Just visited a fairly new Mexican restaurant for the first time.? El Jinete is out in Madisonville, on Red Bank Road in a mall with Wal-Mart.? I didn’t even know we had a Wal-Mart in the city limits.? I am just not a big box fan.? I am a walkable neighborhood shopping fan.
Be that as it might – this is a restaurant review.? 😕 >? Some friends think this is the best Mexican place in town.? And there is a lot to admire.? Reasonable prices, a great noisy and busy and happy place, with lots of kids around.? An abundance of filling food – I brought home enough for probably two more meals.
But the food is not so great.? Except for the draft beer, Taco Bell might be better.? The mandatory chips and salsa served as soon as we sat down was a watery tasteless salsa.? And when I asked for the hot salsa – we were served a sort of bean dip thing, with some very strange dry herb taste in it.? It was hot.? The guacamole was weird – creamy not chunky.? I was suspicious when I looked at the menu – it was listed under dips, and it was only $2.49.? Way too cheap for real avocados / real guac.? I asked the Hispanic server and he insisted it was real guac. Unfortunately, it was not.
The rest of the food was okay, except that the plate was swimming in some kind of sauce.? Okay, though, in my book is not really worth wasting calories on.? Not sure what I’ll do with the food in the box in the kitchen.? Do you think the birds and squirrels who share the back yard with me might like it?? The chipmunks are still awake, amazingly – maybe they will check it out.