I thought I had gotten super lucky the other day with my best Door Dash or any sort of delivery order ever. Today my thoughts were proven wrong. My order from Amorcito Corazon Cantina Grill was the best delivery order I’ve ever had ~ and there’s been a lot of them all over the country. No mistakes unless I totally missed something. All special requests and notes followed perfectly including meat cook temperature (well done). All things needed included without me having to ask. Everything packaged actually and as if being presented. Nothing leaking. Nothing all jammed up with something else. No cruddy plastic tshirt/grocery type bags tied in a knot where everything is crammed in there and basically have to cut to open. It actually came in a large paper bag n Great portion sizes and excellent prices.
I admit I was extremely hesitant to place an order from Amorcito Corazon Cantina Grill as there were 0 reviews and 0 customer pictures. I didn’t know if it was some ghost kitchen in the boonies or what the situation may be. I did a quick google search and discovered they literally just opened right before the 2024 new year. It explained everything; plus the reviews I found online across multiple sites were all singing their praises.
I had a hard time narrowing down my order as so many things are offered that aren’t at other places or only offered during certain times at other places. But here they’ve got it all every day and all day from what it seems. Their menu selection is quite huge (plus they have chocolate covered strawberries though I didn’t get). A quick check of their website even says they do 2 for 1 margaritas every day in person. Think I may have to make a trip down to see them in person in Madison as soon as I can.
The prices were much better than many of the other Mexican restaurants with a delivery option as many of their items were several dollars if not half as much as other places. Those other places I feel are too pricey for what they’re offering, so Amorcito Corazon Cantina Grill hits the target price point. Every item was a good serving size being the same or slightly larger than other restaurants offer. It was all super fresh, seasoned great, and actually looked just as appetizing as it tasted. Even the rice wasn’t like the standard slapped on a plate product many places send out.
Speaking of rice, their rice is one of the best tasting ones I’ve had. It had just the right amount of seasoning, the correct amount of veggies to rice, cooked perfectly (not overcooked, crunchy from standing about, or hard due to being undercooked), excellent serving size (I got about 75% more than my last order from a different Mexican restaurant via Door Dash and this one was 50% less in price), and not greasy. It was a fluffy, aromatic treat!
My order wasn’t the standard order as I tend to be on the picky side so my pictures aren’t what most people would get when it comes to the entree. I ordered the dinner portion beef fajitas without tomatoes, with double rice instead of rice and beans, and guacamole and sour cream only on side (no pico, lettuce, etc). I requested the steak be well done and it was.
The steak pieces were by far the largest I’ve had in a fajitas meal. It wasn’t like tiny bits and large bits combined and all super thin like most places offer. They were uniform in size and actually thick probably 1/4” thick square and 2.5 to 3” long. It was so nice to not have to use a fork to scavenge around in onions and peppers to find the scraps of steak hiding like almost every other fajita I’ve had has been. The onions and peppers were also cut into good sized pieces. It was not drowning in grease or oil like many arrive in ~ no feeling like you’re weighted down from it after eating. It didn’t have funky taste or smell. It actually looked fresh. I know I’m saying “fresh” a lot but many times there’s a heaviness with food from Mexican restaurants as it feels like it was not cooked with care and just thrown together not caring about what the customer is getting. That is not the case with my order today from Amorcito Corazon Cantina Grill. Plus I really don’t see how they could turn into that other sort of Mexican restaurant with what they provided to me today.
They also offered a choice between tortilla types to accompany the fajitas (have never come across in my other Door Dash fajita ordering as lucky to even have tortillas mentioned at any other restaurant) and offered additional 3 piece tortilla orders (found in side order items ~ the other day it took me over 5 minutes figure out how to get at another place thru Door Dash and I couldn’t as wasn’t an option at that other one). It would be great if they had the option on the actual fajita menu item page so didn’t have stray away to the side items (did find 42 other available side items ~ can really get what you want from them).
