El Jarrito — Restaurant in West Monroe

Great atmosphere. But let's get down to the food. There was some good and not so good.

Thier tamal was terrific! Full of flavor and smothered in seasoned beef and question. Yum! I also had a tostaguac, which I thought would just be a guacamole salad on a tostada shell... I was delightfully wrong. It was kind of a mix with beans on one side and beef on the other, piled high with guacamole, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. It was delicious, but the tostada was soggy when it got to me. I always eat the crispy stuff first so that doesn't happen. They must have made that part of the plate first. Not major, but they should fix that. The not so good was definitely the chicken enchiladas, my wife and I both had. These were sub-par. Skimpy with the sauce, leaving at least a third of the enchilada uncovered; chicken was dry, looking like it was left over fajita meet. That's not terrible, but a good chicken enchilada is going to have done most shredded chicken inside; and the was almost no sauce on the inside either.

One final note, and it's a personal thing... Salt is good. It as flavor to a thin, tasteless chip or a bland French fry. If they just added a little too each it would have moved my score up to a 3.5. When you lightly salt the chips/fries right out of the fryer, the salt sticks onto them, unlike when you salt them after they've dried out. The salt won't stick.

Bottom line, I'd probably give it another shot, but you can't have iffy chicken enchiladas at a Mexican food restaurant. You've got...

Went right before the dinner rush. The staff was dry as sand, no personality. Some random Lady came & dropped a basket of chips, salsa, & bowls on the table so quick we didn't even have time to ask anything if we wanted to. The waiter came & just said drinks. After he got the drink order he never asked if we wanted appetizers & just walked away. After about seven minutes he came back with the drinks & asked if we were ready to order. We advised we needed a couple minutes because we had just got the queso we had to flag someone down to get. After another 15 minutes he came back & we ordered. It was three of us & I will say that the good came out expeditiously & got. I ordered the Tech Especial which was decent but some of the fajita chicken had a bitter burnt taste. My other two companions were satisfied with their meal. Overall the place looked clean but the staff could use...

I spend about 6 months a year in Santa fe New Mexico and am very familiar with authentic Mexican restaurant food. This place would be right at home in Santa fe as a mid tier venue, despite the fact that it is located in a commercial big box retail district.

Excellent service, very professional wait staff

Food well prepared and presented

Decor on par with a mid tier Santa fe venue

Excellent coffee

Complementary Bowl of chips served while ordered food was being prepared, which seems to be an East of the Missisippi thing. I tend to load up on chips due to my lack of self discipline.

Comparable Santa fe restaraunts:

Thomasitas Cowgirl without the live entertainment Tinys- closest comparison A little fancier than The Pantry Not quite as fancy as The Shed.

Pleasantly surprised by the final bill for the two of us....