Tonight Kim and I did not feel like cooking and cleaning up with the weather being as nice as it is. I was kinda in the mood for Mexican and after passing by Teresa’s Mexican Restaurant in Lakeville last weekend, I was reminded that I wanted to check out El Patio in Lakeville where the now defunct and ever so popular Divinci’s Pizza once stood.
According to the Star Tribune, this is the *best* Mexican restaurant in the South Metro. With really only El Loro, El Azteca, and Teresa’s Mexican Restaurant to compete, I guess I can’t be all that impressed.
We walked in at 6:30 on a Friday and were greeted with a twenty minute wait. It only took about ten as one group of two didn’t respond within the thirty seconds deemed appropriate by the hostess and we were quickly ushered to our table next to the bar.
I don’t remember Divinci’s looking quite like this so it’s apparent that El Patio had at least a little work done to shoehorn themselves into the location. The space still looks nice but busy. While I didn’t feel like I was sitting in anyone’s lap, I wasn’t able to sit comfortably away from the table.
The service was fast and constantly there. Sometimes I appreciate being doted on but tonight, much like my experience at Rudy’s Redeye Grill, I did not. I asked the waiter three times to give me a few more minutes to look over the menu. I’m always looking at more than what I intend to order ;)
The menu is fairly typical with a bunch of Americanized dish names which sound somewhat cheesy: Guadalajara Special and Steak Mexicano to name two. I say that if you’re going to theme it up, “stay the course”. The prices are a little bit above what I remember from El Loro before I stopped eating there and a bit less than what the now defunct Papagayos Authentic Mexican Restaurant.
The waiter brought out fairly fresh chips and one kind of salsa. I do miss El Loro’s white sauce and El Azteca’s mild and hot salsas. While the chips and salsa were good, they were certainly nothing spectacular and not worth really writing home about. The waiter was happy to keep us stocked with fresh and warm chips as soon as we neared the bottom of the basket which was a nice touch.
Kim ordered the quesadilla fajita and I went with the Mazatlan. We waited about 25 minutes for our food to come out because the place was so busy. Mine looked like any other combo plate and was a shrimp and crab enchilada with a shrimp and cheese quesadilla. The crab meat was imitation and the shrimp appeared to be defrosted bagged salad shrimp like what Cub offers. The shrimp tortilla was simply grilled and lightly seasoned shrimp with melted white American cheese. It was nearly tasteless and actually quite boring — certainly not what I expected but I did come with high expectations with the glowing review received by the Star Tribune.
I am absolutely shocked that the Star Tribune reviewers said, that “you can’t go wrong with any dish containing shrimp. These are delicately cooked, fantastically fresh little morsels, not the rubbery, tough, old-tasting disappointments we’ve all had too often.” I don’t know if I just happened to be there on an off day (their review was posted 10 days ago) but I found nothing exciting about the shrimp dish I had.
Kim’s quesadilla fajita was magnitudes better than mine. While it wasn’t presented in the way she was expecting, she did let me know that it was good. We’re not talking top restaurant pick good but certainly nowhere near her experience at El Azteca that left her sick in the parking lot afterward.
My portion size was fairly small but Kim’s was too much for her and because I was still hungry, I was happy to help her finish the larger portion. As I said above, her’s was quite a bit more flavorful than mine and while I’d certainly never order what I had again, I would definitely eat her dish on a future visit.
Kim originally claimed that she didn’t want to eat so much that she was sick. I was on to her game but let her expound on her reasoning. Soon after she pushed the plate to me she asked if I knew if they had fried ice cream. I didn’t know but I saw what she was up to ;)
The waiter came with the bill but asked if we wanted any dessert. Kim’s eyes lit up and I asked if they offered fried ice cream. The waiter nodded and was gone. He came back with a good sized dish of ice cream topped with a mound of canned whipped cream and some chocolate syrup. Kim said that the dessert was quite tasty and was definitely the way to top off the evening. She was very impressed by how authentic it was. Far too often they just throw a scoop of ice cream on top of something fried rather than offering a tasty, sweet, fried treat to wrap the ice cream in. I personally would have been just as happy to get a orange creamsicle shake from Blue Sky Creamery next door, but I don’t get to make those choices ;)
Overall I would eat here again to give another menu option a try but I certainly don’t give it the same rave review that the Star Tribune did. YMMV.
Address:
17557 Glasgow Ave
Lakeville, MN 55044
Phone:
(952) 432-8811
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April 23rd, 2007 at 10:21 am
Weird, when I look up this location on Google Maps it plots with roads as seen here but when I plot it using the GMap module it comes up to an area without Glasgow Ave and thus I had to force it with coordinates.
Very, very odd.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:52 am
Have you tried Teresa’s in Lakeville? What did you think? I’ve eaten there a few times and found the food to be good. Their chicken soup is fantastic.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:53 am
No, I haven’t gotten out there yet but I wanted to try El Patio because the Star Tribune had such great things to say about it. Kim has had her fill of Mexican food for a while…
Call me dense but I should really know better by now and not listen to a word that they say.
