Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Referring to NewUser's Mexican restaurant categories
Quote:
1. Fast Food Mexican: This would be Taco Bueno or Taco Bell-type places.
2. Counter Service Mexican: This would be Salsa Fresh, Moes, Chipotle, Quedoba, and all of those other burrito places.
3. Pre-Made Sit Down Mexican: Los Tres Magueyes, et al. These are restaurants that have a waitstaff and serve Mexican food, but the food is all pre-made and tastes like it came out of a jar, can, or plastic wrap. If you go to any of them, you'll notice that everything tastes the same or has the same consistency.
4. Home-made Sit Down Mexican: Ahhh.. The holy grail. The salsa is chunky and you can see the cilantro and jalapeno. The chips are still a little greasy and are thin and crispy. There is a tortilla oven in the corner plopping out nice hot floury tortillas, the meat tastes like it was cooked in lard, the margaritas are made with real lime juice, etc etc.
We decided to take advantage of the gps' "Mexican restaurant" section to check out a new one (to us).
Torero's Restaurant & Authentic Mexican Cuisine | Raleigh, Durham, Goldsboro, Cary, Roxboro, Statesville (broken link)
They have nine locations in NC, but we went to the one off of 15/501 in Durham. The interesting thing was that they had an appetizer menu tucked in the main menu that was written entirely in Spanish and had unique items. One thing I remember was that they had menudo (a soup traditionally made with tripe, not sure what theirs has in it).
They also had another loose menu insert that had lots of specials on it, but this one written in English. The hubby and I both ordered sampler type plates from the specials menu. The plates were huge About a 12 inch diameter. We'll be eating the leftovers again sometime :P
My plate had an enchilada with real chile colorado sauce, a stuffed chili, a greasy shredded chicken taquito, refried beans that tasted just like my abuelita's, and tomato-onion-green pepper fried rice. The salsa was freshly made (I asked to be sure), and had cilantro floating around in it. Mildly spicy with a strong cilantro flavor. The chips were warm, greasy, thin and crispy
I highly recommend checking it out. Note if you go to the particular location we did via gps...you may miss it b/c you assume it's in the shopping center with the Target, but it's actually on a little street in front of the shopping center that is parallel to 15/501. You'll see the four big chicken pinatas dangling in the front
We sat outside where they had a big ceiling fan going and some international soccer playing on a tv (in Spanish of course). They have a drink special every day - we had pina coladas that I think were $2.75. Mon - Thurs kids eat free - one per adult. My guys had fun dancing to the Mexican fiesta music while we were waiting for the check
PS. The flour tortillas are the real deal. 75 cents for a side of them which is a huge stack, fresh and warm in a tortilla holder.
PPS. The service was outstanding. Our waiter, three or four other waiter types, the manager, and who I assume were the owner all checked on us periodically. Our kids even got water refills in their straw cups (you parents will know what a big deal that is - most waiters completely forget the kids' waters).
Great review. That's actually from what I hear the best of all the Torero's around, per my co-workers (though none of them have tried the Roxboro Torero's.) My friends at work and I will actually bypass a couple of other, closer Torero's (lncluding *cough* *cough* the Duke & Main one) to go to that 15-501 Torero's.
Maybe I had a bad experience at the 15-501 location. The food seems to taste better from the main street location. I've eaten at the one in Cary as well. The salsa did not seem very fresh. My salsa is always fresh from the Main street one. I swear by the one on Main street. I love to get the Molcajete (spanish stew) with flour tortillas. Great salty margaritas and awesome service! I've eaten there so many times I can't keep track. You didn't like that one BCR? I have to try the one on Roxboro Street since some of my pals swear by that one.
Last edited by danadana; 06-16-2007 at 05:58 PM..
Reason: spelling
Dang! We tried to eat here tonight and couldn't find it. I took a chance and decided it must be the one on Chapel Hill Blvd. Unfortunately, when I cut and pasted the address from Torero's webpage into Google Maps, it was changed to 4125 Old Chapel Hill Rd. We drove around for 15 minutes looking for it. We then tried to call the restaurant to get directions, but everyone only spoke broken English and there was a lot of background restaurant noise. We ended up giving up and driving to the Streets at Southpoint for dinner. I'm bummed.
That sounds yummy! I was wondering about the availability of good Mexican food in the Triangle area.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
About a 12 inch diameter. We'll be eating the leftovers again sometime :P 
I actually LOVE the main street Torero's
