Archive for August, 2006
El Charritos Mexican Restaurant
4703 Central Ave NW
(505) 836-2464
Hours: Mondays 8am-2pm; Tues-Sun 8am-7pm
(map)
El Charritos mexican restaurant is a west side favorite of mine. Nestled between a tire shop and gas station, El Charittos is the diamond in the rough. I have been eating at El Charritos since I was a kid. The old building and the paring lot used to be where the current parking lot is. For breakfast I would always get the ham and cheese sandwich with steak fries and a hot chocolate. Time went buy and i moved away for a while. Coming back the old El Charritos is long gone, in its place is a new building and landscaped parking lot.
El Charritos menu includes classic New Mexican and American entrees. My last visit for lunch I had the carne adovada plate. It came with a huge portion of carne adovada, rice and beans. The carne adovada was perfect. I also have had the combination enchilada, relleno and taco plate. The enchilada and relleno were great and the taco was good. The portions are generous and served hot. most meals are accompanied by warm sopapillas with honey. Having eaten at El Charritos a lot recently, I have to say that his might be the best tasting New Mexican food in the city. I know that is a bold statement, but their food is top notch and cooked to perfection. While El Charritos isn’t known for having the biggest plates, hottest chile or best prices. It just has wonderful tasting food.
The seating is table and chairs with some booths along the back wall. The service was pretty good. The wait staff is very fast but a bit rushed. The greeter is usually very friendly and offers you a choice of seating. Sunday for lunch you will see a mariachi group playing as you eat. During lunch on weekdays can be a bit crowded with politicians and professionals from downtown. I think everyone should give El Charritos on west central a try at least once.
Taste:
[rate 9.5]
Service:
[rate 8.5]
Ambiance:
[rate 7]
Overall Reader Rating
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3325 San Mateo Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
(505) 884-8787
(505) 798-0107
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Nana’s is a restaurant that is best classified as family-style Italian American dining. It is a small and intimate Italian restaurant. You are given bread to start with, which was soft and tasty. Each entrée is served with a choice of soup or salad at no extra cost. The salad is one of those small plate salads with iceberg lettuce, a huge tomato and a large piece of onion. The food here is pretty good and has a unique flavor. The dishes that I would recommend are the Beef or Crab Ravioli, Antipasti Salad, and Calzones. The Small Calzone was a bargain. I also had the Ravioli Sampler which came with chicken and beef ravioli and some spaghetti on the side. The sampler was very good, but i almost couldn’t taste the difference between the chicken and the beef. The price range is about $10, which is about average for an Italian American restaurant in Albuquerque. Although they do have some dishes over priced, like the Chicken Parmesan which is $12.99.
The service I was quite disappointing when we first came in to the restaurant, no one greeted us for at least five minutes. The waitresses just keep walking right in front of us and didn’t even say ” Well be right with you” or something. It wasn’t a good start to the evenings dining experience. That said, all of our servers were really nice and they are not too busy to get everything you need when you need it. They were friendly and informal, which matched the atmosphere perfectly. It’s a laid back atmosphere so you wont be given a 5 minute speech on the history or specials of the restaurant, its just boils down to the food here. The kitchen is not viewable, but you can hear conversations from that area because it is right behind the seating area. There is not much decoration except for the traditional green and red Italian colors that are displayed everywhere.
I would recommend this restaurant to those that don’t mind being a part of a small, social restaurant and who want to try some good Italian food.
Taste:
[rate 7.5]
Service:
[rate 7]
Ambiance:
[rate 7]
Overall Reader Rating
[ratings]
2011 Mountain Rd NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
(505) 843-6358
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If it is private and romantic to cook a nice meal in your own home for company, how about a restaurant that lets you do that without all of the preparation and cleanup. The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant that offers private booths and all of the ingredients and cookware right in front of you, so you can make prepare and cook your own food. This establishment began in Maitland, Florida in 1975 and now has over 100 locations nationwide.
