Andale – Richfield, MN

First off, this place is pronounced like “on duh lay”, NOT Anne-Dail. Come on, people.

I met a couple of coworkers here for lunch, after hearing a lot of people raving about this place. It gets pretty lively around the lunch hour, so you need to be prepared to park across the street at the Menard’s or hope you are lucky enough to find a spot in the small parking lot.

Andale has to entrances – one for the small Mexican market they have and another entrance for the restaurant. There was a line coming out the door when I got there, so I got in line and held a spot for my tardy friends. Thankfully, it gave me a while to check out the VAST menu of food items they have.

I finally decided on the Alambres with carnitas. It’s a whole bunch of corn tortillas covered in peppers and onions, carnitas, and cheese. It’s one of my favorite Mexican dishes ever. We all forgot to get drinks, so one of our guys ran into the market and grabbed a couple of random sodas. Whew – good thinking.

The food here is great – REALLY fantastic. It’s very authentic and there are a lot of Latino people eating here, just to prove it. The serving sizes are generous without being insane, and the prices aren’t bad at all. The food didn’t take a long time to prepare, but you can tell they’re making almost everything to order and things aren’t being microwaved. The food is really fresh and flavorful. I can’t wait to go back here again. It isn’t very close to my work, so I’m checking now to see when my boss is on vacation next...

Great showing Andale!