El Torero 2

Just went today after reading the reviews and was a little nervous. I secretly hoped I would taste chemicals or soap in the rice based on the other reviews, but all 4 of us actually enjoyed our food. No soapy taste, no chemicals. Good food, tasted fresh. Good service, quick to seat us, start us with drinks, take our order, and the food came quickly as well. Overall, decent place that we’ll try again. And in the end, I’m happy I didn’t get soapy rice (:

I have been here 3 times every time hoping my prior experience was just a fluke but only finding that that the experience is the exact same every time just really bad.
My main complaint is that the food is simply terrible. It taste like there’s cleaning products in the food. My wife has the same experience and on several occasions we’ve simply just not eaten the food because it is so bad. The rice tastes like it has dish soap or something mixed in with it. I really don’t know exactly what it is but it just tastes like chemicals.
We are residents of Valley Springs so we hear people talk about how good this restaurant is which is why we had returned three separate times. But we’ve come to the conclusion that people like this restaurant only because they have a lack of options and have not been too good Mexican restaurants due to living in such a small secluded town with nothing else good to eat.
On a positive note I will say that the service is pretty good they bring you your nasty chemical tasting food pretty quick and it’s hot.
But the best part of this restaurant is a specific server and I believe his name is Gordo or something like that. It’s a Hispanic guy who used to work behind the bar but last time I was there he was serving food. He’s a very nice guy and is the best server I’ve seen there in my three experiences.
The prices are reasonable and the drinks are pretty good. But I just can’t get over how bad the food taste and it was not a one-​time experience it’s been consistently bad all three times. I unfortunately will not try this place a fourth time but it has become a joke within my family, every time we drive by. We simply can laugh and ask anybody if they’re hungry for some clean soapy rice.
I’m really sorry to leave a bad review, but this place is terrible.

Excellent Mexican fare with great ambiance ! Thanks Gordo for a great service and a very tasty meal ! This is the best in Calaveras county ! I have read some the reviews and some have wrong information.
First off this spot makes their own chips as I have seen with my own eyes the process. They use only vegetable oil I’ve seen the bottle.
You have to be careful with some these off the wall reviews and tips. Some people «vegans» do not know what they are saying ! Mexican is routinely not VEGAN

Fist, we enjoyed the drive to this restaurant. Country road with one light, can’t beat that.
Second, the service was quick and kind.
Third, the atmosphere was nice. The general eating area is standard for a family oriented Mexican food place, and the bar is fancy with stone walls and a fire place.
Lastly, the food was great. The salsa was perfectly spicy. You get a mix of flour and corn chips, and the refills are endless.
The house salad was just up my husband’s alley; iceberg lettuce, ranch dressing, freshly shredded cheddar cheese and tomatoes. To be honest it was delicious.
We both ordered the shredded beef corn taco dinner for $ 7.99 and it was worth every penny. Freshly fried crunchy shell with delicious shredded beef, iceberg lettuce and again freshly shredded cheese. Just what a shredded beef taco should be. If you’ve ever tried Tito’s tacos in LA these are comparable. Tito’s sells these tacos by the box full and has a line at all times… So clearly el torero 2 has got this recipe down!
Looking forward to going back.

Definitely the best Mexican food I’ve tasted in Calaveras County. I would drive an hour for one of their margaritas — seriously big enough to share with a friend! I love how it’s out in the middle of nowhere, too. Means you can pretty much always get a table any time. The bar’s café tables are the place to sit — totally different feel from the rest of the dining areas; more like a sports bar in there with all the TVs (although one time we took the kids there and got to watch the entire Simpsons Movie on the big screen over the fireplace!). The fajitas are fabulous, & the chili verde was delish! & the fact that it’s family-​owned and operated means that all the employees have a stake in the restaurant’s success — and it shows! :)

The restaurant was clean, the service was good, just not excited about the food. Everything tasted bland and just OK.
The bar looked pretty decent and could be a nice draw for this place.
This will most likely be our last visit here.

Mainstream dishes were quite good, fresh warm fluffy chips a plus. Burritos, tacos, rice, quesadilla all very good. A calamari steak dish smothered with sauces was a Miss – sauces ok, but Calamari tasted stale, frozen; should be avoided, though they get credit for trying variety. Wood burning fireplace in adjacent bar gives homey touch and fragrance. Will try again, sans calamari!

The restaurant itself is about a 7 on 1 – 10 scale in cleanliness, pretty average for a non-​chain mexican food restaurant.
The staff is a 10 for being friendly and very attentive.
Before I talk about the food, I have to first inform you that I am a vegetarian (thanks to high cholesterol problems) and even when I sneak a bit of meat here and there, I absolutely loathe pork (a slight allergy to it also)!
Well, no matter what I tried here, always broke out in rash. Once, when finally quizzing a waitress about ingredients in their beans, rice, salsa, etc., found out they they put lard in absolutely EVERYTHING! For those who may not know, lard is pig fat. No wonder their food gave me problems.
Their tortilla chips are not cooked in lard (they come pre-​packaged), but they «recycle» their chips from the tables. In other words, if you do not eat all the complimentary chips in your basket, someone else will end up finishing them for you. Yes, I’m dead serious. Watch what happens when they clean off a table after the guests have left and the basket is still full of chips. You won’t eat them anymore!
Anyway, since their beans, rice, tortillas, etc. contains lard, I can’t eat there. In this day and age, why would anyone still cook with lard? Even restaurants in Mexico stopped using lard for goodness sake! If you are Jewish, Muslim, 7^th Day Adventist, allergic, obese, 4H pig farmer, etc., beware. Pig fat hidden within…
About the only thing safe to consume at El Torero is soda. MAYBE…

I think this is the best one
More seafood dishes and a lot of really yummy choices. good value for the amount you get, it is a little milder in sauce more flavors than just Red chili sauce, Don’t know just how to explain, and the beans are more whole than all mashed up.
Hubby’s likes the Crab and shrimp Enchiladas