Pajarito Edina — Restaurant in Edina

Absolutely phenomenal! My wife and I stopped by Pajarito for lunch while we were in the Twin Cities for the Renaissance Festival. We'd had our one "big" meal out the night before at a fancy steakhouse and were looking for something a bit more budget-friendly but unique. The meal we had at Pajarito was, dish-for-dish, even better than what we'd had at the steakhouse the night before! And the whole meal at Pajarito (3 entrees and an appetizer to share) came to less than the TIP at the steakhouse! We even planned to come back the next day for dinner, but were too full after indulging in Ren Fest fare to enjoy another sumptuous Pajarito meal. We opted instead to wait until the next day and head their way for lunch. ALAS! WOE IS ME! They aren't open for lunch on weekdays. o_o Be warned. It's soooooo stinkin' good. But it's also limited in availability.

We ordered:

Guacamole & chips - guac was served as a seasoned lime and avocado mash with onions, cilantro, and jalapeno slices arranged decoratively atop and around the mash. They also included slices of fresh radish which is an incredible option for a low-or-no-carb diet to get some guac in their mouth hole. It allowed me to target the jalapenos and my heat-sensitive wife to avoid them. Beautiful and delicious!

Shrimp tacos - delicious, perfectly seasoned, nothing specific to add here, really.

Chilaquiles - duuuuuude, this was SO SO good. The fried egg on top was absolutely perfect and added a sumptuous richness to the sauce. The chicken was moist and flavorful, the homemade chips even held some of their crunch and integrity until the dish sat for a while. The crema, the cheese, the sauce, the egg, everything paired perfectly. Comfort food extraordinaire.

Elotes - served off-the-cob in a bowl, in spite of being a side, this was the #1 dish on the table. Heavenly and perfectly seasoned and balanced. And so much more accessible for sharing than the on-the-cob version. We figure we got 3-4 cobs worth of corn in the bowl we were served.

Pork ribs - these were great, but came out last of the dishes we ordered and we were both so stuffed by that point we hardly even touched them. Whoops! I had them for lunch a few days later and was debating whether the ribs themselves were smoked and then sauced or if the sauce itself was smoky. I'm not 100% sure because of the nature of the sauce, but I suspect they were smoked due to the bark that formed on the outside of the ribs. Either way, that smoky flavor endured. They are savory, not sweet, but the sauce is not at all overpowering and I very much enjoyed them even reheated days later.

The Hidden MVP: Salt - I didn't ask for specifics, but I think they use a coarse ground sea salt mixed with maybe 10 parts salt to 1 part what I could only guess was a chipotle-infused salt (it was spicy and smoky and a dark red color) which added a delightful pop of smoky salty spice to everything.

This meal was the culinary highlight of our trip at 1/6 the price of our tasty but not mind-blowing fine dining experience. We'll be back. You can...

My wife and I was looking for a good Brunch in Edina. Every Saturday we spend quality time together away from the warehouse. We have been lucky lately finding great places to eat in Minnesota. We stumbled across Pajarito with our grandson. You've probably seen this little foody in some of our other photos.

It's like this. I love simple focused menus. Usually of you see a tight menu you pretty much know the food will be good. It's called Power of Duplication. Very easy to get it right. Chef can take the menu place it in 15 cities and food should be consistent. In short tight menus you rarely can go wrong with.

Our server was awesome she knew her stuff. She explained every dish as if she was cooking it herself (reason for the tight menu). I saw crab on the menu so I was really excited considering it's hard as he'll to get crabmeat at the moment without paying premium rates. Most restaurants are being affected still by CoVid and probably will be for awhile. Well yes sadly Pajarito is being affected as well. No crabmeat at the moment.

My wife and I ordered our food and grab some for our grandson. We started with the 3 Salsa and House Made Chips (Ancho Guajillo, Charred Tomato, and Avacado-Serrano). The Salsa was just heaven so flavorful and wanting for more. I ordered the Crab Ceviche, unfortunately due to distribution issues, crab was not available. So I ordered the Revueltas substituted the crab for shrimp and bang. If you like eggs like I do, if you like shrimp like I do then this is the dish for you. The eggs were fluffy and just delicious. Come to think of this was the first time I didn't ask for salt & pepper for my eggs. My wife ordered Huevos Rancheros, unfortunately for her she didn't read the menu well it contains pork. We switched plates and thank goodness we did. OMFG I've never tasted HR like this. The Carnita was pulled perfectly and seasoned to perfection. The dish was beautiful and tasted like a bit of heaven. I ordered mushrooms but had to take them home with me because I was full. My 1 year old grandson had a Quesadilla, he ate half the of it. My daughter and and wife can only eat half of one. He was so into his dish. He was a lot quieter than usual. Just smiling and eating with his only two teeth.

Bravo well done Pajarito Brunch team, I look forward to stopping by again and having dinner. We will...

We had eaten takeout from Pajarito and the food was great - so we tried to take a party there for dinner to fete an out of town friend. The dinner service was very uneven to say the least. I realize in retrospect that our very first encounter should have been a warning sign - when, even though we had a reservation and were there on time, we waited for several minutes in plain view of the person at the desk before she even acknowledged our presence while she hammered away at something on her ipad and we stood there awkwardly making conversation at the door - we joked about it with her as she seated us - but it was odd. Our party was 5 people having cocktails and dinner. Our food arrived from the kitchen ONE plate at a time, with large gaps of time before the 'next' plate arrived, creating that awkward - please go ahead and eat - I'm sure my food will be here any second. The last person in our party to wait on the arrival of her food, went on for some time. When we finally were able to flag a server to ask where her food was, we got the pat response - should be out soon. Finally, we were informed that her food had been delivered to another table and that they would cover her meal - WHAT? So she finally ate WELL after the others were done eating. After our meal, the server asked if we wanted anything else. We were interested in ordering a second round of drinks, but she took only 1 person's order and left the table. Some time later - we were able to flag her and request another cocktail, but it never arrived. After some time we were finally able to flag the server again and got a 'oh' response, she had clearly forgotten to order the drink. The cocktail finally arrives again WELL behind the timing of the others at the table, only to be followed by the abrupt shining of ALL of the service lights in the restaurant being turned on - no more ambiance, time to go home... at 9:30 in the evening on a Thursday night???? (St. Patrick's day I might add). So I have a full cocktail and I am being signalled under no uncertain terms that it is time to go home. 9:30? am I a teenager at the mall? So disappointed, because the food is really good. But I will definitely think twice before...