El Público

I organised a dinner for 13 at El Publico on Saturday night and I have to say I cannot fault it at all. They called prior to discuss the allergy requirements I had stipulated and we agreed on the Feed Me menu which they ensured was nut free. The food came out at just the right times, it was all delicious, apart from the mushroom quesadillas which I’m told weren’t up to the same standard as the other dishes (I personally don’t like them so didn’t have any), but the street corn was amazing as were the pork belly tacos. Staff were tentative and helpful, explaining the menu and giving us recommendations on cocktails. This isn’t my first time at El Publico and it certainly won’t be my last :)

Nov 20, 2013
NEGATIVE

Bleh. Forgot my booking… with a party of 9. Bad start to my birthday. Very bad start.
The food was not even remotely akin to Mexican. The tacos came in tiny wraps and were extremely soggy when they came out. Perhaps it was my fault for not seeing :“tongue” written on there, but they tasted horrible and it was extremely overpriced for the portion size.
Salmon Ceviche was the only nice thing we had. It was cooked really well and tasted great.
Someone in the group ordered some type of prawn (I don’t eat seafood so don’t really pay attention) and she refused to eat them because they were brown. They were a new alien prawn species.
Overall it was a disappointing experience.

How to cure Mondayitis… double carbs! On Monday’s only, the team at eL PUBLICO produce what can only be described as food heaven. Hands down my favourite burger and fries combo in Perth, a beef burger, brioche bun and chilli cheese fries (YUM). I highly recommend washing this down with one of eL PUBLICO’s delicious Tommy’s margaritas.
eL PUBLICO never disappoints with their friendly staff, incredibly fresh food, well thought out wine and cocktail list and all at a pretty reasonable price, definitely worth a visit.

From outside it looks promising, but don’t believe the hype. The service here is atrocious – the wait staff are arrogant, pushy, and deviating. If they try to push Margaritas on you straight up be aware they are the most expensive drink item. Not a nice feeling to find that out on your bill at the end of the evening.
I have found more authentic places with far more value in Perth than el Publico. I recommend you try others out before this place to get your Mexican fix. I spent two years living in Mexico City for work and this place is a far cry from authentic. Best to pass on this pretentious and disappointing restaurant/​bar.

Get the meat platter for two and myo tacos.

I really love El Publico. It is quite bustling but not too noisy and you can still easily have a conversation. Fantastic array of cocktails that are tequila based and they also have oodles of different tequila available (if that’s your thing).
The beef Mogo Mogo are a must eat dish. It is spicy shredded beef wrapped in banana batter and deep fried and served with a spicy mayo style sauce. Sounds weird, tastes bloody spectacular! We also had the beef tacos which were great and the street corn. The chicken tostada was another winner! Definitely give it a try. It’s Mexican, but not as you know it. I rate it as the best Mexican in Perth.

Having wanting to go to this restaurant since I arrived in Perth, I finally got the chance last night with my work colleagues. After a gruelling city scramble race in kings park where my team came second to last (boo), I was looking forward to food and drinks.
Being a group of 30 people, we were given the upstairs area of the restaurant. The restaurant plays pumping salsa music, a bit too loud; so you basically have to yell at your colleagues, but hey great way to get your frustrations out (jokes).
The restaurant is apparently known for their tequilas. So my table of people and I decided to start off with some fruity tequila based cocktails and tequila shots. The tequila apple is delicious tequila smoothly blended with fresh green apple. Alas we ordered 8 over the course of the night and my table only received two of them.
I ordered the watermelon cocktail which is called the something suffixed by –xal and I was duped into believing that something tasting like a negroni and loaded with ice was my cocktail. Three cocktails and eight tequila shots later, when my watermelon cocktail arrived (this is 3 and a half hours later) I had to give it away to my colleague because I didn’t want it anymore plus I had had three random cocktails and my colleague’s margarita (which is delicious) by this time.
The tequila is amazing. It comes with pink salt and tomato sangria or slices of orange. I’m not a tequila connoisseur and haven’t done shots since I was 19, but this tequila was delicious. So smooth, didn’t burn my stomach, and I could have eight of them without embarrassing myself. :)
Now to the food. We had a 45 dollars per person set menu that included crackled pork ear, mushroom quesadilla, creamy corn, pulled pork taco, fajita with beef, pork and chicken as options, and a dessert board. Now for the verdict:
1. Crackled pulled pork ear — better than what you get out of a bag from an Asian supermarket but still weird tasting. Their non spicy salsa Verde and their fake spicy sauce did not mask the strange undertones.
2. Pulled pork taco — the most delicious succulent pork taco I’ve ever had. Definitely a winner and the best thing I had all night. After the tequila of course.
3. Mushroom quesadilla — bland. Tasteless pieces of mushroom in small soft taco.
4. Fried salty chickpeas — they tasted oily. My colleague on a diet refused to eat them after one bite. And aren’t baked chickpeas a diet lover’s dream?
5. Soft tacos with beef, chorizo and chicken — the chicken was tough and chewy and dry. I had to literally spit it out. The chorizo was amazing but waaaay too salty. The beef was again bland but better than the chicken.
6. Dessert board included a crème caramel with a lashing of chilli and some weird sauce at the bottom — pretty disappointing. Just tasted like bland crème caramel. We also got some coconut ice-​cream on a popsicle which again was nothing special just bland coconut tasting stuff. Not even the nice cheap kind of coconut ice cream that you get on a sweltering day from the ice cream cheapo truck in Thailand.
So verdict
1. el publico can’t deal with large groups as my drinks never arrived. One of the tables kept getting their margaritas but we never got to see our second round of tequila apples.
2. Don’t have their desserts.
3. Go for their pulled pork soft tacos and tequila cocktails, margaritas and for a smooth salsa vibe.

