El Sitio Grill & Cafe – Collingswood, NJ
Strolling down Haddon Avenue in Collingswood, New Jersey your eyes
and nose are in for a treat. This street has a little bit of
everything for everyone and since I had never eaten at El Sitio Grill & Cafe
(ES) before I decided to give them a try for lunch. The inside is
very relaxing with a nice ambiance and mood about the place and
they have a large, if not the largest outdoor seating space of any
of Collingswood’s restaurants. ES starts your experience off with a
dish of Olive Oil sauteed mushrooms and herbs and fresh bread.
I could have eaten ten dishes of this stuff, it was that good. It
was a nice change of pace from the normal and a great beginning.
My appetizer would be Argentinean Style Empanadas.
My Argentinean Style Empanadas consisted of wheat flour empanadas
stuffed with seasonings, fresh vegetables, herbs, chicken, and
beef. I went with the chicken and beef all in one since I could
not decide on which version I wanted more and my server
recommended to put them all in one. Well kudos to my well-informed
server, because they were fantastic this way and I highly suggest
any meal at ES to start out with them. My lunch entrée would be
the El Sitio Burger.
The El Sitio Burger was beef, cheese, breaded onions, and homemade
BBQ Sauce. I will start out with the good. The fresh breaded
onions were fantastic and some of the best I have had in a long
time and the homemade bbq sauce was great. It gave the entire
burger a very nice distinct flavor unlike other burgers I have
had. It was not overpowering, yet it was strong enough to let you
know it was someone special and out of the ordinary. Now sadly on
to the bad. The roll was stale and just fell apart with each bite.
I requested my burger to be done medium, and it came out VERY well
done. It was served with provolone cheese. Not to say that I do
not enjoy a burger with provolone cheese, but this was not the
burger to be putting it on. It just put the flavor profile all out
of whack. Last but not least, the burger was served with the
dreaded double breaded french fry. Please I beg of all restaurants
to throw them in the trash, and either make your own or buy a
higher grade of french fry.
ES had their ups and downs, but I really did enjoy their ups
allowing me to slightly overlook their downs. The service was very
pleasant and efficient, prices were affordable, and they are
providing dishes not seen everywhere done well for the most part.
If they can keep an eye on the freshness of their rolls, be a
little more aware of overcooking their burgers, not putting
provolone cheese on them, and get a fresh french fry coming out of
the kitchen, ES has the potential to go from a place people are
talking about them for having dishes that are a little different then the
norm, to start talking about them having dishes you have to see and eat
to believe because of how good they are.
BlueJeanFood 