Restaurant Reivew
Pepper's on the Plaza
Peppers on the Plaza is a popular dining choice in Old Mesilla, a small historic village located just a few miles south of Las Cruces. The location in Mesilla is convenient to to many shops, art galleries, and other tourist attractions. While the food is just mediocre, the beautiful outdoor setting still makes it a hit with tourists.
Food
The menu at Peppers is quite diverse with various Mexican and American dishes to choose amongst. Whether you are in the mood for a healthy salad, a burger, fajitas, or even a curry, you will find it all on the Pepper's menu. Pepper's is most known for being home to the World’s Largest Green Chile Cheeseburger, an enormous 1 pound burger with a whopping $29 price tag.
We went with the Vegetable Coconut Curry and a Fried Chicken plate served with mashed potatoes. The curry was incredibly dried out and over spiced, just not very good at all. The Chicken was just okay and the mashed potatoes were a bit too chunky. Basically, the food was edible, but not very appetizing. The complimentary chips and salsa were the worst - the salsa was horribly flavored and the chips so hard they felt as if they could break your teeth.
Not sure what type of restaurant Peppers is trying to be as they serve a bit of everything, although Mexican food makes up the majority of the menu and chips and salsa are given as the appetizer. Perhaps Peppers should just go with a full on Mexican instead of offering such a weird assortment of food. Typically restaurants which specialize in one type of cuisine offer the highest quality food. However, those traveling with picky eaters will probably enjoy the varied menu choices.
Pricing is about average and entrees sizes are fair for the price.
Service
Service was pretty decent at Pepper's. The food took quite a long time, however, our waitress was attentive and friendly.
Atmosphere
The highlight of Pepper's is the nice covered patio, which obviously is a must if you plan on dining outside during New Mexico's brutally hot and sunny summer season. The patio seating offers a casual relaxed setting with lots of tropical trees, thereby making it feel like an oasis in the desert.
Final Remarks
While Pepper's food is just average at best, the nice setting makes it worthy of a visit if you are looking more for a nice dining experience over a 5 star meal. Las Cruces does not have a lot in the way of spectacular dining anyways, so you may as well visit the touristy restaurants with the better atmosphere.
