El Nayar-- So so (last reviwed Feb 2010)

Located in downtown Catonsville, I was hoping for a better experience at the only Mexican restaurant in town but it doesn't do anything special worthy of a highly coveted "good" rating. Although the place was crowded and we were dilly-dallying while waiting for the rest of our party to join, the waiter demonstrated Ghandi like patience. They brought out frosty mugs for our BYOB and didn't seem to mind while our kids dumped drinks and other things on the floor, each other, etc. I had the 4 'especial' enchilladas and it was very well prepared, good portions and price. Also, the guac and chips were excellent which is a disqualifier if not up to par. I didn't like the atmosphere -- too barren, seating uncomfortable, not musico, cold (especially following the blizzard), and lacked anything to give it a personality. Beef up the menu and give the interior a make-over -- both easy fixes and I'll give you a good.

La Tasca - Blackball (last reviewed Jan 2010)

So it was restaurant week and we thought it would be a good idea to check out this tapas restaurant in the Light Stree Pavillion. We made reservations but painfully, the place was completely empty so I felt both silly and like bolting for the door (per my previously established critieria). Let me start with something rather obscure -- the bathroom. It was both about 80F and a boy/girl restroom. Both things confused me and it just got uglier. The waiter was very attentive (no one else there) and ordered our appetizer for us (say what) at this all you can eat but one order at a time. This authentic Spanish restaurant had a caliente unisex bathroom both no spice, in fact, rather bland food. To be fair, there were a number of tasty plates -- fried eggplant, primerib, calamari -- but the rest was forgetable and holy crap, we were in there for 2 hr. I'm thinking of blackballing the entire Light Street Pavillion based on this experience.