Having been attracted by their small plates AND their prices, I was even more intrigued upon seeing the outside. Small, but not overly fancy or casual. We walked into a very cramped small space. To their credit, it was a Saturday night. I think we were lucky that we even got a table within 5 minutes. We were seated at the front window and perused the menu. The dinner menu consists of small plates for $7.50, and tacos and enchiladas for about $4 a pop. Wonderful! The larger dinner plates are around $18, however. The drink menu boasts around 100 tequila's, margaritas ($10 average) and several innovative and quite tasty sounding cocktails (EL TORO: Michelada style beer, slightly citrusy spicy salty on ice - $6) including non alcoholic (BABY CITA:
Limeade Martini with Cherry Foamer- $4.50.) I opted for a simple red sangria, which was better than most places I've had it, but not excellent. It was a bit watery, and the fruit element was underwhelming.
THE FOOD. (forgive the lack of pics - I lost a bunch so the pics/quality here are limited.)
Guacamole
I will begin by saying that I'm not sure why this is grouped in with small plates at $7.50. Furthermore confusing are the...radishes. However, this was a great guacamole, if a salty guacamole. It is served in a very heavy stone bowl, and it doesn't look like much but it was plenty enough for the two of us, keeping in mind we ordered a bunch of other stuff too. Side note: it came with this red sauce that I want to bottle and hoard away from others. It's smokey, tangy, a wee bit spicy, and gorgeous.
ADOBO GRILLED CHICKEN QUESADILLA (with roasted corn and poblano
peppers.)
Again more..radishes. Aside from that, the quesidilla was pretty standard. Tasty for sure, but nothing special popped out. The corn did add a lovely element to it.DIVER SCALLOP CEVICHE (with grapefruit, orange,
cilantro & avocado.)
I have never had ceviche anywhere besides my own house. This was a must try, and it definitely did not disappoint. Chunks of soft, light scallops bathed in light citrus, sprinkled with some avocado. My only complaint would be that the citrus was a tad too light. Fortunately, they put little slices of habanero in there to balance it all out a bit. Overall, it was as good as I imagined a scallop ceviche to be!
SOFT SHELL CRAB TACO (with watermelon-tomatillo pico de gallo and avocado - $4)
This came out last, and was the least favorite option. The crab inside is deep fried, but soft. The taco shell is nice and soft; not hard from cooking, or too stale. But it was unremarkable. I didn't get the watermelon anywhere, and overall it was a little bland.
Afterwards came tequila time. I opted for the Sauza Cien Anos reposado, with a side chaser of white grapefruit cherry soda. Oh...I didn't mention those? Those little pops of light and bubble after the tequila bites you? They offer them as "tequila compadres", and they are $1.50 apiece! ( Blood Orange Soda,Tamarind, Cinnamon Cola, Apple Ginger Soda, Red Bull etc.) Excellent.
The Sauza was not my favorite tequila, and our server was none the more wise about what it was like when I inquired. That was the only problem I encountered with the service during my visit. I've heard people complain about it, but for us it was bang on. The food came out in perfect timed sequence, about 5-10 min between each plate. Especially for how extremely busy they were, I give them credit for being so spot on.
Greats
-Atmosphere. I want to go back when it's less busy for sure.
-Tequila Compadres!
-Scallop Ceviche
-The red sauce
-The service was good-food was timed well.
Not so greats
-It was really busy
-The soft shell crab taco
-Radishes?
- Guac is 7 bux
http://www.barriotequila.com/Barrio_mpls.html
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