El Mesquite Grill

Came to El Mesquite Grill with a friend of mine from Texas with the attraction being the Mesquite wood that would give the grilled meat flavor. Turned out that the «mesquite» is just a name but the food was good anyways. I dont particularly care for these mass produced Mexican joints but El Mesquite was surprisingly good. I knew this by the waitress and clientele who were all of Mexican descent. In fact my waitress could barely speak english. I ordered the verde enchiladas which were good but nothing to brag about. This is a good spot if you are across the river and better than most places in the New Orleans area but it does not compete with Taqueria Sanchez that is also on the westbank.

Love!
I’ve never had a bad experience here.
The staff is always friendly, the food is always fast and fresh.
I order the sampler, and the chile relleno is always on pointe!
Chips and salsa come with a separate bowl for each guest.
I eat here, or carry out, every couple of months.

I was craving Mexican so after an hour of Unilocal searching, i decided on El Mesquite.
Iordered the S46 (the sampler) because there were so many options on the menu. The taco was soggy. The enchilada but ive had better.
The complimentary chips & salsa was so bland & watery.
Service was slow and is wasn’t even crowded.

I must have accidentally erased my review after management reached out to me. (I’m still getting the hang of this Unilocal stuff). I am updating my review from one star to three stars because they have acknowledged there were problems and they are obviously intent on fixing them. The new manager actually called me to talk about the issues I had this past Saturday. He has invited me and a guest back for lunch and/​or dinner. I am crossing my fingers that my next meal at Mesquite will be as good as they used to be.

I wanted to update my review, as the situation has changed. The owner has reached out to me, and we have come to an agreement about what went wrong that night. While I did not want to completely erase my review, I did want to update and say that my complaint was handled to my satisfaction. I wanted to share the resolution because I think it’s the right and fair thing to do.

So I like their food but after tonight I will not go back. I have worked in the service industry all my life and have managed. When I got my bill I seen I was charged $ 1.20 for 2oz cup of sour cream. Which I just thought might have been rang up wrong… .50 cents is fine, I dont mind being charged. When the mgr came over and asked me what was wrong. I mentioned being over charged… what he did, I will never go back! He actually answered the phone while I was talking to him! I am still taken back how someone could do that to anyone! I could not say anything and just paid the bill and tipped my server.

I would give this restaurant 3 ½ stars if I could. When this restaurant opened, the food was fantastic and the portions were generous. However, over the past year, the restaurant has been in portion control overload, especially on their lunch menu. I hate when newly established restaurants try to control overall costs by reducing portions.
Don’t get me wrong. Overall, their food is pretty good and the constancy is there. I’ve tried a variety of dishes, and they were all on par with long-​standing Mexican restaurants.
Unfortunately, since they opened, other similar restaurants have opened which give you bigger portions at a lower cost, with the quality and consistency holding steady.
I just hope El Mesquite doesn’t suffer the same fate as Visco’s.

HUGE PORTIONS! share! Share! Share! Nothing was amazing but nothing was bad. I would have added a little more cilantro to the salsa just for a fresher taste. I had the twin burritos with shredded chicken. It was marinated well! Boyfriend had the chicken and steak fajitas. The steak was great! Chicken was a little dry. Overall, I wouldn’t make it a priority to come out here but if you are in the area and craving Mexican, it’s not a bad place to try!

I’d give this NEGATVE stars if I could. Chips came quickly, but no waitress or water for 20 min, and the place was about 40% full. I ordered the steak burrito supreme. Rice was not edible, steak had a funky, sour taste. NO seasoning on anything and burrito was floating in tomato water. My son ordered guacamole which looked and tasted like it was a week old. I sent the dishes back uneaten and didn’t have the stomach to try anything else. I’m hoping I don’t get sick.

I’ll tell you this. I will not be coming back. It’s pathetic that I can make better Mexican food than this restaurant. Everything was super bland. Both my table and chair wobbled. Asked for hot salsa, and the salsa they brought was sweet?

I don’t get why everyone loves this place so much. For me the food had no flavor and, to top it off, I got sick afterwards !!!

Worst excuse for mexican food, guacamole is not fresh, tortilla chips very greasy and leave a bad oil taste in your mouth, I had shrimp chimichanga had 2 bites and couldn’t eat. Would not eat there ever again!!! Eat here if you like FROZEN food

MEXICANO COCINA IN THE WEST BANK
Visual reminders of Visko are everywhere except for one wall and the all Latino waitstaff. Flatscreens from every angle from our table… all sports. Food service was muy rapido and their plates are very hot. Salsa and nachos to start. Menu is straight forward… seems most items were predominately beef and a few chicken. Don’t recall any pork dishes. We selected the following:
#43 Tamale Mexicano: One hot tamale covered in enchilada sauce, one Mexican taquito and one chili rellemno topped with cheese dip… plentiful.
#52 Enchiladas El Tre: Cheese, grilled chicken and steak making three enchiladas individually topped with red sauce, green sauce and spicy white cheese sauce served with Spanish rice, refried beans and guacamole salad… hungry man portion
Dessert: Sopapilla with whipped cream and chocolate drippings… perfect finish
Excellent prices and a welcomed change of cuisine.

