Samantha's is a little Mexican/El Salvadoran restaurant on University Blvd in Tacoma Park. My first impression was that the interior was a lot nicer than I expected from a restaurant in a neighborhood who's chief commercial business seems to be the pawn shop. The tables are nicely set up, not too tightly packed in, with white tablecloths. The prices are a bit higher than I'm used to paying for Mexican food, but not exorbitant. Most entrees were between $10 and $20.
The food was great. I'm not sure that it's better than our long-standing favorite DC Mexican restaurant, Mi Rancho, but it might well be (Allyson liked the food better). I had the carne asada, which was well marinated -- flavorful and tender. She had the taco salad and pupusas. The papusas were very good; the shell didn't overpower the fillings and it was well flavored. The chips and salsa which came out before were superb as well. The margarita I had, on the other hand, was unexceptional. Not that it was a bad margarita, but it was solidly average.
Samantha's is somewhat hard to get to, not being Metro accessible and not having a very large parking lot, but I definitely recommend it for a nice Mexican dinner. 4.5/5.
3 comments:
I think you should look for a job doing resturant reviews.
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See you Friday night!
The white tablecloth setup at a neighborhood spot like that is always a pleasant surprise. El Salvadoran food in DC tends to fly under the radar compared to Mexican, would be curious if they lean into that side of the menu more. For local home service needs in the area, hvac maintenance services is a solid resource.
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