Having just moved to the area, we feel fortunate to have a large selection of independent restaurants. Coming from western Minnesota/Eastern North Dakota, it is refreshing to have alternatives to the vast amount of chain restaurants that seem to dot every corner in the Fargo-Moorhead region.
Our first review is a Mexican Restaurant that my wife had heard good comments about. El Loro appears to be a small chain of authentic mexican restaurants around the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. I only say appears because I can't really find any true link to the various El Loro restaurants, so I don't want to assume that they are all the same.
It was late on a Friday night and our party was not very large (only four of us) so we chose the Burnsville location because it was the closest to our home. The restaurant appears to be small and the parking lot was full, but in reality the restaurant has plenty of seating. Although the parking lot was indeed packed, we were seated immediately and were brought the standard chips and salsa.
The chips and salsa were nice, but there was a third bowl of white sauce that I can only describe as a "sweet mayonnaise". Everyone at the table tried the white sauce and the reaction was the same from everyone (ewww).
Our waitress came and we ordered drinks and promptly delivered the drinks, understandably because a few party members still were scanning the large menu. We waited some time after that until my father flagged down another server to retrieve our waitress and take our orders.
We ordered the large Shrimp Cocktail, Enchiladas Poblanas, Yolandas and La Superior. The shrimp cocktail was brought to the table almost immediately.
Andrew Sr. ordered the Shrimp Cocktail which was a nice mix of shrimp, avocado, cilantro, cocktail sauce, herbs and spices and garnished with a lime.
A short time later the rest of the meals arrived.
The Yolandas consists of three chicken enchiladas, topped with ranchero sauce and served with a guacamole salad and a large portion of mexican rice. The enchiladas and rice were good, but were missing something that made the special. Kobe was the one that ordered this and he did not eat the somewhat dry rice, but that is Kobe.
Pauline ordered the Enchiladas Poblanas. The meal is described as two chicken enchiladas topped with brown mole sauce, sliced onions & grated cheese and served with rice and tossed salad. The brown mole sauce tasted authentic and was probably made fresh, but was a little overpowering with the chocolate. The rice was a tad dry and the tossed salad was more of a garnishment then a salad.
The La Superior had a burrito, a chile relleno and a chalupa. The burrito was simple ground beef filling in a flour tortilla with a nice red sauce poured over it. The chile relleno was made with a nice tasting large chili, but had little batter and a large piece of stem which made a few bites awkward. The cheese sauce with the chile relleno was fair, but nothing special. The chalupa was disappointing. After cutting it, I realized it was made with just a corn tortilla and was more of a tostada then chalupa. What was even more discouraging was the fact that the chalupa was cold and soggy instead of warm and crisp.
One item on three of the plates that was excellent was the guacamole. It tasted fresh and had just the right amount of spices, but not too much spice (I need to learn that less is more with good guacamole when I make it).
Overall the meal was good, but the meal overall did nothing really to stand out. The service was fast but the vibe was not friendly. The restaurant was clean and had plenty of seating and was very busy even for our late meal at 8:30 pm. We would eat here again with others, but it won't be a restaurant that we go out to as a dining favorite.
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