Battle of Fredericksburg’s Mexican Restaurants
In May a few of my readers talked about a new Mexican restaurant near Southpoint in my Cinco De Mayo post. I am a tried and true El Charro fan. My husband and I have been going there since we moved to Fredericksburg in 2003. However, we are always up for a new restaurant experience and decided to visit Mexico Restaurant because so many of you told us to. I’m going to go ahead and let you know, we’ll be sticking with El Charro. Now, I’m not saying that Mexico was bad. Actually the food was very comparable to El Charro. The ambiance may be a little better at Mexico. But there are three things that El Charro has that Mexico does not.
First, you can’t order by number at Mexico. I know! This is ludicrous! My husband and I stared at the menu for a good 15 minutes searching for a #5 and a #21. No matter what Mexican restaurants we have eaten at before, we’ve always been able to order our favorites, #5 and #21. Mexico does have a pretty extensive menu, but it becomes rather confusing. We need an easy menu to read, and a #5 and #21. Second, the prices at Mexico are higher than at El Charro. Maybe this is because you can’t order by number. A #5 at El Charro, 2 enchiladas, beans, and rice, costs $6.95. A comparable meal at Mexico cost $9.95. Yes, it’s only $3, but $3 per entrée can add up. Also, unlimited chips and salsa are free at El Charro. After your first basket at Mexico, it is a $1 per refill. Again, it doesn’t seem like a lot of extra money, but ordering one extra basket along with the increase cost in the entrées, we are now spending $7 more. Third, El Charro has better service than Mexico. (At least the night we went). Our server went missing for long periods of time. We never got drink refills. And, we had to ask the manager for our check. We’ve never had this problem at El Charro. Although the food came out faster at Mexico, I can’t say that was very comforting. I hate to think of pre-prepared Mexican food sitting under heat lamps waiting hours to be ordered.
My husband and I will definitely appreciate El Charro more the next time we go. I’m not saying Mexico was bad. Mexico just didn’t meet my expectations or live up to the hype. El Charro wins the battle of the Mexican restaurants.
