The experience

Tonight Mina was at choir practice with Oma and Grace had come down with a headache, so when Benji awoke from his nap we quickly packed up without a plan to go eat before we had to be back to meet Oma and Grandpoo back at the house.  Grace made a few suggestions nearby to make it quick.  I suggested the Mexican restaurant right down the street in Murphy we’d tried once for lunch some time ago.  Grace seemed happy with that suggestion so off to Amado’s Mexican Cantina it was.

Amado's Mexican Cantina

We arrived and quickly got seating in a booth in the back of the restaurant.  Normally, this would be good to drown out any misbehavior but there was a decent crowd and the restaurant was pretty loud so that would not be an issue.  The waitress immediately took our drink order and asked about an appetizer.  We declined since we felt it may slow us down in our attempt to get home within an hour.  Luckily, Benji had the sweet bread leftover from Grace’s last trip to Starbucks (yuck!).  Since he was being quite squirmy, this was the only thing keeping him in his seat.  The apple juice we brought probably helped since he’s usually not too pleased when we get him water.

Benji and his Starbucks snack

The waitress returned with the drinks and we went ahead and ordered.  I went for the Juarez, which was avocado enchiladas topped with fajita meat.  I wanted one chicken one steak and the waitress said she couldn’t do that, she could just make it a combo?  OK, whatever.  Grace went for the Chalupas, which came with one guacamole, one queso, and one bean chalupa.  She’s been obsessed with this dish since she discovered it at, I’m sure soon to be reviewed, Ojeda’s.  We got Benji the Bean and Cheese Nachos off the kids menu.

We discussed our dining expenses for this little project of ours as we waited for our food.  Benji tried the hot sauce once since he loves “dip-dip” so much and we didn’t order any queso this evening.  Only once though.  He got red face and did his cute rendition of “spa-ceeee”.  We didn’t wait long for our food.

Spicy

I knew I’d be getting Grace’s guacamole tostada.  For whatever reason she only like her avocado with evaporated milk and sugar.  I offered some to Benji first but he just kept shaking his head no.  I put a little on his plate anyway and then doused it in salsa.  Of course right after I began to eat it he suddenly wanted it.  Too late.  It was now “spa-ceeee”.  Benji just picked at his food for most of the evening.  We ate rather quickly given the time constraints.  Benji was all for that.  He was saying “no mo” (no more), his signal he was ready to leave, before we’d finished eating.  We flagged down our waitress and paid up.  It was time to rush back home.

The food

ChalupasJuarezBean and Cheese NachosThe food here is average to above average Mexican food.  The standout is the rice.  Very well flavored Spanish rice.  The beans are not bad here either.  The chips and salsa are just average; the salsa maybe even be on the below average size.  My enchiladas were good though the tomatillo sauce lacks the tanginess that you’d expect.  They went a little light on the fajita meat with mine.  Grace is asleep already so no word on what she though of anything but the rice.  She keep saying how good it was during dinner.  I did eat her guacamole tostada and their guacamole is not bad at all.  Benji didn’t say much but he didn’t seem to enjoy his nachos.  He did eat the rice though.

The service

Service was average this evening.  Our waitress wasn’t bad but nothing extraordinary.  She kept drinks filled reasonably frequently and we only had to search for her when asking for the check.  She did seem somewhat rushed and wasn’t all that personable.  There was some confusion on how my dish was prepared that she really didn’t explain very well.

The kids

They have a decent kids menu here with typical Mexican fare.  They also supply the kids with crayons and coloring materials.  The atmosphere is casual and the ambiance drowns out any loud kids so overall above average as far as kid friendly restaurants.

Total Cost:$30.68

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