Esteban's

We have fond memories of visiting The Mexican Grille when we lived very close by, and since we moved away haven't been able to visit. Well we finally got our chance when a group from our Church decided to come here for a fun outing learning to dance salsa--it was fun!

I was very happy to see this expansion from Mexican Grille into Esteban's, a dance and dinner hall. There isn't much signage to identify Esteban's so look for the Mexican Grille and then a great big E to the right of it. That's Esteban's.

There are a few Puerto Rican and Mexican specialties for a quick nibble, but the food wasn't served hot and the selection you chose from is not as good as I would have preferred. Perhaps have a full meal before heading here and just order some items to share. I believe there is a cover charge if you're only here to dance vs. eat, but that may be worth it since the food isn't that exciting anyway. I did like my tostones, since I hadn't had some for a loooong time.

The dance instructor, Cinnamon, is a choreographer and gives straight forward and humorous instructions to a huge room full of people, creating an environment of organized, attentive students. I enjoyed seeing more professional dancers do their thing from the sidelines after giving my salsa steps a little workout. After dancing a couple of times with your partner, you are then asked to switch partners, which can be daunting as practice levels vary from the very new (overly enthusiastic or dull) to the proficient instructor/dancer (knows their stuff, you're in good hands). It's as good a place for people watching as it is for dance lessons.

I thoroughly enjoyed the music selection from the live DJ and the dance instruction. I had a good time and would love to come back again.

The parking lot can get a little full on snowy evenings. Margaritas the size of your head! Full bar is also available. The owner is very friendly and comes by to say hi and introduce himself. The staff is friendly but hard to get a hold of sometimes to get refills or order something.

I AM a fan but recommend eating ahead of time.. food: not worth it! It is very expensive and very bland, in my opinion. HOWEVER.. we were there for the Salsa lessons which were very entertaining indeed.

There is a teacher Cinnamon (as another person pointed out, that is his actual name) who is fantastic at getting everyone involved and teaching you the steps slowly.. if you are like me, you still can't really dance but the point is fun, right?

You switch up partners a bit.. at first I wasn't so sure about this idea, but it was actually quite amusing to see how each person dances a bit differently. Some of those guys are pretty good at it and make it easy for a girl!

I brought a church group here.. would do so again but would probably organize elsewhere to eat ahead of time and just pay the cover $10 on saturday to get in the door.. I'd rather spend $10 on the dancing than on the food.

Oh yeah.. when you are looking for it.. the ONLY THING on the sign is a giant E.. I didn't find it for a while, myself.

I didn't eat so I can't review the food (but my friends did and said the food was good). It looks super small on the outside and kind of hard to find - and the new map app on my iphone pointed me in the wrong direction which didn't help.

However, the dance instructor was pretty great and the music is very good. Partners are plentiful on a Sat night as long as you're not picky (ahem...  it's an older male crowd). It was costume night the night we went, so there were some pretty decent costumes out there. All in all, it was an enjoyable night. :)