We ventured back to Mt Lawley last night to return to El Publico. The place is still pulling in punters with its raw energy and authentic take on fresh Mexican street food.
They don’t take reservations on a Saturday night for couples so we waited at the bar with a Thyme After Time cocktail, which is a sophisticated blend of vodka, honey+ginger, lemon, thyme — delicious. I’d only taken my first sip when we were shown to our table.
It’s very dark and moody in here which means my bad eyesight couldn’t read the menu (LOL) so after some recommendations from our hipster waiter I let my friend order. We were soon feasting on the beef mogo mogo balls ($ 16) which are shredded beef and banana — they’re fantastically moist and tasty. I loved my soft shell crab taco $ 8 but the pork shoulder taco ($ 7) with pineapple and broken pork crackling was the star of the night for me. My friend thought it was too spicy but I happily woofed it down as the salsa picante ran down my arm.
I had been dreaming about El Publico’s desserts from a previous visit, when I dined on their enormous nine-​course Feed Me set menu ($ 45). Alas, the objects of my desire were nowhere to be seen on the current menu.
The music was really banging on at this stage so being very happily well fed we decided to go, but not before deciding we would return.

Great staff, always busy and bustling, cold beers, killer tequilas, hot food, great fun!
I am a regular, just go with the flow.
If its too busy, go to the queens across the road or Must Wine Bar next door, but make sure you come back!
Not 5 stars because you guys pulled the pin on the Peanut Butter Parfait postres. Bring them back! Viva la revolution! Viva Peanut Butter Parfait postres!

Great food, really enjoyed the sweet corn and corn chips with guoc. The service was professional and engaging. I’m not usually a fan of tequila but tried a shot that the barman recommended. It was great.
I’ve eaten there three times and will be back. One of the best places to eat in Perth.

What a taste sensation this was! I absolutely loved the food and although the guys in our group were still hungry and had to order more savoury plates before we tried dessert, we all left feeling full. Lots of small items, sharing style. Great awareness of gluten intolerance needs as pretty much everything is gluten free. While the food was completely delicious, I can’t leave out the main reason I am not giving a higher score. The noise! We couldn’t hear each other on our own table, we basically had to shout and even then we couldn’t always hear everything. It would be really great to see these guys install some sound absorbing panels or materials to assist with this. The atmosphere and vibe is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but when you can’t hear the waitress… there’s only so many times you can ask her to repeat something! Anyway, check out the cocktails, try as much as you can from the menu and enjoy the sexy interior fit out.
3 and a half stars!

Fast and friendly service. Great range of Mexican beers and ‘inspired’ cocktails and food. It’s a good Aussie interpretation of Mexican street food — fun and easy to share, flavoursome, and a good little habanero hot sauce (if a bit scarce). I like my crickets a bit more crunchy and spiced, but these were still good. I’d like to see more vegetables on the menu, but that’s really not what they’re trying to do so I get that; just me. Perfect for a group on a festive night. Worth an extra half star, but I can’t go to 4. I’ve got to leave room at the top.

