Patron Mexican Grill has three locations throughout the Pittsburgh area. Word of mouth has been pretty mixed on it.
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| That is the seat back of a booth |
We went to dinner on a Saturday night and were quickly seated. The decor is a colorful festive Mexican motiff, which reminded me of eating at the long gone Chi-Chi's.
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| Chips and Salsa (Free) |
Our meal started out with complimentry chips and salsa. The chips were nice and warm. The salsa was slightly spicy with a strong taste of cilantro.
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| Side Salad ($4.25) |
The side salad was complete garbage. They actually gave you packets of Newman dressing. Ok at Mcdonalds, not at a sit down restaurant.
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| Queso Fundido ($9.99) |
The Queso Fundido is melted chihuahua cheese with chorizo sausage, bell peppers, and onions. Its like a Mexican style Fondue and you use the warm soft flour tortillas to scoop it up. The juice from the chorizo sausage infuses with the cheese and makes a very nice dip. Just make sure you eat it quickly before the cheese congeals.
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| Chili Relleno ($4.99) |
The Chili Relleno is a big ass poblano pepper stuffed with cheese, breaded and deepfried, then covered with tomato sauce and more cheese. This was a mediocre dish. The pepper was very mild putting out barely any heat, let alone flavor. Any cruchiness from frying the pepper was undone by the liquidy tomato sauce. This actually reminded me of eating an eggplant parmesan.
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| 3 Beef Soft Tacos ($5.99) |
One of the good things about Patron is that you can order A la carte. So if you just want a single chimichaunga or burrito without the rice and fixins, you can do that. My companion ordered the beef tacos with soft tortillas. They come with ground beef , lettuce, and chihuahau cheese on top. The beef could use some more seasoning as it is rather plain. But if you get some limes and salsa to put on these, you can doctor them up to be pretty tasty.
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| Fajita Azteca Fixins |
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| Fajita Azteca ($14.99) |
The Fajita Azteca comes on sizzling skillet with chicken, carnitas (pork), steak, chorizo sausage, and peppers and onions. Which you obviously put on warm soft flour tortillas. This was maybe the best fajita plate I have ever had. All the different meats had a distincive taste and texture with the steak being my favorite being both tender and well seasoned, and with such a variety I was able to basicly make a soft taco with each different type of meat.
So my impressions of Patron were mixed. While I found the fajitas to be excellent, I found other dishes like the salad and the Chili Relleno to be from terrible to mediocre. All in all I would say that I would visit Patron again. While not the best or most authentic Mexican dishes you will find, it is reasonably priced, has quick service, and if anything they have excellent fajitas.
RATING : 6/10
