Westword chose Los Farolitos Green Chile as their 2011 Winner. I think not. They also recommended the buffet and I would say this place isn't even trying.
The Green chile was watery and flavorless and the cheese enchiladas were rubbery at best. The buffet consisted of crusty old refried beans, so shady colorless watermelon, questionable menudo, mole w/ an unrecognizable meat, and countless other dishes that were not what I consider common mexican faire.
The rice was the highlight, but I expect more from a buffet. We attended on a Friday afternoon and the food looked like it had been out since Wednesday. I spoke to the hostess about the lack of choices. I felt like there should AT LEAST be some grilled pork or carne asada or chicken to put into the toritllas so I could make my own tacos. I literally asked her, "Where is the meat?" She pointed at a  tray with some rib bones in it. She then brought some out later, but by then it was much too late.
Save yourself the time and trouble. Westword, I love you, but you blew it on this one. I trust the reader's choice as Denver's #1 Green Chile, Santiago's never lets me down.
Friendly service. Food was good but I wouldn't call the green chile the best of Denver as Westword did. I had smothered chile rellenos (green chile) and they were very tasty but the breading was thin and sliding off. Â The salsa was pretty bland. All in all, I could have used a little more kick. Lots of harder to find, authentic dishes. They apparently must serve alcohol now because there were signs everywhere advertising shots and margaritas.
Review Source:This place, whose name has been change from El Farolito to Los Farolitos with a change of ownership, won Best of Westword for Green Chile, beating out a number of formidable competitors. Â Always looking for transcendent green, I had to sample theirs. Â
The three stars is just for the green chile because I just stopped by and took some home to sample and it's not really my thing. Â I'm sure it's a tasty sauce over a burrito but not something I'd want to eat by itself. Â This confirms my belief that green chile (as we know it here and in the Southwest U.S.) is a creation del Norte, not central Mexico where the owners hail from. Â It's sharp and tart with tomatillos and oregano.
Having said that, this place features some of my favorite dishes from the regions around Mexico D.F. Â Specifically, I want to return for two dishes that you seldom see in Denver unless you are in a restaurant with an imported chef/owner in the kitchen - Birria and Barbacoa. Â These may not be up everyones' alley because they feature goat and lamb (or probably mutton) - long stewed and delicious when done well. Â We shall see in the near future. Â They also have many of the more "Mexican" style items that you'll find at Los Carboncitos and some place around far East Colfax and South Federal sopes, guisados, huaraches, gorditas, etc.
I suspect another star may be lurking, but, barring a milagro, this place will never make 5 stars in my book because they don't have booze, and, let's face it, it is pretty - um, plain? - in terms of atmosphere set in a strip mall just off far East Colfax. Â I think they are still doing an almost embarrassingly inexpensive buffet during the day where you can sample a variety of their dishes for under $10 (maybe a little more on the weekend).
The name of this place has changed to Los Farolitos with a change in ownership. Â It's our favorite Mexican place close to work, and we've gone there for years. Â They have a pretty thorough menu of traditional Mexican dishes. Â The burritos are large and come smothered or plain, and the chiles, both red and green, are just what you would expect. Â There is plenty of meat to choose from here, ranging from the usual carnitas and barbacoa to lamb and goat as well as some more unfamiliar (to some) things such as tongue and tripe. Â Tacos are very good here, and people have enjoyed the tortas and quesadillas as well. Â There is a buffet there but we've never tried it since the rest of the menu has plenty of options. Â Every day they have a selection of other beverages such as horchata and various fruit flavored drinks as well as having recently obtained a liquor license. Â Now they're open for breakfast as well, so you can get your fix any time of the day.
Review Source:We went here a couple of months ago and it was very good. We went back on Monday and found out it has changed ownership. 2 months ago I would have given El Farolito 4 stars. Unfortunately it is not the same.
The salsa is still good but the chips stale, many of our entrees were under cooked and some of beans on the side were even cold. My son's flautas tasted as though the oil in the fryer hadn't been changed since the new owners took over. They have lost their liquor licence in the transition, not necessarily a deal beaker but a beer or margarita may have helped make the Novelas blaring on the TV a little more bearable. The server was pleasant but absent. Â
As it stands now I would have to say pass on El Farolito.
The sad thing about Mexican food in Denver is that it is all about the same. Â Go into most Mexican restaurants and you do not even need a menu. Â You already know what you want to eat. Â Finding Mexican restaurants that do something different is pretty difficult.
