EL Loro Lexington — Restaurant in Lexington

This place was awesome. We went in later in the evening around 8:30 so as to enjoy a more intimate ambience and quieter atmosphere. We were greeted by our server John who was completely fluent in spanish and english which is by no means a prerquisite to serve at a Mexican restaraunt, but my wifes first language is Spanish so it was both pleasing and impressive to see him alternate languages so quickly when speaking to her or myself. We started with margaritas which were half off for happy hour and I was surprised at how thoughtfully crafted they were, and believe me there was no shortage of tequila! We ordered the shirmp fajita nachos expecting a normal size app but instead were brought a heaping pile of perfectly cooked shrinp and sauteed onions in homemade white cheese sauce over tortilla chips. It was truly incredible and I would have been satisfied with that alone. However, we wanted to try something special so we got sometho g called a molcacete or something (forgive me I ho estky cant remember what it was called exactly let alone how it was spelled). This was a lava stone bowl that had evidently been put in the oven because when it cam to our table the food inside was bubling. Again we order shrimp but prepared in an entirely different manner. They were again succulent. Perfectly seasoned and bathed in a (guajillo?) sauce that is truly unlike one I have had before. In addition to all of this the bartender brought us some spicy habenero sauce to try and our attentive waiter John brought both corn and dlour tortillas for us to have. The entre also came with a full plate of beans, rice, lettuce, and cheese, so needless to say we boxed up enough food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day. Everything about this place was great. The food, the service, the settting, (we even got a tour of the patio which will be opening soon), everything was amazing and I would never spend this much time writing a review if that wasnt my sincere appraisal. If you havent been, I...

So I'll start with the good news....the beer and margarita we had were good. The chips were decent and the salsa was bland (a little salt helped). Unfortunately that's where the good times end. Our waitress was never around when we needed her and was pretty clueless about the menu. When the food arrived it was slightly correct. The did end up bringing the proper food after we pointed out their mistake. Let's talk about the food. The Chile Relleno was covered in a thick floury mixture and the cheese inside was disgusting. It kinda tasted like a white version of velveeta cheese. It was on the same plate as the beef burrito, made with plain tasting ground beef and nothing else. They were both covered in what I'm assuming is a canned red enchilada type sauce. Lastly the taco, which they got right on the second attempt was filled with plain ground beef and a few other toppings, but the soft corn tortilla fell apart as I was attempting to eat it. We couldn't finish our meals and decided to never go back again. We paid our bill, which had to be signed with a crayon since that's all they had. And we did leave a decent tip for our waitress (we know it's a tough job and it's not her fault the food sucks)! Do yourself a favor and...

Mexican restaurants now seem to be on every street corner and in every strip mall, but the trick is finding a really good one. By good, I don't just mean good food, I mean comfort, cleanliness, and enough ventilation fans working in the kitchen so the entire restaurant doesn't reek so bad you have to change your clothes when you leave.

El Loro checks off all these boxes, especially in cleanliness, spaciousness, no kitchen odors, exceptional food and service. The only thing I though was sorely lacking was the quality of the salsa that came with the chips. It wasn't bad tasting, it just had a "odd" taste. It was definitely not as good as most of the other good Mexican restaurants to which I've been. And let's face it, dipping chips into salsa is what you spend a lot of time doing at a Mexican restaurant. While talking about salsa, this is the first Mexican restaurant I've been to (and that's probably 50+) that also served a white salsa with the chips that tasted like a tart ranch dressing that belonged with a plate of veggies (no, not the white cheese salsa...this had no cheese in it at all). I didn't like it, but perhaps other folks do.

Overall, El Loro is a great place to eat. Ample parking and a very large and...