Restaurant Review: Los Parrilleros by Bethany Claire Johnson

With the holidays coming around, I took my son and nephew to eat before our dreaded trip to the superstore. You know, that last trip you have to take to Walmart? The one where you’ve waited till the virgin Mary’s water broke to realize you forgot flour? Yeah, we needed a meal to brace ourselves for that. Conveniently, my favorite Mexican restaurant is right next to Walmart.

We stopped at Los Parrilleros, and they were packed. I mean wall to wall. I was so surprised. There wasn’t a wait, fortunately, because we got the last available table.

I sat down, and my favorite server Andres comes up. He knows what to bring when he sees me. He drops off a high chair and a large cheese dip without me even having to order. At this point, my son is already two fist fulls deep in the chip basket. Andres greets my son and gives him a high five. My son is always excited to see Tío Andres. We get our drinks, cheese dip and our order was put in within four minutes of arriving. You can’t beat that kind of service, especially since they were so busy.

I ordered a molcajete. If you haven’t had one then you’ve done yourself an injustice. That bad boy is so big you could rent it out downtown for $900 a month. You got so many food choices, it feels like you’re at Baskin Robbins 31 flavors and they’re all good! That lava stone bowl was packed with cactus, chorizo, fajita chicken, fajita steak, carne asada, pollo asada, whole green onions, shrimp, smothered in cheese and I’m sure there’s plenty that I’m forgetting because it was slap-full. It also comes with rice, beans and a salad plate. I should’ve ordered it to share with my nephew because I naively thought I’d be able to finish that thing. I was so wrong. I’ve been eating that molcajete since Dec. 20, it’s Dec. 26 as I’m writing this, and there’s no end in sight. I’m starting to think elves refill that box overnight or something.

My nephew ordered the papa fajita, and it was delicious too! He got the chicken and steak mixed and his experience was similar to mine. The papa fajita is literally just an entire order of fajitas, except you replace that sizzling hot plate with a potato roughly the size of a toddler. I’m not exaggerating when I say the potato was the length of my forearm. I asked Andres where they were getting these mutant potatoes from. He, unfortunately, did not have an answer.

The potato was overflowing with the fajita steak and chicken and was loaded down with bell peppers, onions and sour cream. My nephew put probably an entire stick of butter in the potato, while delicious, probably wasn’t necessary or safe for his health. You know how 14-year-old boys are, though. Somehow, Hunter was able to finish his papa fajitas, then he started eating off my plate. The boy acts like I didn’t watch him eat a burger 20 minutes before we got there.

My son, Jasper, got a kid’s burrito with French fries. The portions are this place are insane. That little meal is still big enough for an adult to get full off of. Jasper’s burrito was a little beef burrito, and he tore up the whole thing. He ate half of his fries and all of my rice and beans. For a one-year-old to eat that much food is a win for me any day. Not to mention, Andres always brings out Jasper’s food first, so he doesn’t lose his patience while we’re waiting on our meals. It’s the sweetest thing in the world.

Los Parrilleros gave us super fast service, with a homey atmosphere. All the staff is so kind and welcoming, and the food is delicious. The cooks deserve special recognition because they always impress. As always, Andres’s service was above and beyond. For anybody going, I recommend asking for him.

¡Gracias por la maravillosa experiencia, Los Parrilleros! ¡Te veremos pronto!

Los Parrilleros is located near Walmart in the strip right next to Game Stop.