Torreon Mexican Restaurant

9129 Elmhurst Dr
Shawnee Mission, KS 66212-3896
(913) 648-9582
http://www.torreoncantina.com

After reading a review of a fellow foodie about this place, I decided to go there myself and gave it a try. The restaurant was featured on the August 2007 Table Hopping for Tastebud Magazine. It claimed to be the home of original fish bowl margarita (that's my hot button right there!).

So I invited a good friend of mine to join me in this little adventure to their famous gorditas and a sip of margarita (well, that one was actually just for me).

The place was small and somewhat nice, tucked nicely behind a gas station, which blocked the noise from the 87th street. They have a really nice outdoor patio, decorated with beautiful flowers all around the patio, creating what I would call an oasis for the tired workers after a long hours at work.
There were not many tables at Torreon, and the space between each table was very narrow. No wonder, people prefer the outdoor tables.

After we were seated, I immediately ordered their original fishbowl margarita. Gorditas were what I after for dinner. Thus, I chose two beef gorditas and one chicken with Mexican angel hair pasta and refried bean.

I honestly was shocked to see the color of the margarita. I have not seen a margarita that green before. It was so green, that I thought they put some kind of green coloring on it. Seriously!
With high expectation, my first sip actually disappointed me. It was not as good as I thought it would be. I've had my share of good margaritas before and this one was way below my expectation.
Original margarita is supposed to be sour (from the lime or lemon), sweet (from the triple-sec), and have a little kick of liquor (from the tequila). With Torreon's, I felt like they put water on it, diluting all those flavors.

Alright, moving on to the gorditas. I've never had gorditas before, but as far as I know it was basically a puff fried tortilla (seen on Food TV Network, if not then blame them!).
My good friend had a very good gorditas in New Mexico and she was very excited when I told her Torreon has gorditas.
Gorditas are made of 3 masa biscuits, stuffed with choice of meats, beans, onion, lettuce, cheese, salsa and Pico de Gallo. They came with sides, such as refried beans, salad, and Mexican angel hair pasta (I tossed out the regular Mexican rice for this).

I thought they looked like a burger. :)
Although the masa biscuit was not fluffy or even puffy, I thought the whole thing was good. The beef was definitely a better choice than the bland chicken. I loved the angel hair pasta. Whoever thought about making a Mexican angel hair pasta was a genius! It was so delicious, it should have its own menu! Muy Bueno!
It had a kick of spiciness to it and sweetness of tomatoes. Believe me, it was worth a try!

My husband chose Caballero, which consisted of two Enchiladas (Cheese and Onion), two Tacos and one Nacho. The cheese and onion Enchilada was good, but that's all there is to it, just cheese and onion.

Oh, I was very and deeply (notice how depressed I was here) disappointed at their chips and salsa. Their chips was tasteless and the salsa was bland. I thought they were out of salt.
Gosh! The first bowl of chips and salsa was free, then they'll start charging for the next one after that. Oh come on! I got better chips and salsa at On the Borders for FREE.

Overall experience was not good. I expected this place to be a true and good Mexican restaurant with outstanding Mexican food, way above the chain Mexican restaurants out there. However, as much as I wanted to support local businesses, I probably won't come back here. Or maybe I'll give it another try, if they upgrade the cooks (or just to buy the angel hair pasta).