The Orioles have rolled out several new eatery options at Camden Yards for the 2015 and as Baltimore’s resident fat person, I feel compelled to try all the new offerings at the park and share my opinions. Along with my cohort, Jess Goughnour, we shall be sampling all the best that Camden Yards offers throughout the season.
This week I got my first taste of the new taco stand, located in the concourse area on the first base side, Olé Molé (a pretty straightforward wordplay on “Holy Moly”).
As the sign on the stand asserts, they do, in fact, have tacos, nachos, churros and cerveza. They offer such fine (sarcasm) “Mexican” cervezas such as Corona (in a can?) and Modelo (on draft).
The very first thing I want to mention here is the line. Because this stand is new for the 2015 season, expect a decent line, especially early in the season. I waited at least 20 minutes before even being able to actually place my order.
I decided to buy three tacos, all carnitas (I mean, why WOULDN’T Carne get carnitas??), a Corona (again, in a can), and an order of churros (is churros plural or singular? Do you get one churro?). My total bill came to $23.
They asked my name, wrote it on a paper tray and handed me the Corona. From there I joined the other handful of customers waiting for their food to be prepared. We waited. And waited. I put my order in at 7:42. At 8:05, I still hadn’t received my taco goodness. I am no expert in food service, but 20+ minutes for three tacos seems a little excessive. I wasn’t the only one who felt the pain as the rest of the crowd shared similar gripes. Apparently they were stacking the trays on top of each other, and pulling/making the tacos from the top of the pile, instead of the bottom. Great.
Finally, at 8:09, my order was handed to me, sans churros! What!? Seriously?
Ok people, let’s have a little side talk. If you have ever had the pleasure (great pleasure, I might add) of meeting me, you would know that first of all, I am pleasant. I try not to say bad things about anyone. Generally, I have a calm demeanor and usually keep a smile on my face. Also, you know I am big. The one thing you probably do not want to do is keep food away from a fat guy. It took all the strength I had, not to yell and scream, but I managed. I politely reminded them that they forgot my churros. Guess what? They didn’t have any churros ready. 5 more minutes. Sigh. By the time my entire order was ready, I was starving!
Despite waiting more than a half hour, I do have to say the tacos themselves were actually pretty tasty. They offered free salsa, sour cream and guacamole, which was nice. The sauce and the carnitas were absolutely delicious together. The soft, flour tortillas weren’t stale, which I was almost expecting to be the case, considering how long it took me to get the order! As far as the tacos are concerned, it’s probably one of the best meals you can get, taste-wise, at Camden Yards.
The churros, however, are a completely different story. They were warm, but tasted stale, which begs the question, “WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY DOING TO THOSE CHURROS!!?” I ate them anyway. They were, at the very least, covered in sugar. I guess that makes up for it.
At the end of the day, if you were to ask me, “Were they worth it?” From a purely financial aspect, they are expensive, but they are definitely worth it, especially for ballpark food. From a wait time aspect, no probably not.
I give the whole experience only 2 meaty heads out of 5.
What they had in taste, they lacked in service. I wouldn’t recommend this stand until the novelty wears off and the line wanes. Maybe later in the season, when the staff gets used to the crowds I could re-visit Olé Molé and give them more stars. There is definitely promise.
