I went on-line to get directions and preview the menu to El Mariachi. I was delighted to see they had a coupon tab and offered $5 off $18 or more excluding alcohol tax, gratuity. After printing the coupon, my joy turned to disappointment when I was able to read the small print - Expires 3/31/14. Oh well, they have not updated their website as today is 8/4/14. So off we went, sans coupon.
We arrived around 7 PM on a Monday evening. The restaurant has a small bar with stools near the rear and booths flanking the walls with tables in the middle. A center divider provides more space for booths and a better layout. Not seeing a hostess we just sat in a booth as the restaurant was virtually empty. There was only one other booth occupied by patrons. Within a couple of minutes we were presented with menus and our drink orders taken. I had a Negro Modelo and my friend a Bud Light, both on draught. They were 16 oz and quite reasonable - under two dollars each.
They then brought a basket of warm tortilla chips along with red and green salsa. The chips were some of the best I have had. Not too salty and obviously very fresh. The green salsa was pretty darn hot. On a Buffalo Wild Wings scale it would rate about around third from the hottest. Still, very tasty as was the red salsa that was mild.
My friend ordered the Carne Asada and I the Chicken Milanese. The Carne Asada came with rice, beans and grilled peppers. On my dish, rice, beans and a salad were included. I asked if they had black beans instead of refried. The girl said no, so I said refried would be fine. When the meal came, there were no beans but fries instead along with a portion of ketchup. That was fine with me as the milanese is a breaded chicken breast that is beat thin and lightly breaded. It resembles a schnitzel and goes well with fries. The salad was only shredded lettuce and radishes. No dressing to be concerned about. The rice was good and tasty. Both meals came with corn or flour tortillas. We both chose corn and they were fresh and plentiful.
Service was good, attentive but not intrusive. I noticed that the only condiments on the table were salt and pepper. All the hot sauces were on a stand near the rear. Possibly due to loss prevention? The decorations were pretty nice and the walls had painted scenes of attractive women hand rolling tortillas. Or at least that’s the only one I noticed. Three wide screens near the ceiling were all tuned to Univision or something similar.
Prices were reasonable. Dinner for two with drinks was $28 and change, $35 including the tip.
After dinner we poked around in the grocery store. They were out of tamales, but had some fresh tortillas. Lots of interesting products and I finally found a source for banana leaves. Now I can again cook Robert Rodriguez’s Puerco Pibil recipe from “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”.
