Our story began in 1985 with our first restaurant. Over the years we grew and added Señor Tomás and Antigua Real. It is our dream to share the beauty of our culture through our Latin American, Caribbean and Spanish food and drink. We are a family business committed to the Wisconsin communities we serve; Hartland, Mukwonago and Waukesha/Pewaukee.
*Taco Amigo is now The Spanish Traveler
2018 30West, Four places in Waukesha County for a good breakfast: View Article
2015 Press
July 2014: Mukwonago Publications – Simply the Best
July 2014: Hartland’s Neighborhood Night Out Featured in The Lake Country Reporter
August 2013: Mukwonago Publications – Simply the Best
August 2013: Metro Parent West: Kids in the Kitchen – Local eatery offers cooking classes for kids
June 3rd, 2013: Mukwonago Chief: Little Chefs Learn Lingo, Enjoy Lunch
May 24th, 2013: Lake Country Reporter: Senor Tomas Sizzles for 20 Years
December 2010: Milwaukee Magazine
Senor Tomas Restaurant – Hartland, one of Milwaukee Magazines 25 Best Breakfasts!
November 25, 2010: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Carol Deptolla
“Antigua Real”
First there’s the visual feast at this Latin restaurant in Mukwonago: walls in rich terra cotta and other vibrant colors, and scores of fanciful masks, mostly from Guatemala. Then there’s the breakfast menu, served daily with extended hours on the weekend. It goes beyond Mexican dishes to bring flavors of Cuba, Spain and elsewhere to the table. A pair of crepes Espanola ($8.25) are stuffed with scrambled eggs and roasted cubes of eggplant, under a blanket of creamy tomato sauce. They’re served with fried red-skin potatoes. Dig into the machaca ($8), a mountain of fried flour tortillas stacked with savory shredded beef, scrambled eggs, cheese and avocado, with pico de gallo. The machaca also is served at the Alarcon family’s other restaurants, Taco Amigo in Pewaukee and Señor Tomás in Hartland.
April 13, 2010: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A tasty review in the Good to Go section from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Food & Dining
Top-notch take-out at Antigua Real Restaurant in Mukwonago – While the extensive menu features typical dishes such as chimichangas, burritos and fajitas, I come here for flavors I can¹t get most places. That includes the Nopalito Salad with grilled cactus and Livingston Shrimp Bisque, made with coconut milk. Named for an area of Guatemala, where the family has roots, Livingston sauce also tops fish in an enchilada. Taquitos, crisp flour tortillas stuffed with meats, rolled and topped with sauce, are bigger than I¹ve had anywhere. Knowing they make their own almond sauce from a family recipe, I go for Taquitos Almendrados, filled with spicy shredded chicken topped with a slightly sweet, creamy sauce. Taquitos are served with adobo rice, fried plantains and rusa salad (a potato and vegetable salad). Breakfast is available daily. Their coffee bar serves espresso and specialty drinks. For something different, try the Maya, a blend of espresso, milk, Mexican caramel and chocolate topped with ground corn.
February 2010: 30 West Magazine – Lake Country Publications
Off the Menu – Buzz on the Restaurant Biz
En la Familia-
Alarcon family brings Latin style to Lake Country, the flavorful food at
Senor Tomas in Hartland is matched by the restaurant’s vibrant décor.
August 2007: Visual Systems, Inc. “VSI Times” newsletter.
I hope this will bring you new customers. We always enjoy dining at your restaurant.
Barbara La Barbera, Manager – Pre Press Services | Milwaukee, WI 53224
Take a short drive to the country and enjoy a new culinary experience at the Antigua Real Restaurant in Mukwonago. This attractive Latin dining spot has so much to offer. You can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner, sip on delicious cocktails (including my favorite “Coyote” Margarita), shop in the Gift Gallery and indulge on unique brews from the Coffee Bar. Here’s a quick review of a breakfast menu item I just love – it’s called “Machaca”. The Machaca features layers crispy flour tortillas topped with shredded beef, guacamole, scrambled eggs, melted cheese and pico de gallo. If it sounds good, it is! The tortillas add texture, the meat is seasoned just right, and the avocado is rich and yummy. The Machaca is served with fried plantains (you must try these fantastic relatives of the banana) and ranchera sauce. The ambiance at Antigua Real is quite charming and the service always good.