The reason I love El Farolito is that their food is unique. Â The owners are from Mexico City and their food is typical of the food you find in Central and Southern Mexico. Â The two dishes they do better than anyone else in Denver are Birria and Barbacoa. Â Birria is goat meat that is cooked in an oven until the meat falls tenderly off the bone. Â There are other places in Denver that do birria but their birria is the style one finds in Northern Mexico. Â The other dish they do better than anybody else is Barbacoa made from lamb. Â Most of the other Barbacoa that you find in Denver is made from cow cheek meat. Â Its good but lamb meat is the way it is traditionally made in Central and Southern Mexico. Â When you order these two great dishes make sure they bring the caldo/ soup that comes with the meal. Â I believe the caldo is made with chile guajillo and it is really good.
The cooks at El Farlolito do a lot of dishes very well. Â What they specialize in are what is known as platos guisados which are braised or stewed meats. Â Their riblets in tomatillo salsa are out of this world. Â The best opportunity to try the different guisados is on Saturday and Sunday mornings when they do an all you can eat buffet. Â This buffet is where you will find the real deal. Â You will find Mexican dishes that you only read about in cook books. Â In my opinion, El Farloito is the very best traditional Mexican restaurant in Denver. Â Highly recommended.
This place is great for both the buffet and the borrego and birria. Â Wonderful place to go with a family for non-Americanized Mexican food. Â The staff are very friendly and the food is great. Â Not like a lot of these other restuarants serving "Mexican" food geared towards the American's sterotypical view of Mexican food..... ie ground beef, hard-shell tacos with chedder cheese.
Oh and it's kid friendly.
My esteemed taco tour colleague, Mr. Doug Y, reminded me that I need to include El Farolito if I was to truly catch up with Taco Tour Two. Â El Farolito has been my place for cheese enchiladas for several years. But to be fair to Taco Tour, I stopped in on Friday to get a carne asada taco. It was a bit weird to walk into the buffet (new to me) but it sure gets your attention. For $7.99 on weekdays and $10.99 on weekends, I do not see how you can go wrong with this choice. It looks like a great place to try dishes you would not normally order.
My favorite about El Farolito is Aimee, the adorable co-owner with Edgar; she is so friendly and informative. After I placed my order, she toured me through the buffet pointing out each delicacy and really peaking my interest with this creamy potato/ham dish. Girl, that looks Southern to me! Â Each dish is prepared daily and it looks that fresh. We looked at the pictures of past and current diners on the wall including Ritter and Hickenlooper. (Where is the Yelp picture?) And she talked of her hometown of Mexico City and the recipes she brought with her. Her red chili is the recipe I grew up on in San Antonio. I have known for years you can get leche quemada, burnt milk, candy for an after dinner treat but Aimee showed me a few more additions like this small ice cream cone filled with a sugar confection.
And on to the taco. It was really good, served with chopped onions, lime and a verde salsa. The tortilla and meat slices were excellent! Â However, this is not the best taco on the tour but El Farolito is such a good place to eat for so many other things, I am giving it four overall stars.
One last note....I will report back next week if Aimee and Edgar get their liquor license. As Doug says, there is a school behind them but they have asked for some special case license.
From the taco tour blog:
Walking around Rancho Liborio reinforced that I wasn't hungry anymore cause I didn't even buy any groceries to bring home! But, after everybody had left I got to thinking that two spots wasn't enough of an adventure in Saudi Aurora for me and I got my second wind. I stopped first at Tacos Jr but there was no parking anywhere within a block of the place and then I remembered that El Farolito was on my must try do or die list. Plenty of parking. Oh, oh. that always sends off alarms in my head. I walk in and SOB it's a buffet! Looks good but I'm already 4/5 full. Yes a menu please and the coolest table you got. I ask her whats on the buffet and rather than trying to explain she walks me over and offers me tastes of dishes on the steam table. No thanks, I'll try it next time. Thanks. I look over the menu find the tacos and order a adobada and an al pastor. While I wait I see the sign on the wall advertising borrego and birria (lamb and goat) tacos. No way. Too full. The tacos come and they look pretty good. Not small, not giant, and with maybe slightly less meat than we saw at Patron or Rancho L. Â Limes. onions with a tiny bit of cilantro, and a temp. warm green salsa accompany the tacos. Pretty tasty, the adobada a little underseasoned but the al pastor was tasty. Miss, can I get one more taco? A borrego please. What am I doing? commiting taco-kiri? It comes out hot and tender with very little seasoning but allowing the flavor of the meat to do the talking. I'm not listening too well anymore so I stuff it down, pay and head out. Feeling like an overstuffed sofa but satisfied that this tour was completed for me without that feeling "You know, I wish I'd have...". So I rolled back home to Arvada, groaning but grinning.
          addendum
The buffet w/drink for just short of $11.00 bucks looked pretty good. They had a seafood soup, posole and menudo on the soup table, chicken in mole, carnitas, flautas, and a lamb dish, and also I think a noodle dish on the hot food table. Not ten minutes after I walked into a near empty restaurant, a crowd came in and the place filled up. About half of the tables ate off the buffet and the other half ordered a la carte. Decent food, but no cervezas! It's near a school.
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