If you’re in the mood for Mexican food in the Capital District there are only a few options, especially if you don’t feel like cooking it yourself. You can get decent Tex-Mex at Garcia’s, you can get good authentic Mexican at El Mariachi, or you can do what most people do on Friday night and split the difference at El Loco.
The restaurant’s popularity stems at least in part from its outdoor patio—nearly every party that came in while we were there asked for patio seating, and at least half were willing to wait for it.
The menu is a nice blend of standard Tex-Mex items and some of the more uncommon dishes that you don’t see very often outside of the Southwest. Prices were slightly higher than we were expecting, but still reasonable.
Our service was probably the most impressive part of the meal. The wait staff had no problem slicing through the crowds, and we got our meals in timely fashion. When it turned out the kitchen had made an error with one of our orders, not only was it replaced within three minutes, but—without prompting—the manager also came out, abjectly apologized, and took the meal off of our tab. The food itself was not quite as impressive, especially the appetizers.
For entrees, we shared vegetarian tacos, chicken flautas, and a pork
chimichanga, all of which were fairly good. The portions were fairly small compared to most other restaurants, though.
Basically, El Loco is a little better than the typical Mexican restaurant you find in the Northeast. It’s certainly worth trying out, but if you want to sit outside, try sometime other than Friday night.
El Loco is located on Madison Ave. in Albany, right next to Washington Park. To get there, take I-787 South to Exit 3 (Rt. 20 West, Madison Ave.). Go through several lights and up the hill until you get to a fairly large intersection which is Lark Street. Go straight through that light and then park anywhere you can—El Loco is just before the park on the right.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to reader Colin Fredericks for suggesting this
week’s restaurant. If you have a restaurant that you would like to see
reviewed in The Poly, send e-mail to restaurants@poly.rpi.edu.
