LALO’S TACOS AND CANTINA (1725 Electric Ave., Ste. 160 in Wire Park in Watkinsville, 706-705-1414): I didn’t have high hopes for Lalo’s. It’s a Mexican restaurant in a county not particularly known for authentic eats from that country. Its Google reviews are not great. No one had told me it was any good. But just like Los Primos Taqueria Express, on 441 South near Hog Mountain Road, owned by the same restaurant group, it ends up being far better than expected. Unlike Los Primos, Lalo’s is pitching itself as a more upscale option. The prices aren’t low. The atmosphere is a little jazzy, with big, fancy light fixtures and three complimentary salsas with blue corn chips brought to your table gratis. You can make a reservation, and no one is offering you fried ice cream. Maybe the problem is that Wire Park attracts primarily young families, who may feel that the price point is too high, even if you can feel virtuous about feeding your baby a side of sweet potatoes. Or maybe, even almost a decade after Cinco y Diez closed in Athens, people here still can’t see Mexican food as potentially upscale.
None of that is to say you can’t wear shorts. No one will kick you out or even look at you funny for wearing flip flops and a baseball cap. And Lalo’s is not on the level of our finest restaurants past or present. But the plating is pretty. The dishes are more interesting than you’d expect, and better executed for the most part. The cocktails are nicely done, not just well tequila and frozen marg mix, but options like a mezcalita negra made with Banhez mezcal, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, activated charcoal, herradura syrup and orange liqueur (sort of like a smokier, more complex margarita) are worth your time if you can handle paying $12–15 for your drink. And if you just want a Tecate, that’s available, too, for $4. The drinks menu is big, with Irish whisky among the rum, tequila, mezcal and vodka.
The lunch menu is much smaller than the dinner one, focusing more on tacos, and the prices are lower if you want a more economical way to check out the restaurant. Tacos come two to an order, plus a side, and although that may not be enough for you, they’re stuffed pretty full. Also made with blue corn, they arrive in a cute little holder that helps them keep their shape. You can get chicken or steak, but you can also get chunks of fried octopus with a creamy avocado sauce that nail their texture, or lamb barbacoa with pickled onions and salsa macha that plays rich and fatty against sharp vinegar. Opt for something more interesting, and you may be rewarded, a statement that goes for a whole lot of restaurants and for life in general.
An edamame appetizer tossed with sesame oil, black salt and theoretical dried chiles (it’s not spicy at all) may annoy you with its $10 price tag, but its minerally overlay is tasty, and the dish is addictive. The guacamole is a touch too smooth, but it comes studded with pork rinds, which are both keto friendly and an upgrade over chips. Aguachile—a hotter, shrimp-based ceviche with sauces nearly as complex as a mole—is only available at dinner, but it’s a hard thing to find elsewhere in Athens and is absolutely worth your time, especially as a summer meal. The black version combines thinly sliced red onion and Persian cucumber with shrimp, then drenches the plate in a dark sauce concocted in part from charred habaneros (and maybe pepitas? There’s a faintly bitter, nutty flavor in it that’s fun to chase).
The sides are 100% boring. Mashed sweet potato, roasted vegetable medley, decent charros beans, rice, corn crème brûlée. One could say that the taco fixings get a bit repetitive, with lots of pickley things and avocado sauce, even if they’re pretty good. Something like fajitas will be better executed than usual, complete with nopales as well as grilled sliced peppers, but those areas of the menu are the ones where you may feel that the cost is unjustified; i.e., is your investment of an extra $4–5 met with equivalent pleasure? The enchiladas suizas are in a similar situation, no doubt made with fresher and slightly more interesting ingredients than at your standard chips and margs purveyor, but are they that much better? It’s fair to have some qualms. Treat it like a date-night option rather than an end-of-week decompression solution and you may do better.
Service is generally of the overattentive variety. There are both vegetarian and vegan options, including tacos that come three to an order rather than two. Seating options abound, both inside and out: small table, big table, high table, low table, bar. If you have children who cannot or do not want to be confined to a high chair, there are activities for them right nearby: a climbing structure, an astroturf lawn, a bocce court. Lalo’s is open for lunch and dinner every day, plus weekend brunch.
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