El Rodeo Restaurant - Mexican on Kensington Ave

Dan Dan Noodle
Submitted by Dan Dan Noodle on Sun, 2012-01-15 14:57

Forums:

We tried the new Mexican restaurant on the 2500 block of Kensington Ave. It's located right next to Cafe Pho Ga Thanh Thanh (across the street from Thang Long). Overall a solidly good experience.

Started with the freebie chips and dip. (Not sure if the word "salsa" is applicable here or not.) The chips were the low point of the meal. They were just there. The Mexican restaurant equivalent of store-brand Saltines. The chips get a D from me. Judy liked them a little better and probably would give them a B-. The dip was a creamy-orange (I'm thinking tomato-based) spicy sauce. Very tasty. A solid B.

Got an order of guacamole. This was VERY GOOD guacamole. Homemade, and lots of avocado goodness. It had some lime and cilantro, but you didn't taste it very much. It was not spicy. If you like guacamole where you taste a lot of spices and is very complex, you probably wouldn't like this. But if you like guacamole that tastes like avocado, you should love it. I give it an A. The highlight of the meal for me.

We had three different kind of tacos - al pastor, carnitas, & bistec. All three were very competently done. I'd give them a solid B. Maybe even a B+ for the carnitas.

Prices were affordable. Tacos are $2/each. A single serving of guacamole is $3. They have a nice selection of Mexican sodas. Also a fair amount of "American" food.

One note: The waitress didn't really speak English, which ended up costing us a little extra. Judy ordered guacamole and we were quite impressed by the generous serving size - until the bill arrived and we discovered it was a double order. We were happy to pay it for what we got, but that could be an issue for some.

Overall, not a "wow" for us, but definitely a "worth the price" place.

—

"Preoccupied with vilifying the opposition, we're unable to perceive both sides of an issue and find a way to accommodate them both, albeit imperfectly. Pursuing total victory takes precedence over problem-solving." - Joseph Burgo

Kenzo's picture

Kenzo

Sun, 2012-01-15 17:13

You got the circular today, too?

I ordered chicken fajitas. The interior is pretty much the way I remember a restaurant in the barrio should be like.

Except there wasn't the big red plastic glasses every decent authentic Mexican place must have. I ordered tortillas and I got maizecorn which was good.

One note: I don't know what region of Mexico the cook is from, but it's not Northern Mexico/Texas. The tomato cream salsa isn't TexMex and they probably use that to sell to gringos and other non-Mexicans when hot pico or green or dark brown chilli salsa would be better.

I agree with you on the chips Dan... those were not fresh. They are supposed to be hot and oily to the touch and not taste heavy at all.

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Philadelinquency.com - The Underbelly of Philadelphia Real Estate

Kenzo's picture

Kenzo

Sun, 2012-01-15 17:15

I could tell the ordering was going to be interesting so I ordered in Spanish. The cook in the back knows better English than the lady who was doing the waitservice.

Only alt weeklies in the corner was Al Dia so I spent the entire meal reading about Obama's changes to deportation procedures for undocumented migrants, in Spanish.

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Philadelinquency.com - The Underbelly of Philadelphia Real Estate

Jordan's picture

Jordan

Sun, 2012-01-15 17:43

They left a circular at my house today, too. I'm going to check it out. Sounds delicious.

—

A. Jordan Rushie
Attorney and Counselor at Law
2424 East York Street, Suite 316
Philadelphia, PA 19125 215.385.LAW1 (5291)
Blog: www.phillylawblog.com
Website: www.fishtownlaw.com

Jordan's picture

Jordan

Sun, 2012-01-15 17:44

Or better yet, maybe we'll get them to deliver to Luke's.

—

A. Jordan Rushie
Attorney and Counselor at Law
2424 East York Street, Suite 316
Philadelphia, PA 19125 215.385.LAW1 (5291)
Blog: www.phillylawblog.com
Website: www.fishtownlaw.com

Kenzo's picture

Kenzo

Sun, 2012-01-15 18:25

Awwya... half a dozen tamales and XXies

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Philadelinquency.com - The Underbelly of Philadelphia Real Estate

lighterthief's picture

lighterthief

Sun, 2012-01-15 19:55

I am excited to check it out, while my TX cred is not as solid as others on the board (and like ftown if your not born there, your not from there) I spent a good long time there and my love of mexican and tex-mex endures and another option in the hood is exciting. Cant be more off than the chinese run mexican joint in my old qns hood... baby corn and steamed white rice in a burrito? that was weird.

—

Empty factories to the east and all our waste
The shape of things that came shows on the broken workers face

floppysoles's picture

floppysoles

Tue, 2012-01-17 11:03

I like Taco Bell

—

Here I sit broken hearted, paid a quarter and only farted.

Dan Dan Noodle

Dan Dan Noodle

Tue, 2012-01-17 11:25

floppysoles wrote:
I like Taco Bell

I give in for the occasional 2:30 am indulgence.
With no White Castles around, it's the best option for really cheap bad food in the middle of the night.

