New Restaurant: Sabor Mexicano!

We're back, friends! We took a break because we got busy, then we forgot we had a blog. We might have also been waiting for this very restaurant to open. If you're from Lowell, you know them, you love them: Sabor Mexicano!!

QUICK LOOK

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Category: Diner

Overall Satisfaction: 9.3 out of 10

Price Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Service Type: Dine-in and takeout

Food Selection: Authentic Mexican Cuisine

Alcoholic Selection: None

Non-alcoholic Selection: Fountain drinks and a selection of house made Mexican beverages

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Sabor Mexicano, for those of you who may not know yet, is a family-owned restaurant located downtown Lowell. They started off as a humble food tent operating out of a parking lot. After gaining notoriety there, they moved to a temporary kitchen every Fri-Sun, where their popular food sold out nearly every weekend. After gaining a huge following there, they were able to find a more permanent location they helped renovate right along the river. Rising out of the ashes of COVID, Sabor Mexicano and owner Melinda have invited the town of Lowell into their family by way of their food.

We arrived at their new sit down location at 6:35 on a Friday evening. The place was packed to the brim! We had to wait about 10 minutes to be greeted. There were two couples ahead of us and we were told the wait would be around 15-20 minutes. We're pretty sure the employee who greeted us was the owner's son, and he remembered Casey from their take-out days and called him by name! The wait was 15 minutes on the dot and we found ourselves seated at a vibrantly colored table for two.

Caitlin's Meal

We were nearly instantly greeted by our server with a hot basket of house-made chips, which we topped with their house-made salsa verde. These chips were obviously freshly made and well seasoned. They were full of flavor with a light, crumbly crispiness.

Our server took our drink order when she greeted us with our chips, and Casey and I both ordered the house-made horchata. I will simply say that it was absolutely delicious and let Casey go into further detail on just how lovely it was.

For my entree, I chose the Alambre combo with Al Pastor. Sabor promotes their Alambre on their social media and we both thought this would be the perfect dish to feature. Alambre, as described by Melinda, is their version of Fajitas. This combo plate comes with rice, beans, 4 tortillas (I chose flour) and the Alambre mix which had bell peppers, onions, cheese, and Al Pastor (pork). I like to mix my beans and rice to use on my tortilla. I also added both the red and the green sauce for flavor and spice. I also added more green sauce to each individual taco that I constructed.

The Alambre mix was flavorful! I believe I detected the tiniest hint of cinnamon in there that gave it the most perfect, fragrant flavor. I enjoyed eating this in the tortillas, but I also just ate some with my fork. This was the first time I've had the Alambre combo and I was not disappointed at all. I couldn't even eat all of it. I finished off the last tortilla the next day but I wished it came with 5 total tortillas. I had just enough of everything left that one last tortilla would have been perfect.

Casey's Meal

I cannot emphasize enough how GOOD the house made chips were! Caitlin already talked about them, but they were easily the best tortilla chips I've ever had.

I also started with an horchata; I love these things. This is Melinda's own horchata recipe, and it's killer. The cinnamon is excellent, with some little chunks of crushed cinnamon stick visible. The whole drink is creamy, flavorful, and refreshing. I had to order two!

My entree was a Sabor specialty: the quesabirria! They're made with shredded beef and cheese, and can be ordered as tacos, burritos, or tortas (a type of thick-bread sandwich). The whole thing is then fried and served with a bowl of consomme, which is essentially a type of au jus. These things aren't huge in size, but they are in flavor! I could only eat one of my two birrias, they were too hearty for me in one sitting. They also came out piping hot. Even after opening them and adding some lime juice and salsa verde, I still had to wait over 5 minutes before they were even close to edible. However, the flavor makes them worth the wait every time. This dish is what really started Sabor Mexicano's local fame; many of us in the community had never had a Mexican dish quite like it.

Dessert

As it is nearly Casey's birthday, (and also that recent episode of Great British Baking Show) we had to get the chocolate Tres Leches cake! As you scooped up a bite with your fork, you could see the liquid ooze out. The frosting was chocolate whipped cream, bringing the perfect balance of light and fluffy, to a decadent chocolate cake.

Caitlin couldn't eat all of theirs, despite their best efforts. As the cake sat there, nearly eaten, Casey said, "Well now it's a Tres Wastes." Fortunately, Casey was able to take one for the team and finish off the piece of cake. We both waddled out happy, left overs in hand.

Price Debate

Overall, we both agree that Sabor Mexicano is well priced. The pricing is not extravagant by any means. While they are not the most cost effective restaurant in Lowell, they could be grouped in with the cost effective local eateries. The quality of the food is very high. Most of what Sabor Mexicano serves you is house-made. The amount of food you receive per plate is also quite significant. Both of us had to take enough food home for the following days lunch. We simply had to give them one of our best ratings considering the quality and volume of food.

Final Thoughts

When we arrived, we expected to have our name taken down for seating. However, not only was Casey called by name, but we were sat in the order by which we came. We and the other guests waiting to be seated were worried that our names and number of guests were not taken or written down anywhere. But the servers in Sabor were quite obviously experienced by the way they handled the high volume of tables and kept waiting guests organized.

We were not lead to our table but told which number table was ours and instructed to seat ourselves. We were not given menus and wondered if there was a QR code we had missed somewhere. When our server came back to take our order, she handed us menus and apologized, stating that we should have been sat with them. Luckily, we already knew what we wanted and were able to order right away.

Around midway through our visit, a table nearby got up to leave. Two little boys went around the restaurant chirping "Bye! Bye! Bye!" like a couple of birds. When these boys passed by the kitchen, they stopped and continued their chorus of farewells. The entire kitchen stopped what they were doing and called back to the boys, "BYE!!" All the other guests in the restaurant burst into a collective "Aw!" Our hearts warmed and we felt like part of the family.

It was clear that they are still getting used to the flow of having a full restaurant, but their professionality shined brightly. Our service was fast when it came to drinks and desserts, but slow for our entrees. We were not eating our meal until an hour after we arrived. But we had been so well tended to until that point that we did not even notice. As Casey mentioned, our food came out steaming hot, which shed a bit of light on our wait as well.

We love Sabor Mexicano, as does much of Lowell. You can tell they love what they do; the food is made with love and served with love. While they still have a few minor details to perfect, these didn't mar our experience in the slightest. We wish Sabor continued luck and we will be back soon!!

Where should the Butlers eat next? Drop us a comment on our social media, and we'll have a new post next month!