Paco and John Mexican Diner has a very unusual attribute to it. At lunch, it serves very reasonably priced tortas, enchiladas, and tacos. At dinner, it morphs into gourmet French-Mexican fusion cuisine with a matching price tag. Their web site does not even show them being open for dinner, but I assure you they are. If you have ever craved crab tacos or duck enchiladas, make sure to stop by in the evening. I will save that review for another time.
At lunch, P&J is packed full. It is a former gas station and still retains the convenience store refrigerators that will happily store your beverages for you (BYOB). Alone, I managed to fit into a small table at the back while multiple groups stood near the door waiting for their turn. The inside is an interesting mix of cultures with fancy, styled ceiling tiles, old southwestern curtains on the windows, a kitchen in the dining area, and refrigerated beverages cases, and as many tables as can comfortably fit, all in the area of a convenience store. At lunch, silverware is provided rolled in paper napkins, but at dinner nice tablecloths and cloth napkins are used.
I was lucky enough to be alone and could fit into that cramped back table where I was promptly greeted by a smiling waitress. Unfortunately, I could not understand her. I am a life long Texan, so I am very familiar with Hispanic accents and even knew a good amount of Spanish at one point in my life. I guessed she was asking for a drink order and she seemed satisfied when I said Diet Coke. I have been to P&J's before and had no issue communicating so she must have been new. She brought me my Diet Coke and looked at me with pen and paper, so it didn't really matter if I could understand.
The menu is fairly simple and features tortas ($5.75), enchiladas ($6.95-$8.95), and tacos ($1.45-$1.75). Burritos and quesadillas are also available. I had a torta last time (good, but Meli's Taqueria is better) and so this time I went for the 2 taco plate, one carnitas and one beef fajita. It comes with the standard accompaniment of rice and beans.
I snacked on the usual chips and salsa while I waited. The chips were a dark yellow corn and weren't especially remarkable, but they did their job. The salsa was a very thin, medium spice salsa. It had a watery consistancy, with Puréed vegetables suspended in it. It was probably fresh out of a blender and contained a decent amount of cilantro. This salsa had the exact opposite consistency as the thick, pasty salsa you often find in jars. It was very light and fresh.
My tacos came quicker than expected based on how busy it was. Two-medium sized tacos stuffed with meat, onions, and cilantro filled up half the plate while refried black beans, mexican rice, a lime, and a very thick green tomatillo sauce occupied the rest. I began with the carnitas taco. I held off on the sauce for now and bit into the best carnitas I have ever had. If you have had carnitas at Chipotle, a local barbeque place, or a taqueria, you need to come to Paco and John's to see how it's done. I added some of the thick green tomatillo sauce (gravy?) which tasted fine. I hadn't even made it to the beef fajita taco, but was already wishing I had ordered two of the carnitas variety instead. The fajita taco was a good value, but nothing spectacular. That's probably because you can put high grade steak into tacos to make them taste better, but I haven't seen gourmet carnitas at Del Frisco's lately. Some places serve tacos in double corn tortillas because a single one will break. Here, one was used, but had been hardened. I'm not sure if it was flash-fried or had been baked. Either way, it did its job and held the fillings in.
The beans were nicely done. They reminded me of Gloria's, but that's probably because Gloria's serves refried black beans at the start of a meal. The cheese was flavorful without overpowering, making a good partner for the beans. The rice was some of the lightest and fluffiest rice I have eaten. It had a good amount of flavor, but gets credit mainly for not being heavy and soaked in oil. As a nice surprise, a bite of fried sweet plantain was on top of the rice. It made for a nice finishing bite and counted as dessert for me.
Having scarfed down my tacos, it was time to go. Unfortunately, my waitress had other plans. She was having problems speaking to a newly arrived table. It sounded like she was answering questions about the menu by pointing at the explanatory description written on the menu. (Don't ever do that. Most customers can read.) Eventually a different waitress brought me my check, but it was incorrect. I had been charged for both a Diet Coke and a Mexican Water. I'm not actually sure what a Mexican Water is, but I'm fairly confident I did not drink one. Unfortunately, this meant I had to wait for the original waitress to correct the ticket. When she finally did, she dropped off the check and walked away even though I was holding my Discover card out to her. I think another table was waving at her, so she must have been distracted. I was able to have another employee take my card and finish the payment process.
Verdict: Paco and John's Mexican Diner is a great lunch spot if you're in the Fort Worth Medical District. All lunch dishes are high quality, but I give especially high marks to the tacos. I spent only $6.70 plus tax and tip!
Food: 4.5/5
Service: 2/5 (On a previous occasion, I had no issues. I think my waitress was new.)
Atmosphere 2.5/5
Paco and John Mexican Diner is located at 1116 8th Ave in Fort Worth. It is at the corner of 8th and Rosedale in the Medical District.
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