Worst Mexican food I have ever had! If you could call it Mexican. All the food had a weird flavor. According to my niece there free cheese dip tasted like potato soup. So I had to taste it and it kinda did it had an oregano flavor to it. Not exactly sure why. Other food seemed to have the same odd flavor. Almost like they ran out of cilantro and substituted oregano. It tasted so bad my youngest that loves authentic Mexican food only ate a couple bites of her food. We won't be back. read more

Just exceptional! Far above your average Mexican restaurant. I went here for lunch and had a shredded beef chimichanga. To start off, the salsa was nice and savory, and their complimentary queso was fresh and delicious. The chimichanga was full of meat and seasoned well. I would definitely come here again! read more

Lawrence is always hurting for a good Mexican joint and El Potro may help to fill some of that void. The drinks are fantastic. They have the usual Mexican imports on tap as well as some domestics. Their house margaritas are above average for around town and they have other specialty drinks as well. The food is average for around town. I would not call the food fantastic but it is not bad by any means. I think their meats just need a bit more seasoning and flavor to them. I cannot call the food bad though because it really is pretty decent. The service is fantastic here, best I have seen for this type of restaurant. Their management obviously knows what they are doing as far as training and managing. One time they did not have enough servers to take care of our table so they used 3 separate servers practicing teamwork and communication to take care of us. Despite this situation we got great service. The servers and managers also are very kind and talk to you on your way in and way out. Please support this restaurant as this location has seen three restaurants go out of business. I think El Potro has the right idea but this location is tough and hopefully people in town will continue to support them. read more

I give the new location three stars simply because I love their Chimichanga del Norte and the free queso with chips. If the service were way better, they'd have a higher rating. It didn't seem to be this way at their old location, but now the wait staff seems to feel more comfortable with ignoring their tables and doing awkward things during lunch hour such as vacuuming near tables that are occupied. If they could remedy these two things, they'd be a perfect place to enjoy some Mexican food. read more

El Potro Mexican Cafe - Mexican Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

Best Mexican in Lawrence. Very attentive wait staff. Clean ! Great atmosphere! Mostly Mexican staff at lunch. Professional wait staff. Highly recommend! Food very authentic. read more

Service is always so shitty. The managers don't fucking say anything to you when THEY mess up. We got seated 5 minutes later they asked if we wanted drinks. Three groups of people were seated after us and got their food BEFORE us. When we asked if we could get a discount for this shitty service the manager guy just put our ticket on the table without SAYING ANYTHING. How the fuck are you a manager? Love their dollar tacos but being treated like shit & out order being forgot is getting old. Manager should of said SOMETHING to us... read more

The free chips and dips were great. The food is average. We found it very rude of our server to run the noisy electric vacuum, not once, not twice, but three times in the area around our table while we were still eating and visiting. It was mid afternoon and there were many tables open in his serving area. It felt as if the vacuum was being used to push us out the door. Too bad I had already paid and added an ample tip!! Time for management to rethink this business practice. Probably will not eat here again. read more

This is one of my favorite overall restaurants in the area. As so many other have said the complementary queso dip is amazing. The food is always hot and fresh. The staff are super nice and always quick with your orders and food. The 99 cent Monday night tacos are an awesome deal. The have a good beer selection on tap as well which includes the most popular Mexican beers. read more

This place sucks. Avoid at all costs. The food is mediocre and expensive and the service is downright terrible.

This is my favorite Mexican cuisine restaurant in Lawrence. The staff is friendly and efficient. The restaurant is always clean, and the food is always great! I don't have a favorite thing because everything I've tried thus far is delicious. It is worth your time, again and again read more

Everything was amazing! I had the fajita it was fantastic! The margaritas were the best in Lawrence!The service was top notch! Definitely recommended for anyone who loves Mexican food as much as I do) read more

Love El Potro! We frequently order this at the office for working lunches! It's delicious and the staff is SO nice! The manager/owner is so kind as well. Great customer service and great food! read more

The food is decently good, but the service is rushed and somewhat rude. I know it gets hectic when a place is busy, but listening to your customer is important. What I believe to be a manager threw our menus on the table he was assigning me, and our waiter could not grasp the concept that I wanted to wait until my dining guest arrived to order drinks. Food was quickly delivered. read more

Come here whenever I am in town. Great food and very fast service. The Queso they give you is top notch. Also have a huge menu.

