New Mexican Restaurant–Los Potrillos
2008 July 18
My family and I ate at a new Mexican restaurant in Frederick last night. It’s called Los Patrillos (The Three Horses) and it is located on Route 40 Golden Mile in the shopping center with the Giant. We recommend it highly. I ordered the huevos con chorizo and my wife ordered the carne asada. The best eggs I have ever had! Our three and half year old chowed down on their guacamole. (Mexcali Cantina still has the best guacamole, but this was good too.) I know we have no shortage of Mexican cuisine in Frederick lately, but this place is really worth checking out. The interior is also very nice. They have a beatiful mural of three wild horses on one wall. Has anyone else eaten here yet? If so, what did you think?
~Gmax7~
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I haven’t eaten there yet, but we love Mexican food. Thanks for the tip – we will definitely check it out.
Went there last night. Overall, we’d give it a B-, putting it on par for most Frederick County Tex-Mex places. My combination dinner (enchilada, taco and chile rellenos) had too much sauce and cheese, but maybe that’s how the locals like it.
Of course, we didn’t sample much. The salsa is so-so, but 100 X better than La Paz’s.
Plusses: Clean. Nice atmosphere. Clean. Excellent service. Very reasonable prices.
Minus: No liquor license yet.
Not to be nit-picky, but the spelling of the restaurant is Los Potrillos, just in case anyone tries to find it in the phone book or online:
http://www.superpages.com/yellowpages/C-Mexican+Restaurants/S-MD/T-Frederick/
I’m looking forward to trying it!
FYI: Los Potrillos (NOT Patrillos) does NOT mean THREE HORSES, which would be TRES CABALLOS in Spanish. POTRILLOS means “foals”; more precisely it means COLTS, since it is the male form of the noun and colts are male foals. If the female form were used — POTRILLAS — it would mean FILLIES, since fillies are female foals. A group that contained foals of both genders would use the male form of the noun — POTRILLOS, as in the restaurant name.
My crew and I ate there tonight. We really liked it. It’s in the same vein as most of the Mexican in town, but the flavors were brighter and fresher. The enchilada sauce was really good and different from most in town. I have a short review on my blog: http://frederickvegetarian.wordpress.com/
A different group of friends and I gave Los Potrillos another try. Mixed reviews; none bad, none great.
Consensus view: the all0important salsa is okay, but the chips were fresh. The tamales are very good. Several of the main dishes are swimming in sauce. I suppose that’s okay, but the sauces don’t have much complexity or freshness, but they are filling and on par with most other local restaurants. Several of the combination offerings are better than the standard shredded cheese, chopped lettuce, canned refried beans-type fare that abounds elsewhere.
As reference, Rio Grande and Chevys are two of my area favorites, but here’s my ranking of local Tex-Mex/Mexican/ El Salvadoran eateries we’ve been to:
1) Cacique and Santa Rosa
2) Fajita Grande
3) Mexicali Cantina (on a good night)
4) Los Potrillos and Mariachi
5) Chipotle Grill
6) El Paso and Casa Rico
7) Taco Bell
99) La Paz
LOL – “99) La Paz” … I like how yuo rated that one.
I’m a Cacique fan, although 7 or 8 years ago I almost preferred El Paso simply due to the (then)Friday-night mariachi band. Frankly, the best in my opinion is a little place in Chattanooga TN called El Meson. Being a vegetarian, I found their menu superb…
Just tried the new Pablano Grill on Yellow Springs Rd next to Pizza Blitz. Small place but food was fresh and good. No liquor but do have a kids menu. Good fresh salsa and chips, queso was good as well. Worth a try…
To quote The Dude “99) La Paz”
I have to agree! I tried La Paz twice (several years ago) and hated it!
And I agree with your first three:
1) Cacique and Santa Rosa
2) Fajita Grande
3) Mexicali Cantina (on a good night)
I wish Fajita Grande was here in Frederick!
Sorry to be dumb, but…where is Fajita Grande?
