El Potro Mexican Restaurant (Atlanta/Buford Hwy)

Toddler Foodie Rating:  2 out of 5 Gummy Bears

:) = Central location right off Buford Highway.  Casual, kid friendly atmosphere.  High chairs.  Open-air patio seating.  Large servings.  Fast service. 

:( = Somewhat challenging parking lot - drive carefully and hold your little ones tightly as you're walking through.  Aloof, indifferent staff.  Bland, soulless Mexican food... maybe we just visited on an off-day.

Note:  We didn't get a chance to check for changing tables in the bathroom.  If you know, please comment below, and we'll update our review.  Thank you!

"This fajita makes me sad."

In anticipation of Cinco de Mayo, we decided to try a Mexican restaurant one of our readers asked us to scope out, El Potro on Buford Highway.  We arrived around 7 PM on a weekday to find the restaurant pretty crowded.  We heard Mommy grumble that the parking lot was kind of hilly and tight, but that didn't really make a difference to us.  We were ready for some fajitas!

El Potro's interior is what you'd expect - spacious with colorful decor and bachata music blaring throughout.  We always love walking into Mexican restaurants because they're just so festive.  It feels like we're going into a birthday party.  The host greeted us by telling us to seat ourselves.  Since it was a nice day out, we opted for a table on the patio.  The first things we noticed when we stepped outside:  (a)  the patio, which wraps around the front of the restaurant, is really narrow - there's only space between the two rows of booth for one adult to walk through single-file and (b) the patio smells strongly of the cleaner that's used to disinfect the changing tables at our school.  To be honest, that smell alone might have affected our perception of our meal.   

"I don't know if I can eat this guacamole, guys.  All I can think about right now is diapers."

For dinner we ordered shrimp ceviche, "Mexican guacamole" (El Potro offers chunkier "Mexican guacamole" and "guacamole dip," which is a smoother puree), and beef, shrimp, and chicken combination fajitas for two (served with rice, refried beans, guacamole dip,. sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes)  The food all came out quickly, which is always a good thing when your party includes hungry kids.  And the serving sizes were HUGE!  Mommy and Daddy could've gotten the fajita meal for one, and we could've all shared it.  

Combo fajitas for two.

"This shrimp looks just right for me."

 

What can we say about our dinner?  Sadly, not much.  We ate it because we were hungry, but it just wasn't that tasty.  Maybe our sense of smell was so overwhelmed by the odor of the cleaning solution that our taste buds weren't working properly.  Or maybe we caught the kitchen on an off day.  Whatever the reason... we just were not feeling El Potro's food.  After doling out portions of food to us, Mommy and Daddy doused their plates in hot sauce.  That seemed to be the only way they could get it down.    

 

We left the restaurant pretty quickly after eating as much dinner as we could.  Next time we're craving fajitas, we'll stick with 4.5 Gummy Bear rated Taqueria El Rey Del Taco.  Or if we really want ceviche, we'll go back to Mariscos La Riviera Nayarit.  Or we'll get our tamale fix at Superica.  There are so many awesome places to get Mexican food in Atlanta... hmm, now that we're thinking about them, we just might be craving fajitas again.  Mommmmmyyyy!  Start the car!

 

*****

 



COUNTDOWN TO THETODDLERFOODIES.COM: 
8 days to go!