An Average Joe in San Antonio

San Antonio is a place full of Mexican food, but most of it is of the Tex-Mex variety.  Where would you go to get some of the authentic stuff?  Look no further than Guajillo’s on 410 and Blanco (in fact, I would suggest that you open their website while you read this review to get you in the mood; you’ll know what I am talking about when you open it), where you can get some fare that could be found on the streets of Mexico City.

The salsa that came with the chips lit me up; the waiter said that it was made with the namesake of the restaurant, the Guajillo chili.  I don’t know if I have ever had that type of chili before, but the salsa had an orange looking tint to it and was incredibly spicy.  In fact, I actually had to leave the table to grab a Kleenex because it had cleared my sinuses right out.  Then again, the spice could also have come from the michelada that I was drinking…

The waiters were very friendly, but when I asked them some of their suggestions from the menu, I got the “everything here is good” response.  That response kind of irks me, I mean, a waiter should have a preference on what they really like at their particular restaurant.  At least that is my opinion.

Since everything on the menu was good, I was going to rely on my own preferences.  I decided on ordering the Tinga de Pollo which was shredded chicken stewed with onion and chipotle peppers.  The dish had a kind of red tint to it and had a very rich taste to it (that was also pretty spicy too!).  It almost tasted like a stewed chicken, except it was served on the plate.

Overall, I would say that the food was pretty good, the service pretty good, and the atmosphere pretty good, but for whatever reason, I didn’t really think of the place as being all that memorable.  It’s weird, but I can’t think of much more to write than that.

Value: 7.5/10 (about $10 for a dinner plate)
Atmosphere: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10 (it wasn’t bad, but I got the “everything is good here” response)
Salsa: 9.5/10 (really good salsa with a color and a firey taste that I haven’t seen in San Antone)
Taste: 7.5/10 (good with a spicy flavor)
View Larger Map

I decided to try a place suggested to me in Southtown for some breakfast today, El Sol Bakery and Bistro.  Tacked on to a traditional Mexican Bakery is a bistro that serves different healthy breakfast options.  I thought that this might be a nice change from biscuits and gravy or chilaquiles that I love so much.

As you arrive into the bistro portion of the building, you are surely to be greeted by a rather tall man who is full of life.  He will welcome you enthusiastically and encourage you to take a seat in the restaurant.  I thought it would be best to sit at the bar as I was just by myself.

I started off with a cappuccino, however, it would have been smarter to have just got a cup of coffee as that comes with the meal.  That’s all right, because the cappuccino was a pleasant surprise, it was made with Segafredo beans on their branded machine; heck, I even got my sugar in the little tube like packet and it was served with their branded cup.  They even gave me a cookie from the bakery to accompany the cappuccino.  All the sudden I felt as if I was transported back to Italy.

As much as I wanted the whole grain waffle, I decided to go with the #7 whole grain mini French loaves that had cheese, tomato, and bacon on them.  I also got yogurt and granola on the side.  How’s that for a light breakfast!

The meal was very tasty with the bread really soft and the saltiness of the bacon paired well with the tomato.  I was actually really impressed with how good it came out.  The yogurt was no slouch either with a lot of real fruit mixed in with it.  Overall a very satisfactory breakfast, and had I got coffee that came with the meal, I would have only been out $6 for breakfast.

European-esque breakfast at El Sol

You do need to note that this is a bistro that is very encouraging of their clients sticking around and talking with each other; in other words, they are not in a hurry at all.  In fact, I got there, took a leisurely breakfast while reading the paper, and when I left no one who was there when I first arrived was gone!  It took me quite a while to get my bill, but I owe that to the fact that (1) this was a pretty relaxed environment and (2) the man behind the counter was also bustling back and forth into the bakery.  If you have a long time to relax and want a healthy breakfast alternative, I would encourage you to give them a shot.

Value: 7 to 9/10 (the specialty coffee drinks are expensive, but if you just stick to the coffee that comes with your meal you can get out for like $6)
Atmosphere: 9/10 (there is a relaxed bistro feel; music is not piped over speakers, but you can hear it on an oldies station coming out of a boom box)
Service: 8.5/10 (the gentleman was very friendly and outgoing; if you are in a rush, don’t even attempt to eat here though as it can be a little slow (owing to the relaxed atmosphere))
Taste: 8.5/10 (overall enjoyed the meal and will be back to try them again)
View Larger Map

My girl roommate was having a lot of folks come into town for the weekend, so while she was waiting for all of them to get in, we decided to take a group out to Willie’s Ice House, one of her favorite restaurants.  We went to the one of the new locations on 1604 and NW Military, and the place was PACKED!  It seems as though Willie really knows how to do the business!

Let me just get this out of the way immediately; I hate the ordering process at Willie’s.  You have to wait in a long line just to put in your order and then you sit down at a table.  You then get a waitress who waits on you for the remainder of your meal.  So he/she basically does everything but take your order.  This makes no sense to me and I think that is just flat out confusing…

That being said, the table got two appetizers, fried pickles/jalapeños and a large order of onion rings.  Both of these appetizers were amazing!  The pickles and jalapeños came with some ranch dressing and nacho cheese to dip in.  The onion rings were probably overkill, but you get a huge mountain of them for $6 and they are the flakey type of onion rings that I like, so even though it was a bit much, it was still nice!

Look at this mound of delicious onion rings!

I ended up ordering a blackened tilapia dish that came with rice, green beans and a side salad (proving that you can indeed eat healthy at Willies if you leave out the fried appetizers!).  The salad and green beans were both delicious as they were really fresh vegetables.  I know that a lot of people love tilapia because it is not a “fishy” fish, but it had a great taste to it; I only wish that the blackened seasoning had a little more of a bite to it.

The tilapia was nice, but I wish it was a little spicier.

Overall a pleasant night out, with a very friendly waitress that put up with a lot of our joking and even dished out some of her own.  Definitely worth a stop to try them out if you haven’t.

Value: 8/10 (the main courses are reasonable for dinner (sub $8), but the beer can be a little expensive)
Atmosphere: 9/10 (old signs, tons of beer, and a sandbox for the kiddos)
Service: 9/10 (great service by the manager to both get us a table inside due to the pending rainstorm and great service from our waitress throughout the night; the only reason they get dinged is because of that dumb ordering system)
Taste: 9.5/10 (great taste all the way around, from the appetizers to the main course)
View Larger Map