July 10, 2007: OnMilwaukee.com
By Molly Snyder Edler
Antigua Real boasts pan-Latin menu – Antigua Real is a mix of dishes from Mexico, Spain, Guatemala and much more. After a recent visit, we discovered that Antigua Real is clearly not the same old plate of comida you’d find at the “South of the border” walker’s Point restaurants. The restaurant, which opened in 2006, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and includes an attached bar and gift shop with an array of clothing and trinkets from Mexico and Guatemala. Something exotic enchiladas poblanos which turned out to be mammoth enchiladas sprinkled with cheese and smothered in an incredible mole made with cinnamon, unsweetened chocolate, five kinds of chilies and pumpkin seeds. It came with black beans, plantains and a rusa salad. The enchilada was larger than we expected, but we didn’t have a problem polishing off every bite. They were soft, sweet and tangy, with a kick of heat at the end thanks to the numerous chilies. We will definitely return to Antigua Real as a destination – – we’d love to try their breakfast – – or if we’re ever tooling around the southwestern suburbs.
May 16, 2007: Mukwonago Chief – Letters to the Editor Restaurant provides taste of home for Guatemalan firefighters:
Dear Editor,
I just wanted to extend sincere thanks to Antigua Real Restaurant in Mukwonago. The Fire Departments of Eagle, North Prairie and the City of Waukesha had the opportunity to train Guatemalan Firefighters called bomberos. After they completed their training we took the guys to the restaurant for some great Guatemalan food. With only short notice given to Sonia Alarcon and the great staff at Antigua Real went out of their way to make the most fabulous spread of food to welcome the guys and give them a taste of home. The hospitality and sincere warmth shown to the guys was incredible.
-Kathy Janisch, Wisconsin Branch Office – Hearts in Motion
January 3, 2007: School District of Waukesha
A special event for The Guatemalan Committee of Rose Glen Elementary School:
We loved our time with you at Antigua Real. The Guatemalan Tamale Plate was wonderful and beautiful. Thank you for being an essential role in hosting this Dinner.
2006 – Willard Romantini Food Critic – Wisconsin Food on Demand Channel 1111 Mr. Romantini
Gave Antigua Real only high remarks on his review. He enjoyed the food and atmosphere and also gave rave reviews on the 94.5Wk
2006- M-Magazine Northshore – City – West Article
About Marco Alarcon- What do Chefts Crave? When the Kitchen is your office, what do you eat on your days off?
2006- M-Magazine Northshore – City – West Article
About Marco Alarcon and Jack Weissgerber- Changing Paths, Many people choose to change careers. Two Waukesha-County residents talk about their choice and the impact it has made on their lives.
July 28, 2006: University of Wisconsin Whitewater News
Alumna Ana Alarcon helps open new Latin Restaurant It’s not a Mexican restaurant or a Spanish restaurant or even a Guatemalan restaurant. It’s a Latin restaurant, a combination of the three. And Ana Alarcon a 2004 University of Wisconsin Whitewater graduate, is the head manager/co-owner of Antigua Real in Mukwonago. A double major in public relations and Spanish with an emphasis in business, Alarcon credits UW-Whitewater for helping her become the well-rounded manager she is today. The combination of each of the studies has allowed her to be more hands on within the business. While Antigua Real is still relatively new to the area, opening its doors April 24, it’s a great place for people to stop by, especially in the morning. Open at 7am during the week, visitors can order off its breakfast menu or sit at its café bar. Antigua Real also offers free Wi-Fi for those who have a computer on hand and are always on the go. Along with its great atmosphere, Antigua Real also provides weekly specials for its entrees.
July 20, 2006: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Antigua masters a menu that knows no bounds By DENNIS R. GETTO? – Journal Sentinel dining critic To see what sets Antigua Real apart from other Mexican restaurants in town, all you need to do is order Taquitos Almendrados ($9.50). Taquitos are usually small tortilla roll-ups filled with meat. They look like fat soda straws and you eat them with your fingers. At Antigua Real, the taquitos ($9.50 for two) are about 10 inches long and 1½ inch wide, look like big enchiladas and require a knife and fork. A layer of beige cream sauce – rich with the flavors of toasted almonds, onions, cinnamon and chile – adds complexity to the shredded chicken filling.
