La Enchilada – Enchiladas for All!
When it comes to good enchiladas you won’t find them better than at La Enchilada Mexican Kitchen! They have plenty of fillings, and even more sauces, to choose from. Everyone will find something they like! Click HERE for the entire review!
1691 N Zaragoza Rd, El Paso, TX 79936
OVERALL BITES:
Value: My meal, which was the Enchilada plate and a lemonade, came to $12.96. The amount of food I got was one heck of a serving. The chips and salsa, which was almost a meal in themselves, was also complimentary. For what you got, and the quality of the food, this was a great deal!
Taste: These are some of the best enchiladas I’ve had. Not only was it a full healthy serving but the taste was on point! All the items went together well and even though I was full I still wanted the taste in my mouth so I soldiered on and did as my mom would have wanted – I finished everything on my plate!
Presentation: The plates are big and white which made the colors of the food really pop. Everything looked clean and appetizing.
Vibe: The look of the restaurant was trendy, with the majority of the Eastern wall setup as chalkboard where the specials, or announcements, were displayed. A cool fork mural was also on the way to the bathrooms (see the picture below).
Accessibility: La Enchilada is super easy to find…kind of. They are in the back of the shopping center but if you go north on Zaragosa, they are between Pellicano and Montwood on the West side of the street. Look for their sign on the bottom of the big marquee.
Review – La Enchilada Mexican Kitchen
I had initially gone looking for a restaurant I had eaten at a few years back but found that it had been replaced by an enchilada restaurant. I wanted gorditas (click here for previous review of them at La Morena) but figured I should try the house specialty instead.
Little did I know how much time had passed. La Enchilada is celebrating their 4th year in business. As any previous business owner will tell you, the first couple are the hardest and they look well on their way to many more. Congrats to them on being able to weather the storm of the first couple of years!
I arrived a little after noon. You seat yourself in a small seating area, at least I was told I could sit wherever I liked, so I chose an unassuming corner. Most tables were together as they were expecting big parties. Some people came in after me and tried to sit at those tables – they should have put a reserved sign to make it easy for new customers. The East wall is a huge chalkboard wall where the restaurant has put a few announcements – live music on Friday from 7 to 9, lunch specials on Tuesday and Friday, etc. There are a couple of TVs which are showing music videos. It could have been a bit louder but maybe since there wasn’t too many people they didn’t feel the need to crank it up.
The booth style seating had wood benches. All other tables had metal chairs with tables covered in a black cover which makes them easy to clean. The floor had a dull type of coating that would show dust from footprints rather easily. Constant dry mopping should take care of that – it’s the little things that make a difference.
When I started looking through the menu I thought, “what an interesting menu.” You flip it open vertically, instead of horizontally like other restaurants, and the first thing you’ll find is the house specialty – Enchiladas. First you pick your filling, then your sauce, and finally your two sides. I decided to try the Suiza green (which is a tomatillo based sauce) after the waiter informed me the green was strictly jalapenos and it was hot. He recommended the Chile verde, which is NM Hatch, or the suiza if I wanted a little more flavor and less spice. I gotta tell you, I appreciate servers, and wait staff, who know their stuff. The last page on the menu offers family packs.
As soon as I sat down the server brought my chips and salsa and took my drink order. Golden brown chips filled a small galvanized tin bucket. There was plenty of green salsa to go around and it also had a little kick.
After my food was delivered, the server also brought two extra sauces to sample. Poblana sauce and Chipotle. The chipotle was sweet and not spicy. If you’re a fan of chipotle you’d really enjoy this sauce. The poblana sauce was slightly spicy, a little smoky, and a whole lot of great flavor. If you like enchiladas without too much kick then you’ll want to try either of these.
Alas, I ordered the suiza chicken with rice and rajas – chile slices with cheese. I dove into the rajas first. They could have used more cheese but they were delicious. They were cooked with onions and tomatoes. The flavor reminded me of calabacitas minus the squash. The rice was also just as good. So far so good. Finally the suiza enchiladas…wow! The tomatillo based salsa tasted different than the other flavors I was allowed to sample. Because of the tomatillo the flavor was more acidic. If you suffer from heartburn maybe something else would be a good option but even then they are worth it! The great seasoning, the tomatillo sauce, and the amount of cheese on the enchiladas was perfect. The enchiladas came with a little cream, small garnish of romain lettuce, and some tomatoes.Thinking about them now makes me want to go down and have them again!
I was full at 2 enchiladas which was probably because of big serving of chips and because the waiter was quick to refill my lemonade. You can’t keep this good guy down though. I cleaned up my plate! My mom would have been proud. I have to tell you, it was good until the very last bite.
La Enchilada Mexican Kithen get 4.5 Bites!!! The food was great, the presentation was great too, and the service was also second to none. Things that could have been better include a bit more cheese on the rajas, cleaning floor more often, fixing the soap dispenser in bathroom and the shades on the outside. You can see what I mean in the pictures above. Regardless, they are worth the trip because you’ll love the food!
Give them a Like on Facebook or, better still, go check them out and taste the great food for yourself.