After each of us spent a small fortune (though well worth it!) at Blue Duck Tavern celebrating Amanda’s birthday last month, we decided to be nice to our wallets for our January dinner and head to a casual Latin restaurant, El Tamarindo. Mike, our trusty waiter from Blue Duck, recommended El Tamarindo as having inexpensive and authentic fare, and the thought of a fresh margarita in the dead of winter is always an added incentive. The restaurant is located at the corner of 18th Street and Florida Avenue in NW DC, right at the base of Adams Morgan. The concept of parking in this neighborhood on a Friday night was a little worrisome for the drivers in the group, but we lucked out with good spots and made ourselves at home in the warm and festive restaurant.
The dinner started out as so many others, with the exception of a bottle of Cholula that decided to explode and run all over our table before our orders were taken. Once cleaned up, we quickly ordered drinks (a pitcher of margarita on the rocks for three of us and a delicious frozen passion fruit margarita for Molly) and a number of appetizers. The guacamole was decent, though a little bland for my liking, but the pupusas were excellent. The menu is expansive and choosing entrees proved difficult, not to mention that it’s hard to decide on food when none of us can seem to stop talking for more than .2 seconds. But finally, we made decisions ranging from crispy beef tacos, sautéed chicken in Ranchero sauce, Enchiladas verdes and soft tacos with steak.
The food was good, but not great. Heavy and smothered in cheese is definitely desirable on some occasions (I’m thinking the business they get from the Adams Morgan drunkards at 3 am is booming), but it left most of us feeling bloated and uncomfortable. And the service was friendly, but very slow. Overall, it was decent but no better (in our opinion) than most Mexican food that you might get at a dozen other similar places. I can see that its location in this neighborhood has made it a local staple, and the fact that it stays open until 5 am on the weekends is a smart call for the masses who need to soak up the booze on a Saturday night. But for us FDP’s, it was just OK.
The dinner started out as so many others, with the exception of a bottle of Cholula that decided to explode and run all over our table before our orders were taken. Once cleaned up, we quickly ordered drinks (a pitcher of margarita on the rocks for three of us and a delicious frozen passion fruit margarita for Molly) and a number of appetizers. The guacamole was decent, though a little bland for my liking, but the pupusas were excellent. The menu is expansive and choosing entrees proved difficult, not to mention that it’s hard to decide on food when none of us can seem to stop talking for more than .2 seconds. But finally, we made decisions ranging from crispy beef tacos, sautéed chicken in Ranchero sauce, Enchiladas verdes and soft tacos with steak.
The food was good, but not great. Heavy and smothered in cheese is definitely desirable on some occasions (I’m thinking the business they get from the Adams Morgan drunkards at 3 am is booming), but it left most of us feeling bloated and uncomfortable. And the service was friendly, but very slow. Overall, it was decent but no better (in our opinion) than most Mexican food that you might get at a dozen other similar places. I can see that its location in this neighborhood has made it a local staple, and the fact that it stays open until 5 am on the weekends is a smart call for the masses who need to soak up the booze on a Saturday night. But for us FDP’s, it was just OK.
Rating: 2 Oinks
