WOW! unexpected treat! you have to try this place. 2:00 mid day. the place was empty. steak fajita 14.00 no kidding for dine in. a nice sizzle plate full set! and chips as well! total yum and fast service nice flavor, fresh salad etc. plate. they do have a full service bar as well. and plenty of tv's. located out north of town by the motels for easy parking in a LARGE parking lot. so easy access if you have a simi! they do have a split hours so closed from 3-5 pm for the change over for lunch to supper. and yes they do orders to go! read more

El Potro - steak fajita full set $14.00 - Mexican Near Me - Ottumwa, Iowa

El Potro has the best fajitas we've ever had. In fact, if we're even anywhere close to Ottumwa, we will go out of our way for them. It's a wonderful mix of steak, chicken, shrimp, and chorizo full of fabulously seasoned veggies. Note: it's a huge serving so we usually split one. Tonight, we got a double so we could take the rest with us. Service is friendly and prompt. Highly recommend! read more

El Potro - Contact info - Mexican Near Me - Ottumwa, Iowa

Yum! Why is this place empty at dinner time?! Iowa and their suspicion of ethic restaurants is all I can figure. Excellent, authentic food, clean place, friendly staff, great menu choices, I love little spots like this, too bad the locals don't share my enthusiasm. read more

El Potro - Food too beautiful to eat... good thing I'm hungry! - Mexican Near Me - Ottumwa, Iowa

Unlimited chips and salsa, inexpensive lunch menu, and super delicious food!! Friendly and attentive service and pride in the experience they deliver! A pleasant surprise that we are not expecting! Don't drive by this one! read more

El Potro - Unlimited chips and full bar!! - Mexican Near Me - Ottumwa, Iowa

We ended up here while staying for the night when passing through Ottumwa, as it was just across from the sleazy hotel we were staying at and Mexican sounded pretty good to us! The restaurant itself is a pretty cozy little building, with a generic Spanish sign touting it as Mexican food, as well as cheap holiday lights strung up around the columns holding up the patio area. Inside, the place is well-lit and has televisions playing football, but it was kind of funny because you could tell it was a local place, because when we entered everybody in the entire restaurant turned to look at us for a few seconds before returning to their food. It reminded me a little bit of one of those spaghetti westerns where everybody in the saloon just turns and looks at the entering hero. Service was good, our server was attentive and made sure we were quickly given drinks and chips and salsa, which were pretty standard fare and nothing overly special. I ordered the California Burrito (9.99$), which was a shredded chicken and rice burrito, of which half is covered in salsa and the other half is covered in the typical queso blanco sauce that Mexican places make. The biggest surprise, though, was the insane portion size of the food, because when the burrito came out it was genuinely weighing at least two pounds and it was about a foot in length and packed full of the rice and chicken, and generously covered in the two sauces and sprinkled with cheese. All in all, it's a typical Mexican restaurant but the food was really delicious and there was lots of it, and it was extremely cheap for the amount you got. read more

Great food and amazing service! My favorite place to go in town. Their chicken dishes are the best!

On a short stay in Ottumwa, I noticed El Potro across from the hotel and given that I am always trying these little Mexican places and it was so close, it was my dinner choice. I had planned on Los Cactus, but it was apparently not open on Monday evening. El Potro was a nice enough little family run place. I had pretty standard chips and salsa. The salsa did not have a lot of kick. It was the pureed style, which is fine with me, not overloaded with onion, but also did not have much heat or even green chile flavor. Just OK. I ordered Chile Verde (Pork) which in retrospect was probably a mistake. They have the cookie-cutter menu that I have seen in so many restaurants that I swear that they are either owned by one company or they subscribe to the Standard Mexican Menu Journal. The menu is not small. In fact would say they should shrink it and focus on fewer items. So the Pork was not not particularly good. It was a little stale, some pieces were a little chewy but not really dry. They were definitely too salty and from me who likes some salt, this means they were too salty. I ate them with warm corn tortillas that I asked for, (non-standard). The tortillas helped me deal with the excess salt. Beans and rice were pretty standard. I am saying two stars for the pork in the chile verde and cannot recommend them. I suspect on days when it is fresh it is much better. I recommend that you order something they (should) have to prepare for you like huevos rancheros or tacos de carne asada. I normally would not consider returning to a two star joint, but I will probably hit El Potro again if the same circumstance arises. I just will try something else. I like Mexican even when it is not stellar. read more