This restaurant offers all of the necessities to impress anyone you take along, whether its business or personal. They offer cheese fondue, salads, wine, entrees, signature fondue, and chocolate fondue. When I went I had the “fondue for two” which offers a three-course meal (excluding the dessert portion). A large fondue pot was placed in the center of the table, with meats, batters and sauces filling up a good part of the table surrounding it. You take your extended fork and stab a meat or vegetable, then coat it in a batter, and place it in the pot to cook. Once you get it out you let it cool for a bit and dip it into one of your sauces. The great thing about it was that I had a fun time making my food, trying to find the best batter and dipping sauce to go with my meats (chicken, shrimp, salmon, and teriyaki-marinated sirloin). This isn’t an eat-and-go restaurant, the atmosphere is very comfortable so you can take your time and enjoy yourself. For those who don’t like or want to try the fondue, they also have a very good selection of entrees including a French Quarter Sandwich, Lobster Tail, Shrimp & Sirloin, and Filet Mignon dishes. If you take a look at the wine list, they have a very large selection and can offer some very premium wines. The drawback of course is high prices, but that is what you expect from a restaurant that offers choice ingredients and atmosphere.
One of the most impressive parts is the service here. They are extremely knowledgeable about the history and menu and will likely spend about 5 to 10 minutes explaining everything to you on your first visit. They know it is a comfortable social setting and do not try to get you out as fast as possible, once you begin your meal they will only interrupt to refill drinks and setup each course. You can have that intimate feeling in this restaurant because the servers try not to intrude unless they’re needed.
The atmosphere is great and you are seated in a private booth, completely secluded from the view of other tables. The majority of the restaurant has dim lighting and the booths are better lit so you can see what you’re doing. It is very private and elegant, just what you want if you want to impress a date or business associate. I think it’s a unique experience and I would recommend it for those willing to drop some cash for the same.
Taste:
[rate 8]
Service:
[rate 8]
Ambiance:
[rate 8]
Overall Reader Rating
[ratings]
10041 Coors Road NW,
Albuquerque NM, 87114
Phone: 505-792-9222
Fax: 505-792-9333
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Zio’s is an Italian kitchen that markets itself as a restaurant offering good Italian food and atmosphere within a good price range. It is not a formal setting so this is a restaurant that suits the family experience and you can watch your food being prepared by oven or open flames as it offers an open kitchen to the seating area. Zio’s is a chain managed by Mazzio’s, a large corporation with restaurants located mainly in the Oklahoma and Texas areas. However, this Italian kitchen located on the Cottonwood Mall grounds is the first of this chain to reside in New Mexico.
The main selling factor for me is the modest prices for the majority of entrees. The average price of an entrée is in the $7 - $8 range with house features getting up to $13. For the most part the ingredients used are very basic and do not extend to exotic Italian ingredients, like some dishes you will find at Trombinos or the Macaroni Grill. But hey, how many people out there really care about the difference between regular and buffalo mozzarella anyway? Like any Italian restaurant, the heart of any dish is the sauce, and in this restaurant I would recommend three very good ones to try; their Marinara, Spicy Alfredo, and Spinach Artichoke sauces. My recommendations for appetizers are the Bruschetta and Pepperoni Bread. For entrees I would recommend the Seafood and Spicy Fettuccini Alfredo’s, Salmon Dijon Pasta, Marco Polo Salad (a unique salad with a sweet strawberry/raspberry flavor), Chicken Marsala, and Chicken Cannelloni. One thing this restaurant is missing is the inclusion of veal, which is traditional for Italian dishes. From the brick oven they have excellent calzones, but I would say that the pizzas are average. The desserts are also well priced in the $4 range and you get your money’s worth with the Tiramisu and Wedding Cake.
The area that this restaurant needs the most work in is organizing their entrée preparation among the sauté, salad, and brick oven areas. They seem to not be in sync a lot of times, especially on busy nights as the pizza/calzone area seems to be slow to complete orders (a warning to those ordering a pizza or calzone, or well done ribeye for that matter). So the pasta dishes can be made very quickly while the oven area will drag the ticket for a long time. Other open kitchens like the Macaroni Grill offer a much more cohesive assembly and entrees are prepared in both areas at around the same time. The service is about average, but you will find really good service from a few of the servers at this restaurant. It’s a very laid back operation so they are not expected to know everything, but the menu here is very informative as to what is in your dishes and how it is served.
It is a very chain-like atmosphere in this restaurant, just like what you would expect to find in a mall parking lot. The Italian décor is mainly painted on to the walls and the walls are decorated with a vast collection of artistic olive oil bottles. The tables are dressed with white construction paper and crayons to suit the family (aka occupying the kids while you eat). So I would recommend this restaurant to those looking to take the family to eat and to those that want to visit an Italian restaurant without spending a lot of cash.
Taste:
[rate 7]
Service:
[rate 5]
Ambiance:
[rate 4]
Overall Reader Rating
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