The little container of sour cream was full for a change versus the tablespoon often supplied by other restaurants. The 2 oz is ample for the fajitas for one order. The guacamole included with the fajitas for one person was also an entirely full little 2 oz container. I did order a “side guacamole” off the side 43 item side order items section. I guessed it would be about the same as the amount included with the entree. And it was also an entirely full 2 oz container of some great looking guacamole.
The guacamole, just as the rest of my order tasted great, look amazing visually, could tell it was made now not before, and was just the right thickness. It wasn’t too chunky, but wasn’t baby food puree consistency either. It was not liquidy (got a large the other day from a different restaurant and I literally had to strain it as best as I could as like a melted milkshake with liquid visible on top), but it also wasn’t “dry” from being too thick. It was just right.
The biggest issue I had after finding out this was a new place that I should try was the my confusion with the whole chips and salsa situation. There was no mention if the order would come with any or none. I went ahead and ordered a large salsa and regular bag of chips. How many places offer a large salsa? Not many that I have seen. Matter of fact, none that I’ve ordered from before this have ever had a large salsa listed in their online or app menu. They offer both separate regular and large sized salsa, separate regular and large sized chips, and regular and large sized chip and salsa combinations. The price was not ridiculous for the chips and salsa so if the order included any I wasn’t wasting much money. The salsa also was super fresh looking, smelled great, and visually looked yummy. There are good sized pieces of the ingredients in it so they aren’t puréed until unrecognizable. It also isn’t something that looks like it was poured out of generic cheap commercially sold jar. The colors were bright and vibrant meaning it was fresh not sitting around forever. My only negative thing about the salsa is the container was only 75 to 80% full. Really wish it had been fuller.
I’m still confused about the chip situation as 2 bags arrived. One smaller and one larger. I’m going to say the smaller was the extra bag I ordered and the larger was what they sent with my next item which was a large cheese dip. My guess is that no chips or salsa are provided with an order. Chips seem to be provided with orders of cheese dip and more than likely also
with guacamole dip. Seemingly the appropriate sized chip bag for size of dip is sent ~ small chip with regular dip and large chip with large dip. I don’t know that for sure but off what I received it does seem more than likely to be the case.
I chose to order a large cheese dip as it was a great deal. It was very tasty, but like the large salsa, it was only about 75 to 80% full.
Lastly, I wanted to have a backup plan in the event I didn’t have enough cheese dip left for my fajitas or my fajitas didn’t come with enough rice. I ordered the cheesy rice which arrived in the same sized container as my fajitas and was just as high quality as the plain rice. It had the right amount of cheese ~ not too much or too little.
The only other negative thing I have to say is I was a little surprised by the volume of the meat and veggie portion of the fajitas. Granted they did not come steaming hot to my table on one of the cooking iron plates, so evaluating volume of a round 1.5” deep aluminum container compared to a 0.5” deep oval cast iron plate is tricky. I’m not complaining about the amount I received, but I am curious as to what size the lunch portion fajitas are. Mine were supposed to be the dinner portion for one person, so it seems there wouldn’t be much there in a lunch portion for one person. If a really big eater, it may not be enough to fill one up. I simply don’t know as I haven’t seen the lunch portion to know its size compared to the dinner portion.
This all could possibly be attributed to just opening the restaurant and kitchen staff getting acquainted with the menu. Perhaps I received the lunch portion versus the dinner portion as it was thought that was what I had actually ordered. Or perhaps someone just grabbed the wrong amount of ingredients as start of lunch service and guessed that’s what they were cooking. Who knows, but would be curious as to the answer. When I just now went back to their actual website I found a picture of their chicken fajitas (dinner entree). The oval cast iron plate is piled super full, so I believe there was in fact some miscommunication of what I ordered and what I got.
Overall, my negatives are not really complaints, so please do not take them as being so. I’ve never eaten at Amorcito Corazon Cantina Grill before, so I had no clue what to expect. My expectations were solely based off prior experiences at other establishments. Plus there were no pictures at the time I ordered as no reviews yet. I was flying blindly and going off what I saw across the review websites I glanced at.
I truly hope many people find this hidden gem of Madison and keep them super busy in order for them to thrive long into the future. I cannot wait to order from them again as soon as I get the Mexican food needed urge again.