Ana Alarcon, the restaurant’s manager, calls Antigua Real a Latin restaurant. She and her parents, Sonia and Marco Alarcon, opened Antigua in April and decorated the restaurant with folk art from all over Mexico/Latin America. The sparkling new restaurant is painted in traditional coral and terra cotta tones. Skeletons usually displayed on the Day of the Dead peer out from one alcove, hammered silver crosses hang in the entryway, and Mexican pottery is displayed throughout the restaurant (including in its gift shop). In one dining room, a wall-high waterfall that flows across a multicolored mosaic-tiled pyramid provides the focal point.
Antigua Real’s menu is a mosaic as well. While its backbone is Mexican, a few other cuisines are represented. Tex-Mex chili, for example, is offered both as a soup ($6.50 bowl, $3.50 cup) and as a topping (along with black olives, sour cream and pico de gallo) for the restaurant’s Fiesta Nachos. Arroz con Pollo (chicken with rice, $9.95) is reminiscent of the Spanish dish by the same name, and many of the entrees are served with sweet corn bread that would be right at home beside American Southern Fried Chicken. I’ve visited Antigua Real three times in recent months, twice for dinner and once for breakfast. (The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.) The food was flavorful enough to make me consider a visit anytime I’m looking for a meal in the far southwest suburbs. It wasn’t just those taquitos, served with Spanish rice and refried beans. An enchilada poblana ($9.95) and a vegetarian burrito ($9.50) scored high marks as well. Enchiladas at Antigua Real are much larger than those at most Mexican establishments. The enchilada poblana is filled with a tasty mixture of chicken and mole sauce and topped with more of that silky sauce, rich with the flavors of mild chilies, onions, garlic, chocolate and spices. The result is a satisfying entrée with lots of hearty Mexican flavor. Unlike many parts of the world, including China, India or the Middle East, Mexico has no strong tradition of vegetarian cooking. So meatless entrees like the vegetarian burrito can be almost devoid of flavor.
Not so at Antigua Real. The mixture of mashed beans, cheese, grilled onions and sweet peppers was every bit as satisfying as some of their meat entrees, in both flavor and heartiness.
Appetizers – Nachos de Camaron ($10.50) and baked plantains ($7.50) both were so good that they could have served as entrees. The shrimp-topped nacho chips benefited from the crumbled chorizo, melted cheese and jalapeno cream sauce that accompanied them, and the plantains were perfectly ripe beneath a thick blanket of mole poblano and more melted Chihuahua cheese.
My favorite meal of the three turned out to be breakfast. There’s something richly rewarding about a dish as authentically Mexican as chorizo scrambled with eggs ($5.95), especially when it’s wrapped up in a warm corn tortilla. And a breakfast burrito of eggs and steak was made all the tastier by a mellow guajillo chili sauce, melted Chihuahua cheese and huitlacoche (corn fungus), which the Mexicans consider a delicacy on the same level as French truffles.
Antigua Real is a place to keep in mind if you’re heading southwest of town. It’s less than a mile off Highway 43, and many of its dishes are worth turning off for.
May 26, 2006: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Scouting Report By Dennis R. Getto
Billed as a “Latin Restaurant,” Antigua Real features a menu that is mostly Mexican with few Guatemalan, Spanish and Tex-Mex items in the mix. Menu Spotlight: While most Americans cut corn fungus off the cob and discard it, it’s considered a delicacy in Mexico, where it’s known as huitlacoche. The gray/black mushroom is combined with steak and goat cheese then stuffed into a large tortilla and baked at Antigua Real.
April 25, 2006: Latin American Adoption Families of Wisconsin
Ana Alarcon and owners of Senor Tomas Restaurant, thank you so much for hosting the Guatemalan Meal for Latin American Adoption Families of Wisconsin. We truly appreciate the effort and thought you put into our special event. All of our families thoroughly enjoyed the food. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate our Children’s culture by enjoying an authentic Guatemalan meal and listening to Ana Alarcon speak on Guatemala. The photo albums and books on Guatemala were a special touch.
