365 Restaurants, 2 Kids, 1 Giant Fiasco
Today we needed to go out to eat and go to Wal-Mart for groceries. Our plan was to eat at Roma’s (I was in the mood for pizza). As has happened so many times in the past when we actually have a game plan for dinner, we arrived at the restaurant to find it closed on Sundays. Now what? We have already eaten at many of the restaurants in this area and we did not want to venture far from Wal Mart. We had Dusty with us, which means nothing, and I mean nothing adventuresome. Not even Chinese food. That left Mexican food. El Pueblita, to be exact.
We arrived and were seated right away. We ordered queso with our drinks and looked over the menu as we’d never been here before. This is definitely a restaurant we’d never had ventured in to had it not been for our Fiasco challenge! Before we got our drinks, Benji was already dipping his chips in the salsa. Ogre let him and I chided him about doing that when we didn’t have anything for him to drink. Ogre argued that he’d “shaken” the excess salsa off. Turned out to be a moot point as Benji ate it without any problems. Chili head.
She brought out our drinks and Benji was very impressed. We could tell he was excited to have a “big boy” cup. He kept nodding at his cup and saying, “wa wa goot” (water good)! We never let him hold non-sippy or kid cup drinks and he gets so frustrated with us!
We put in our dinner order and soon after our queso came out and Benji was excited about that, too. We requested a little bowl for him to put some queso in and she was very quick to bring this out to us. We all enjoyed the queso while we waited for the entrees. Well, all of us except Ogre. He’s still on his diet.
Mina was busy coloring. Luckily, she brought her bookbag full of coloring books and markers. This place didn’t have any crayons or coloring to offer. Our food came out after a short while and Benji immediately started requesting “RICE!” I gave him a nice portion of rice and beans. He had a few bites and then drank his water. I’ve never seen him enjoy water so much!
We were all very impressed with our dinners. I was very impressed with Mina’s appetite tonight as well. She ate her entire grilled cheese sandwich without a word from Ogre or me. Now that’s a feat!
Benjamin was eyeing Dusty’s dinner and Dusty gave him a small piece. Benji enjoyed that one bite. He picked up a nearby fork and tried to pilfer more off Dusty’s plate. We gave him more of Dusty’s enchilada. Once Benji had enough, he picked up his plate and said, “no mo” (no more). We knew that we were all ready to go when he also picked up his glass and said, “no mo” (no more) and handed it over to Ogre.
This was a nice little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant that serves your traditional Tex Mex dishes.
The queso was very good -nice and creamy.
I ordered the Enchiladas Verdes and enjoyed them. The tomatillo sauce was very tangy, almost too tangy for me. But I’d rather have too tangy than not tangy enough so I’m not going to complain. The chicken was shredded, but not dry. Rice and beans were also good.
Ogre ordered the Chicken Fajita Tacos, which reminded me of street tacos as they are served with cilantro and onions. He said they tasted great, particularly with how inexpensive they were.
Dusty ordered Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas and he made it a point to tell me that they were very good. Benji can vouch for the tastiness also.
Mina ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, we replaced her fries with rice and beans. She ate the whole thing! Must’ve liked it…there was none left for Ogre or I to try.
Service was average I would say. I had to ask her for a refill once, but my drink was kind of off to the side. She kept Ogre’s iced tea nice and filled all through dinner. They were attentive and the food came out at a nice tempo.
This place is casual and did not seem to have any problems with kids being at the restaurant. They have a nice little kids menu, but no kids activities. I don’t know that I’d expect them to be handing out crayons, anyway. We felt very comfortable eating here with the kids.
I’d recommend this place for good, casual, quick Tex Mex dinner with the kids. It was definitely a pleasant surprise!
The total: $24.52 (does not include Dusty’s dinner)
Childsplate.com chronicles our journey to find the perfect family restaurant. We are looking for restaurants with excellent food and a great attitude towards kids, even the whiny, cranky ones! We will be headed out to a different restaurant every single day to provide ourselves (and you) with some entertainment and good information about DFW area restaurants. We hope you will visit frequently and use our experiences to create some fun dining experiences of your own! Watch out, DFW, the Phipps family is going out to eat!
Liz G.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
They do have great street tacos! And if you are ever sick, their tortilla soup is one of two places I insist on for the medicinal powers of chicken soup. (The other place is the Greek Isles’s chicken soup.)
grace
January 5th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
You’ve been to El Pueblita??!
Wow, I’m impressed.
A. Now I’m going to have to go back and try the street tacos (I prefer beef, so we’ll see if those are as good as Ogre’s chicken).
B. I am also a soup junkie when I’m sick, so I will have to try their soup!