El Potro Restaurant
El Potro Takeaway. El Potro perfectly provides everything you'd want in a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. Reddit was right. 8.1/10 dive bar Mexican on the strength of the chips, guac, and Al Pastor quesadilla. Part of my search for the best Mexican food in St. Louis.
Service was fast and friendly. Prices are refreshingly reasonable, and our family of four spent $50 including guac. The free chips were some of my favorites in St. Louis at 8.2/10.
The food is solid, high-quality dive bar Mexican 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 on a random Tuesday night because our kitchen is being worked on, so we needed a restaurant alternative. The pick was easy. Quite literally every top comment about Mexican food in the St. Louis subreddit names El Potro as a top spot.
Turns out we had been there before by accident. We used to love Casa Maya in Maplewood, but they closed down a couple of years ago. We didn't realize, so we wandered around the corner and ended up at El Potro.
That first time I order away from> 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.
This time I went with the highest Reddit rec, the Al Pastor quesadilla. The thing was huge, more than I could eat in one sitting, with a slight hint of pineapple sweetness in every bite. A solid 8.1/10 as far as quesadillas go.
Everything about the meal landed.
El Potro is dive bar Mexican in the best sense. High-quality food without any frills, very friendly and quick service, and the whole place was clean.
The only downside is that it's about 10 or 15 minutes away from our house. The upside is that it's only five minutes from my wife's work, so it'll be the kind of place we go to meet her after work rather than the destination drive across town.
Sorry Reddit.
The Food At El Potro
We started with guacamole and chips. The chips were free and top-notch. Nice and crunchy, and a great vehicle for the guac and salsa.
The guac was surprisingly spicy. My five-year-old and nine-year-old both loved it, which I didn't expect given the kick. Must have been fresh jalapeños. Delicious, but a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 on the spice scale, and my tongue was feeling it.
The salsa had a similar kick, maybe a notch down, and was very liquidy with no real chunks of tomato. They offered us a second bowl for free. Very good chips overall, I'd say 8 out of 10.
Our food came out quickly. The kids loved their beef tacos, my wife finished her plain quesadilla, and I got the Al Pastor quesadilla.
I'd never had Al Pastor in quesadilla form before. Plenty of Al Pastor tacos, just never wrapped up like that. I went with it because fajitas sounded boring and Yelp had it as one of the best dishes here.
Lucky for me, the quesadilla was huge. It came with its own little salad, sour cream, and guacamole. I got about three-quarters of it down for dinner and took a quarter home to finish at lunch the day after. Very good portion size given how hungry I was.
The quesadilla had huge chunks of onion and pineapple grilled in with the chicken. You got a hint of sweetness from the pineapple in every bite. Subtle, more like the essence of the sugar than anything pineapple-y. Just a little sweet hit, and quite good.
I recommend mixing it with the guacamole and sour cream to get the full effect.
One note: it was incredibly hot temperature-wise. I had to let it cool down for five to 10 minutes before I could think about eating it, and even then it was still hot. I was stuck eating rice in the meantime, which was very good.
Overall, I give the food a 7.9/10. Very good, but not "best Mexican I've ever had" good. Great for the value.
El Potro Atmosphere And Miscellaneous
El Potro sits in a little strip mall next to a car dealership and its own "hacienda tienda" store. You get the standard Mexican 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 nice bar in the corner and TVs all around. Basically what you'd expect from a really well-cared-for, high-quality Mexican dive bar.
Nothing fancy here, no over-the-top Mexican decorations like you'd see at Mi Ranchito.
Plain tables, plain seats, but everything is well-kept.
Service is friendly and quick, and prices are very reasonable.
Parking At El Potro
Parking is 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
