La Tolteca

In a word: Serviceable in Sun Prairie.

The specs: #0460 
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at 77Square, Mad City Eats, collected at del.icio.us;

Darby ate the enchiladas poblanos.
Dave ate the pollo chipotle.
JM ate the #34 combination plate.
Nichole ate the steak alambre.
We all split dessert.
The bill was ??? - thanks, Dave and Darby!
Darby gave La Tolteca a C+; Darby and Nichole gave La Tolteca a B+; JM gave La Tolteca a B- (see our grading rubric).

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La Tolteca is on the main drag in Sun Prairie where Red & White Peruvian Restaurant used to be. The old awnings remained, but the interior was fresh enough - not particularly so in the dim bar area, but the cheery red walls in the dining room were a fraction more classy than the average casual Mexican restaurant.

We took advantage of the margarita happy hour deal. The lime margaritas were not very limey, but were quite strong. Nichole should have stopped at one, because the premixed "raspberry" red slushie version, had overtones of Chloraseptic that dissipated after the first taste - or at least killed off some tastebuds. The accompanying salsa was smooth and fresh.

Service was fast; before we knew it we were admiring our dinners. Except for JM, whose combination plate looked like the Eastern Bloc of Mexican food, with a stark naked quesadilla plus white-sauce dressed enchiladas. It seems that La Tolteca's heart lies somewhere other than combo plates  - not a bad thing.

Darby's enchiladas poblanos were prettier, and quite agreeable. The earthy mole sauce was watery but good; some more tortillas for dabbing would have been handy. She especially appreciated the real queso blanco they used. Dave's pollo chipotle, meat in a creamy pepper sauce, was also a good choice.

Nichole's alambre was nothing like the board game, but she liked it anyway. It featured steak, bacon, cheese, mushrooms, onions and peppers, probably all grilled together fajita-style, on toasted wheat tortillas - so really, what wasn't to like?

We went for the dessert when we heard the flan was made in-house. It was excellent, with a smooth texture. The fried ice cream in a tortilla bowl was also done well, with the pleasant surprise of loads of shredded coconut between vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

Bottom line: if we lived around the corner, we'd be back. The service was friendly, the prices reasonable, and the food standard.

Comments

[Ken]

There was a short lived restaurant in Janesville of the same name. Food here was "ok", sounds a bit better up there. Wonder if they "moved" to Sun Prairie or if the name is just coincidental.

[Kelly]

I actually do live around the corner from this and while I find that the food is pretty good, each time I have been here the service lacks much to be desired. The last time we dined the server spent more time outside on his cellphone than taking care of us. My daughter actually had to go outside to get him so we could pay our bill.

[Bradd Piontek]

I'd have to agree with @Kelly's assessment. The service was quiet poor the night we went. Slow would be the correct term. Understaffed and no bartender meant people pulling double duty and people getting ignored. I had the Pollo with Chorizo and it was quite tasty, but other's in my group weren't so pleased with the 'standard' offerings they had.

[Doug]

Been there 4 or 5 times, but not in the last month or so. Always had good service, and the food was better than average. Now let's see if the people of Sun Prairie actually will support a restaurant that provides better than average food and very reasonable prices, my bet would be not, since the people here talk a good game but I have not ever seen them support a local restaurant.

[AP]

Mmm... their enchiladas verde are wonderful. We were there on Cinco de Mayo, and they were quite busy, so I accepted the slow service.