Ole! Gourmet Mexican - Chiang Mai : Different but nice

This is restaurant number 5 out of 14 or so (one of the ones I tried to attend doesn't exist anymore) as I attempt to try every single place that serves Mexican or Tex-Mex in the entire city of Chiang Mai. So far there have been some real duds and a couple of winners.

I would rate Ole! as one of the better ones.

It is located in such a strange location that I was actually convinced at one point that the google maps must be wrong (which is frequently is here) but no, it is just located quite far down a quiet road. Normally this is actually a good sign that you have found something special.

As always, i went into this place completely blind: I read no reviews nor did I know anything about their menu other than the fact that it contained Mexican food.

sweet Mexican replica artwork... just kidding, it's Japanese

The ambiance is great in this part of the city. It is on a very quiet back-street which is always welcome after the hustle and bustle of the main roads. The furniture is just a collection of whatever they happened to have and that is just fine with me as it normally means the lack of a theme keeps the kitchen in order and also helps to reduce menu prices.

Their menu focuses on catering to vegetarians and vegans, but they do have a few meat items and I ordered the "free-range pork."

The taco plate is served "deconstructed," which means you simply have to put them together yourself. Everything was very fresh and I was particularly pleased with the salsa and guacamole.

I tend to load mine up with a little bit of everything that is on the plate except the rice. I know that this is customary in Mexican and Tex-Mex foods but I am not a fan of having rice on my tacos for some reason (doesn't that make it a burrito if you do that.... i dunno.) I was thoroughly pleased with everything on the plate and I ate it all. The tortillas were clearly home-made and they were soft and wonderful.

done! and i didn't even make that big of a mess

Overall, i would rate Ole as a wonderful experience. The staff were friendly, the location is serene, the food came fast (but not too fast, which normally indicates they microwaved it) and the price, although a bit more than some of the other places, were very fair.

My only criticism of this place would be that it was (intentionally) very dark. I actually had difficulty reading the menu due to the lack of light, natural or otherwise.

I would recommend this place to anyone who wants a relatively authentic experience, especially if you are vegan or vegetarian since a vast majority of their menu caters to this demographic.

location and other information