It is in Frederick! It’s on Willowdale, off the Golden Mile near where the 84 Lumber used to be (behind KFC). In the same plaza as the Way Off Broadway theater (if that’s still there).
This is BY FAR the best Mexican restaurant in Frederick. My wife and I have been there three times already and we love it. The three main criteria that put Los Potrillos head and shoulders above the other dumps in Frederick (all of them seem to be on route 40) are as follows:
1. Quality of Food: Its the freshest and best tasting. Not even close.
2. Atmosphere: One actually feels like they’re in a genuine Mexican restaurant. The attention to detail on the wall mural as well as the quality of the booths and tables absolutely embarrases the cheap formica tops and plain glass windows of their competitors.
3. Service: Amazingly, they are friendly here. They greet you IMMEDIATELY when you walk in and are quick to bring drinks and chips and salsa.
Thank god we finally have a quality non-over-priced Mexican restaurant in Frederick!!
I have to disagree w/ most of the current responses on here. Los Potrillos, in my opinion was some of the worst mexican food I have ever had. My husband and I went last night. He ordered the carne asada fajitas, which were decent – not spectacular. The meat was lacking in flavor. And I ordered combination #16 – 1 burrito, 1 chalupa, and 1 taco. There were no discernible difference in taste between the burrito and chalupa, except a very weird allspice taste to them. Almost like a greek goulash kind of taste. I don’t know how else to describe it. Neither one was worth the money, thankfully it wasn’t over-priced to begin with.
We then went on to order the fried mexican ice cream for dessert. It was horrible. There was nothing fried about it, except the tortilla thing it came in, but it wasn’t even warm. True mexican fried ice cream is covered with crunchy stuff (don’t know what it is) and then deep fried to a yummy golden brown. This might have well been called a Sundae in a tortilla.
Granted the decorations are nice….but they’re food leaves something to be desired. Don’t waste your time. Go to Fajita Grande and never be disappointed with anything you order off of their menu, and they do carry-out too.
I agree on the Los Potrillos not being great. Our experience was much the same, slow service, bland food. My wife and I are hard to please when it comes to Mexican food as we both grew up in California. Mariachi was a disaster as well.
Fajita Grande is the best we’ve had in Frederick.
Also, El Paso on Buckeystown Pike closed, and it looks like “El Ranchero” Mexican Restaurant is coming soon…
Beware, if this is the same people that had the El Ranchero in Martinsburg, WV, they got caught by the health department reserving the beans and rice off of previous diners plates.
Thx. for the heads up, Kathy.
I think it behooves us to do a little research to satisfy ourselves that it’s not the same “waste not, want not” El Ranchero that will be setting up shop in Frederick.
Just reading up on the latest postings since I last posted. I haven’t tried Los Potrillos.
My last comment of “I wish Fajita Grande was here in Frederick!” was an error. I meant to say that I wish Rio Grande was here in Frederick! I know of two locations (Gaithersburg near the Rio and downtown Bethesda. Their fajitas are excellent and they make their tortillas on the spot.
I dined at Fajita Grande the other day for lunch and ordered the chicken fajitas. The portion was huge! Turns out the waitress brought me the dinner portion. She made no sense. I had the lunch menu out and pointed to what I wanted. She did this to the diners behind my table. Luckily I didn’t have to pay the dinner price.
In reference to Monica’s posting above. Fajita Grande is always fresh and portions are always large. This is where my friends and I always choose to eat.
I had a new waitress in training on the lunch shift last week. I assume that is the person you are talking about. She is a bit slower then the rest.
The wait staff there ‘make sence’ , not sure what you are talking about. The last watress I had was actually from Nepal.
The chicken encilladas melt in your mouth like butter. I have tried something different on the menu everytime and am never dissapointed.
Peace,Dee
Dee, I meant that I didn’t understand why the waitress automatically assumed I wanted the dinner portion when I had the lunch menu open and pointed to her what I wanted. She is new – first time I saw her there. They do have some of the freshest food around. My co-workers and I usually go a few times a month to get away from the office.