Tomatillo’s

If this place really closed, that makes me sad. They had a great patio and their Cinco de Mayo parties were always fantastic.

Scott W is right — this is an entirely different restaurant from the Tomatillo’s of yesteryear. I came here a few years ago and swore it off forever. Somehow I recently found my way back, and couldn’t believe the difference.
Although some dishes are obviously better than others, the churrasco (and chimichurri! *drool*) is totally killer and will now keep me coming back regularly. I’m looking forward to repeat trips to try all the new stuff, too.
And I’m surprised about the negative comments about the service, too. All the servers I’ve ever met there have been really charming, and I’ve only ever been treated really well.
Can’t say it’s the best food in NOLA, but as far as Latin food goes, it’s definitely up there. I’m glad I gave it a second chance.

People who say this place has good Mexican food must have Taco Hell as their starting point for comparison. Personally I grew up in Texas. You’d get run out of town if you tried to call this Mexican food in Austin. The margaritas are not too bad if you’re just looking to get plowed, I guess.

Friendly service — even if it was a bit slow and one order was messed up. I appreciate the kindness.
The fried plantain’s they bring out were really hard to eat. Are they supposed to be that way? We ordered the salsa/​chips combo which was pretty tasty. For dinner I had the Drum Veracruz, which our waitress suggested if you like olives. Which I do and I really enjoyed. The margaritas/​mojitos/​sangria were great too. We were all creole/po’boyed out at this point and Tomatillos was a welcomed change.

I visited this place recently and was pleased to find they had a special vegan/​vegetarian menu for the people like me. Well it was rather menu items that could be easily made vegan/​vegetarian extracted from the default menu. .. but nonetheless, that minimized the whole «can this be made vegan?» dance which I surely appreciated.
My companion and I chose to dine outside for dinner and were seated in the courtyard by a buxom transsexual in arguably the best table in the courtyard. It was one of those nicer summer barely nightfall evenings so it was quite nice perusing our menus and people watching the family and friends crowd…
We ordered a couple of margaritas and they weren’t exactly cheap, but I can honestly say they were quite tasty — tastier than most watered-​down or over-​sweetened margaritas I’m usually subjected to at other Mexican dining establishments.
Now as for the food. .. sadly it wasn’t exactly stellar. The guacamole that accompanied the chips was rather devoid of any particular taste. It just felt like shoveling a chipful of mashed up avocados into my mouth — which I don’t mind, but I was expecting the guacamole to at least be flavored with a little bit of salt, lime, and whatever else goodness they usually put in the stuff.
We also ordered the Mexican pizza without the cheese — which perhaps was a fatal mistake, but alas — that’s just how I roll. For some reason the refried beans tasted slightly bitter to me, or perhaps there was just such a thick layer of on the tortilla that it overpowered everything else? Nonetheless this was somewhat remedied by splashing a healthy dose of salsa atop of the pizza.
The veggie fajitas were lovely at least — arriving in their usual sizzling plate and with all the usual sides. You can’t really go wrong with veggie fajitas though — they were cooked thoroughly and seasoned lightly and there was a wide array of vegetables (see photos). It didn’t knock my socks off, that’s for sure, but it was a nice ending to the meal.
Oh, also worth mentioning, our waitress was another gorgeous transsexual and she was like the physical real life embodiment of the Tomatillo’s cartoon girl displayed on the menu. .. it was eerie, but again, quite awesome. She was attentive, but not overbearing and she delivered our food correctly (without cheese and sour cream — which sadly, impresses me after many many incidences of orders ran afoul).
I would give this place 3.5 stars if I could but I just wasn’t incredibly impressed with the food! Everything was was stupendous though. .. maybe I was in a foul mood or the vegan foods were having an off day? I may return, we’ll see. ..

Still a great place for Mexican food. And the Margaritas are cheap ($ 14/​pitcher). While this is not completely authentic Mexican food, it is a very good interpretation of it.
The staff is wonderful and not pretentious (like some of the staff in the FQ).
Place butts up against the Frenchmen Hotel and is across from the Fire department at the corners of Decatur/​Frenchmen/​Esplanade.