El Potro Takeaway. El Potro perfectly provides everything you'd want in a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. Overall, I'd give El Potro a very solid 8.1/10 with the chips, guac, and quesadilla leading the way. Part of my search for the best Mexican food in St. Louis, El Potro, comes super highly recommended by Reddit.
The service was fast and friendly, and the prices are refreshingly reasonable. For reference, our family of four spent $50, including guac. Can't beat the free chips, which were some of my favorites in St. Louis, earning an 8.2/10.
The food is solid, high-quality "dive bar" Mexican food, served without any frills. The Al Pastor quesadilla was huge and tasty, and the guacamole had a surprising, fresh kick. The whole family loved it.
El Potro Experience Summary
We went to El Potro for dinner on a random Tuesday night after work because our kitchen is being worked on, so we needed to find a restaurant alternative. We ended up going to El Potro based on the insane number of Reddit reviews.
Quite literally every top comment on Mexican food in the subreddit says it's one of the best Mexican places in St. Louis, so I wanted to give it a shot.
Turns out, we had actually been there before by accident. We used to love Casa Maya, which was in Maplewood, but they closed down a couple of years ago. We didn't realize it had closed, so we ended up going around the corner to El Potro.
I remember being pleasantly surprised then, but I went way off my standard order and got a Chile Relleno con Carne Orden. I remember it being excellent for what it was, but not something I'd get again.
So, this time I went more standard, but the highest Reddit rec - the Al Pastor quesadilla. The thing was huge, more than I could possibly eat in one sitting, with a slight hint of pineapple sweetness in every bite. I'd give it a solid 8.1/10 as far as quesadillas go.
Everything about it rocked.
El Potro is definitely "hole in the wall" Mexican food, but I mean that in the best sense of the word. You're going to get high-quality food without any frills. The service was super friendly and quick, and the whole place was very clean.
The only "downside" is that it's about 10 or 15 minutes away from our house. But the upside is that it's only five minutes away from my wife's work.
So it will end up being the kind of place that we go to meet her after work, but probably not worth the 15-minute drive across town on its own.
Sorry Reddit.
The Food At El Potro
We started with guacamole and chips. Important to note that the chips were free, refilled, and top-notch. The chips were free, nice and crunchy, and a good vehicle to get the guac and salsa into your mouth.
The guac was surprisingly spicy. My five-year-old and nine-year-old both loved it, which I didn't expect given how spicy it was. I noticed a noticeable kick to it; it must have been fresh jalapeños.
It was delicious, but definitely like a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 on the spice scale.
My tongue was feeling it.
The salsa similarly had a kick to it, though maybe a notch down. It's very liquidy, so no real big chunks of tomato in it. They offered us a second bowl for free, too. Very good chips; I'd say 8 out of 10.
Our food came in quickly. My kids loved their beef tacos, while my wife finished up her plain quesadilla.
I got an Al Pastor quesadilla. I had never had Al Pastor in quesadilla form before. I've had Al Pastor tacos, but never in a quesadilla. I went with it because fajitas sounded boring, and Yelp has it as one of the best dishes here.
I was hungry, but luckily the quesadilla was huge. It also came with its own little salad, sour cream, and guacamole. I had about three-quarters of it for dinner and a quarter left over for lunch the next day.
So, a very good-sized portion given my state of hunger.
The quesadilla had huge chunks of onion and pineapple grilled with the chicken inside. You could get a hint of sweetness from the pineapples in every bite. It was a subtle sweetness, but definitely not pineapple-y, more like the essence of the sugar.
You just get kind of a sweet hit. It was quite good.
I recommend mixing it with the guacamole and sour cream to get the full effect.
The thing I'll note is that it was incredibly hot, temperature-wise. I had to let it cool down for like five to 10 minutes before I could think about eating it, but even then it was still hot. I was stuck eating rice, which was very good.
Overall, I give the food a 7.9/10.0. Very good food, but not "best Mexican I've ever had" good.
That said, great for the value, setting, and speed.
El Potro Atmosphere And Miscellaneous
El Potro is part of a little strip mall next to a car dealership and its own little "hacienda tienda" store. You get the best standard Mexican food dive bar feel as soon as you walk in.
Inside, it's a super open space, very clean, and very well-kept. There's a very nice bar in the corner and TVs all around. It's basically what you would expect from a really well-cared-for, high-quality Mexican dive bar.
Nothing fancy, no over-the-top Mexican decorations compared to something like Mi Ranchito..
It has plain tables and plain seats, but everything is super well-kept.
Service is super friendly and quick, and prices are very reasonable.
Parking At El Potro
Parking is easy in a shared lot right in front of the restaurant. It's shared with the dealership and the tienda, but there was plenty of space on a Tuesday night.
El Potro Receipt
