El Valle Verde Restaurant, Cincinnati, OH

Doesn't a meal at Mexican restaurant always start with chips and salsa?  This week we were visiting Cincinnati and I decided to try for a recommendation.  It came with a 92% like rating.  You can't please everyone, right?  Only a few other Mexican restaurants had an over 90% like rating.  Most of them were further outside the city than we wanted to venture. 

For some reason, Scott was craving Mexican.  Additionally with our young children in tow, a family friendly Mexican restaurant seemed like just the ticket.  We seemed to be surrounded by other families with children, which made us fit right in. 

But on the other hand, we were the only folks there who were not Latino.  That is a sign that you have hit on a good, authentic restaurant when the type of food and the ethnicity of the diners could be the same.  I do not know what actual Mexican food is because I have never been Mexico.  I have been to New Mexico and the flavors of this restaurant reminded me more of New Mexico than some chain Mexican restaurants do.  They also had the interesting drinks that I saw in New Mexican restaurants like horchata (rice water).

I had my pretty boring usual Mexican selection two tacos a la carte.

I was sure to select the steak option as merely selecting beef might have caused me to get tripe or head meat.  See menu below.



For some reason, I can't get this photo to rotate.  How annoying.  Maybe someday I will figure it out.  Scott had mixed fajitas (chicken, steak, and shrimp) and Sam had the kid's meal taco and enchilada.  The refried beans on Sam's plate were really good.  Often, not much effort goes into the sides at Mexican restaurants but not at this place.

 

After our fine Mexican meal, we went back to Kentucky to go to the Newport Aquarium.  Surprisingly, Sarah enjoyed the fish more than I thought a six month old could.  Sam seems to be into sharks these days.  He really enjoyed seeing them.