First Impression

John: Somebody, somewhere, over the last decade, decided that if you decorate your restaurant with a sombrero, play some salsa music and serve tacos, then you’re a Mexican restaurant. Most of the time you’ll open up the menu at these cookie cutter Mexican restaurants and see a bunch of numbers, you know, number one is the taco and enchilada while number two is the enchilada and chalupa with the option of the bean burrito. Well, Cans has decided to do something different. As a matter of fact, the minute I pulled into the parking lot and saw a car that looked like it had been vandalized by Jimmy Buffet fans (painted bright colors, kind of ugly scheme), I knew I was in for a good time. The first thing I did when I sat down was look at the menu. When I opened it, I told myself, ‘if I see one number on this menu I am giving them a big fat D for first impression.’ Well, no numbers, plus, our server Ari had good Spanish enunciation which, like getting the middle square in tic-tac-toe, can never be overestimated.

Copsey: I’ll say this first: I’m not a big fan of Mexican restaurants. Like John said, they tend to be too similar to really care about. That said, when I first walked into Cans (a full 20 minutes before John. Again) I was impressed. It had a Western theme (maybe a Mexican theme?) without hitting you over the head with it. High ceilings, some knickknacks on the walls and a great patio gave this place a good feel to it.

John: A
Copsey: A

Appetizers

John: I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news: if there is a worldwide octopus shortage anytime soon, I feel our table will have to take some blame. The good news: The reason for the octopus shortage will be because the calamari was so good, I’m going to tell you and everyone you know to order it. And then, I want you to tell ten friends and those ten friends to tell ten friends. By next Friday, I want 7,000 people to have tasted this stuff. How glorious was the calamari? There were whole tiny octopi fried in our calamari. There were limes and jalapenos fried in our calamari. As a matter of fact, every time I reached in the dish, I thought I was going to pull a different type of food out. The calamari dipping sauce was a little too mayonnaise-y, so you may not like that. The crazy thing is that our second appetizer, nachos, was twice as good as the calamari. Copsey, please tell everyone how nachos could possibly be so tasty and please also mention that the resident nacho connoisseur at the table said, “These are the best nachos I have ever had.”

Copsey: I can’t deny it. Cans must know some hidden secret about making a plate of nachos. We had it with chicken which was covered in cheese and something called “guacapico.” I don’t know what that is but it’s obviously good. So good that the huge plate was pretty much empty when Ari came back. We wanted to save some to take home, but that didn’t happen because we just kept nibbling at it.

John: A
Copsey: A-

Entrées

John: The main course was a smorgasbord of Mexican offerings. We ordered the Carne Asada Taco, the Puerco Quesadilla, the Pescado entrée and the Cubana. For those of you that failed Spanish 101, that’s a steak taco, a quesadilla filled with pulled pork, a sautéed fish and a Cuban sandwich. The best dish on the table was the Cuban and it actually makes me kind of mad thinking about what other culinary delicacies those communists are hiding on their island. The Cubana is roasted pork, ham and jalapeno cheese pressed onto a Kaiser type bun. It’s served with some freshly cut avocado on the side and its tough to put down. If you’ve ever had a Cuban, you’ll love this sandwich. If you haven’t, you just need to know that all the flavors mix together nicely thanks to the fact that the sandwich is pressed. The pork quesadillas were filled from end to end with meat. The steak taco was served in a tortilla that has a ‘masa’ taste to it. (Masa is Mexican corn meal, we can thank my mom that I know that.) Also, the taco was served with salsa and if you put the salsa in the taco, the shell became soft and fell apart. It really was quite the conundrum. All of the entrées were tasty, but none of them blew me away like the appetizers.

Copsey: I disagree that the Cubana was the best! I thoroughly enjoyed my pork quesadillas, which came with onions and a Mexican liquid-y cheese. These things were delicious to the point that I actually forbade John to eat any after the first couple bites. Maybe that’s why he likes the Cuban so much – he’s obviously a closet Communist intent on redistributing the world’s quesadillas.

John: B
Copsey: A-

Desserts

John: I have to be very upfront about this. The desserts are unique. No one in Atlanta has the desserts that Cans offers. First, you can go for the Mexican popsicles and no, you don’t have to be 8-years-old to enjoy them. They come in many tasty flavors (think Pina Colada), but there was one flavor that piqued our interest, sweet chili. Yes, this means we ordered a chili flavored popsicle. And yes, it sounded gross to us too. However, after one bite, I found myself saying, “If watermelons were spicy, this is what they would taste like.” I like spicy foods and I like watermelons, little did I know that I like them together. Second up was the Kahlua flan. This was another dessert with an interesting taste. Copsey, tell the people why they should or should not order this. And let me remind you, these desserts are as polarizing as an Adam Sandler film, you’re either going to love it or hate it.

Copsey: I love crème brulee. It must be one of my most favorite desserts (or snacks, or meals, whatever). But in the end, it’s a flan with hot sugar on top. The Kahlua flan was a crème brulee without the sugar. With Kahlua. I think that more than makes up for the sugar, don’t you think? It was sweet and the mixture of the two certainly made for a delectable dessert that disappeared way too quickly. I guess that means it was a hit?

John: A (I loved them)
Copsey: A (ditto)

Final Impression

John: One of the restaurant’s proprietors, Alex, mentioned that he was going for a South Beach type feeling. Well, after spending New Year’s Eve in South Beach, I can say this is the closest any Mexican restaurant in the area has come to harnessing that feeling. Now there’s no thong bikinis (like South Beach) but there is a huge patio outside. If you’re worried about it getting hot out there, the giant Arctic mist spraying fan should calm those fears. Also, I should point out that while we were there I tried counting all of the tequilas and to make things more interesting, I counted in Spanish. I can only count to 49 in Spanish and I did that twice, so there are at least 98 tequilas. Oh and here’s some advice, don’t try all of them in the same night.

Copsey: This place is really great, on that John and I can agree. However, we’re both 20-something, which must be in the target age group for this place. There are a couple of signs pointing out that children aren’t allowed on the patio after 5 p.m. I’d agree with this. Cans is an adult restaurant, for people to go without the threat of falling over kids or having to drive them home. Chances are you’ll be stumbling back to bed.

John: A-
Copsey: A