First Impression

John: At 1:32 a.m. on Wednesday night, I called Tim and said, "It's supposed to be sunny and 80 tomorrow, either we're doing a Dining Duo outside or we're not doing one this week." Of course I actually said that to Tim's voice mail because with three kids, he had been sleeping since 8:30 p.m. So on Thursday afternoon, we did a lunch at Barberitos. If you've heard of Barberitos, it's because there are five in Athens. If you've never heard of it, it's because there is only one in all of Atlanta and it's on the corner of Mansell and Highway 9. When you walk in, you'll order your food and everything will be made right in front of you. If you don't know what you want, there's a menu that's about 10 square feet hanging over the kitchen. Also and most importantly, there is a patio. I can not overestimate the importance of a restaurant in North Fulton having a patio. Tim and I both agreed that if there is nice weather, we would NOT go to a restaurant because they didn't have a patio.

Tim: Eating outside in the spring is like making snowballs when it snows. Not doing it is a waste of the weather. I don't capture my rainwater in barrels, but I do eat outside when it's 80 degrees and sunny, so I think I'm doing my environmental duty in that respect. Barberito's gave me that opportunity and I salute them for it. As for the rest of the place, it's basically a toned down version of Moe's, without all the gimmicky names for the food or people yelling at you when you come in.

John: 8
Tim: 7

Appetizer

John: Alright, I have to get the bad stuff out of the way first. I ordered a taco, one taco. It was Barberitos bare bones taco, it consisted of meat (your choice of chicken, steak, beef or tofu) cheese, salsa, lettuce and beans. The taco was too plain and too dry, I couldn't take it. You can also get your tacos with sour cream and guacamole on them. My advice would be to serve all the tacos this way unless someone wants a plain one, but no one likes plain and dry tacos, so no one will order a plain one. Oh and all the entrées come with tortilla chips; light, fluffy, crisp tortilla chips. I ate a lot of them. They also have a little salsa bar that has several different types of salsas. You salsa connoisseurs will love it.

Tim: If you're a frequent reader of the Dining Duo, you know I use the word "forgettable" a lot when I want to say I don't like something but I don't want to be mean. The taco was "forgettable," which makes for a rough start for a Mexican place. It's not that it was rancid or anything. The ingredients were fine, but it just was kind of bland and dry. A little of the delicious green chile salsa should spruce it right up, as it did for the chips and just about everything else that I ate.

Taco: John 5, Tim 5
Chips and Salsa: John 8, Tim 8

Entrées

John: According to our last Dining Duo Reader Survey, we have eight vegetarian readers, so for you eight, I ordered the California Burrito. If you have any questions about whether or not the ingredients at Barberitos are fresh, order the California burrito. The person making it asked me if I wanted avocado on it, I said yes. They pulled out an avocado, cut it in half and pulled out the healthy green stuff and put it in my burrito. The only way I could have gotten a fresher avocado is if I had an avocado tree in my backyard. The avocado story I just told you sums up all the ingredients at Barberitos, they all tasted like garden fresh. I love garden fresh. Another thing I was a fan of: the meat quesadilla. It's beef (you can get any of the meats), cheese and tortilla and it's delicious. Some of the fresh meat juices stuck to the tortilla, it was like a free tasty dipping sauce (Vegetarians, you may not like the meat juices). I'll let Tim talk about the fajita because he ate the whole thing in three bites.

Tim: The fajita came with meat (steak, in our case), rice, beans and plenty of pico de gallo, romaine lettuce leaves (no semi-brown julienne iceberg at Barberito's), sour cream and cheese. You put a little bit of all that with a little dab of the green chile salsa on one of your three flour tortillas, and you're going to take at least two bites of heaven (depending on how big your bites are). Breech and I are two people. There were three tortillas. I quickly ate two of them while Breech was rambling about how horrible his kickball team is, invoking the Dining Duo's uneven portions getting-forgiveness-is-easier-than-permission by-law (Yes, Breech plays in a kickball league.)

I'm not a vegetarian, so I even snuck some of the steak from the fajitas onto the avocado burrito. Brilliant move on my part, if I do say so myself.

California Burrito: John 8, Tim 8 (once I added the steak)
Quesadilla: John 8, Tim 9
Steak Fajita: John 7.5, Tim 8

Dessert

John: Here is why I love sitting outside: as we finished our meal, a guy pushing an ice cream cart (think of an ice cream guy who couldn't afford a van) walked right by the restaurant. For the sum of $1.50, I had my choice of Dora the Explorer, Hannah Montana, Sponge Bob Squarepants and Pink Panther popsicles. Now the ice cream guy was not affiliated with Barberitos, but I didn't care, it was the best dessert ever. By the way, we're not giving Barberitos a dessert grade because they only had cookies and thanks to the ice cream man, I was too full to try one.

Tim: Since I'm a parent of three small children, I like to describe what the guy had as an ice cream stroller. But it still somehow had the signature ice cream truck music, which of course is the tantalizing siren's call that no 8-year-old (or somewhat immature journalist) can resist.

Grade: N/A

Final Impression

John: I had been to Barberitos once before for lunch and I think half of Roswell was there. The place is packed daily and once you taste what they have to offer, you'll see why. Tim and I were at Barberitos around 1:30 p.m. (a little bit after lunch) and it was still pretty packed. If you're trying to figure out where a place like Barberitos falls, here's where I would put it: if I want quality Mexican food and I only have 30-60 minutes to eat, then Barberitos is where I am going. And to you eight vegetarian readers out there, thanks for reading.

Tim: I had no prior knowledge of Barberitos, but I liked what I saw. You have the cafeteria line efficiency, the fresh ingredients, a mix and match batch of salsas and solid service in a great location. Like Breech said, it's the perfect in-and-out lunch if you're in a hurry. Or you can linger on the patio for an hour and wait for the man with the ice cream stroller like we did.

John: 8
Tim: 7.5