The Lunch Box

Probably the worst green sauce I’ve ever had in my life. They told us it was a 15 minute wait and we ended up waiting more than 30 minuets. Everything is really cheap but it took them way too long to bring out the food for what we got. My enchiladas were by far the worst I’ve ever been served. Maybe it was a bad night for them but I won’t ever be going back. Both of us got sick and felt terrible the day after.

Another place in El Paso with not a great curb appeal but does have great food. Their breakfast (what I came for) was definitely a big portion and good. Service was very good and fast. Worth the drive to it if you are in El Paso.

Straight to the punch. Awesome food.

Ordered the flautas plate and the red enchiladas. Both were delicious. Service was good

This place has a good ambience, the food is marvelous and affordable. It’s a must try if you like Mexican food just like I do. It’s good for groups too since the place is really spacey. Try the burgers, they are delicious!

Yikes. I mean, yikes. I have been wasting my time and money on breakfast, eating at other places. This is the real deal, folks. Mexican breakfast that pleases the palate AND pocketbook.
DON’T FOLLOW THE BIG SIGN OR YOU WILL END UP IN AN EMPTY RECEIVING BAY. I did this. I walked right up to the burly diaphoretic man driving the forklift and said, «Table for one, please.» He tells me «No soy su mesero, payaso! El Lunch Box es en la Calle Bruckner, en la siguente calle, buey!» So I walked over a few hundred feet, down Buckner and found a clean exterior, and full parking lot @ 8am (always a good sign).
Upon entering, i saw a little room off to the left, where fresh flour tortillas were being made. There was a main dining room connected to a bar area, where I was taken. The dining room is spacious, with tables spaced apart to give each party plenty of distance from the others… here you’re never in danger of bumping into other patrons while moving around. I was seated promptly and the hostess took my drink order immediately, which the server (Elizabeth) brought back in under 2 mins, along with homemade salsa and homemade tostadas. I ordered the enchilada breakfast… this, folks is my FAVORITE breakfast. Ever. It’s ENCHILADAS MONTADAS!!! And, because I am such a fan of Adobado/​Adovado/​Chile Colorado, I ordered a cup of that on the side, too.
The breakfast took like 5 mins to get to my table. It was fast, hot and delicious. Hash browns crispy. Eggs perfectly done over medium. Refried beans flavorful and not watery. Enchiladas GENEROUSLY filled to maximum capacity with cheese. And the red chile… oooohhhhh…the red chile. SLATHERED GENEROUSLY over the enchiladas. This is perfect red chile – flavorful, and with a bite, but without being spicy. The Chile Colorado had the same chile, but cooked-​in. The meat was tender and the dish flavorful, with the mad flavor of cooked-​in red chile permeating the dish, throughout.
Now, either I looked like I was having a food stroke because it was so good, or the server was amazing at her job, because Elizabeth asked me no less than 5 times «Is everything alright?» I think I may have been able to mumble a few intelligible words in between mouthfuls of food, but she got the jist that everything was VERY good. She worked that dining room the likes of which I’ve seen maybe a handful of times. Fast, friendly and efficient. Like the energizer bunny with a purpose. And she visited every table as frequently as she visited mine. HEY KIDS! ATTENTION ASPIRING SERVERS! WANNA SEE HOW TO MAKE MONEY WAITING ON TABLES? Come watch Elizabeth work.
Coffee was very good, also, and it was refilled like 4 times, which has given me the energy to write this novel of a review. Long story short, come here for a great mexican breakfast, and you’ll be as happy as I am, right now.

There’s very few Mexican restaurants in the area that impress me (mostly because a large number of businesses seem content serving poor quality dishes, but charging a good to high quality price), but The Lunch Box goes against the grain and serves up food that actually appears to have some love put into it.
If you’re going at lunch during the week, expect a wait. I can only imagine what it’s like on a weekend. Luckily for me, Charles was a hop, skip and jump away from TLB so he was able to snag a table before the big lunch rush came. From the exterior I expected something so much smaller, but once I was inside I found a pretty respectable amount of tables with an even more respectable amount of space. No joke, they could probably double up the tables and it still wouldn’t feel cramped (I don’t want them to add tables, I love it the way it is, I’m just trying to illustrate how much elbow room one has while at TLB).
As one could expect from such a packed joint, our server was no where to be found a lot of the time. But she did make the rounds often enough to refill my Sprite, bring the check, and bring me a box for my take-​home. She was speedy and I really couldn’t ask for more in a waitress since it was so packed.
My go-​to is always Steak Tampiqueña so… yah, you know I went with it. The plate came out with a little bit thicker steak that what’s normal (this immediately made me happy… none of that paper thing crap) loaded up with fried green peppers and onions. The onions still had a bit of a strong bite and could’ve been fried a minute or two longer, but overall I like this dish. The beans are quite possibly my favorite in El Paso. And although I’m not a fan of Mexican rice, I did find TLB’s Mexican rice fla