If not for the fact that there’s better Mexican food a few doors down Alberta, La Bonita would be a godsend. The ladies at the counter beneath the big chalkboard are friendly, and the airy space feels easy and comfortable, even if the wooden tables and chairs feel too dark by day, empty and depressing by night. There are some nice touches on the menu: crumbly queso cotija; tacos de lengua (tongue) and properly gamy machaca (dried beef, a specialty of the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León in northeast Mexico); tripe-rich menudo and porky pozole; sweet horchata (rice milk) and tart agua de jamaica (hibiscus infusion).

But La Bonita makes too many compromises on its menu, accommodating the dumbest of dumbed-down recipes, and bringing down the level of the whole operation as a result. We’re not talking Tex-Mex—oh no, Tex-Mex is a respectable cuisine. We’ve got no problem with a good breakfast burrito or melty cheddar-cheese enchilada. No, we’re talking a different kind of dumbed-down here: Mexican food for wusses. That means veggie burritos (black beans, rice, cheese, pico de gallo, and lettuce—any Mexican peasant would be appalled), nachos, fajita-veggie tamales, or dried-out shredded beef chimichangas.

The taco al pastor, one of our litmus tests for Mexican, is just okay here; although happily unencumbered by a surfeit of pineapple—a frequent problem with al pastor—these chunks of pork come out a bit tough, and need to be helped along by lots of onions, cilantro, and healthy doses of the well-executed red and green salsas that come in squeeze bottles. You’ll find yourself relying on those squeeze bottles a lot in this restaurant, which speaks poorly of the meats but well of the salsas.

Above all, we favor breakfast at La Bonita. Skip the breakfast burrito and head straight for huevos con chorizo—that bright red, oily Mexican sausage scrambled into three eggs, the ultimate comfort food when paired with rice, beans, and warm tortillas. Or try chilaquiles, which are executed reasonably well.

“Food for the people,” waxes the menu, “as authentic as Mexican gets.” In this country, unfortunately, those are two contradictory statements. When the people want veggie-fajita tamales and wimpy, overcooked pork chunks, the great restaurant is the one that resists the tyranny of the majority.