The food is traditional Mexican and always great. Generous portions. The fajitas will feed two people easy. Great service. Very good Margaritas. The ambiance is casual but a bit dated. read more

This is just around the corner from my house and THE BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT IN TOWN!! They are super friendly and crazy fast! Food is delicious too! read more

I've been here several times, mostly because it is close to where I live, but also the food is average. Not bad...... not exceptional, but average is OK. However, due to a recent experience, I doubt that I'll go back. A friend and I had lunch, and they brought the usual basket of chips and some salsa. We nibbled a couple of chips and then the food arrived. The taco salad was ample, and we weren't hungry for the rest of the chips. I asked if I could have a take home bag for the chips. The waiter said, "No. And if you try to take them out of the restaurant, I will charge you for them.." Now, in the past if we had some left over chips, it was never a problem to take the left overs home. In fact, a couple of times, they threw in a new container of salsa to go with them. Not this time. So we paid and walked out, leaving the chips on the table. I had to wonder if they planned to use them over for the next customer. Whether or not they do, the attitude is certainly changed there. I'll go elsewhere. It may not be as convenient, but I'm looking for good service, as well as the food. read more

Probably my favorite place for Mexican food in the US!!!! Prices are incredibly good for the quality of food they serve. Good service too. I always struggle making decisions to try new places. I'm so glad we tried this one!!! Winner!! read more

March 29, 2012 - second time I have eaten here. I didn't really see anything I wanted on the menu - so I asked my server to make exactly what I wanted and exactly how I wanted it - it was excellent! Excellent food, excellent service and excellent margaritas! read more

This is called "Porto Garcia" now...or something similar....and i think they may be under new management since those last posts..... I wandered in here tonight since I was staying next door. In a run-down hell-hole of a town with many Mexican restaurants to match the town, this one surprised me. The place was clean and the servers were extremely friendly, accommodating and fast! The food was mild, but fresh and good. They had authentic hot sauce at the table to spice it up. Quite the selection of beer too. I would suggest having a Mexican beer on tap though. It just makes sense and bottled beer is a little more expensive. I will definitely come here again before trying my luck elsewhere in town. read more

Great place to eat. If you are looking for great Mexican food El Potro is a nice choice. They have a variety of salsa's ranging from mild to extreme as you choose what your up for. Waiter service with positive attitudes and clean environment. In my opinion you can't ask for more. read more

OK where do i begin!!!!! this is the only restaurant next to the hotel we stay at for work. we get a 10% to 15% discount for eating there when we stay at the hotel depending on who's working, nobody ever knows what percent. then you get to the register and they cant figure how to give you 10% off using a calculator, so i usually show them. one of the last times i ate there she figured up the discount and charged me .96 cents for a $9.60 meal, no training obviously. communication is difficult since most don't speak English hardly at all. you can tell when they are slow business wise, they are all out back playing soccer in the parking lot. mmm running around getting sweaty then cooking my food, can we say sanitary! the last time i was there was on a Saturday, the entrance to the restaurant is a corridor about 12 ft long to another door. we sat down and asked our waiter if there was any specials, he said .99 margaritas, i said wow on a sat night that's odd. so we decided to order them and eat chips and salsa, which was free by the way. i decided to order some queso and it was like water, it literally ran off my chip. but i figured hey .99 margaritas what the heck! so after drinking for awhile i get a bill for over 40.00 dollars. i asked my server about the .99 margaritas and why he was charging us 3 dollars plus and he said that's with a entree purchase. I told him you didn't say that when we set down. i asked for a manger and she said the same thing. and said the sign is in the corridor behind the door. and she walked away and wouldn't come back to our table. so i tried to order a salad, they said that didn't qualify. so i ordered a dinner that i wouldn't eat because I'm sure they messed with it. i also said i wanted to pay for my Friends margarita and said i couldn't. so if you went out with your wife, she would have to pay her own bill. needless to say i saved about 29.00 bucks but he should of said that and not assumed we were going to order an entree. very misleading, unprofessional and scandalous. i would give this less than one star if i could. i haven't been back and never will set foot on their property again. The "locals" seem to like it but they don't really have much choice like we do. read more