El Camino Real II
1147 Argentine Blvd, Kansas City, KSFacade: Excellent. Hand painted signs and abrasive colors abound. I really appreciate how they clearly state that this is El Camino Real “#2” (they have three locations in total). This is useful, because if you get kidnapped and blindfolded, and dropped off in front of this place, it would be handy to know which one you are at. BOOM. Problem solved. The murals are nice…sharp looking guys making tortillas and just cooking it up. Makes me trust them.
Décor/Ambience: Excellent. Where to start? Check out the pic of the dining room. It’s late February and not only are there still Valentines decorations, but also Christmas lights on the wall. Crucifix was a bit smaller than I’d normally like it to be, but sufficient. Just at the edge of the photo you can see the juke box. The juke box was pretty old school, and loaded with Latin music. There was a large hand-written sign on the juke box declaring “QUARTERS ONLY!!!!” Apparently they had experienced problems with that in the past.
Service: Very Good. They were friendly and quick. Our waitress had shaved off all of her eyebrows and then hand drawn them back on her forehead, but like half an inch higher than where the originals were located. That’s attention to detail and a real commitment to look her best (or at least what she believes is her best), and I appreciated that.
Food: Good to Very Good. I tried an Asada taco, Al Pastor taco, and a Carnitas gorditas. They were each very good. However, there was only one kind of salsa, and it was really smoky chipotle flavored and strange to me. They didn’t offer a tomatillo version, which was disappointing. Overall, it was good and I’d eat there again, but I do not think it was better than San Antonio or Tierra Caliente. However, Camino Real has a really big menu, and they make a ton of other traditional things and main stream American stuff like fajitas that are probably excellent.
