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| - Champaign is full of middling but not terrible places for Mexican food. You get your food in seconds, but it's pretty much just the same ingredients shuffled around in different combinations, and each component is not all that great. Not BAD, but not great. I think this is the first truly great place for Mexican I've eaten at in Champaign, which is why I'm throwing caution to the wind and actually giving it a full five stars.
I just started going a few weeks ago, and I've been there three times since. I've always found the wait staff to be really pleasant. They do get pretty busy during dinner, but I've never had a terrible wait and usually get seated right away. It might help that I tend to eat dinner a little earlier, if possible.
You get chips and salsa, of course, to start at no charge. Their chips were fresh and light and warm. Nothing is a bad sign like bad tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant. I have tried the guacamole and the queso. Of the two, I preferred the queso as an add-on dip for the Nachos. The guacamole was okay, but it could have used more lime, and I prefer my guac a bit chunkier.
Possibly the best thing on their menu are their crisps, which are like little mini-pizzas on a tortilla-based "crust." The crust of them is perfect. Delicate and flaky and crispy, which you'd hope based on the name. I've had bites of two different crisps-the pork and the red pepper varieties. I preferred the pork overall, but both were full of flavor. Their cheese and sauces seem of a very good quality and are very flavorful.
I've also tried their pork tacos. The tortillas uses for their tacos (white corn, I believe) are great. Soft, with a little bit of texture and tooth to them. I did think their pork could used a tad more heat, but other than that they made a good lunch portion with the chips.
Desert-wise, you must try their fried ice-cream! It's the best I've ever had. It seems like a hard thing to mess up too badly, but plenty of Mexican places that bother to offer it, do. It has a sweet, flaky crust and delicious chocolate drizzle. It might be nice if you got two coated, smaller scoops of ice cream instead of one larger one, just to balance out the crust and ice cream proportions a bit better. Still, it's delicious.
As far as drinks go, I have had two of their Margaritas. The first was a Blackberry and Basic concoction, and was my favorite of the two. I didn't get a ton of basil from it, but there was enough there to make it interesting. The other was a pineapple and coconut Margarita. This had a great taste, though I didn't get much coconut from it other than the toasted coconut on the rim of the glass. Neither skimped on the alcohol.
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