This is definitely our favorite Mexican food restaurant in Lawrence. However, be careful to watch your credit card if you include a tip on your bill. I have noticed inflated tip charges when my bill is posted. read more

My sister and I was passing through Lawrence and by chance stopped. The place was very busy but still got good service. The food was the best Mexican I have had in a long time. Had to get a go box so much food. Will stop in the next time we are in the area. read more

Went to dinner tonight and the service was not great... very dissatisfied with wait service. My boyfriend never got a refill on his drink and what I ordered I asked for no onion and got extra onion. Waiter brought us our food passed by once and never saw him again. Everyone that worked there seemed grumpy. read more

We had dinner last night, it was great. We get full going here and the servings are incredible. You get free salsa, chips, and 1 free bowl of cheese queso. Love the new building. We chose this restaurant for Best of Lawrence 2014, and 2015. Keep up the good work. read more

Service was really good. I was happily surprised that we were given a free queso with our chips and salsa :) the food was less than great... Will try again, but not expecting much on taste. read more

Our server, Rebecca, was CLEARLY having a terrible day. Was so rude and bratty when she finally came to the table 11 minutes after I sat down. Didn't get my drink order right, took her sweet time coming back for food order, then didn't come to check in once during my meal. Will not be coming back. read more

Went for the first time on Mothers Day (moms choice) and it was fantastic! I'd been told by several coworkers this is their favorite Mexican restaurant and now I know why. It's not "authentic", but the food is really good. I don't normally care for places where the tortilla and sauce poured on it determines if it's an enchilada or burrito, but the sauces were extraordinary, especially the Jalapeño cream sauce. My wife does NOT like hot flavored foods but loved my enchiladas. Also, the salsa was fresh and flavorful, and they give you free cheese dip! The drink cups were also large so I didn't have to worry about getting a refill, but it wouldn't matter because the service was spot on. Menu prices were typical of most Mexican places but the experience was awesome. In fact, I went again last weekend. read more

This is my favorite Mexican restaurant! The queso is delicious (and free!) and I love their enchiladas! Wonderful atmosphere and great service! read more

I have lived in Lawrence for going on four years now. I drive by El Potro nearly every single day on my way to class and work, but had never stopped in until Thursday, January 3, 2019. A few friends and I decided to celebrate a successful job interview with Mexican and some margaritas for lunch. We ultimately came to regret we ever decided to go to El Potro in the first place. Two of us arrived about 10 minutes before the third person. The first two of us were seated immediately by a hostess that could not care less if we were there or not. Once at our table, we waited for about five minutes in an empty restaurant before our server came and took our two drink orders. We were not greeted welcomingly, and we were not informed of any food or drink specials. The server quickly dropped off our two soft drinks and disappeared without a word. Our third friend arrived a few minutes later, and waited ten minutes before the server reappeared at our table to take her drink order. In the time since our friend had arrived, we had finished our small bowl of chips, I had finished my soft drink, as did my friend I originally arrived with. When the server finally made an appearance to take our new friend's drink order, She ordered a premium margarita and a glass of water, and at the same time I ordered a house strawberry margarita. The server disappeared without offering to refill our chips, salsa, or drinks. A few minutes later she returned with a house margarita for both me and my friend, when that was not what either of us had ordered, but the server disappeared again before we could inform her of the mistake. Still no refills, and no offer to take our lunch orders. Several minutes went by before she returned to take our lunch orders. We placed our orders, a Jayhawk Burrito, a pork chimichanga, and another burrito, along with an appetizer. We informed her of her mistake with our margaritas, to which she acted put out by having to remake them, curtly saying, "well I didn't know that's what you wanted." She took the mistake drinks and returned with the correct ones, still no offer to refill any other drinks or chips and salsa. It wasn't until another server brought out our appetizer that we were offered refills. Our food came out, hot and delicious, but the damage had already been done. Our server did not return until after we had eaten our meal and were ready for the check. After dropping off the margaritas, she did not check on us once. She dropped off the check without a word to thank us for the visit or anything of the sort. We all agreed that this was the absolute worst service we had ever received. I'm giving one star for the delicious and hot food, not for the service. I would eat at Taco Bell before I ever came back to El Potro. I've worked as a server for several years now. I've seen a lot of poor servers in that time, but our server at El Potro, Rebecca, was easily the worst I have ever seen. DO NOT waste your time with wait staff that couldn't care less if you're there or not, even if the food is good. read more

