A look inside Polanco Mexican restaurant in Asheville.


There is a strong chance that you don’t know about Polanco, a new restaurant dedicated to authentic Mexican fare.

There is good reason for this: aside from the sign outside that still says "Vincenzo’s," the former restaurant on that site, Polanco quietly slipped on the scene with a hushed soft opening.

Past fans of Vincenzo’s will remember the setup: a casual bar atmosphere downstairs, and a more formal setting upstairs.

Walking into Polanco, the same painted sign on the wall suggests the same division. Rest assured, you won’t need to don a dress or a sport coat to go up. It's still casual enough up there, just quieter. Whichever option you choose, the same menu applies.

After we were seated upstairs, chips and salsa were brought out. The salsa, evidently made in-house, is not your typical Tex-Mex salsa, but a deeply roasted version that verged on overly roasted.

Our server sold us hard on the Platinum margarita ($12) which was too sweet for me, tasting mostly of pineapple juice. At $3 more that the classic margarita, the answer was obvious: skip the pineapple and go all lime.

Since the salsa wasn’t hitting home and the full chip basket was looking lonely, we put in for an order of guacamole, which came loaded with veggies like tomatoes (not quite ripe), peppers and onion. It was a little too much veggie, but was seasoned well with flaked sea salt.

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Polanco offers vegetarian and vegan options, going so far as to maintain two grills, one for meats and the other for veggies. On the menu, that translates to almost as many veggie-based as carnivorous dishes .

The options are plentiful with 14 different tacos and 12 entrees, not including appetizer options. Despite that, our early dinner mid-week found the kitchen was already out of a few dishes, including two I was considering.

Entrees are varied with common selections like fajitas and a large salad, or more unusual offerings like chimichurri octopus and duck carnitas enchiladas (both of which were 86ed during my visit).

Molé isn’t a dish I’ll trust from a lot of sources, but a restaurant specializing in authentic Mexican should be able to nail it. Made with chocolate and various chili peppers, the heat in the sauce should be offset by the chocolate, while not tasting like someone drenched your chicken in hot fudge.

Polanco’s version was spot on: rich and warmly spiced, with neither overwhelming sweetness nor brow-basting heat. It coated a simply prepared, juicy chicken leg and thigh, with enough left over to mop up with the accompanying tortillas. Sauteed peppers and onions sat alongside rice flecked with cilantro and refried beans, the flavor of which was so smoky and engaging they nearly distracted me from the molé. 

One of the vegetable-based dishes on the menu is a trio of empanadas. For $15, it's served with the same rice, bean and veggie accompaniments as the molé. I had no complaints about receiving more of those smoky beans.

The empanadas were pale golden, light and crisp, the crust more akin to phyllo. Each empanada was stuffed with queso fresco (with vegan cheese available upon request).

While only one empanada was supposed to be stuffed solely with queso fresco, all three were, even to the confusion of even our server. The chef, who was circulating the room, said he changed it because the stuffing was poking holes in the crust.

The fillings, flor de calabaza, or pumpkin flower, and Huitlacoche, a mushroom-like corn fungus, had instead been applied as toppings, but in minuscule amounts.

Polanco has the potential for greatness in this town, especially given the dedication to vegetarian options. Use of lesser-known ingredients and successful takes on traditional Mexican fare also work in the restaurant's favor.

Yet, there are still some factors that potentially could hold the restaurant back, such as unannounced menu changes and unavailability of dishes listed on the menu.

Given the price point, customers might not tolerate the lack of organization. Yet, with molé that good, it brings me very close to not caring about inconsistencies.


The restaurant: Polanco, 828-575-2576,

Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Friday 11 a.m.-2 a.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-2 a.m., Friday 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Atmosphere: Casual bar seating is available downstairs while more formal, yet still casual, seating is upstairs.

Dish to try: Molé. 

Beverage notes: Beer, wine and cocktails.

Prices: $9-$35

Service:  Accommodating.

Health Department score: 95.

The bottom line: Traditional Mexican cuisine isn’t new to Asheville, yet Polanco offers some dishes and use of ingredients that other restaurants aren't serrving. While uniqueness is important, so is consistency.

Patrons also might not know what to do when they first enter the restaurant. If the host is seating upstairs, customers will wander. Polanco is new and might need time to iron out the kinks. While I enjoyed much of the food, the feel was slightly homespun and I got the sense they were learning as they go. Maybe its part of the charm, but I expected more, given the price. 

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