El Jimador Cinco

The dining area is small and very crowed. The ladies bathroom was locked the entire time that we dined in and I really had to use the restroom.
The food was ok and the service was ok. If I am in the area I may return, but I would not go out of my way to eat there.

We came in for breakfast and man am I stoked that we did! I order the huevos rancheros, but the green chile that I figured would be too spicey, was, so I ordered a side of the housemade red enchilada sauce… fantastic! My hubby and roomy got breakfast burritos that were great too. I’m really excited to come back sometime for lunch/​dinner entrees. This has been a banner week for mexican food for me!

So Water World followed by giant margarita on Thursday really went for an interesting night at work.
We walked in, first thing that I hear is «who’s drinkin margaritas!?» from the bartender. Me being way into margaritas, I found myself already liking this place and their awesome bar tender.
It was a buds birthday, so he got a Chiquita boom, which is an epic margarita. In fact I think they only had three glasses to offer. The rest of our twelve person crew got the jumbos. Which were gigantic.
The chips and salsa were warm, fresh and complimentary. The thing that stuck out was this cabbage salsa which I’ve never had, so refreshing and tasty.
I ordered the crab enchiladas, gonna have to say eh. I really wanted to like them, but they totally had imitation crab meat. Bummer. Such a good idea, but hey it was only seven bucks and I ate the shit out of them so no real complaints. The beans were OK, a little too chunky. The rice was perfect, if a Mexican restaurant fucks up Spanish rice I seriously hate them and anyone associated with them.
The marg was awesome, for eleven bucks its really way too pricey honestly but I mean I was kinda faded. So they were made well. Next time gotta go in after three cus its bogo. That’s a deal, sucks we missed it.

Nothing caps off a day at Water World like El Jimador and a Jumbo margarita. You know the place is good when you see the main server from your favorite Denver Mexican restaurant (La Pasadita) is eating there.
I find their food plentiful, affordable and delicious. Being a vegetarian I stay mostly with the green quesadilla (crispy, fresh and full of flavor), chili relleno and veggie burrito but have never heard any complaints from any of my non-​meat eating freinds.
The cherry on top of all of this is there tequila and margarita selection. I guess with a name like El Jimador, you have to hit the nail on the head. two jumbo’s at buy one ($ 11) get one half off will get your evening going the right way.
Every time I have been there, the staff has been friendly and welcoming. I think I’ll continue my summer tradition of Water World followed by one of Thornton’s finest Mexican restaurants.

What a difference a few weeks make. This used to be one of our favorite mexican restaurants and was worth the drive from Boulder. However it appears they no longer have the same cook, as the last two visits were horrible. The food was greasy, the chimichanga’s contained no meat and the food was bland. And on our last visit, they seated us next to a very intoxicated and loud man and when we commented to the manager, he just smiled and walked away. There is a great restaurant called Santiago’s across the street that is waay better…

This is a nice little place. Good food, good drinks, usually some kind of special on drinks or food going on.
If I could break it down though, I would give 4 stars to the food, and 5 to the service. Everyone working here is always really nice.

I have eaten here a lot in the past few weeks because we have been over at the Pinnacle Events Center. In an area that is lacking for good places to eat, this hole in the wall is great! The margaritas are strong and good (and they have 2 for 1 all the time which means GIANT margaritas for the price of small ones)! I don’t eat at a lot of Mexican places because the food is usually «American» Mexican and full of lard. El Jimador is different. They have great (and big) taquitos, yummy enchiladas, spicy green chili soup, but by far, my favorite is their tortilla soup. A chicken broth base with chunks of chicken and tortillas. YUM!
The service is also phenomenal. They are super nice and accommodating.
I definitely recommend El Jimador.

Um, kinda gnarly. You know when you eat at McDonalds, it doesn’t matter if you are eating the chicken salad or the double cheeseburger, it all has that greasy McDonald’s taint or funk? Well, El Jimador is like that. It was okay at first, but after a few bites I realized it was actually kinda gross. The beans were overly greasy, chili was scarce, and the chicken flautas I ordered were brittle and funky tasting. It really is too bad because the service was excellent, our waiter was very very friendly and even gave us a coupon for a free meal. I even felt a little guilty that I «lost» the coupon quickly. But seriously, El Jimador is to Mexican food what putting ketchup on spaghetti noodles is to Italian. It’s not that it isn’t authentic, its just authentically bad Mexican cooking.