Toreros Mexican Restaurant

A bright, fun atmosphere and pleasant service were great starts to our lunch, but the food was so disappointing. Like… Ugh. I ordered the carne de pollo with rancheros beans. Coming from, California, my expectations are always high for Mexican food, but this tasted like it was meant for drunk college students who think Taco Bell is authentic. Thank God it was cheap.

Great place. Super close to East campus. If you’re a Duke student, make sure to ASK FOR THE STUDENT DISCOUNT. It really is possible to come in here, get a huge meal that’s super satisfying and delicious for only $ 5. Good place to come in groups too for Mexican food.

I had a very pleasant lunch today with a friend at Torrero’s.
We got there around 11:10, and were seated in a booth.
The interior is cool. It’s busy and bright and fun. It was especially nice on such a gray and rainy day. Check out the photos on Unilocal.
My friend ordered the Taco Salad Jalisco. It was a traditional taco salad served on a hot plate with melted cheese over ground beef, topped with lettuce, more cheese and tomato. My friend cleaned his plate, so he obviously enjoyed it.
I had the combo Grande #Juan. It included a beef taco, a beef burrito, refried beans and yellow rice. It was fine … nothing spectacular … pretty standard Mexican Restaurant fare.
The warm chips and homemade salsa were pretty good too.
The service was friendly, fast, and unobtrusive. The price was right.
The only (minor) complaint is that the booths were designed for «Plus Sized Individuals». There was too much room between me and the table. I can understand the necessity of having a selection of booths like that but they don’t –all– have to be like that!
Overall, It’s a pretty solid choice for Mexican if you’re in the area.

I don’t really understand why this place has such poor reviews. I really like Toreros. The service has always been great, and the food has been a step up from other ‘typical’ Mexican restaurants in the area. It’s not ‘Dos Perros’ level, but it’s also half the price. I usually end up getting a combo with a chimichanga, chalupa, rice and beans which all comes on an enormous plate for less than $ 10. The complimentary chips are fresh and warm, unlike many restaurants who are taking them straight out of the bag.
Why not five stars? Their guacamole is pretty bad. I honestly don’t remember it always being that bad, but last time we went, it was super bland. I think they forgot to season it or something, but it was terrible. And considering it was pretty expensive, it was a bit disappointing.
The interior is really nice — bright and fun, pretty casual. The service has always been very good. We could’ve done without the screaming child in the next booth, but that’s not really the restaurant’s fault. Overall, a really great place if you want a good, filling meal without breaking the bank.

Torero’s has quality food at decent prices. It’s not gourmet, but for what you’re paying, you get a delicious, filling meal. I went with two other people and we all left full and happy. Try the chicken flautas-​comes with rice, beans, lettuce, sour cream, guac-​and you’ll definitely be satisfied. Chips are constantly refilled, everyone got their own bowl of salsa, and my entire meal was only $ 10. Service was very friendly and if you’re a student at a local university (Duke, NCCU, etc) you get a 15% discount. If you’re craving Mexican food, Torero’s is an awesome choice!

Food was alright but the service was really bad. That’s twice I come here and they forget about you once the food hits your table

Super friendly staff. The food is edible… Extremely salty and the margaritas are like a lime Popsicle! Yikes! Not sure I’d come back.

I’ve been coming here for 20 years. Always a solid meal. The food is made fresh and comes in plentiful portions. I just tried the poppers for the first time. Nicely breaded and crunchy hot cream cheese center and served with a delicious raspberry sauce. I usually get the oroz con pollo as a dinner. Quite good. This place covers all my Tex-​mex needs.

Cinco de Mayo visit. Ordered the Ste ak Fajitas very tasty and enough fot two. The Margaritas were pricey and didn’t have a strong kick. Bill was $ 26 brcause of the two drinks.
Will return if I am in the area. Fast service.

Had a lunch combo… With chimichanga and enchilada. The rice was pretty good. Agua de jamaica on the side. Good, not killer. I would repeat due to proximity from work. Cheap. Not bad at all for a chain.
If you try speaking Spanish with your waitress it gets you extras. Just kidding, though obviously they’ll smile a little more.

To be brutally honest I really had hoped the food would have been able to live up to the expectations I had when I walked in the door. The décor of this place is bright and lively. Definitely has the feel that the owners had put a lot of sweat equity into the place to make it appear different than your countless myriad of other family ran Mexican joints which serve Americanized Mexican food.
But alas, neither the menu nor the prepared food did much, if anything at all, to set itself apart. Very typical line food with a lack of imagination or flare to match the liveliness of the décor of the place.
I ordered the seafood chimichanga which was served with the obligatory rice and refried beans. The dish was adorned with the scooped sour cream and guacamole on top of some shredded lettuce. It was certainly edible with large chunks of fish, scallops and shrimp inside of the fried burrito — they got that part right at least. But all in all, pick any decent taco joint and you pretty much have nailed the menu and quality of food
I wanted to like this place more, I truly did. Unfortunately, outside of the physical presence of the place, it just fell flat on its face.
Food — 2 stars
Service/​atmosphere earn it an extra star.

Was open for Easter so we grabbed lunch here. Wife had Chimichangas and a tamale. I had fajita quesidilla. Portions were plenty. Food was prepared fast and exceeded expectations.

This is a decent Mexican restaurant. The menu was pretty big, so I’m sure there are plenty of fun things to try. I had a couple of enchiladas and they were good, basic enchiladas. Nothing special, though.
The employees were all super nice and attentive and the food was reasonably priced.
If you’re craving Mexican food, this will do the trick. But there are so many good restaurants nearby, it’s hard to justify skipping them to have very average Mexican food.

