On the recommendation of a friend, I visited 4 Caminos on Broadway St NE next to The Willamette Noodle Co. It's a two story building with large windows around most of the restaurant. During my lunch hour on a sunny day, I made my first visit to this establishment. One of the best parts about eating at a sit down Mexican restaurant is the chips and salsa. Brought immediately to my table, the basket of fried tortilla chips was pretty good, and not salty. The salsa the same and a little spicy. I ordered the #13 "Burrito Mandero" from the lunch menu for $5.25. Most of the items from that menu are priced the same and include rice and beans. The waiter was prompt and brought out my food right away, steaming hot. I ordered the Mandero with shredded beef but when mine came it was ground. That's OK, I dug into it anyway. It tasted like a Burrito Supreme from Taco Bell only fresher. That's wasn't meant as an insult, I almost ate the whole thing. It's not a place that I would go back to but worth checking out and crossing off my list.
On the recommendation of a friend, I visited 4 Caminos on Broadway St NE next to The Willamette Noodle Co. It's a two story building with large windows around most of the restaurant. During my lunch hour on a sunny day, I made my first visit to this establishment. One of the best parts about eating at a sit down Mexican restaurant is the chips and salsa. Brought immediately to my table, the basket of fried tortilla chips was pretty good, and not salty. The salsa the same and a little spicy. I ordered the #13 "Burrito Mandero" from the lunch menu for $5.25. Most of the items from that menu are priced the same and include rice and beans. The waiter was prompt and brought out my food right away, steaming hot. I ordered the Mandero with shredded beef but when mine came it was ground. That's OK, I dug into it anyway. It tasted like a Burrito Supreme from Taco Bell only fresher. That's wasn't meant as an insult, I almost ate the whole thing. It's not a place that I would go back to but worth checking out and crossing off my list.
I really wanted to like this place because we love Mexican and we love WNC across the street (and both our close by) but when we asked the server he said the refried beans had lard and there was no option for vegetarians. That pretty much kills a mexican restaurant for me ... they need to get with it and offer a bunch of nice vegetarian options--there's lots of nice Mexican foods that can be made without meat & lard.
ReplyDeleteFirst, lard in the refried beans is a good sign, not a bad. The problem is with vegetarians, who suck, and have been ruining good food for years. Stick to tofu and leave my food alone, you freaks.
ReplyDeleteHowever anonymous is right, this place blows. Boring, unoriginal, gringo Mexican. Although they did give us a round of free shots after we ate. And the beans, despite the use of lard, weren't any good anyway.
The food here didn't blow me away, but the salsa is fantastic... nice and spicy. I'd say it's tied with Las Palomas for best Salsa. For all the things that La Hacienda Real does right, their salsa is not their strong suit.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's been over a year since anyone posted a review here I thought I would set the record straight!first of all anyone who would judge a mexican restaurant by the refried beans has to be pretty lame! and you can't always judge anyone, anyplace, or anything by 1 experience......am I not right? we'll just so happens today was my first experience with 4 Caminos and it was fantastic and my wife and I both got so much food with our combination meals that we will have a great late night snack or lunch tomorrow:) The #5 enchilada and tamale my wife got was really really good and my #13 burrito and enchilada was awesome!!! I think it's a shame that people use the internet to slam restaurants especially after 1 visit and such trivial complaints! 4 Caminos was GREAT in my book:) Thank You for a great meal and value!
ReplyDeleteI eat at 4 Caminos probably once a week. I'd say my total is about 50 times now. The food doesn't stand out as spectacular, but some things about it are really nice. For one, the service is almost always incredibly pleasant and friendly. For two, you can sit upstairs by a window, which is fun. The salsa is the best I know, and some of the dishes are very good. In particular the chile verde burrito, the pollo a la diabla (the best I've found), and the tacos carne asada (very good, but not as good as El Grullense), and the veggie burrito is delicious. The beans aren't particularly good, so if that's your yardstick, eat the salsa and a chile verde burrito. Also, if you have a birthday party there, they're very accomodating and there's usually plenty of room.
ReplyDeleteWe had a group of 7 family members at 4 Caminos tonight and everyone was happy with their meal. The service was excellent. Water glasses and soda was refilled quickly and the staff was friendly and very accomodating. I had the deluxe avocado tostada. The only change I would make would be to add more beans to the layers. Mine was chicken and was done perfectly. Others in the party had beef or chicken burritos, and enchilada w/mole.The chips at the beginning were hot and fresh. As a whole, it was a good experience. We WILL be eating there again.
ReplyDeleteI love this place! Great place to eat with good service. The people are very friendly and the portion sizes are huge for the price!
ReplyDeleteI have heard this is the most authentic of the Mexican restaurants in town?
ReplyDeleteI doubt it. Try El Turbo on Broadway, JR's Taqueria, or El Grullense (how is that spelled anyway?) on Portland Road.
ReplyDelete4 caminos is the best mexican restaurant in the city now best service great food perfect drinks for a great price
ReplyDelete4 caminos is now my favorite mexican restaurant
ReplyDeleteTry 4 caminos they got a drink call volcano it is for 3to 4 people, good food too. I take my family and friends there for Mexican food.
ReplyDeleteNice friendly place. Good food and service. I had the Chalupa de Pollo (a toasted flour tortilla chicken taco) lunch which began with good chips and salsa and included refried beans (a little soupier than I like, but good) and rice. I noticed, in particular, not only the interesting contrasts of flavor and texture, but temperature. While the meat and tortilla were nice and hot the lettuce and tomatoes were cold and crisp. Nice. Although not the absolute best Mexican food in Salem/Keizer, definitely above average. (For the best see the second April 16th Anon post above.)
ReplyDeletei won a $50 gift certificate for 4 caminos. i live in eugene or so im not sure if ill actually take the time to go all the way to salem to actually use the thing...
ReplyDeleteI'll give you $25 for it! :)
ReplyDelete