I haven’t fared so well with Mexican restaurants in Utah.

Almost immediately after reviewing the excellent Los 3 Amigos a few months ago, it went out of business. Before that, my other favorite Mexican restaurant in Utah Valley, Taco Riendo, went and moved locations, then shrunk its mammoth food portions, then closed its doors. It’s enough to give a guy a complex.

I was in the mood for Mexican food, and my editor suggested I review Doña Mary Mexican Grill, a relatively new Mexican restaurant in north Orem. I looked up the address and set out for lunch. That’s where things got interesting.

Pulling up to the restaurant, I became perplexed — it was the same location as the former Taco Riendo. Cosmic forces were at work that afternoon.

Walking into the restaurant, things looked exactly the same as they did before. “Maybe they just changed their name,” I thought. After ordering our food, I asked the cashier, and Doña Mary is a completely different operation, identical location and furnishings notwithstanding. Strange indeed.

My favorite Taco Riendo item was the Steak Torta — a steak sandwich, for those unfamiliar — so I decided to test my luck again. In this I was not disappointed. The steak was tender, and the thick, slightly toasted bread was perfectly buttered. Fresh tomato and avocado slices joined to the steak and bread to create a pretty awesome torta, especially once we added some sauce from the restaurant’s salsa bar. My friends preferred the avocado sauce, while I stuck with the green salsa.

Sidenote: Doña Mary’s salsa bar is not to be neglected. Our food wasn’t overly dry necessarily, but all of it tasted better when we added various sauces.

We turned the rest of our attention to some tacos and a few burritos. The tacos were pretty minimal: just the tortilla and the meat. Once again, though, a visit to the salsa bar will spruce these up just fine.

Doña Mary’s burritos were a thing of beauty. We went with the California Burrito and the Chorizo Breakfast Burrito. These burritos were pretty similar to each other — both had potatoes and cheese — but this was a good thing. The California Burrito also had steak and pico de gallo, and had a rich flavor that wasn’t overly heavy. The Breakfast Burrito threw eggs into the mix, and, had it been breakfast, would have been the perfect start to my day. The lesson learned here, of course, is that potatoes on a burrito are a divinely inspired addition. Seriously, when has a potato burrito not been delicious?

We left Doña Mary that day feeling satisfied — full, but not so full that we hated ourselves. The restaurant’s food was fresh and adequately priced (for example, it was $3-$6 for burritos). The restaurant also serves larger and more ambitious items, such as shrimp cocktails and massive platters that cost a lot more, but that will have to wait until another visit. That is, if I get another visit. The Mexican restaurants I love never seem to last. Restaurants like Doña Mary, that are on State Street, face an uphill battle for recognition. That street is a seemingly endless mess of restaurants. For their sake and mine, I hope they don’t become another ghost of Mexican restaurants past.

Doña Mary Mexican Grill

Where: 1462 N. State St., Orem

Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

Prices: Burritos $3-$6; tacos $1.50; gorditas, sopes and tortas $6; combos $8; seafood $12-$15

Info: (801) 225-5780