Los Potros Mexican Restaurant is located at 9408 Apison Pike in Ooltewah. Click to enlarge.
photo by Janet Wilson
An acquaintance told us about Los Potros Mexican Restaurant located at 9408 Apison Pike in Ooltewah, so Wayne and I ventured over to try their food. They are located in a small shopping center at the corner of Apison Pike and Ooltewah-Ringgold Road that used to have a Winn-Dixie.
It appears this is part of the La Altena group of restaurants, or at least associated with the one in Cleveland.
Los Potros has a full menu including Appetizers, Salads, Soups and Dips. There are 32 luncheon specials priced from $3.75 to $6.25.
Fajitas range from $7.50 to $20 for the double order, while Dinner Burritos are priced from $6.59 to $7.99. Los Potros offers a variety of Fajitas, several of which are prepared for either as single or double order. The Quesadilla Dinners start at $6.59 and go up to $6.75 and include Chicken, Steak, Vegetarian, Altena and Mushroom.
Of course they have the usual Combinations, Tex-Veggie Combinations, and Dinner Specialties that include Camarones en Salsa Verde ($10.99), Flautas Mexicanas ($6.99) and Carnitas ($8.49).
Wayne ordered the Supreme Burrito ($6.99) which is a Chorizo burrito filled with Chorizo, rice, beans and cheese and served with rice and beans on the side. I ordered the combination plate with a Chalupa, Taco and Tostada ($6.l9).
The burrito was very large and Wayne said it tasted good, but it wasn’t served with sauce, sour cream, or anything else. Seems like most places serve sauce. He did order some sour cream and to us, it seemed a little strange – sour cream that could be poured?
My food wasn’t bad, but I left the tortillas. Wonder why restaurants can’t put the lettuce on the bottom and the hot ingredients on top so that the tortillas don’t get soft and mushy?
To us this was an average Mexican restaurant, much like all the others. It wasn’t bad, but there was nothing spectacular about it either. They didn’t offer anything we couldn’t get at any other run-of-the-mill Mexican restaurant.
Los Potros also offers desserts, as well as a Kid’s Menu ($3.75).
Hours for Los Potros are Monday through Thursday from 11:00 AM until 9:30 PM, Friday 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM; and Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 PM until 9:30 PM.
RESPONSE TO A PREVIOUS PET PEEVE, which was provided by a local restaurant owner:
“Cost of a glass of tea:
Decent quality tea: at least 7 cents for one 16-ounce glass; high quality iced tea - 25 cents per 16 ounce glass (people usually get a free refill on tea)
One pack of sweetener or sugar: 4 - 6 cents
Labor to make the tea; labor to serve the tea
Ice/icemaker
Pitcher to serve it in
Clean teaspoon and/or straw (1 cent)
Glass (which has a regular "breakage" schedule)
Electricity for the tea machine and icemaker
Rent
Air conditioning
Lights
A restaurant has to keep costs of goods between 25 to 40 percent if it is going to stay open, pay the staff and the owner's house payment. Even if the cost on a glass of tea is low, the cost on their homemade desserts or high quality meats is probably high. There is a method to costing and pricing the menu.
One gets the picture. This is an opportunity to understand that there is much more to operating a restaurant than meets the eye.”
READER PET PEEVE OF THE WEEK:
“My Pet Peeve is when restaurants fail to use common sense. Case in point, Niko's Southside Grille. The food was fabulous. I had the grilled sirloin salad (to die for!), my husband had a turkey sandwhich, and my mother had a salad that I can't remember. We stopped in for lunch right around the time it re opened. The food was excellent, the service was great, our glasses were never empty. However it was one of the worst dining experiences I had. Apparently someone at Nikos didn't think the fact that they were still renevating was going to bother any patrons. How wrong they were! Between the hammering, sawing, and all the other loud noises that accompany renovations, it was impossible to have a conversation. When we left, we all 3 had a very bad headache. What could have been a great meal was ruined because the restaurant opened before it should have. When we stopped in for lunch, no one bothered to inform us what was going on, and it wasn't until after our food arrived that all of this nonsense began. Like I said, restaurants need to use common sense.”
Keep sending us your Pet Peeves and they will be used with future articles.
cdojanet@ChattanoogaDineOut.com