El Potro Mexican Cafe

I enjoy this locally owned Mexican restaurant. Their old location on 31^st street was fine, but the their new location on South Iowa is even better. Lots of space, a nice little bar area (that has pretty decent drink specials), and good ambiance (not too kitschy, but you definitely know that Latin flavors are in your future).
Not only do you get gratis queso dip when you arrive, the fresh salsa and thin chips are a delicious prequel to main event. And what a main event it is… the menu, like many Mexican restaurants is almost overwhelming in variety. They have daily food and drink specials and their set menus. They have a 10 item plus al a carte breakfast menu on the weekends (you can also order off the lunch menu at this time). The lunch menu has around 50 items, and the dinner has even more variety.
I have been to el Potro for breakfast lunch and dinner – the food quality is always high and the service always friendly. Especially in the new location, the service is very prompt. On my last visit, for brunch, our waiter was on top of the drink and chip refills even before it registered that I was ready for a refill.
Although I have never ordered anything I did not like (and believe the same to be true of my dining companions), some of my favorite dishes include the Chimi del Norte (chicken and mushroom chimi with a cream cheese sauce), the Verde Platter (delicious braised pork in a green chili sauce), and the fried tacos. The Burrito Colorado (ham, egg, cheese and bell pepper burrito in a creamy green chili sauce) is always a winner on the breakfast menu. I also always get the borracho beans (bacon and onion soupy beans) – they are delicious and round out the generous portions you receive for a reasonable price.

First, let me start by saying that my husband and I have gone here numerous times and taken friends and family here. This is a busy and popular place in Lawrence. We have enjoyed our meals in the past numerous times. Not crazy about the free salsa, but we love the 1 bowl of free cheese dip and warm chips. I will say a friend and her daughter and my cousin and his mother went there at our recommendation and did not like their Mexican selections at all, but they can do that review.
However, last night was a bad experience. Before I go on, I should say, we have had fresh-​butchered beef from my uncle’s farm for over 40 years; we select the cuts with the packing house. We buy a side or a ½ of a ½ of a ½ at time. (½ of a ½ is different than a quarter of beef.) Thus, we probably have a better idea of what meat cuts look like than most.
We both tried the «Ribeye Steak» listed on the menu. When the meal came, the steaks took up over half the plate. Ribeyes do not come in that serving size, but round steak does. Round steak, flank steak, and skirt steak are often used in Mexican dishes. Ribeye has marbling and a lot of flavor. Round steak is leaner and lower grade than Ribeye and certainly not as flavorful. Round steak sections are often connected by strips of fatty gristle. This is what we were served. Ribeye is generally served in a thicker cut. Our cuts were ¼ to ½″ thick — not ribeye. It was advertised with sautéed mushrooms. I found 1.5 mushrooms among the overcooked zucchini and onions. The side of rice was good. However, the meat was chewy and not well seasoned.
The manager would not confirm that this really was ribeye steak. He said he would have to check on this. I think he knew, but, oh, well… While some will say to only buy Mexican in a Mexican place, we have had good steaks in Mexico in Mexican places. The steak was chewy and not well seasoned so we brought the left over home for the dogs who appreciated it regardless of what cut it was.
Before writing this review, my husband took the left over steaks to two butchers with many years of experience. They both agreed it was probably round steak and not ribeye steak. The manager did comp one of the meals after some amount of discussion. He refused to admit that this was the wrong cut of meat and he refused to confirm that this was a ribeye. Can you say false advertising on the menu; buyer beware! It would be hard for me to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that a fast one was being pulled, but my 40 years of buy sides of beef and having them cut to my specification and two butchers agreeing that what we got appeared to be a round steak gives me confidence to alert future customers that they won’t get what they ordered. If by chance these were ribeyes, they were of the lowest grade, not cut in a manner consistent with ribeyes, and poorly prepared.

Came for the free queso but not sure it’s worth coming back just for that. I had the spinach chicken enchilada dinner with caucho beans & rice. I really liked the rice & its flavor as well as the beans. The enchiladas were not really anything exceptional.

Delicious! Friendly and quick service! Very clean! The gentleman that walks around singing and playing guitar does a wonderful job and is such a lovely man :) We’ve been to just about every Mexican restaurant in Lawrence and this is our top choice!
PS. If you are trying to pick a Mexican restaurant for supper, DO NOT GO TO LAWRENCE SALTY IGUANA! That place is very unsanitary and disgusting!

I am from texas where the rivers flow of salsa and margaritas. I wasn’t expecting anything special and I was correct. The margaritas were ok but nothing special. Salsa was most likely not homemade but not gross. Bartender was friendly and let us sit at the bar. Couple next to us were very friendly and we had fun talking to them. Not sure the standard of mexican food up north but all in all it wasn’t horrible. But I have definitely had better. Better luck next time!

Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE the food here. It’s delicious. No complaints about the food.
HOWEVER. The mariachi singer who works here on the weekends – why? I’m sure there are some people who enjoy it, but most of the time, he’s singing at tables and people look incredibly uncomfortable. Not only does he sing to people who are not enjoying it, but then he stands there and stares at you until you offer a tip. I don’t want to pay someone for their singing, which I never asked for in the first place. It makes me not want to come here. It would make more sense if you just paid him to sing on the weekends and then had customers offer tips if they really wanted to.

Sunday is our weekly dinner out night and we were again surprised when we pulled into the parking lot to find a sea of cars and a restaurant full of people. Sunday night dinner out in Lawrence is normally so quiet you could be heard whispering three tables away, but not at El Potro. The new restaurant is bigger than the old place, but everything else seems pretty much the same with a few exceptions.
We were quickly seated with the waiter dropping by to take drink orders and the busboy dropping off chips, salsa and free chili con queso. Not only do they give you free cheese dip, it is in a decent size cup. My wife ordered orchata, a sweet rice-​based drink from Mexico that tastes like liquid rice pudding with hints of cinnamon. I decided to go with the 22 ounce margarita (frozen with salt) and at $ 6, not a bad deal. It was fair, but with little alcohol. We also decided to try the guacamole (half order — $ 3.25), a good predictor of quality Mexican food. Not as good as mine or the best restaurant guac I have had, but plentiful and tasty with just a few chopped tomatoes on top to add color to the appetizer. It was a nice accompaniment to the cheese dip, chips, and salsa.
For our entrees, my wife ordered the vegetable and cheese quesadilla appetizer which came with more guacamole and pico di gallo (which they forgot). Quesadillas are pretty boring and this was no exception … a flour tortilla, some melted cheese, and a few veggies … at $ 7, it seemed a bit expensive to me.
I ordered the deep fried shredded beef tacos ($ 8.49 — ground beef or chicken also available) and a cheese and onion enchilada ala carte. The server brought three tacos in pre-​fab shells (I hate pre-​fab shells), so I asked them to bring the correct order. When they finally arrived, the tacos were crispy, the beef was well seasoned, and there was plenty of lettuce and cheese in addition to the standard rice and beans. The shells were pliable enough to add some guacamole, pico di gallo (from my wife’s order — she hates tomatoes) and salsa, but the tortillas are thinner than I remember and fell apart on first bite. The enchilada came on a separate plate and was pleasing to the eye with a colorful accompaniment of sauce, cheese, lettuce and tomato. The enchilada ($ 2.50) was a tad small and the sauce spicy, but not overly so and the ratio of cheese to onion to sauce was good.
They also had a guy with a guitar going from table to table singing Mexican mariachi songs. A nice touch, but he was not great and there were two small signs attached to his guitar reminding us that he works for tips. I understand that, but think it is a bit tacky to pressure customers into paying $ 1 or more for a single song which was all he stuck around to play. If you are going to provide music, pay the musician and if he gets a few tips, he can think of it as a bonus.
The new El Potro was not quite as good as the old one. The chips and corn tortilla taco shells are thinner than I remember, breaking easily. The margarita was not as tasty as at the old place and there was much less tequila. After drinking a 22 ounce margarita, I barely had a buzz. They got a 7 out of 10 score two years ago, but I have to drop a bomb after a less than stellar return visit.
CombatCritic Gives El Potro 6 out of 10 Bombs … More Bombs Are Better!

The first time I went here, it was fine. Not outstanding, but not bad. The second time was god-​awful due to terrible service from a waitress who, among many other things, spilled water all over me and then proceeded to walk away without a word. This third time was suppose to be a comeback, but it was disappointing to say the least.
The food was rather tasteless and the service was lacking, as you apparently have to ask multiple people for the same thing at various times throughout the night in order to recieve it.
But the best part was the man with the guitar. As people were trying to talk with the people they came with, he would come right up beside the table interupt with loud singing and playing whether you asked him to or not. All completed with a big sign on his guitar saying «works for tips.» Which is great because, you know, people just LOVE it when they’re pressured out of their money with up-​close, disrupting entertainment they didn’t ask for.

My husband and I come here for dinner often and it’s wonderful every time. The service is always friendly and prompt. To begin with, they serve an amazing cheese dip and salsa with tortilla chips. Our dinner is always served warm, fresh, and in a timely manner. We try to order different items off the menu when we go because there is so much to choose from! There has only been one item I did not enjoy and that was from this evening. After I discovered I didn’t like it, I ordered something different and they graciously took my original meal off our ticket without me even asking! We are hopelessly addicted to this restaurant.

When I am at El Potro, I know it is Thursday. My wife and I go in for their KU Burrito Thursday Lunch Special. We start off with the FREE queso, salsa, and chips with our water with lemon (mine with no ice). Several of the servers and Victor, the manager, know we like «no shell» which means no tortilla and that I like Borracho beans in a bowl on the side. You can see from the photos that the portion sizes are good.
Victor is always friendly and comes over and talks with us. If you look up their menu, you will see they have specials of the day and they even have 99 cent tacos on Mondays after 4 p.m. although we haven’t taken advantage of that special yet as we are at a different restaurant on Mondays.

