El Potrero Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Lincoln

Ok. So let me start by saying that I had a hand in my experience leading to my less than great rating, but every star was earned.

My family of 5 were looking for something to eat after and event at the Pinnacle Arena. We googled restraurants near us and when I mentioned Mexican, my wife said it sounded good as she hadn't had good Mexican in a while. Spoiler alert...she still hasnt.

We came in on a Saturday night at 9:30. The door says they closed at 10:30. The first words out of the mouth of the guy at the host desk after asking how many in our party were "You only have 30 minutes. We close soon." I mentioned the posted time on the door and he just reiterated they closed in 30 minutes. I. asked if that was enough time and he said it was, but we'd need to order quickly.

I'll pause to acknowledge that I'm aware a party of 5 coming in with 30 minutes until close is really annoying to restaurant staff. They still need to handle it with tact.

He picked the first booth inside the door, sat us, tossed a couple menus on the table, and asked what we wanted to drink. Waters all around to make it easy and fast as we now felt we were on a clock.

The chips and salsa were there in a flash as a couple of free hands helped out. Waters came shortly there after and as soon as they all hit the table, he was ready to take orders. Not much time to really look things over, but I picked the al pastor burrito as I love al pastor. Kids got kids menu taco, quesedilla, and hot dog. The wife got the burrito Blanco.

Before I tear the food apart, I want to clarify that we have lived in a predominantly Hispanic area of Omaha for a decade and been spoiled with the best Meixcan food from taco truck to drive through setting the bar for me pretty high. So with that in mind...

Kids menu items were typical and not great, but I have low expectations for anything from a kids menu.

I know blanco means white in reference to the cheese, but the flavor was just as blank. It tasted almost like canned chicken with bland rice and barely microwaved long enough to get it warm in the center.

The al pastor burrito was honestly the best in the bunch. Topped with elote ingredients - white crumbled cheese, corn, paprika, and a watery cheese sauce with some avocado slices. It really did a lot of good for the overall flavor which without would have just been decent al pastor stuffed in a tortilla with bland rice otherwise.

The rice was the weakest flavored Spanish rice I've ever had. It made me sad.

Service was scarce after the food got dropped off. We horked down our food fearing upsetting the obviously ready to leave waitor getting done before several tables that were there before us. Paid and bounced. We got a few "thank you's" on the way out, but I was in a foul enough mood I wasn't really cheery on my reply.

TL;DR - Food is NOT worth it if you know what authentic Mexican tastes like. Service might be better at...

My first experience here and it was absolutely awful. Very disappointed as I had heard great things. I may give them a second chance but it’s definitely going to be awhile before that happens. So to start once we got there we got seated about 5 minutes after arriving we finally got the chips and salsa and waters delivered to our table. The server then disappeared for at least 10 minutes before coming to take our order. My water was empty at that point for the first time. Food comes out and server quickly disappeared again. I ordered the burrito supremos and there was corn on it? There was so much pico de gallo on it that it was just sitting in a pool of liquid but I was starving so I just dealt with it because again the server was nowhere to be found. The other meal that was ordered was the carne asada burrito, the carne asada was like rubber and quite a few pieces were burnt and black. My water is empty again for the second time. Server finally comes back and clearly sees the plate with all the carne asada picked out of the burrito. He asked us how everything was and my date said well to be honest this is pretty terrible. The server lets out a laugh and ignores what he said and grabbed both glasses to go fill up as they are both empty. About 5 minutes later the water arrives to the table and server asks if it’s one check. My date was getting up to use the restroom at that point so I ask if there’s anything that can be done about that burrito and with attitude he says well what do you want me to do? I said either discount it or remove it from the bill because it was not edible? He said he couldn’t do that because the manager wasn’t there, I asked if he could get the manager on the phone because this was unacceptable. Again with attitude he says I’ll figure it out. I said great and waited for him to return. After about 7-10 minutes he returned again with the bill slid it on the table and said “this is the best I could do” (he discounted the burrito to 50% which still wasn’t great as all the carne asada was picked out but it was better than nothing. Our server Jordan was rude and had attitude when he was at the table but his service was extremely slow. Again I may give this place another chance but it’s going to be awhile as today was extremely...

First off anyone who has left a positive review of the food here needs to have their review privileges revoked. This was the absolute worst fake Mexican food we have ever experienced. It was so bad I couldn't stop laughing. It was like a caricature of bad Mexican food. For a couple minutes I thought we were on some kind of practical joke show making fun of us gringos for what we would eat. The three enchiladas platter was supposed to be a white sauce, green sauce and red sauce with a side of rice and refried beans. Well it was technically all of those items. However Taco Bell was several steps above in ingredient quality, presentation and flavor. The first thing we noticed was the color palette. Grey was the best description. With a bright green, stark white and brick red opaque "sauce" on each. The sauce was spread (it really didn't flow at all) over a nearly cold tortilla holding lunch lady quality ground beef. Think bland, dry, sloppy joe interior. The beans were a grey paste and the rice was only seasoned just enough to rid it of it's stark white. This was supposed to be an anniversary dinner and we had enjoyed a margarita here just a few days earlier on the 4th of July. It was one of the only places open on the day and we enjoyed a nice bartender and decent margaritas in the AC to beat the heat of the afternoon off work. Oh what a mistake picking this place was. I figured well they have been around a while so they must be ok. Wrong. We kept laughing eating and experiencing the full terribleness like it was an avant art performance art exhibit.

Only go here if you want to see how bad fake Mexican can really be. Truly the Temu of Mexican food. Thanks for the memory. At least we had a good laugh out of it. Hopefully we don't...