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!

 

*****

 



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Taqueria El Rey Del Taco (Doraville)

Toddler Foodie Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Gummy Bears

:) = Casual, family-friendly atmosphere and tons of little diners.  English-speaking servers who seem totally comfortable with catering to children.  Yummy, real-deal tacos and a variety of other authentic Mexican dishes.  Spacious, clean bathrooms with changing tables.  

:( = The restaurant is in the corner of a small, high-traffic plaza right off Buford Highway, so the parking lot gets crowded.  Parking right in front of the restaurant could be challenging during peak hours.  And hold tightly to your little ones when you're in that parking lot because moving vehicles are going every which way - and the drivers in this area a little batty.  Also, the restaurant has a divey feel to it, which isn't everybody's thing.

Notes:  Your server will immediately put chips and salsa, along with two different taco sauces (red and green) on your table.  Beware:  ALL 3 sauces are spicy!  Ask your server for mild salsa if your littles don't eat spicy food.  Also note that it costs a little extra to get hand-rolled tortillas with your meal - but it's totally worth it.



"Which taco should I eat first?"

We learn a lot about parenting by watching Mommy and Daddy, and one thing we know is that parents have to be flexible.  Mommy makes many plans only to watch them unravel because someone ran a fever, fell asleep, or had a monster tantrum - or simply because stuff just didn't work out.  This is exactly what happened on the eve of our most recent foodie adventure.  Mommy spent an hour trying to find a good spot to visit and came up with the perfect destination... but she forgot to check the restaurant's hours.  We arrived there to find it closed.  Womp womp.  

Mommy remained calm and did what every good foodie would do in this situation:  she consulted with older, more experienced generations of foodies on Zagat.  And then she drove straight to Taqueria El Rey Del Taco. 

We arrived around 6:15 PM, and the place was already pretty full with a mix of couples, families with kids, and folks in business casual attire enjoying tacos and margaritas after a day at the office.  The Spanish-speaking host led us to a booth, and our server immediately greeted us and brought us some chips, salsa, and squeeze bottles of red and green sauce.  Mommy tested all three sauces to find that they were all delicious - but spicy!  We passed on the sauces, but we loved the chips.  They were warm and tasted homemade.

For dinner we ordered the Mediterraneo Parilladas (grilled pastor meat, shrimp, and octopus cooked with green peppers and onions, topped with cheese and served on a hot iron skillet alongside hand-rolled corn tortillas and a bowl of charro beans) and 5 tacos in hand-rolled corn tortillas:  asado, bistec (grilled beef steak), lengua, pollo (grilled chicken), and goat barbacoa.  We also ordered a small horchata. 

"I'll eat all the octopus if you eat all the shrimp, bro."

We loved everything we ate.  The Mediterraneo was our favorite dish.  The seafood was seasoned perfectly and cooked to perfection, including the octopus which was firm to the bite, but not rubbery.  The hot oil in the iron skillet crisped up the onions, green peppers, and cheese, giving each bite of the seafood and pastor mixture an added crunchy, flavorful punch.  We enjoyed scooping the meat/seafood mixture onto our corn tortillas and rolling them up into little logs.  But, even after we had eaten all the tortillas, we could not stop nibbling at this dish.  It was addictive.

"This is how we roll!"

The charro beans served with the Mediterraneo were yummy, too - smoky and heaped with chunks of tender meat.  We crumbled a few chips into our bowl to give them a little crunch.  And then... there were tacos.  Steaming, hand-rolled corn tortillas topped with mounds of protein, fresh cilantro, and raw chopped onions (Mommy got the onions on the side, in case we didn't like them).  Mommy showed us how to squeeze a little lime juice on our tacos, sprinkle a few onions on them, roll them up, and gobble them down.  We even got adventurous and started creating new dishes by mixing different proteins together:


"I took some lengua and put it in my charro beans.  I call this dish Lengua Del Charro."

"I created my own taco:  barbacoa, shrimp, and octopus!  I call it El Rey Del Toddler Foodies." 

And then there was the horchata.  Mommy told us it was the best horchata she has ever had in Atlanta.  Some horchata is too sweet and tastes artificial.  But not this horchata. It was not overpoweringly sweet, as if the sugar knew to step aside and let cinnamon take center stage.  Everything about this meal took us to foodie heaven.

"This horchta tastes like Christmas!"

Because we ate so well, Mommy let us order tres leches cake for dessert.  El Rey's version of tres leches is infused with ribbons of chocolate sauce, drizzled with milk, and topped with maraschino cherries. It wasn't our favorite tres leches in town, but that didn't stop us from eating every bite.  

We will definitely be back to Taqueria El Rey Del Taco the next time we're craving Mexican food.  The menu is pretty extensive, and we are eager to explore every part of it.  And maybe - just maybe! - we'll see the recipes we invented on the menu one day.     


Mariscos La Riviera Nayarit (Atlanta & Norcross)

Toddler Foodie Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Gummy Bears

:) = Lots of space, semi-noisy (meaning kid noise won't bother anyone).  Huge portions of tasty and unique Mexican seafood dishes.  Attentive staff who seem comfortable around children.  Complimentary ceviche.  Mariachi band and bright fish décor that toddlers find entertaining

:( = Multiple bottles of hot sauce on the table for toddlers to knock over.  Some spicy dishes on the menu (make sure to ask the server if something is spicy before you order it).  Meals may take some time to prepare (have something on-hand to entertain the little ones when the mariachi band and fish décor lose their luster).  No desserts on the menu.