Pura Enchilada Taqueria

I was very pleased with Pura Enchilada Taqueria. The staff was very pleasant as well as the décor. I had the Tamales Fritos; the dish was beautiful when brought out and was only surpassed by the food itself. Right of the bat you could taste the freshness of the ingredients. While listed as an appetizer it is a meal for 1. I enjoyed my dinning experience there and would recommend this to anyone.

This new restaurant has a few kinks to work out but is absolutely worth a try. The atmosphere was great with live music and an amazing patio. The food is authentic and margaritas are dangerous their so good! I have had the enchiladas verde with the perfect tangy green sauce. Last night I tried the street tacos with housemade corn tortillas, they were not shy with the filling and the carnitas was delicious. Even their kids chicken fingers are made fresh, which always impresses this mom.
The owner came out to check on everyone and was very personable. We will be back, it is really nice to have such a gem in our neighborhood.

This place is awesome! I used to go to the one that was in Lawrenceville and feel in love. This is not your average Mexican. The food is seasoned perfectly! The owner is very personable and attentive. It’s a new restaurant so the staff is still getting acclimated other wise this place rocks!

PLEASE TASTE AND SEASON YOUR FOOD BEFORE SERVING!
Waiting with anticipation, we finally had an opportunity to try out this local restaurant. They had a soft opening earlier this month but today is their official grand opening. Things will probably get a little rowdy tonight so we decided to go in for an early lunch and to really scope things out before the crowds.
The restaurant is small. When you walk in, there is a counter directly in front of you and a room full of wooden tables with padded chairs. To your left is a separated bar area that also contains elevated bench seating and a place for live music.
You will have the option of ordering, (like a Moe’s) and then sitting down with your order or you can order at the counter and take your food to go. We walk in with the intention of sitting and having our order taken because we just assumed that this would be a full service restaurant. A waitress guided us to our seat and proceeded to wait on us.
Points to ponder:
The waitress stated that they had gotten a late start today due to the weather. It is a beautiful, sunny day so I don’t understand her comment.
On opening day, as a waitress you should be ready to GO, which means when I ask you what is in the veggie mix, you can confidently tell me exactly what is contained in the mix. When I ask about the soups of the day, you should already know what they are without having to run back to the kitchen to check.
The waitress compared the ordering counter to Moe’s: Strike one!
The soups were not ready yet so we were not able to order them.
Never ever make excuses for the food, it’s pointless!
We were the only customers, but it took way too long to get our food.
They were doing «opening work» while we were in the restaurant.
The menu is a bit limited to me so I decided to order the vegetable burrito. My husband starts with queso with jalapenos and chips and also orders the enchiladas rojas. The queso was very thin and had an odd taste but the chips were warm, thin and lightly seasoned.
The chicken enchiladas come with a side of black beans and cilantro rice. The food as delivered was not acceptable! It was largely cold and unseasoned so we had it returned to the kitchen to be reheated and seasoned. That cilantro rice was absolutely tragic because it was sodium-​free, cold, lumpy and bland. There was no hint of cilantro and we only knew that it was «cilantro rice» because the waitress told us so. How in the world do you quiet cilantro, it is bold and unmistakable!
The beans had a nice smokey flavor and were the stand out on the plate.
The chicken in the enchiladas was largely unseasoned and the dish really relied on the sauce for flavor. When you are making a complex dish, every element of the dish should be seasoned. The only way you would ever send out such inadequate food is that you are not tasting the food as you season it. You must taste the food in order to determine if it is seasoned correctly! This is truly Cooking 101.
The sad thing is: If I had not been sitting there exploring his plate and checking everything, my husband would have just eaten the food without saying a word. I on the other hand was very offended by the way his food was delivered. Even after returning it to the kitchen it was only slightly warmer and the rice wasn’t any better.
At this point I would have simply rejected the order. Of course my husband ate it and YES, I married a Knucklehead!
Now to my order, I had a veggie burrito and thank God that I had the insight to eliminate the rice. I never get rice in my burrito because it is cheap filler food that gets in the way of the real food. I just prefer grilled veggies to keep it light and delicious. The burrito was actually very good. It contained the smokey black beans, grilled onions, mushrooms, peppers and zucchini with lettuce and avocado. The beans just really enhanced the overall taste but I do wish that it had been warmed a bit more. The plating was actually very boring as it was served with chips (in one of those little plastic hotdog baskets), with no garnish, visible veggies or sauce. It was therefore not picture worthy.
With new restaurants, I usually give them a pass for circumstances related to opening day such as having to wait longer for food because the place is slammed with customers, realizing that some items may not be available because they ran out. However in this case, I just don’t think this restaurant was quite ready to open. They really need to work on their dishes and it seems that their strength may be their alcoholic beverages.
It is a cozy place with a cute patio and festive décor. It will be the perfect spot for the locals when the weather gets warmer. If we do return, it will only be for the veggie burrito (husband liked it too), to go.
***Don’t forget that today is opening day and they will be offering drink and dinner specials during the dinner hour.