—

"Preoccupied with vilifying the opposition, we're unable to perceive both sides of an issue and find a way to accommodate them both, albeit imperfectly. Pursuing total victory takes precedence over problem-solving." - Joseph Burgo

th's picture

th

Tue, 2012-01-17 12:08

I tried it on Friday for lunch. My first impression was the "American" heavy menu. Lots of deli type stuff and chicken parm. Seemed like they were trying to hard to be everything. So I wasn't expecting to much.

I ordered the chicken burrito. To my surprise it was really good! It was huge. The rice was great - lots of veggies and best of all potatoes. The Beans and chicken were also good.

It came with a very large side of guacamole - Dan's right, it was by far the best thing on the plate.

Over all, if I'm wanting mexican, I'm going to Que Chula Es Puebla. But I will go back if I'm just in the mood for a burrito.

—

Mm, mm good.

bozoloper's picture

bozoloper

Tue, 2012-01-17 12:12

th wrote:
I tried it on Friday for lunch. My first impression was the "American" heavy menu. Lots of deli type stuff and chicken parm. Seemed like they were trying to hard to be everything. So I wasn't expecting to much.

I ordered the chicken burrito. To my surprise it was really good! It was huge. The rice was great - lots of veggies and best of all potatoes. The Beans and chicken were also good.

It came with a very large side of guacamole - Dan's right, it was by far the best thing on the plate.

Over all, if I'm wanting mexican, I'm going to Que Chula Es Puebla. But I will go back if I'm just in the mood for a burrito.

how much was the burrito?

—

so speaketh the loper!

th's picture

th

Tue, 2012-01-17 12:13

bozoloper wrote:
th wrote:
I tried it on Friday for lunch. My first impression was the "American" heavy menu. Lots of deli type stuff and chicken parm. Seemed like they were trying to hard to be everything. So I wasn't expecting to much.

I ordered the chicken burrito. To my surprise it was really good! It was huge. The rice was great - lots of veggies and best of all potatoes. The Beans and chicken were also good.

It came with a very large side of guacamole - Dan's right, it was by far the best thing on the plate.

Over all, if I'm wanting mexican, I'm going to Que Chula Es Puebla. But I will go back if I'm just in the mood for a burrito.

how much was the burrito?

9.50. A little high but worth it.

—

Mm, mm good.

Kat's picture

Kat

Tue, 2012-01-17 13:48

I got a menu in my door this weekend. There was much rejoicing at my house. Now hopefully we will like the food when we try it :)

Kenzo's picture

Kenzo

Tue, 2012-01-17 14:06

I don't think they deliver Kat, at least it didn't say they deliver. I've never known a Mexican place ever that does do delivery. If they do it would be AWESOME tho.

If anybody wants to ask them, the question is:

¿Usted envía comida a las casas de la gente?
Gringo-bonics: [OOO-STED EN-VIA COH-MI-DA A LAS CASAS DE LA HEN-TDHE ??]
(Do you send food to people's homes?)

—

Philadelinquency.com - The Underbelly of Philadelphia Real Estate

bozoloper's picture

bozoloper

Tue, 2012-01-17 14:07

que chula will deliver, he comes on a bicycle.

—

so speaketh the loper!

Kenzo's picture

Kenzo

Tue, 2012-01-17 14:10

Ooo I just had a thought:

1. Hungry for fajitas
2. Walk out door, lock door, walk up to Kat's house.
3. Bang on door, demand salsa.
4. Keep walking up to Kensington Ave, bang a right and take said salsa to El Rodeo to put on El Rodeo's fajitas.
5. NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM....

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Philadelinquency.com - The Underbelly of Philadelphia Real Estate

stein's picture

stein

Tue, 2012-01-17 14:18

que chula delivery is just about my favorite thing about the neighborhood.

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Ken Milano (before he went and edited this comment out to avoid the consequences of having wrote it) wrote:
I don’t have much sympathy for renters, for me, they are non citizens

lighterthief's picture

lighterthief

Tue, 2012-01-17 14:26

bozoloper wrote:
que chula will deliver, he comes on a bicycle.

I was just about to post that... I think this is for dinner tonight

—

Empty factories to the east and all our waste
The shape of things that came shows on the broken workers face

Newcomer's picture

Newcomer

Tue, 2012-01-17 19:51

Anyone have the burritos at Taco Riendo?

Cumcumberland's picture

Cumcumberland

Tue, 2012-01-17 20:09

I was at El Rodeo a couple of weeks ago and asked the owner/chef if they had delivery. He said yes! I haven't taken him up on this yet, but I plan to.

Kenzo's picture

Kenzo

Tue, 2012-01-17 22:08

Cumcumberland wrote:
I was at El Rodeo a couple of weeks ago and asked the owner/chef if they had delivery. He said yes! I haven't taken him up on this yet, but I plan to.

Yesssssss!

—

Philadelinquency.com - The Underbelly of Philadelphia Real Estate

lighterthief's picture

lighterthief

Wed, 2012-01-18 09:41

do they have an online menu (or does some ambitious soul want to scan and post ? Anybody know their hours?

—

Empty factories to the east and all our waste
The shape of things that came shows on the broken workers face