October 2006: Milwaukee Magazine – Real Colorful
A Mukwonago Latin American restaurant knows how to lay on the ambiance A scenic route to Antigua Real, a business that wears different hats. It’s foremost a restaurant, then bar, coffeehouse and gift shop. The business is run by the Alarcon family, who operates a similar place in Hartland, Senor Tomas. Their Antigua Real is quite a looker. Blue and clay-hued textured walls lead to colorful spots inside – for example, a cluster of booths facing a water wall of multicolored one-inch tiles. The menu features the basic to the comparatively ostentatious mahi-mahi enchilada topped with grilled shrimp and coconut milk sauce. And I like a little flash. It’s there in the chicken and shrimp sautéed with prickly pear cactus and buried in cheesy ancho and pasilla chile sauce. The addition of a fresh mid-priced restaurant in the suburbs is an event.
September/October 2006: Bear Tracks
Antigua Real offers Latin cuisine in an elegant setting. Antigua Real combines old and new techniques and décor to have an elegant atmosphere with the philosophy of providing unique and traditional cuisine and drink to people that love new things. Another big key for the Alarcons is sharing their culture with their customers, art, music and family recipes.
April 2005: Wisconsin Trails Magazine
Our 10 favorite Breakfast Spots in Wisconsin
By: Laura Kearney/Shannoh J. Arnold
Senor Tomas Restaurant (Café El Sol), Hartland:
Start off your day with huevos rancheros and Café con Leche and finish with a look at imported and local art in the art galllery – Luna Gallery.
March 2004: M-West Magazine
Authentic Roots By: Cari Taylor Carlson
Senor Tomas Restaurant would fit nicely into the rizy Polanco neighborhood in Mexico City. Without the upscale prices that often accompany a restaurant that serves high quality Mexican cuisine, Senor Tomas has captured the heart and perhaps even the soul of Mexico. Expect beautiful food from family recipes served in beautiful colored plates.
May 2004: Wisconsin Woman Magazine – Wine & Dine Senor Tomas Offers First-rate Taste of Latin America
Metro Milwaukeens are fortunate enough to have a window into the Latin world right in downtown Hartland. In addition to the Mexican fare Americans have come to expect Senor Tomas offers a wide variety of other delicious dishes the latter pay special homage to tradition and feature flavors unique to Latin America. Nopilato, Almond Sauce, Huitlacoche (corn mushroom) are just some examples of the wonderful Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Entrees at Senor Tomas. Then there are the drinks! Margaritas, Martini’s, Beer, Shakes, Teas, Coffee Specialty drinks and much more. “I want to keep providing a unique atmosphere and continue satisfying customers,” says Ana Alarcon – Co-Owner. “I want to make them feel welcome, make them feel like they’re coming home.” Home never felt – or tasted so good.
August 2004: M-West Magazine
Top Shelf – Off to Margaretville By: Judy Steininger
Ana Alarcon, from Senor Tomas in Hartland, knows how the alcohol is made and interesting ways to drink it. In Jalisco, Mexico, the town of Tequila, founded by the Ticuila Indian tribe, it probably got its name from its proximity to a dormant volcano. Tequila in their language means “lava hill”. Alarcon says the heart of the agave is cooked, shredded, mashed and washed. This resulting honey water is fermented with yeasts, then distilled in a two-step process resulting in two levels of tequila: either 100 percent pure or mixed with other ingredients. Price and levels will inform you. Alarcon says never put a Supremo in a margarita; instead sip it like a fine whisky or as a “completo”. For a Completo, serve two shots, one of tequila and one of Sangrita. Sangrita is made of tomato juice, lime juice, orange juice, chilies and a bit of salt. Alternate sips. Senor Tomas serves the usual lime, strawberry and raspberry margaritas, and specialties like the Blue made with Tequila, Blue curacao, and Triple Sec. Come try a Margarita.
October 10th, 1993: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “Best Tacos” By: Arlene Carpenter
For a real taste of Mexico try Senor Tomas in Hartland freshness and quality Stressed at restaurant.