El Potro Mexican cafe Lawrence — Restaurant in Lawrence

I have lived in Lawrence for going on four years now. I drive by El Potro nearly every single day on my way to class and work, but had never stopped in until Thursday, January 3, 2019. A few friends and I decided to celebrate a successful job interview with Mexican and some margaritas for lunch. We ultimately came to regret we ever decided to go to El Potro in the first place. Two of us arrived about 10 minutes before the third person. The first two of us were seated immediately by a hostess that could not care less if we were there or not. Once at our table, we waited for about five minutes in an empty restaurant before our server came and took our two drink orders. We were not greeted welcomingly, and we were not informed of any food or drink specials. The server quickly dropped off our two soft drinks and disappeared without a word. Our third friend arrived a few minutes later, and waited ten minutes before the server reappeared at our table to take her drink order. In the time since our friend had arrived, we had finished our small bowl of chips, I had finished my soft drink, as did my friend I originally arrived with. When the server finally made an appearance to take our new friend’s drink order, She ordered a premium margarita and a glass of water, and at the same time I ordered a house strawberry margarita. The server disappeared without offering to refill our chips, salsa, or drinks. A few minutes later she returned with a house margarita for both me and my friend, when that was not what either of us had ordered, but the server disappeared again before we could inform her of the mistake. Still no refills, and no offer to take our lunch orders. Several minutes went by before she returned to take our lunch orders. We placed our orders, a Jayhawk Burrito, a pork chimichanga, and another burrito, along with an appetizer. We informed her of her mistake with our margaritas, to which she acted put out by having to remake them, curtly saying, “well I didn’t know that’s what you wanted.” She took the mistake drinks and returned with the correct ones, still no offer to refill any other drinks or chips and salsa. It wasn’t until another server brought out our appetizer that we were offered refills. Our food came out, hot and delicious, but the damage had already been done. Our server did not return until after we had eaten our meal and were ready for the check. After dropping off the margaritas, she did not check on us once. She dropped off the check without a word to thank us for the visit or anything of the sort. We all agreed that this was the absolute worst service we had ever received. I’m giving one star for the delicious and hot food, not for the service. I would eat at Taco Bell before I ever came back to El Potro. I’ve worked as a server for several years now. I’ve seen a lot of poor servers in that time, but our server at El Potro, Rebecca, was easily the worst I have ever seen. DO NOT waste your time with wait staff that couldn’t care less if you’re there or not, even if the...

So ...my original post is below from a few weeks ago. I just took my 5 stars to 2 stars. I'm disappointed today. Usually they are great, tonight though, they were not on their game & I'm disappointed. We all know if you work in the restaurant industry (I have myself in many restaurants), you double check the orders that are to go (shoot double check every order, dine in or carry out). If you order curbside/carry out from them, please double check your order before you leave, make sure you have everything. I drove home, 30 minutes away, and my bag had missing food items. I had to ask about my drinks and if they were coming while I was handed my order... Hindsight, I should have checked the bag while I was waiting forever on my drinks. I drove all the way home to find out food items were missing. Plus the blanco queso was not served with the chips and salsa either. Disappointed tonight, an easy/preventable fix on their end. I called to ask about it. The only response was that I could drive back to get the food, I am not going to drive the total of an hour just for missing food that was not my mistake. I wish other measures would have been considered by the employees when I called. I did call back a second time, I was pretty upset about it. I asked to talk to the general manager, a guy named Victor said he was the manager. He talked to me and said they would straighten it out next time I came in. I am hopeful, we will see. I'm so disappointed, it took so much of me to not rate them at 3 stars right now. I even tipped the server. Frustrated.

Original post: Always has been amazing & tasty! I was surprised how fast they were in carry out during the pandemic, super fast! They quoted 15 minutes and it was more like a 5 minute wait. It was perfect, amazing, and staff was pleasant...

Hate to leave bad reviews but this will help OTHERS who are from the SOUTH or other countries where the food is flavorful. Well seasoned, mosist and delicious since this is a college town and students come from everywhere.

My comment: If you can't nail sides then you can't nail entrees in my opinion.

So I tested out this place by ordering the sides. I asked waitress if the rice was good she said oh yes it's good. I was disappointed it was like eating organelles dyed white rice with green onions. It was completely devoid of flavor, salt, moisture, and everything else a good Spanish rice contains. I know how to make Spanish rice personally so I'm always amazed how restaurants can achieve it to be SO DRY and tasteless.SMH. I don't know if they simply adapted to the blandness of food here but it is not AUTHENTIC Mexican Food. YES.

The refried beans were okay but the issue is I asked what size is the side served in...is it a 12 Oz cup. The waitress confidently said yes but clearly it was smaller 4 oz side cups. I can deal with a person simply saying "I don't know" but don't confidently tell me something thats not true. Oh yeah did I mention that this was my firsr time and LAST time going here?

The guacamole was okay too but very lumpy and couldn't hold up to the chips which kept cracking every time i tried to dip and scoop up some. They should consider pureeing their guacamole to a finer consistency at it can accompany the thin chips better vs over power them and shatter them on impact.

The salsa was a tad bit on the salty side and i was underwhelmed. No kick, no spice but i get it lawrence ppl probably arent use to spice so resturants adjust accordingly but sadly this is not AUTHENTIC Mexican soul, flavorful, moist, and spicy...