Lawrence is always hurting for a good Mexican joint and El Potro may help to fill some of that void.
The drinks are fantastic. They have the usual Mexican imports on tap as well as some domestics. Their house margaritas are above average for around town and they have other specialty drinks as well.
The food is average for around town. I would not call the food fantastic but it is not bad by any means. I think their meats just need a bit more seasoning and flavor to them. I cannot call the food bad though because it really is pretty decent.
The service is fantastic here, best I have seen for this type of restaurant. Their management obviously knows what they are doing as far as training and managing. One time they did not have enough servers to take care of our table so they used 3 separate servers practicing teamwork and communication to take care of us. Despite this situation we got great service. The servers and managers also are very kind and talk to you on your way in and way out.
Please support this restaurant as this location has seen three restaurants go out of business. I think El Potro has the right idea but this location is tough and hopefully people in town will continue to support them.

We had dinner last night, it was great. We get full going here and the servings are incredible. You get free salsa, chips, and 1 free bowl of cheese queso. Love the new building. We chose this restaurant for Best of Lawrence 2014, and 2015. Keep up the good work.

Come here whenever I am in town. Great food and very fast service. The Queso they give you is top notch. Also have a huge menu.

I give the new location three stars simply because I love their Chimichanga del Norte and the free queso with chips. If the service were way better, they’d have a higher rating. It didn’t seem to be this way at their old location, but now the wait staff seems to feel more comfortable with ignoring their tables and doing awkward things during lunch hour such as vacuuming near tables that are occupied. If they could remedy these two things, they’d be a perfect place to enjoy some Mexican food.

For Mexican food this place was really good. Free queso was nice and it tasted great. The salsa was amazing and not too spicy. I’m a wimp. I enjoyed the El Potro Sampler and Jeremy had fried tacos. They are busy tonight but it’s Mother’s day. There are several empty tables. Service was a little slow but they were attentive. Their floors however are a complete disaster. They look like they haven’t been cleaned all day and look like all the table crumbs have just been swept off the table to the floor.

The food has always been excellent here and I really love the free queso and chips.
However, the service is severely lacking. Most servers seem quite disinterested in being there (and I guess could care less about getting a good tip).
The last time I was there, the area I was in had a handful of other tables seated and a waitress thought it was a good time to start vacuuming — not just once, but during various times throughout our entire meal. Our waiter talked to us about three times. Once for drinks, once for our meal order, once for the ticket.
I will sacrifice free queso for a restaurant that gives a damn.

My wife and I ate here a few weeks ago, and would have rated it a high 4 stars. The dinner was great.
We ate here yesterday. Her dish was mediocre, and mine wasn’t want they advertised. I ordered their special ‘Carnitas Michoacan’, and the meat was big dry chunks of pork. It has not been cooked enough to render the fat, so had pockets of gristle and fat.
There was one piece of pork that was cooked right, sort of buried in the beans, so I think they ran out of the special, and just threw some pork on the plate. I didn’t eat it.
Disappointed…

I love the new location. The food is even better at this new location. My friends and I love this place so much we go every Monday night. The staff is super friendly.
It’s always busy, but never a long wait. Love the chicken soft tacos and the churros.
The free queso is amazing! My friends and I always fight over it.

The best part of our dinner is we didn’t have to wait long to be seated. It’s Wednesday dinner time and the restaurant was busy still we were seated quickly, and that is where my positive experience ended. It took a while before anyone came with drinks, or even acknowledged our presence even though we were sitting right at the front door being bumped every time a waiter went by. My husband and I both thought the chips and salsa were terrible no salt could fix, and thank god the cheese dip was free and I didn’t have to pay for the room temperature bland slightly sour dip. That being said the dip was still warmer than my food, I ordered the deep fried tacos as did my husband, his was barely warm and mine was cold. I mean the meat was as cold as the lettuce on top and I could stick my finger in the beans cold.
I would’ve complained but by the time our waiter came by to «check» on us my husband was done eating, and he just asked if we needed a beer whilst his hands were loaded down with dirty dishes. Needless to say I will not return nor would I recommend anyone to this place!

This restaurant has moved to its new location at 3333 S. Iowa near the multiplex theater. The new dining room is far better than the former one, which was located in a much smaller building. While the menu has not changed, I did notice some improvements in some of the food, such as the chile rellenos. I asked the manager about this. He said there have been some changes in the kitchen.
All for the better. While previous restaurants at that location have closed, the surrounding area in south Lawrence has improved. That should help. I hope this restaurant succeeds in its new location.
While the restaurant has a full bar, it does not have wines by the bottle or carafe, only a few house wines by the glass.