I’m reluctant to post this as I’m still making my mind up about this place… if I could I’d give it 3.5. I’ve been a few times and it’s a bit hit and miss. The first time was fantastic, the second was poor and this last time was somewhere in the middle. The place has a great atmosphere and is always busy and the staff are good. For me, it’s the food that is unpredictable here and sometime lacking the oomph of flavour that you expect/​want from Mexican food. We had a mixed platter of meat, some was cooked well, others weren’t rendered properly and was very fatty. I wound recommend due to its location and atmosphere, but I wouldn’t expect the meal of your life.

First, the service and atmosphere is still absolutely amazing — the service was very quick and friendly. I love that they rotate their cocktail menu!
That being said, I hate to say that I was disappointed with the food on my most recent visit.
We got:
Street corn: still amazing and worth every delicious bite!
Mixed grill platter: The food came out incredibly quick… so quick that you could tell it was probably just waiting under a heat lamp for the next table to order it. The meat was luke-​warm. The taste was still decent but cold within minutes. :(One of the meat items was lamb belly and I would say it was 90% fat — I know that lamb is supposed to quite fatty but the actual meat was incredibly tiny and not enough to share between 2 people.
Still love El Publico and will return again in hopes of a warm meal! :)

Great venue for date night! The cocktails are fabulous, especially if you like tequila. The Paloma –grapefruit and tequila cocktail — is a great deal for the price! The salmon cerviche was fresh and full of flavour. The mogo mogo balls were crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and especially tasty when paired with the sauce. They also allow dogs at the outdoor tables! What a great find.

I’ve been trying to eat at this place for a while and the opportunity arose so I jumped at the chance. We walked in and and were greeted by a friendly staff member who gave us a booth, which I love. Our server was keen on getting us drinks and was disappointed when we informed him we weren’t drinking that night, I was just as disappointed as I hear the tequila menu is quite varied.
The server gave us the option of ordering our food as normal or stating a price and he would just bring out his choices to that value, we opted for the latter. We said $ 30 each and that was more than enough for me, three of us so a $ 90 bill and we were treated to a satisfactory sampling of the menu. We even had the gimmick of crickets, which were actually tasty.
Street corn, mogu mogu balls, shrimp, potato tacos, salmon ceviche, all were different and more adventurous than you would find on your stock standard Mexican restaurant menu, but simple enough to cater to western palates. I really enjoyed the sharing aspect of these dishes and only wish that I was having tequila too!

Not great for groups, we sat outside and squished 6 people into a table. Other than that the food was great and the drinks delicious. Shared a few dishes with the group. I’d definitely recommend the street corn, it was by far my fave. Guacamole was on point. Their margaritas were superb as well.

For many reasons, El Publico remains as one of my favourite places along Beaufort Street and clearly, I’m not the only one; there’s always a lively vibe, which I find addictive and even when they’re busy… the food is always worth waiting for!
I recommend coming in on a Monday night for their $ 20 Taco Special, which consists of my two favourite things on the menu — a selection of 3 tacos and a jar of street corn, with a drink of your choice from the house list.
The allowances for reservations are limited to a 6:30PM sitting or an 8:30PM sitting for parties of 6 or more — during this time, it can be hard to flag staff down to take orders, but they’re super attentive once they get to you.
Must-​order dishes:
Guacamole, Tomato Salsa, Tortilla Chips ($ 9.50)
Potato Taco, Peppers, Chile de Arbol, Queso (1 for $ 6.50)
Beef Tongue taco, Salsa de Hongo (1 for $ 7.00)
Salmon Ceviche, Tomato, Avocado, Lime ($ 18.00)
Street Corn Mayo Queso ($ 10.00)
10g of Crickets for ($ 14.00) — be adventurous and just go for it!

Popped in for a drink and dessert on a busy Sunday night. Staff were very friendly and the food came out promptly. The Peanut butter parfait was divine and my friend loved her Brownie. Can’t wait to go back and try some mains and cocktails.

Ay, Ay, Ay! Me encanta! el PÚBLICO, you had me at hola.
The atmosphere has the griminess and liveliness of nigh time Mexico City, the service is charismatic and helpful and the food is authentic and totally scrumptious! It really makes all previous encounters with Mexican cuisine look like Old El Paso.
Food recommendations:
#61 Arroz — a beautiful Paella like rice dish, crowded with plump mussels and prawns
#47 Mushrooms — sauteed to perfection
#54 Salted beef and cheese tacos — mmmm. salty goodness. And especially order;
#58 Street corn — Holy wow! I never new the humble sweetcorn could be so tasty!
Thirsty? Try one of their house-​made sodas. The ginger is some kind of zing-​zang!
There’s even a buzzing bar at the entrance that stands pretty well on it’s own.
Hotfoot it to el PÚBLICO before the word gets out!