Chef Emiliano Marentes opened a new taqueria concept on the Westside of El Paso with his innovative Mexican cuisine. This location offers a very limited menu featuring notably duck al pastor, ribeye, and suadero tacos. The place is narrow with a strange layout, just a long hall with four inside tables and a couple of tables outside.
Unfortunately, this new location falls well short of his original restaurant. The ribeye taco was excellent and easily the best item on the menu. But most of the other dishes were disappointing and lacked balance, or were too salty, or lack memorable flavor. The creativity is there, but the execution felt inconsistent and at times overly rushed. The presentation is also nothing special.
While the Cimarron area gains an interesting new concept, this restaurant currently feels more style than substance compared to Chef Marentes' earlier success. Service was solid, but limited as you order the food at the counter and pay immediately for it. Overall, a lot of hype that did not match expectations. Taconeta still delivers a better and original presentation with better value. So there is definitely room for improvement and more work to be done for a great celebrated chef; who is so talented. read more