As part of an ongoing attempt to bring the Atlanta food blogging community together, the one who always says “Marie, Let’s Eat” invited several of us to meet them for dinner at Teela Taqueria.  Arriving at 6:30 on a Sunday evening, we were joined by one half of Friday Date Night, Atlanta Restaurant Blog, Atlanta, Etc., Food Near Snellville and the Food and Me.  Teela is in one of the outlying strip shopping centers near the Kroger on Sandy Springs Place (just northwest of the intersection of Hammond Drive and Roswell Road).  I had actually eaten there some time in the last couple of years during a business lunch and, oddly, didn’t remember a thing about having been there before until I walked in.  That’s never the best sign.

We ended up with a party of nine, which accounted for more than half of the folks in the restaurant.  Which makes the fact that when I asked that they turn the music down (loud 80s pop), when the waitress returned and said that she couldn’t do so because there wasn’t a manager there and no one had a key to his office, where the master volume switch resides, I thought it was interesting.  We did have an interesting conversation about breaking into the office, so that we could stop the endless Phil Collins parade, but she said it was a deadbolt lock and we probably couldn’t open it with a credit card.

I was never clear what distinguishes a taqueria from a standard Mexican restaurant, until Friday Date Night cleared that up here – there are no free chips at a taqueria!

We decided on the Platter for Two, to share, plus a little something more.   We chose:

• two of their tacos – Holy Mole Chicken (pulled chicken with mole sauce and a sesame seed garnish) and Grilled Pollo (with mojo garlic sauce, guacamole and grilled pineapple salsa);
• two enchiladas – brisket and carnitas, each with the tomatillo salsa verde and topped with (non-disclosed) pico de gallo and sour cream; and
• chips and salsa.

The platter was reasonably priced, since it included $2.75 worth of chips and salsa.  There was a little discernible taste difference between the two enchiladas.  And both of the tacos tasted similar.  The combo platter itself was fine but nothing remarkable whatsoever.   The other item we ordered was a teela bowl (kind of like a burrito bowl at Chipotle),

which ended up being the best thing we had all night.  I didn’t much care for the taco shell itself, but the lettuce, rice, beans and spices mixed inside made for a great base layer.  I ordered it with chorizo (which the waitress pronounced with a hard “k” sound – I always thought it was with a “ch” like in “church”), which showed up sliced and fried (like andouille sausage on red beans and rice) on top.  I’ve never seen it any way other than ground, that I recall, although as a sausage, the link in a casing makes complete sense.

Overall, the music was loud, the dinner was fine and the company was great.  It’s nice to have a chance to sit and “talk shop” with other people that are passionate about food.