On a whim, my boyfriend and I went to dinner at El Tapatio March 4. We arrived at about 6 p.m. and were sat almost immediately. Our waiter came to get our drink orders and within ten minutes of being sat and getting my drink, I was able to order my dinner and have it placed in front of me.

The feel of the restaurant was as if I stepped into a movie. The furniture had a very traditional vibe to it and there was mariachi sounding music playing throughout our meal.

I ordered the “enchiladas supremas” that comes with four rolled corn tortillas: One beef, one chicken, one cheese and one bean, topped with enchilada red sauce, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. All for the low price of $8.49 before tax.  I’m not a fan of raw tomatoes so I asked the waiter to make sure they weren’t included.

Before dinner was served we had complementary chips and salsa .The chips were the right crispness but needed a little more salt. The salsa was a perfect match for my taste buds. Not too hot, not too sweet and had the perfect combination of onion, cilantro, and tomato.

When the food came out, my mouth watered. While the presentation was not the prettiest, the food smelled and tasted amazing. I started by eating the cheese enchilada. The cheese went perfectly with the corn tortilla, sour cream, and lettuce. The flavors were very satisfying and set the bar high. After that I tried the chicken enchilada. The seasoning of the shredded chicken made my taste buds very happy and continued to set the bar higher for the next.

With the bar already up to my ears I was pretty disappointed by the beef enchilada. The way the meat had a lackluster flavor didn’t match the excellence of the previous enchiladas.

While the bean enchilada was better than the beef, the flavor of the beans was a little overpowered by the red sauce.

Despite the sad ending to the enchiladas, the meal itself was good. The food was brought to me in a timely manner and for three out of the four enchiladas,I was pretty surprised by the difference in flavors all coming together.

To finish off my El Tapatio experience, I ordered the chimichanga for dessert. It looked amazing. A tortilla sprinkled with cinnamon then drizzled in cherry and chocolate sauce with cheese cake stuffing in the middle was heavenly. It was definitely worth $3.99.

The service was impeccable and I was pleasantly surprised by the attention to detail from our waiter. He was very attentive and we never had empty drinks. I ate everything and ordered dessert by 6:40 and we were out of there by 7 p.m.