Eco "Always looking for delicious and creative, preferably organic,..."

Best mexican food on the Seacoast. It’s probably the most authentic you are going to get around here, and it’s a local favorite. And for those of us environmentalists out there, the fish tacos are even from sustainably caught Alaskan pollock. The new extension at the restaurant makes dining more comfortable as well. Definitely worth a visit.

I concur with the previous review. The decor for some reason is really bothersome to me, and I consider myself pretty ‘anti-establishment’. The food is mediocre, and I’ve heard from numerous former employees how filthy the kitchen is. I can’t comment on that from first hand experience, but it wouldn’t really surprise me. The whole experience feels dirty and greasy to me. I still can’t figure out why there is sometimes such a long line out the door for brunch – tourists maybe?

We went to El Taco on a late summer afternoon like around 2 pm. It was so crowded – a line out the door. That solidified to my mexican food-loving husband that we had to eat here, but we decided to wait a bit and come back when the line settled. You order here at a counter, are given a number, and wait for your food to be brought out to you. The decor is typical of a Mexican restaurant or a take out pizza place – totally lacking of anything appetizing. I had a vegetarian burrito. It was typical unhealthy, heavy mexican food. If that’s what you like, then you’ll be satisifed. I prefer black beans over soupy pinto beans that you’d find here or in most traditional Mex. restaurants. I felt gross and unhealthy after eating here. I’d take Chipotle any day of this place even if less traditional. I’d rather not feel like I gained 2 lbs after having a meal. That being said, if you like traditional Mex. food, you’ll probably love the food here.

Where else can you go to get dinner at 10:55 pm and still get served a real meal? The Brewery of course. We sat down with 5 minutes to spare before the kitchen closed. The Brewery has improved over the years. It’s almost always loud and service CAN be hit or miss, but their vegetarian options have increased over the years and lately, they’ve had a lot more creative dining options than you’d expect from a brewery. On this last visit, I had a new mushroom melt sandwich that was really good. It sort of reminded me of a french dip but with mushrooms, not meat. Weird but true.

I like Flatbread’s a lot. I love that they have vegetarian and vegan options, although I have some vegan friends who wish they had vegan desserts, too. I also like that they use organic ingredients and support local causes. My only negative comment here is that I do feel like the pizzas are overly greasy sometimes. But, it’s a nice place to take kids since the kitchen is open and kids can watch the pizzas go into the brick oven. The staff here makes this place really special as well. They are so laid back, friendly, and accommodating. It seems like this would be an awesome place to work since the people are so great!

We go out to eat Mexican food – a lot. I am married to a Mexican food addict. I’ve been to many Mexican restaurants. I know Chipotle is not exactly ‘authentic’ since you don’t get the soupy beans and rice. It is disappointing to know that by eating at Chipotle, I am giving my money to McDonald’s, but it is just so good and so reasonably priced. I have 3 solid options as a vegetarian – tacos, a burrito, or a salad. The serving sizes are so generous. And each time, I can get it a little different since I’m in control of what goes into my meal. Surprisingly for a fast food chain, the food tastes fresh and flavorful. It’s the only chain I think I would ever recommend!

We recently dining at Raven’s Restaurant. I was so excited a vegetarian and vegan restaurant with produce from their organic garden and prepared as creative, fine dining. Dinner started over with flavored water with edible flowers and fruit in it. Nice touch though the water was sort of room temperature and not very refreshing. We had a sushi appetizer that sounded so interesting but ended up tasting pretty similar to other sushi rolls I’ve eaten elsewhere. My main course, the Sea Palm Strudel, was prepared nicely but the flavors weren’t as interesting as I thought they could have been. I also had an ant on my plate, probably from one of the edible flowers on the plate but they didn’t even apologize or anything. I’ve tasted more flavorful veggie food at non-veggie restaurants.

When walking by this cafe, the menu didn’t wow me, but the woman at the visitor’s center suggested it and told us about a local deal there on Monday nights. On Monday nights, there is no corkage fee, and they offer a prefixe dinner for $25 per person. It was fabulous. We started with a soup or salad. I got the soup and was really impressed. Then the entree was a pasta dish that was fabulous and incorporated fennel seeds. It was great! The dessert was a plum cobbler. Great experience! We ate outside in the garden. Although it was chilly outside, the outdoor heating lamp kept us at a comfortable temperature. The prefixe deal was not on the menu so you just have to be ‘in the know’ I guess. Ask about it!

I am not sure when the last time I had to wait for food to take this long to be served. Surely that clouds my ability to truly rate this restaurant. I gave it 3 stars based on the fact that perhaps it was not a normal day for them. We visited on labor day but in the middle of the day not at a meal time. It was packed nonetheless and they couldn’t keep up with the demand. My husband and I shared a thai firebowl. Only one dish but a LONG wait for it. It was okay. I appreciated the creativity of some of the options and that there were veggie dishes on the menu. I didn’t love the firebowl but after such a long wait, I was too starving to give it a fair assessment.

We recently met some friends at this cute little restaurant in Portland. We had to wait a while, but luckily the food was worth the wait. When we were finally seated, our server was excellent and helpful. I was the only vegetarian in a group of 4 of us. I could pick anything from the menu which was awesome! The food had both Thai and Indian influences which allowed for us all to try different things and whatever appealed to us at the time. I loved my meal as did the 3 meat eaters I dined with. I definitely would go back and recommend this place to a friend!