Cocina Del Barrio

I had been to the Barrio in Minneapolis once, and being in a hurry, it was a good stop enroute to something else where we could hurry in, sit up at the bar and have a quick taco.  When I saw that one opened in Edina, I was eager to check it out.

Wednesday night I had some available time away from small, needy family members who probably wouldn't dig tacos the way Barrio serves them anyway, so the mister and I headed toward 50th and France.

We thought we were a little later than the normal dinner time, but it turns out our understanding of the "dinner hour" is a tad skewed by the above mentioned children in our lives and apparently lots of folks eat at 7:45 p.m..  Cocina Del Barrio was full of them.

I first noticed because there were few tables available and then I noticed because the decibel level was such that we couldn't make normal conversation without thinking we'd be stricken with strained vocal cords come morning.  So be it.  We have a one and a five year old.  We're used to noise.

We grabbed two seats along the high rail facing out on to France Avenue.  Unfortunately right now, the "view" was of a large digger, which, because of said 5 year old, I know is a backhoe.  Maybe he would have liked Cocina Del Barrio afterall.

We waited quite a while for a server, and to be fair, it was pretty busy.  Once we had her attention, we decided to order all at once, anticipating the wait for the food may mirror the wait for a server.  I ordered one Fried Mahi Mahi taco ($4), one skirt steak taco ($4), and together we ordered the Made To Order Guac with Chips ($7.50).  I also ordered the "house margarita", which is called the The Trinity and will set you back an unholy $9.50.

Our server had been kind enough to remind us that they serve "tapas style" and thus, we'd get whatever food came up at whatever time, which does happen.  D.Jones had his enchilada and tamale approximately 5 minutes before I had any food, but no big deal.

I thought the tacos were tasty.  Full of flavor and definitely delicious.  I have had fish tacos in many different places and I worry because you never know what you'll get.  The mahi-mahi here wasn't greasy at all, and it was mild and perfect.  The guacamole was really fresh and I'm picky because I think I make the world's best homemade guac.  I was happy with the spice level (for MN dining) and would order it again.  That said, would I consider anything I ordered so tempting that I would be at home some Friday afternoon and think "Oh my...know what I need to have tonight?  Cocina Del Barrio!"  Nope. 

Happy with our dinner but not overly impressed, we decided to call it a night and actually head somewhere else to have a quieter cocktail and conversation elsewhere.  We requested our tab and the server informed us that they were having "system issues" and it would be about another 5 minutes.  She returned right around 5 minutes later to tell us that they couldn't figure out the computer situation and dinner would be on them.

Now free delicious tacos, guacamole and margaritas...well, that makes our dining experience much more appealing.  Still, with so many other options around, I'm not sure our Wednesday trip is the beginning of happy returns.  They are in a fantastic location, though, so I don't doubt that I'll find a seat at the bar with friends and say "hola" to a quick cerveza now and again.