Mama Juanita's Restaurant at Gosling and Root

This well-known local chain now has a location at Gosling and Root.  We got takeout from there the other night on a busy evening.  We had the yellow queso with chips, the El Capitan (grilled shrimp with pork carnitas), and chipotle enchiladas.  We ordered direct from the restaurant to avoid delivery commissions for them.

One nice touch is that they send all three of their salsas with takeout.  The queso was standard, chips were fine also.  I mixed in some of the red salsa with the queso and it made a really nice combination--the salsa had a lot of flavor and was mildly spicy.  The salsa verde was the spicy one of the bunch--good flavor and an intense kick.  They also had a chipotle salsa that had a pretty good kick of its own and good flavor.  All tasted homemade.

The El Capitan shrimp were quite good, properly cooked with lots of paprika and other spices, they had some kick but very manageable.  The pork carnitas were good also, tender and moist with plenty of onion.  I was happy with the dish.  The chipotle enchiladas tasted good but from the description we thought they'd be creamier, more like the sour cream enchiladas.  Not a real knock on them.  They were very spicy, with the salsa verde it's for serious heat lovers.

For sides we had charro beans, refrieds, and rice.  The charro bean soup was pretty good, salty with good bacon flavor.  The rice was a saffron rice, which I like better than the tomato-chile rice.  On its own it was on the dry side, but was good with the other things.  Refrieds were fine.

We didn't get dessert, since it really doesn't travel well for the most part.  But I would have ordered the fried ice cream, it was a great looking presentation--ice cream topped with corn flakes in a pastry shell.  Also looked like they had free ice cream.

I went inside to pick up my order.  It took a bit longer than I would have liked to get waited on, though not seriously so, and the order was ready for me.  The order was correct, which does not always happen with takeout for more than one person.  The interior is pretty basic--one square room with tables pretty close together, and it was busy so on the noisy side.  You're kind of on top of the dining area at the doorway.  The restaurant is a mask-free zone--no one present was wearing one.

All in all it was fine, a strong three stars but not four.  I'm just not sure why I'd prefer it to other Mexican places in the area.  If you're a fan already and live nearby then it's great to have one convenient.

My Yelp Review