I had been hearing about a Mexican restaurant in Aledo, IL - about 30 miles south and west of the Quad Cities - that was supposed to be pretty good. I didn't know much about it except that it was near the Walmart. One beautiful Friday evening, my wife and I decided to take a drive in the country and enjoy the countryside sights and sounds on the Illinois side of the river. Taking backroads down to Aledo, it so happened that Illinois Highway 94 that was taking us south toward the small town ended up right in front of the Walmart. And in front of Walmart was Los Charros. I said, "Well, that must be the place." We went in to check the place out and to have some dinner.
There are two locations of Los Charros - the original one opened in Carthage, IL in 2010 and the Aledo location opened in 2011. Both are owned by Jacinto Santiago and other than that, I don't know much more about Los Charros. (There is a Los Charros Mexican restaurant in East Moline that has been around the Quad Cities off and on since 1992, but I don't believe there is an affiliation with the ones in Aledo and Carthage.)
The Aledo location is located on Illinois Highway 17 just east of its junction with Highway 94. (see map) It is housed in what looks like it was a former Country Kitchen or possibly a Hardee's restaurant. The restaurant basically featured three different areas - the main dining room that had a number of tables and some booths, a back room and an atrium area off to the side. It was pretty busy when we got there and we ended up seated at the end of a long community table, one of two that were in the dining room.
There were a lot of beer signs on the wall, but there was also some Mexican artwork on display. This little area was up front by the cash register and was an area for people who were waiting for tables to open up.
We started out with some chips and salsa. The chips were pretty dull and lifeless like they'd been sitting in the bin way too long, but the salsa was good. We asked our waitress if we could get some salsa verde. She didn't know what that was - we determined later in the evening that she must have been pretty new as a server - and I finally said, "The green salsa." She went off to check and brought back a bowl of salsa verde. It had a smooth taste on the front end with an eye-opening spicy pop on the back end. It was very delicious.
The margaritas were interesting. We both got margaritas made with Patron tequila. The mix they used was sort of thicker than most margaritas and it was served with a sliced melon wedge. I wasn't certain that I liked the margarita all that much, so I ended up getting a Dos Equis Ambar when I finished my drink.
The menu is basic Mexican fare with a few twists thrown in here and there. My wife went with the combo kabobs - chicken, skirt steak and shrimp with red and yellow peppers and onions on skewers. A side of Mexican rice, guacamole, chopped tomatoes and lettuce came with it. She felt the skirt steak was a little tough and chewy, but that the shrimp and the peppers had a wonderful grilled taste to them. She was undecided if she really liked her meal.
I got the pork carnitas dinner. Along with the braised pork, I got a side of Mexican rice and refried beans. A mix of chopped onions and tomatoes, as well as sliced pickled jalapeños came with it. And, as a nice touch, some sliced avocados came with the dinner, as well. The pork was tender and pulled apart rather easily. The flavor was just all right, but I was able to zip it up a bit with the salsa verde that we had left on the table.
Now, it had taken quite awhile to get our food out to the table. My wife had noticed a couple people seated near us who had come in after we did, ordered well after we did, who got their food before us. It turned out the girl had forgotten to turn in our food order. That was about the point of the evening when we figured out that she probably didn't have much time under her belt as a server.
The hiccups in service were about the only thing that marred our meal at Los Charros. While I thought the food was good for Mexican fare, there are a half-dozen places in the Quad Cities that I think are better. My wife would probably be not as kind in her assessment as she thought the meal she had was "just all right" and that the chips they served were stale. I don't know if Los Charros was worth the 30 mile-plus drive we took to go try the place out, but we did and gave it a shot.
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