Spanish for The Patron

Last month was Erin's pick, and she picked El Patron on Southwest Boulevard.  This modern Mexican restaurant had a very cool atmosphere with a bustling bar/dining area downstairs and a more laid back dining room upstairs. 

We end up dining upstairs, which was better for our group.  And as per usual, I owed appetizers.  Bummer, except....TWIST!  The appetizers were the bomb-diddly-bombaroo!  I ordered empanadas and they were great.  The empanada appetizer only comes with one empanada, but it is enough for two people to share as a starter (despite what the waiter tells you). 

Speaking of the waiter, the service at this place was bad.  Maybe it was just our waiter, but he was not attentive, and even after we asked for things 2 or 3 times, he still did not bring them.  And we always had to ask for stuff, he was never on top of it.  Very poor service.  And our reservation got mixed up.

Now that that unhappy business is out of the way, back to the food.  We also had nachos courtesy of another naughty non-blogger, and they were very good.  Luke especially liked them.

For my main dish, I had the skirt steak with cactus and a whole roasted onion.  The skirt steak was fantastic, perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, just terrific.  And the cactus was also superb.  I never had cactus before.  It is like a really tender pepper, but better.  Very, very good.  Wish I knew where I could by some to cook at home.  The whole cooked onion looked very appetizing and interesting on my plate, but I tried it, and it was still a little too strong, under cooked.  Maybe it was garnish, but it was on my plate and it was cooked so I ate it.  When in doubt, eat it, right Josh (see: summer sausage).  And I had a limeade which was good, not super sweet like most places.  I tasted the margarita - very strong.

And, I will say this: I like rice and beans.  I really, really like rice and beans.  But it was nice to eat at a Mexican restaurant where every dish is not bisecting a pond of rice and beans.  I will say that.

Overall  I thought it had a cool, modern atmosphere, the food was superb, the service was poor, and, as always, the company was great.  I give it a 3.6.