We have eaten here before. This time was not a good experience. The booths have splits in the plastic seats which isn't good. Our waiter brought all but one food order out. After sitting awhile we caught his attention. He couldn't find the order. We shared other meals rather than one person not eating. The food wasn't great. The cheese dip, salsa & chips at the beginning of the meal were really good. Had to ask to get drinks refilled. read more

Best place to eat in Lawrence!! Recommend their taco salad but if your aiming for the greatness and a large quantity I would suggest the chimichanga la Gloria! They have very good fajitas, deep fried tacos and their special the KU burrito is huuuge and full of flavor! They also have free chips, salsa and queso! Love this place! read more

If zero stars was an option I'd rate it zero! Took 10mins to get drinks and there was only 4 other tables with people at the time. My husbands cup was empty for quite a while before getting a refill. We also had to grab our own to go box for my husbands left overs because the server ignored us AND On top of that I bite into a piece of my chicken and it was PINK!!! Never ever going back! read more

I ordered the veggie chimichanga with cheese sauce, and its absolute heaven! The staff is really nice and the food is amazing! Definitely my favorite Mexican restaurant in Lawrence and I'm never dissatisfied:))) read more

My husband comes to Lawrence every week and eats lunch there on most every Thursday. He has had nothing but good things to say about this restaurant . He says it's the best Mexican restaurant in Lawrence. The service and manager is excellent. read more

My husband and I come here for dinner often and it's wonderful every time. The service is always friendly and prompt. To begin with, they serve an amazing cheese dip and salsa with tortilla chips. Our dinner is always served warm, fresh, and in a timely manner. We try to order different items off the menu when we go because there is so much to choose from! There has only been one item I did not enjoy and that was from this evening. After I discovered I didn't like it, I ordered something different and they graciously took my original meal off our ticket without me even asking! We are hopelessly addicted to this restaurant. read more

My favorite restaurant in Lawrence. Always good food and excellent prices. They have the thin and crispy chips I like and their salsa is amazing. Good service and never have to wait for a table usually. read more

We went to El Potro on a Saturday night for dinner. The service and food were good but we all were VERY disappointed and actually pretty darn annoyed when we ordered margaritas and you couldn't even tell there was any tequila in them. There were 4 of us and we all agreed. The cost for a rather small mug was a whopping $6.00! We even ordered another round of the same, and still, after 2 drinks there couldn't have been very much - if any - tequila in them. So for $6 we got a lot of margarita mix and ice. My husband and I may go there ** to eat only** but we're certainly not paying $24 for 4 margaritas that had basically no alcohol in them. The food was good, but never again will we order any alcoholic drinks there. read more

You must try the borracho beans! These beans have a great spicy, cilantro flavor. I come here at least a couple times a week for lunch. I have yet to have a bad experience. I love their food and especially the queso dip. The service is good and your order is served very quickly. There are times that their staff has been spread a little thin, but they do a great job and I haven't had any issue waving someone down if necessary. Definitely my new favorite for mexican cuisine! read more

The food was alright and good prices (we went for lunch), and I liked the free cheese dip they give you with the chips and salsa, but I got food poisoning! :( I'm now hearing from friends that this is not a rare occurrence. I guess I wouldn't recommend going there if your immune system isn't in top shape. read more

We joined friends for dinner here last night a Saturday night. They are opened until 11pm. We got there at 9:30 they seated us and everyone else who came in smashed into one small section. There was barely room to move and it felt like everyone was sitting in one giant table. The guy came and rushed taking our order asked if we needed refills I. Our empty cups then never returned. When they delivered our plates they went to the wrong table first, didn't know what the hell they were carrying out. A woman came storming out of the kitchen trying to figure it out then leaves with my plate because they didn't know what was on it brings it back shoves it down in front of me and tells me that's my plate. I'm not sure why she had an attitude with me when they were the ones confused. Nonetheless she sees everyone's cup is empty and doesn't offer refills just walks off I have to stop her the next time she comes out. To top it off our food was subpar. A mixture of an American Tex-mex rendition of Mexican food. read more