El Toroso

This is the family’s new place to eat… this restaurant is fairly new to the Palmyra area. This is a family business and everyone in the family works one part or another. The food is terrific and made fresh to order. The service is some of the best I’ve ever had.
Only complaint, salsa needs a tiny bit more flavor.
This is authentic Mexican flavor, so be prepared for a fresher taste. Some of you may not appreciate it and that’s because you were tainted by the American-​Mexican slop.
This is a wonderful place to eat, just give it a chance.

Lots of Potential (montón de potencial)
Welcome to the neighborhood El Tesoro, we wish you mucha prosperidad.
Summary: Why only 3 stars? Bland food was our first experience and the chips were stale or at least chewy (read on for more)…the food is very well presented and solid, just lacking in seasonings. We WILL be back.
This does seem to be a much more authentic Mexican menu than the first and until now, only Mexican restaurant in our little spot on the map a few miles away.
Some may not «get» the authentic part very clearly because so many restaurants of ethnic nature have corrupted the authentic cuisine in order to appeal to the American palette. Chinese and Mexican restaurants are most guilty of this. This is not your typical Americanized food.
I picked up some take out to take home for lunch for me and my wife with great expectations. Fortunately they have improved their menu with better English descriptions so you know better what is on there.
Authentic Mexican food is much blander (spell check says that’s a word) than Americanized versions. I have encountered this on several occasions, so first you have to wrap your head around that. However, the following is my honest review from our American perspective and tastes.
I first want to say the food is beautiful and the portions are solid. Our overall impression was the food was OK, not remarkable and desperately lacking in salt and other seasonings. If you are a low salt person that doesn’t like strong flavors, this place is for you. If you like the reverse, you will need to add salt, pepper and hot sauce or something other than the salsas and sauces they offer from the cocina. The sauces they serve with the meals are mild or hot. The hot is really hot and zero salt, while the mild actually had more flavor. A mix of the two with a pinch of salt and lime would be perfect but baby bear doesn’t work there… the lady’s child does though, and he actually works the cash register and takes orders. Hey, I’m a proponent for starting them young, so Godspeed young man…
My wife had the Huraches with chicken. This is a heavy corn sort of tortilla made from masa topped with beans, cheese, meat and other stuff… and shockingly onions… that’s not a complaint… my biggest complaint with Mexican food is there are usually no onions. She said it was OK and got better once I handed her the salt shaker. She will order something else next time.
I had the #9 lunch, a very good sized portion of 1 chicken enchilada, two chicken tamales, rice and beans. The chicken enchilada was good. Nice shredded chicken and the sauce was good, but we’re spoiled because my homemade version would kick this «authentic» enchilada to the curb (seriously). So, it’s easy for me to be critical. I am a serious home cook.
The tamales were bland and a bit dry. I would say probably «healthy». I have always thought tamales were overrated until I had a good one at the other nearby place, but even then, the next one I ordered was unremarkable. I plan to perfect the tamale too, they should have a good amount of fat and more flavor. These were «OK». I stepped all over them with the hot salsa they gave and my own homemade jalapeño salsa verde and they were much improved.
The rice and beans were good. The rice actually had flavor, unlike most places I go where there is this faint hint of something I can only describe as play-​dough flavor. I have almost never liked the rice in Mexican restaurants, and again, I blow it away at home. This rice was good and I’ll want more.
The beans were, well… beans. They were good because the texture was perfect, a mix of mashed and whole beans. They could benefit from some bacon grease for real authenticity, but they were good nonetheless.
Oh, I also ordered a pork taco. Don’t let the individual price fool you, they are well adorned for the price. Again, my only complaint is the blandness. I like to develop flavors in all layers of food and the meat nor did anything else really have much seasoning. The lime wedge helped and maybe some of the hot sauce they provided but I couldn’t wait and ate it on the way home and didn’t use sauce! Don’t tell the law! I am a highly skilled professional, not to worry… the repeating theme here as you can tell was very little seasoning. That may be your thing… but I reside in «Flavortown»
I also got the chips and salsa. When I realized they were $ 2.50 and not free like everywhere else I asked to cancel them, but the nice lady gave them to me for free. Good thing because they were stale for lack of a better description. Kind of chewy. Fortunately I know how to deal with that. 5 minutes in a convection toaster oven on about 250° and they crisped right up.
The salsa was bland and unremarkable, but I find this to be normal for «authentic» places. Most authentic salsa is watery and not very powerful of flavor. So this place fits right in with my experience.
I look forward to trying more of the menu items.