We’ve been eating at home more frequently now that we have a decent kitchen and I have a regular schedule, so tonight, when we decided to eat out (on a weeknight!) it was something of a big deal. I, having come home and immediately changed into pajamas, even put on pants for the occasion, so excited was I to try Harrisburg’s newest Mexican restaurant, El Sol.
I’m not sure I should have bothered.
El Sol is fairly attractive. It looks like what it’s trying to be — a slightly funky, slightly upscale, casual Mexican restaurant. Except that the chairs of the first table we were taken to were so uncomfortable that we asked to move the first time an employee approached us, many minutes after we’d decided what we wanted to eat. They were friendly about the request, and moved us to a table at the bar, the only one open with a different chair/table style. But then they apparently lost track of us again, until Fred asked the woman who had seated us if she was our waitress, and she said, “No.”
The sopes were good, but not nearly as good as Herby’s. Herby’s has this thing that works in Mexican food and very few other cuisines, where it tastes like it came from a street vendor. El Sol’s sopes tasted, and I know this might not make any sense, like they were made for a restaurant, but not for actual eating.
The guacamole, on the other hand, was very good. The other salsas in the salsa sampler were mediocre, though fresh. The chips were fresh, too, but also not great. We spent a while trying to decide what their odd flavor was, then decided they must have been cooked in peanut oil. I don’t know this for a fact, but if you have a nut allergy, you may want to check into it before eating there.
Or just don’t eat there. My fish tacos, on first bite, were too hot — in terms of temperature — to taste any flavor. After letting them cool a bit, they were too hot — in terms of spice — to taste any flavor. The description on the menu states that the tacos are served “with a mild green sauce.” I love heat. I love hot peppers. My tolerance has declined since I left California (where it increased greatly), but I don’t tend to be a wuss, and I do tend to be able to differentiate flavor from heat. This heat killed the cilantro and onions it smothered, and only a faint hint of fish made its way through. To top it off, the “cabbage salad” that came with it was a small pile of iceberg lettuce. Iceberg lettuce on the side is very standard, but it ain’t cabbage salad. The sliced radishes were okay. I mean, they were radishes.
It probably won’t add anything to this rant to talk about Fred’s fajitas, but since they were the worst part, they must be mentioned. First, they weren’t grilled. I’m not sure how they were cooked — maybe pan-fried, maybe even some combination of searing and steaming, but they were *not* grilled. And second, they were covered in a tomato-based sauce. The sauce itself had some interesting flavor (this based on the one bite I took), but it didn’t quite work, and it certainly had nothing to do with any kind of fajitas I’ve ever had.
My verdict is that this would be an okay place to have drinks (the margaritas were passable, though not great) and maybe appetizers if you absolutely have to eat in that neighborhood, but given my experience with Bricco (did I blog about that?), I’d recommend just finding another locale. Like Steelton, where Herby’s serves much better Mexican food for much more reasonable prices. Their margaritas are pretty good, too.
Hmm, I had the fish tacos, and they weren’t hot at all. In fact, I thought they could’ve used some spice, if anything. But I understand a few people have had trouble here. The friend I dined with and I loved it, but to each his own (plus, our experiences were seemingly different).
How could you not like Bricco? I don’t think you did blog about it.
As you noted in your post, the reviews have been varied. I’m hopeful that this means they’re still working out the kinks and it’ll mature into something great. I do think I should try one of their fancy-schmancy entrees you could never get from a street vendor. I do agree with you that they’ve introduced a freshness that just doesn’t exist in area Mexican food. As for authenticity — I’ve never been to Guadalajara (the city owner/chef Juan Garcia is from), but California Mexican puts a big emphasis on freshness but does a much better job of melding flavors rather than allowing one to dominate.
Bricco I definitely owe another visit. My experience was that the staff were rude, the food tasted like my grandmother (who is not a great cook) decided to apply fancy names to her dishes, and it was overpriced. I’d have been happy to pay the prices they were asking if what I’d eaten had tasted as good as it looked on the menu, but…it only costs a couple bucks to make Kraft at home. Unlike El Sol, though, I’ve heard only good things about Bricco, so now, months later, I’m getting over my disappointment sufficiently to be willing to try it again.
You’re right – and I know nothing about authentic Mexican – no matter how you slice it, so I’m just going with what tastes good to me. And the freshness!
Yes, you must try Bricco again. I have only had wonderful experiences, and I’ve been there about half a dozen times.