Mixed feelings over Frio Mixx

Before my colleagues and I watched World Trade Center the other day, and after the usual laborious deliberation of where to eat, we settled for this concealed place in the mall called Frio Mixx. I know the place serves fastfood food, but I still cannot dissociate the name to a candy store. 'Sounds like one, doesn't it? It was suggested by one of my officemates who said that another officemate (who wasn't with us, and has a shrewd taste for almost everything) has tried eating at the place, and it was masarap.

The menu didn't look as welcoming as my beloved Jollibee's but I gave Frio the benefit of the doubt still, discarding the thought of judging the book by its cover. I picked a bolognese topped pasta combo'd with a chicken sandwich, chicken, and iced tea.

First to arrive was my iced tea, which surprisingly gave me that honey-lemon fresh taste (no, not like Halls candy!) only found in those special iced tea booths. I was somehow expecting the usual powdered iced tea served as bottomless drinks in most restos. I assumed that if they cared about the beverage, they should care all the more for their main course. Then came our meal after a few minutes. To start with, the cashier didn't seem to hear my request for a thigh part as I got a wing part. I didn't bother as I was hungry, and I could settle for a wing next to a thigh. What added to my disappointment was the spring-chicken like size of the wings we got. It’s only saving grace was its taste. But it too was a failure with the dry and tough meat. The chicken sandwich was fine, I guess. A chicken sandwich is a chicken sandwich. Now with the pasta. I want my tomato-based pasta to give me a whiff of fine herbs as soon as it’s laid down on my table. I got none of those, sadly. And if my olfactory nerves don’t get any of those, then most probably my taste buds won’t get anything better either.

After the meal, one friend commented that their plate was too big for the servings they gave, and I do agree. The size of the plate looked as if it could eat my food, and it had already eaten one-third of my food before it was placed in front of me. I have at least two personal standards when eating out, especially if the meal costs me an arm and a leg: 1) it should taste good or 2) it should be filling, and better if it satisfies both. And best if I get it at an inexpensive treat. I would consider the absence of those two minimum requirements next to thievery, and discredits one the right to go into the food business.

Now, doesn’t Frio Mixx sound more like a lemonade stall?