April 25th, 2007 at 11:47 am
El Patio doesn’t really have an outdoor patio do they?
April 25th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Surprisingly enough, they do not ;) I was going to mention that in my original post but I forgot.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
“The food isn’t like the Mexican food you’ll find on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Most of El Patio’s dishes aren’t overly spicy and generally don’t include traditional seasonings such as cilantro.”
I just read the Star Trib review that I excerpted above. I didn’t really need to read any further to know that I would find the food disappointing. I don’t know how not including “traditional seasonings such as cilantro” could produce anything other than disappointing results. I read that as Americanized food made for mid-western pallets. Now, I’m not saying that Teresa’s or any other place that I frequent is 100% authentic, but I do know that the food is at least made with the “traditional seasonings such as cilantro” left in.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
“The food isn’t like the Mexican food you’ll find on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Most of El Patio’s dishes aren’t overly spicy and generally don’t include traditional seasonings such as cilantro.”
I just read the Star Trib review that I excerpted above. I didn’t really need to read any further to know that I would find the food disappointing. I don’t know how not including “traditional seasonings such as cilantro” could produce anything other than disappointing results. I read that as Americanized food made for mid-western pallets. Now, I’m not saying that Teresa’s or any other place that I frequent is 100% authentic, but I do know that the food is at least made with the “traditional seasonings such as cilantro” left in.
September 18th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I hope the managment of this restaurant reads this!!
Last Fri a friend of mine and myself visited your restaurant for lunch. I just wanted to let you know that we both agreed that our lunch was the WORST Mexican Food we have ever had.
Needless to say…..we will never go to your restaurant again!!!!
September 19th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I’m surprised that El Patio is still open. I haven’t heard one good thing about it from anyone who’s been there. Try Teresa’s next time you’re in the mood for Mexican food. The service is quick and friendly and the food has been great each time I’ve been there.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:50 am
I have eaten at el patio many times and have found it to be one of my favorite restaurants. The fajitas rancheras are my favorite. They Have recently added a full bar and have made many new margaritas. the service is wonderful and the staff couldn’t be nicer. The host was friendly and quick. The chefs were also quick and made very good food. It only took about 10 or 15 minutes to get my food, and I was with 4 other people who also ordered grilled food.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I don’t know…since this topic got revived, I’ll throw in my two cents. My visits there (three) have all been fine. Clearly, and as the Trib points out, this isn’t the authentic Mexican taqueria where you’ll get your huaraches served on hand-pressed masa or cabeza tacos on house-made tortillas. But if you’re looking for a good fajita, and I sometimes am, they’re as good as any in the south metro. In my experience they rank favorably with Teresa’s, El Azteca, El Loro, etc. although the latter two have a few dishes which have more authentic characteristics.
Up until recently, I only knew of one actual taqueria in the south metro (Hidalgo) in Burnsville’s “Heart of the City” (the strip mall with Caribou and Subway). Recently, I heard there is an outpost of Taqueria La Hacienda at the intersection of Highway 13 and County Road 5 (The “Ass of the City” pretty much).
Taqueria La Hacienda is one of the best taquerias on Lake Street and, though I haven’t been to the Burnsville location, are generally known for having some of the best al Pastor in MSP. If you like the food of the Mexican common man, or the Lake Street taqueria scene, it’s surely worth a trip across Burnsville.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:21 pm
the intersection of Highway 13 and County Road 5 (The “Ass of the City” pretty much).
Ain’t that the truth! :)
August 10th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
[...] left without a car, Josh came up and spent Saturday and Sunday morning with me. We went to lunch at El Patio in Lakeville and while it was better than the first time I ate there with Kim all those years ago, [...]
August 21st, 2008 at 5:08 pm
A phone number to contact the resturant, would be nice!
August 21st, 2008 at 5:56 pm
If you found my site I’m not sure why you didn’t see their phone number. Google returned it right at the top of the results:
17557 Glasgow Ave
Lakeville, MN 55044
(952) 432-8811
I have added it to the post above as well.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:02 am
Bill, would you please provide directions too (from all four directions)? Yeah, I know there are 1,000 other ways I can get directions myself, but logically, it’s your job to do it for us.
This blog is a public service after all, isn’t it?
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 am
Is there a booth or table that I can sit in where the sun will not be in my eyes if I go at lunch time? What time is it? Why is the place called El Patio?
September 1st, 2008 at 3:33 pm
[...] and Kim said she was pleased that we finally found a Mexican restaurant we could eat at being that El Patio is pathetically mediocre and I boycott El Loro due to my issues with their requiring the scanning [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:59 am
[...] does. There are a couple of other Mexican restaurants around with Teresa’s, El Parian, El Patio, El Loro, and El Etc (heh) but none of them offer anything much different than the others. I really [...]
October 29th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
[...] Brothers, Majors, Rascal’s Apple Valley Bar and Grill, Carbone’s Lakeville, El Azteca, El Patio, and Ole Piper. Guess which ones serve [...]