Serving decent food at a reasonable price, El Potro offers a semi-casual dining experience. Located at 13035 Canaan Center Drive in Bonner Springs about 15 minutes from the school, El Potro provides excellent service.

Despite arriving to a full parking lot, we were swiftly seated. Our drink orders were immediately taken, and complementary chips, queso and salsa soon followed.

The chips were fairly standard, and could’ve used with more salt or softening. Luckily, the queso was a delight, and significantly improved the chips. The queso favored its cheese flavoring over its pepper, and was pleasantly warm. Contrastly, the salsa was a bit lackluster. It was cool and far too watery.

I ordered the Quesadilla Chorizo, while Jonathan ordered the Mini Potro Sampler. We waited a short ten minutes for our food.

The Quesadilla Chorizo comprised of Mexican sausage, Monterey Jack cheese and pico de gallo in a flour tortilla. The dish was very soft and warm. The dish was spicy, but despite not personally being a fan of spicy foods, the spice was minimal enough that I ended up rather enjoying the quesadilla.

The Quesadilla Chorizo came with a side of rice and beans, which I chose to have refried.

The rice was complimented with chopped green onion and tomato which added a pleasant crunch to the dish. The rice was still the dominant flavor, and I enjoyed the dish quite a bit.

The refried beans were average. I was expecting a  slightly more spicy dish to match the quesadilla, but the refried beans were rather plain. They tasted like less buttery mashed potatoes.

The Mini Potro Sampler included two shredded beef taquitos, two chicken fajitas, two small shredded chicken quesadillas, beef and cheese nachos, guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese and jalapeños.

The beef taquitos were a little dry, but otherwise good. The chicken fajitas were very crispy, while the chicken quesadillas cleanly blended cheese tortilla and fresh chicken. The nachos were slightly soggy, but less standard than the complementary chips. The guacamole was very good, and the entire dish was served with fresh lettuce and tomato.

Both dishes cost less than $10, yet still provided a reasonably filling meal. However, without the complementary chips, the meals may not have been filling enough.

The service was quite excellent. Both our drinks and chips were refilled promptly and without request, and the waiter checked in throughout the meal.

The interior atmosphere a step above casual. It wasn’t so formal as a romantic restaurant, and customers appeared to be primarily casually dressed families. Still, chandelier style lighting and cultural decorations and music created a more serious environment. The cultural vibe was definitely the focus, but in our seating section there were three TVs in the corners.

The exterior atmosphere was less impressive. There were a few outside benches, but otherwise, the building was bland. Additionally, although not necessarily El Potro’s fault, when we exited, we were assaulted by smoke from smokers in the parking lot.

Overall, I would rate El Potro four stars out of five. The speed and quality of service was no less than perfect, and the interior atmosphere provided a nice blend of casual and formal dining. However, a poor exterior and mix between average and tasty dishes slightly lessened the experience, but El Potro definitely deserves a try.