My husband and I are from south Texas and we both grew up on amazing Mexican food made by family and many great restaurants. We have not found good, or even decent, Mexican food in durham yet. We have tried El Rodeo and Cosmic Cantina and unfortunately now Torero’s. This place had all the staples but everything tasted canned. Nothing tasted fresh or authentic. The beans were watery, the rice was bland, and the enchilada sauce was downright gross. I evaluate a Mexican restaurant based on their cheese enchiladas as they are the most basic dish but if made correctly, can steal the show and it usually means that the more complicated dishes are good as well. Also, I did not find being greeted by unsupervised baskets of chips to be a good thing. Torero’s is yet another Mexican restaurant passing off as good Mexican food to those who don’t know any better. The search continues.

As a fellow employee of the service industry, I think the service here is great.
The dish with the whole fish is fantastic. The guacamole comes in a small portion, but pretty tasty. The lunch deals are good prices. I’m not a vegetarian but their veggie only section of the menu is really great, especially compared to other Mexican restaurants. I always order everything with extra refried beans.

Torero’s has solid Mexican food, at the right price, with a very group-​friendly environment, and that’s their niche.
The food will not be the best Mexican you’ve ever had… but the service is quick, the food is fresh, the portions are huge, and the menu is extensive.
You’re greeted immediately with a hot basket of fresh chips and a personal bowl of salsa for each person at the table (yay for double dipping!). Chips and the salsa are both really good.
I’ve been here dozens of times over the years and, as a vegetarian, I really appreciate all of the options they have for me on the menu. Veggie enchiladas are good as are the veggie fajitas, and they offer black beans instead of refried, which is a win in my book.
The margaritas pack a punch and for $ 10 a pitcher… it’s quite the bargain.
The people are really friendly, too, and it’s never hard to find a table. Definitely a place for a reasonably-​priced, comfortable, casual dinner any night of the week.

Metal in my food. Seriously. We showed the manager/​owner and he said it was from the metal scrubbies they use on the grill, like that made it acceptable. I had to ask for another meal, it wasn’t offered. They brought the other dish and it was just ok. I’m not one to ask to have a meal comped but I felt like this one should have been, instead, they brought out the full bill to us. I took it back up to the manager/​owner and he wouldn’t comp this meal because they brought another meal out to us. Metal in my food, no comping and I won’t be back here again. Very poor business practice but it looks like they get away with it.

It’s too bad I have to do this, because I like the food here… but unfortunately I don’t think I can eat here anymore.
Came here with a couple of friends for dinner. There were a total of 2 checks for the table, one for me and my dinner mates put theirs on one check.
When I got my credit card bill, I found that both checks were swiped on my credit card. I called the restaurant and the manager said he would look into the receipts from the day and call me back. When he called, he said he had found the 2 receipts and that they had different signatures. One was my signature and the other was my friend’s. So basically, that would indicate that what I’m saying is correct. My friend had signed the receipt without checking the credit card number, as we all do, because if you give the restaurant your credit card, it’s their responsibility to swipe it correctly.
After arguing with the manager for awhile, he finally agreed to refund the check that shouldn’t have been swiped on my card. I would have to drive over to the restaurant to get this taken care of. A hassle, but fine.
20 minutes later the manager calls back. He says he spoke with the bartender and the bartender thinks we probably ordered alcohol from the bar and that’s why I have 2 charges on my card. They’ve decided that I’m lying. Of course, they cannot explain why the receipts have different signatures and they cannot produce the other receipt from the table that night, since under their theory, there should now be 3 receipts — one for my food, one for my friends’ food, and one from the bar. So now he doesn’t want to refund the check because they made up an imaginary story. We didn’t have any alcohol that night and we definitely didn’t order anything from the bar.
I realize that in order to refund me the money for the check that shouldn’t have been swiped on my card it means that he’ll be out that money — he can’t track down the other person — but, the restaurant already had their chance to charge that person. We were fair — we each gave him a credit card — and they didn’t take their opportunity to charge both cards. It’s not our fault they made a mistake and swiped my card twice. So now I’m stuck paying for the entire table from that night, which I didn’t really want to do. The person whose card didn’t get swiped is a loosely connected friend of a friend who lives out of town so I don’t really think I’ll be getting reimbursed. I guess Torero’s would rather lose future business than deal with their mistake. I can’t believe they can afford to do this when there’s another Mexican restaurant literally right across the street.

decent lunch place. I ordered the 3 taco plate with steak, beans and rice. beans and rice were pretty standard. The tacos were good, but didn’t seem to have a whole lot of steak in them. Chips and salsa came with my lunch and they were enjoyable (hard to go wrong with chips and salsa).
Service was very fast and friendly enough, during a busy lunch time.

I was surprised by how flavorless their meal could be. Seriously? When I bit into my chicken tacos, all I could taste was the taste of bland white meat. Nothing else — I couldn’t even taste a hint of seasoning or even saltiness. Their portions are huge, but the quality of the food was mediocre at the best.
With that aside, I very much enjoyed their chips with salsa, drinks, and dessert (I had a small flan). Thought it was interesting how everything except for the main entrée could be amazing at this restaurant. It was also nice that they gave student discounts with Duke ID. I may come back, but not with high expectations — definitely eating lots of chips and ordering something very small for the main dish.