.


The food was pretty good.  The salsa served with the chips was pretty tasty and had a little kick to it.  The mole was good, as well, and the others liked their selections.  

Overall, it didn't measure up to the food at Sol de México, which operated there for a number of years before the short-lived Stone's Smokehouse, which was decent, or, going further back, the excellent Las Redes (anyone remember the name of the pretty good Italian place that was there for a minute or two maybe a dozen or so years back?) but it was still enjoyable.  

The server was good at checking in to see how things were going and the chef said hello and thanked our group for stopping in, so that was nice to see.

As our group discussed, the question is how long this or any other restaurant can survive in a shopping center, built in 1964 when local centers were more sustainable, which looks older and shakier with each passing year.  There were no other patrons last night during our visit and it will take a steady, regular stream of clientele to keep the business afloat.

So, let's hope enough people give it a try and like it that Cabin Eats can get established, but the restaurant business is tough as it is and the location makes the challenge that much greater.

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