Michigan, El Maguey II, in Monroe

After a long day at work, my hubby and I both decided neither one of us wanted to cook. So what do empty nesters do, find some place that we have never been to before, and be a bit adventurous. We decided to take a 20 minute drive to Monroe to a small hole in the wall of a place (which we have found usually have good food) called El Maguey Authentic Mexican. The parking lot is not very large as it is shared with the liquor store next door to El Maguey.

Joel looking over El Maguey menu

El Maguey is a very small place, you have to look quick or you will pass it up. It seats maybe 40 people and if you look over the counter, you can see the proprietor cooking your dinner. When we were there, both owners were behind the counter, one cooking and one supervising and one waitress. It was a seat yourself type of place, we found our seat, a small table in the corner away from other people. The waitress hurried over with menus and asked what we wanted to drink and if we wanted chips and salsa. We both like salsa and chips we said sure.  As drinks go, there is no alcohol but they do have the traditional Mexican pop Jarritos in a cooler, they have regular fountain pop too.  She returned quickly with our chips and salsa (hot and mild), and asked if we knew what we were going to order, well we both decided on the combo plate with beef.

As Mexican restaurants go, it has some decorations around, a few small Sombrero’s hanging on the wall, some Aztec type of pottery and a few brightly colored scenic pictures. While we waited for our food, we watched many people come and go, for a small place, it was quite busy, mostly with carry out orders, but the tables were beginning to fill up.

It was finally our turn; the busy waitress brings our two plates, full of food almost to the edge and looked wonderfully traditional. The food was not smothered in some sort of gravy or melted cheese (as many restaurants do), they used white cheese instead of cheddar, the beans didn’t look like they were from a can and the rice had some good flavor. The waitress asked if we needed more salsa, which we did, and she was quickly gone and back before we could even decide where to start on our plate.  Needless to say, my hubby ate all of his food and I needed a “doggy” box for half of mine. We had no room for dessert even though they had one of my favorite’s “Tres Leches” cakes that will be for another day.

Combination Plate

We will definitely be putting this little place on our list of places to go back to. We had plenty of food, we didn’t leave hungry, the waitress was friendly and the cost for both of us $21.00. Next time I will probably order something more specific, like stuffed poblano’s made from scratch.

Biker friendly I’m sure, but not beer.