Totopos Street Food and Tequila

The location: Totopos Street Food and Tequila, 1388 Kildaire Farm Road, Cary

The guests: Brian, Derick, Jenny, & Jessi

The order:  Queso Dip, Queso Fundido with chorizo, Plato Gordo, ACP, Mexico City-Style Quesadillas, Pollo a las Brasas

The review:  4.5/5

Let's get into it:

• Have you been here before?  This is not a new restaurant in town.  In fact, when we were there, they were celebrating their 4th anniversary.  However, if the inside of the restaurant has you feeling a bit of deja vu, it is possibly because it still has remnants of the Chili's Restaurant of yesteryear.
• Location?  A little tricky to get to, and we possibly went down a back alley, but if you follow Google maps and aren't afraid of the dark, you will end up at the front door.
• Parking?  Lots.
• Wait time?  Well, we had reservations, so we got right in.  If you go to their website, it is super easy to make reservations - it is right up top on the home page.  I'm not sure if this is because they are pushing you to make a reservation or not.  Once there, we found our reservation was completely unnecessary as we were basically only one of about five parties in the restaurant.  But then again, it was 9:00 p,m. on a Saturday night.    

• Service?  Very knowledge waiter, with a great personality.  We felt tempted to ask him to name all 100 types of Tequila they have, but sadly, we didn't.  We'd recommend doing this, just for fun.  Report back though - we are curious. 
• Menu?  Looked like a wide selection of "Mexico-City inspired food".  Whatever that means.  We quickly found our typical favorites on the menu.
• Chips and salsa?  The chips were huge!!  But came out nice and warm, which we appreciate.  The salsa tasted a lot like the salsa from Chili's - which was strange, since this was an old Chili's restaurant.  We aren't sure if it actually did taste like the salsa from Chili's, or if it was just our minds playing tricks on us.  Either way, it was tasty!

• Quality of food?  Everything arrived hot and the presentation of food was impeccable.  Everything was sufficiently cheesy - which really, is the most important thing.  
• Taste of food?  The ACP had a bit of a spice to it, which was a bit surprising, most likely from poblano pepper.  While this was no match for our resident spice expert, if you have an aversion or are sensitive to spice, we recommend steering clear.  The tacos had great flavor, and had a flour tortilla that was soft but firm and held up while, and definitely tasted super fresh.  The Plato Gordo, though originally designed for 2 eaters, was Brian's order.  It came out on a hot wooden tray with a cast iron skillet with a block of munster cheese, grilled bell peppers, onions, a whole steak, chicken breast, and a huge pile of pulled pork, though if being honest, the cheese was clearly the showstopper of the plate.
• Atmosphere?  We don't remember any loud music or noisy kitchen, which made it easy for a pleasant conversation. The decor was festive and fun.

To sum it up, we definitely recommend this place.  I feel like we will be back, and would send others here.  The food was good, the servers were friendly, and the atmosphere was fun - what more could you ask for in a Mexican restaurant??

Where will our journey take us next time?

Pollo a las Brasas (double rice, no beans)

Plato Gordo 

(for two)

(or one if you are hungry or want leftovers!)

ACP

Mexico City-Style Quesadillas