Just like in foreign diplomacy, restaurants often reach an impasse where they’re forced to decide between “supporting the troops” or “cutting and running.” Maybe this roadblock, for Johny Banana, was the retina-burning brightness of the Day-Glo interior design, or the hobo-centric neighbourhood (though kitty-cornered Rosebud is doing gangbusters), or maybe it was that awful name. Or maybe it was that stencil on the front window of a stylized capuchin in a pork-pie hat — monkeys have bupkes to do with Mexican food and, unless they’re being abused for our amusement in candy bar and cellphone commercials, they generally do not wear hats.

Whatever the problem, when Johny Banana opened last year as a sit-down restaurant, the residents of Queen and Bathurst did not greet them as liberators. So some changes were in order.

But a branding switch was not in the cards, unfortunately. Instead, the food and strategy got an overhaul. The menu now focuses on the essentials, while service is get-it-yo-damn-self. JB has been serving excellent Mexican food since opening. They’re still doing this, but they’re serving less, more often.

The soft, chewy dough of an empanada ($4.50) unassumingly leads us into the meal. The simple interior of spinach and ricotta is the perfect applicator for soaking up JB’s assortment of hot sauces. Everything comes with a side of salsa, but you’ll want a couple of extras ($0.75) to sample their range, from the easygoing, creamy avocado-lime, to the reasonable chunky Serrano, to the slap in the face of a tomato-chipotle. Only the chimichurri (sort of an Argentinean parsley pesto), oil floating atop a bland base, disappoints.

A burrito ($5.75 small, $6.95 large) is packed with a bit too much rice but it’s also jammed with a whole lot of the good stuff (chorizo, jalapeno-avocado salsa, peppers, onions, cheese). While we’re afraid to wrap our lips around it, its Siffredi-esque girth defies criticism.

Quesadillas ($7.15) always seem to be trying to get away with something — it’s like, “Look at what else I’m doing with a tortilla and cheese.” Quesadilla, you’re not getting away with anything. But with your grilled whole wheat tortilla stuffed with steak and mozzarella trafficking so much salsa into us, it’s hard not to get off on your greasy charm.

The “pork ’n’ roll” tacos ($6.95 for 3) are the one real dish in the place. Clearly a remainder of the original sit-down menu, they’re a concoction that has been chefed. Pork loin, pineapple and chipotle crew together in a very stewy, saucy way inside pliable, fresh taco shells. Unlike crispy tacos that shame us by tumbling like Jenga pieces at the first bite, the pork ’n’ roll allows us our dignity all the way until the penultimate bite when, as we grow cocky about its safe consumption, it splats all over us.

At the new Johny Banana, they’re super-serious about this non-service business. Though there are two employees at the counter and we’re the only people in the joint, when the kitchen hollers, “TABLE 11!!” we stand up and fetch our grub ourselves. The lady behind the counter, very helpful and cheery, seems genuinely occupied with stocking and cleaning. We’re not sure what the gentlemen’s excuse is. He’s fused to his laptop, spinning individual verses and hooks by Bon Jovi, Midnight Oil, Hadaway (seriously, he’s playing “What is Love?” with a straight face), Fine Young Cannibals and Ace of Base. Apparently he hasn’t heard of Much Music’s Dance Mix ’91.

Not as down-homey as El Asador, or as central for a takeout crowd as Burrito Boyz, Johny Banana comes correct with a gold finisher: chocolate azteca ($3.50). The dark, thick hot chocolate, steeped with just enough chili to pop at the back of the throat, de-sours and sweetens tummies sluggish with porkosity.

So the post-revamp food is good, and the service, well there is none. But we’d love a little more change. The name, for example, has got to go. A name or image that evokes Mexican food might aid the sales pitch. Johny Banana is a name for a circus animal, or a male prostitute, not a restaurant. And maybe lose the monkey.