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El Potosino
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
5 reviews for El Potosino
How I Found It:
As a native Texan, I have been eating at Mexican (i.e. "Tex-Mex") restaurants my whole life. Since as far back as I can remember, my family has gone to this restaurant almost religiously. Texas has its variety of Tex-Mex, but nothing I have found so far has compared to this little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. I used to live on the northeast side of Houston, and Galena Park is a good thirty minutes or more away, and there are PLENTY of Mexican restaurants in between here and there! Yet, I still always find an excuse to make my way over there for it! (I now reside in San Diego, California, and here has it's own variety of Mexican ("Baja-Mex".... yeah, that's what they call it!), but there's no place I have found yet, here or back in Houston, that is like El Potosino.
Whenever i get a chance to go home, I always visit this little restaurant. And as you yourself probably know from experience, it's the little hole-in-the-wall places that are the best.
This little restaurant has been around for over thirty years, and still serves hundreds of customers a day, and for good reason! Could a restaurant survive that long and have such a dedicated customer base if it didn't have highly satisfied customers?
Now, if you're into the quote-unquote "Mexican food" like... *cough* Taco Cabana or Casa Ole, then this isn't the place for you. Why? Because this is the real deal. Grandma's in the back cooking it up like you were at home. This is family owned and operated and clean. I also must point out that the service is fast too. We've never had to wait more than ten minutes from the time we order till we get our food.
Experience:
From the time you first walk in, find a spot to sit. (The restaurant has about twenty tables and booths) The waitress will come ask you what you'd like to drink, (and sometimes even politely ask what you'd like to order - yes, maybe before you get to look at a menu. That's because most are regular customers and know what they love). Their one-page front-and-back menus are on the table, and after you order simply place them next to the table's condiment stand. Sodas are usually brought out in the can and with a glass with ice. The iced tea is great and comes in a huge glass, very good for the price. Hot crispy chips and salsa are brought out immediately, and your food should soon follow. The check will be brought to your table, and you pay at the register near the front. You won't pay more than $10 a person.
Recommendations:
-For years my favorite entree has been the cheese enchiladas, I have never found another restaurant in 26 years that makes them like El Potosino. Try them and see what i mean. The Summer #1 entree comes with everything you need to get started.
-They have hot crispy tortilla chips and *hot* salsa (I emphasize HOT), because this isn't your average "hot sauce" like at other Mexican restaurants (i.e., that weak watery salsa-like taste...you know what I'm talking about!) This is the real deal, and if you're sensitive to spicy foods, I would recommend the tiniest amount.... as more may be too much for you. But for the Texan in you, you should be able to handle it.
-The queso is simply amazing. Some entrees come with a queso chip, a flat crispy tortilla-size chip with queso drizzled all over the top.
-The guacamole is amazing too, if you have the chance to get this as a side, don't pass it up.
Something that has always amazed me is how the waitresses bring out the piping hot plates with their bare hands. They always say, "Careful, the plate is very hot", yet they carry them like it's nothing. You'll see what i mean. Ask a waitress, they'll explain they've just been doing it for so long it doesn't even affect them anymore.
I highly highly recommend El Potosino to everyone. Please come back and rate if you try it!
Went here based on previous reviews. Theres probably a hundred or more taquerias in a 5 mile radius from this restaurant, and honestly, you can do a lot better.
The salsa is made with pickled jalapeños, which tastes as cheap and bad as it sounds. This is the first salsa I've ever had in my entire life that was actually very easy to stop eating.
I got the "special dinner", with cheese enchiladas, because I saw them mentioned in a previous review, and love cheese enchiladas. They were pretty bad. Served with onions on top (and I'm a huge onion fan), the enchiladas themselves were flavorless.
The iced tea was good, but I challenge you to find a place like this with bad iced tea.
The place was packed, so I'm sure some people will like it, but there's just so many options in this area for small cheap and fast Mexican food this place is just not worth it.
The best crispy tacos I have ever eaten. I usually get the three crspy taco plate for 3.75. Man!!! These are the bomb!!! I try to go here every week to get some. The restaurant is modest, and the booths are gone. This place has been around since 1970 and I can see why.
Wow, I am the first to review El Potosino? This is one of the original Galena Park Mexican family owned restaurants. It's the little pink brick building next to the gas station on the corner of Clinton and Holland. With it's grandiose view (and smell) of the chemical plants across the street, it's treacherous parking lot (dirt that used to be gravel), and it's booths with blown out springs, I can tell you a safe way to enjoy what this place has to offer as I have eaten here at least 30-40 or more times.
First of all, don't get a booth. The springs have been shot probably since before Nixon took office and you will sink down so far in them it leaves the table at your chin. Ask for a table.
Get the queso, it's amazing. And as you look around with all of the photos on the walls, of everyone whom has eaten there over the decades this place has been here (even Mickey Gillie that lived down the street, as well as Rocky Hill (brother of ZZ Top's Dusty Hill, also from down the street)), you will realize that this is the real deal. An authentic family owned joint.
Any combo plate should suit you just fine, they will fill you up and give you a good tasting experience of this older style Tex Mex. The flavors are unique, the service has always been friendly, restroom is tiny but clean, and it can get a little humid in here during the summer as I think the only AC systems are a few window units. But they have some mighty fine homemade Mexican that likely was on the innovative edge of Tex Mex before you were born. Ice Tea has always been fresh and delicious, yet they have some Mexican beers as well, and I have seen Margaritas. Ask anyone that lives in Jacinto City or Galena Park about El Potosino, everyone knows...
I recently moved to Galena Park and was trying out (the very limited selection of) restaurants. I went to El Potosino one time (which is now a blue building) near the corner of Holland and Clinton and have not gone back since. I was pretty much dissapointed by everything. The restaurant I thought was smaller than my kitchen (probably an exaggeration but i did feel a bit claustrophobic), The springs on the booths were old and worn out that when you sat down you just sank, and the food was just OK. Eventhough I haven't gone back every time I pass by I see that they have a lot of business. So I figure maybe the day I went they had a bad cook or something, but after my experinece there I won't be going back.