I’m not sure how, but it apparently we’ve managed to go 13 years and not review El Meson for anything other than take out during the pandemic.

It’s only one of the most popular Mexican restaurants in Cuyahoga Falls. The town where we live. Like literally 10 minutes from our house. No big deal.

And yes we have eaten here before off the WTGW trail, even though Shane doesn’t seem to recall such a thing. Granted it’s been a hot minute – so much so that I very confidently led us to the very wrong entrance door on the Drug Mart side of the building because I very much remembered using it on that long ago visit.

Spoiler alert: it was locked.

Since they added on to the opposite side of the building and reworked the indoor and outdoor patio areas a few years back, the entrance now faces the parking lot and main road. You’ll want to use that one. Don’t be like me.

Every time we drive by the parking lot always seems to be packed so we weren’t really shocked when it was incredibly busy inside. Those cars belong to real people! Wow! (insert sarcasm font here)

Wednesday is $6.99 jumbo marg night, which could explain some of the business. Word of warning, though – only the traditional lime margaritas are on special. Anything on the handcrafted menu is regular price ($13.99)

We all opted for the specialty drinks, be ause that’s just more fun.

Ted got the octopus margarita.

I got the cucumber watermelon

And while it’s hard to tell the difference in the photos between mine and his, Shane got the ginger.

We were barely through our drinks and not quite to the end of our first basket of chips when they came around and just automatically replaced it with a fresh basket. I appreciate a place that knows the answer to “do you want more chips?” is always yes. I will take my full meal home with me before I will refuse another round of chips and salsa, thank you very much.

But the motive became a bit more evident the longer it took for our meals to arrive. Like usually Mexican food arrives at your table so fast you’d think they received the order telepathically as you walked in the door and not from the server. But they haven’t learned that skill yet here apparently, so more chips and salsa it is.

It’s OK though, because in addition to the instantly refilled chips and salsa, they also came around with free margarita shots. Yes, we can be bought with free food and alcohol. No shame.

But alas, eventually the real food did arrive.

Shane got the jalapeno burrito, and also a side order of his customary beef enchiladas. His one constant test kitchen item in every Mexican restaurant.

Shane thought his burrito was good. He ate the whole thing, and the two enchiladas, so obviously we aren’t high on the scale of one-to-Latinos fullness in this visit. He also didn’t rank the enchiladas super high in his ongoing list of various places he’s ordered them, but said they were just OK.

Ted got the carnitas rancheros, which is pork served in a spicy ranchero sauce with rice and beans and tortillas on the side.

He believed that the dish he ordered included some false advertising, particularly in the word “spicy” for the sauce. Granted his tastes may be a little more refined then it comes to spiciness levels – unless it’s an actual habenero pepper it’s usually just not hot enough for him – but he was hoping for more from this dish given the description. He said it wasn’t bad per se, but just not what he was expecting.

Perhaps he should’ve followed my lead and ordered the spicy burrito. I was torn between that and the either the Burrito Mexico or the Burrito Azteca. In the end I decided to the try the spicy burrito since I passed on the spicy margarita.

I thought it was good. The chorizo on top is what gives it all the spice, so I donated a bit to Ted to try and add some flavor to his dish. While he agreed it had a good flavor he didn’t seem to think it was super spicy either, which leads me to believe we may have broken his taste buds over the years.

We ended the night reminiscing about all the times we’re received complimentary shots to finish out our meals at Mexican restaurants, and we must’ve said some sort of secret word in the process because – viola – they came around with a tray of them for us.

Is there a special marketing class for Mexican restaurant ownership that gives out this tip? “Send the customer out on a high note with a shot, regardless of how many full sized margaritas they’ve consumed!”

I mean, we aren’t complaining or anything. Just saying.

Picked by: Ted