Before I delve any further, here's what I'll be conveying in this review. 5 stars for the food. 1 star for the dining experience. Depending on how you weigh those two things, you may come up with a different number of stars than I did. And how you define the "dining experience" can of course be wide open to interpretation. But I'll give you the full rundown on my experience and you can judge for yourself. But just to reiterate, the food itself is awesome and a great value, so much of what I'll be sharing will echo some of the earlier Yelp reviews of Irma's.
I came here on a Sunday morning, excited by what the Yelpers were saying about this place (particularly for breakfast). Its a tiny space (room for maybe 20 inside and 4 outside) with a tiny amount of parking (maybe 4-5 spots). When I arrived around 8:30am the place was fairly busy, but I was able to get a small table for myself. The young man working the front (didn't catch his name) was super courteous and took my drink order not long after I arrived (I asked for a horchata) and gave me a complimentary chips and salsa. For whatever reason it took about 5 minutes for him to bring out my drink order. During that time was when things got dicey. The place is small which means if you're dining inside you're right next to the kitchen itself. And from the time I arrived to the time I got my drink the kitchen got super smokey, to the point where the smoke was literally billowing out into the dining area. By the time I got my horchata (which was delicious by the way), I was almost choking on the smoke. Two customers moved to the outside tables to escape the smoke and I was about to follow suit when the head cook finally opened the windows to air out the building. About 5 minutes later, the air was breathable again. Nevertheless, the restaurant remained smokey (though at least tolerably so from then on), which makes me wonder what they'll do in the summer when its too hot to pop open a window or sit outside. Yikes. Bottomline, if you're coming here for the first time, my recommendation would be to play it safe and sit outside (if its cool enough) or get your order to go. At least until they figure out how to solve the borderline dangerous air circulation problem here.
Now then, let's get to the good part. The food. Based on the food photos and the prices here I had assumed that I would need to order two dishes just to come away full and happy from this place. After all, there can't possibly be that much food on a plate for just $4, right? I decided to go with an order of chilaquiles (Christmas style) and a breakfast burrito. Total cost for the food, horchata, free chips and salsa, tax and tip came to about $13. For that cheap, I expected a pair of dishes light on portions.
Whoops. The breakfast burrito was huge and stuffed with eggs, bacon and potatoes. I added a little hot sauce to boot. This alone would've left me plenty satisfied. But a few seconds later, out came a big plate of chilaquiles (basically fried tortilla strips covered in red or green sauce, or both in my case) with eggs your way (I got scrambled), rice, beans, and lettuce. It wasn't too spicy, but great flavors all around with just a little kick. There was no way I was gonna finish it all and I happily took some home to finish at lunch. And all that for just $13? Ridiculously good deal.
So there it is. Great food and drink. Great value. The restaurant itself? That leaves much to be desired. Like I said, the young man who served me was courteous but slow and the air circulation was bad enough that I would not recommend dining inside. If you're coming here for take out or to dine outside while the weather is good, please do. But come summertime, takeout may be the only way to go here. read more