I like El Mesquite. It’s the only place on the Westbank that I’ve had Mexican food, so I’m not really sure what to compare it to, but that doesn’t really matter. The fact remains: I like El Mesquite.
The first time I went was for lunch and it was quick and cheap, yet tasty. I went back for dinner with a large group and they were very accommodating. We were a party of 10 and they didn’t seem to mind at all having separate checks for everyone. Our server Jessica was very friendly and fun, even though I gave her a hard time by switching seats multiple times.
I had the beef chimichanga. Hard to mess up a fried burrito! It was on the smaller side but still tasted very good. And it came with a hearty helping of rice and beans, both of which I devoured. Their margaritas are good too. The large is SUPER LARGE, but the small house was still a reasonable size. In terms of price, the food is pretty cheap. Drinks are where you’ll spend more of your money.
I’m not necessarily advocating for a special trip out to Gretna to visit El Mesquite, but if you find yourself on the Wank and jonesing for some enchiladas, El Mesquite is the joint for you.

I heard this place gets very busy and stays busy. We however went on the coldest night New Orleans has had in a year. So most people were at home under blankets except for us.
We had excellent service but I can’t attest If that is applicable when it’s packed also. This place is huge so I imagine it’s really hopping when there’s a wait. Also, there is a separate room that could wasily host a pretty large private party or event. The menu is huge too. There were over 60 items on there. I had no idea there could be 60 combinations using basically the same ingredients. That’s pretty impressive.
I had the beef enchiladas and they were delicious and the tortilla shells weren’t over cooked and hard like they can be at some restaurants. The complimentary chips and salsa were fine, but I was introduced by my Dad to the wheat chips. OMG, these things are sprinkled with crack or something. They typically come with the spinach queso appetizer (which is also quite good), but if you request them they will bring it to you with the salsa instead of regular chips. (At a surcharge of $ 1.99). But be warned, wheat does not mean healthier in this case, the deep frying negates that, but still worth it.
Definitely a good dining experience at a reasonable price. And if you take nothing else from this review, remember two words– WHEAT CHIPS!

There is a reason we keep going here.
ITS AWESOME MEXICAN FOOD ON THE WESTBANK!!!
Great queso and also great margaritas.

My boyfriends family has been talking about this place for quite some time. After every volleyball game: El Mesquite. After every softball game: El Mesquite. Just because: El Mesquite. So, after debating on whether or not we wanted phở in 80 degree weather, we decided to go with something a little more appropriate: El Mesquite.
The first things that you should know are that the menu is large and the margaritas are even bigger. I went with my usual, a chicken chimichanga covered in queso with a side of salsa verde, which came with a side of refried beans, rice, and guac. All of this was less than $ 10! We also got the chorizo queso which was the best decision we made all day. I can safely say that we judge Mexican restaurants by their queso and EM has surpassed nearly everywhere that I’ve been in New Orleans.
I can’t wait til we have another reason to go back here!

This place serves pretty generous portions for a decent price. The salsa was rather bland but you do get both a green and red salsa for free. The best thing about this place is that its right next to the Rugby Pub and I’m an old rugby player so anything associated with rugby (or near to it) makes it the best thing always (the rugby pitch is nearby also and I’ve spilled my fair share of blood there so its sacred ground). The most interesting thing about this place is that they use Time Lord Technology and just like Dr. Who’s T.A.R.D.I.S (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) this restaurant is much bigger on the inside than it appears from the outside. The parking lot can be slammed full of cars but inside it seems as if there is barely a crowd and there always seems to be more tables available.
The service can be at bit slow sometimes and the menu combo selections seem to lack a lot of variety outside of beef and I would like to see more chicken options included. I wish they would put Mexican hot sauces on the table as the flavors of the food are way too tame and bland for me. Overall this is a decent place to eat and enjoy some margaritas while basking in the glory of one of the Wanks most popular restaurant spots.

I love fajitas, I really do. But I’ve never ordered any in a restaurant! I know, right! So this time, I was going to order freakin’ fajitas. And they didn’t disappoint. So glad my first restaurant fajitas was a yummy one.
However, the star of this review is the atmosphere. Imagine dark paneling, blow up Corona thingies hanging from the ceiling and loud authentic Mexican music. They did lower the music after the waitress couldn’t hear us. There was outdoor seating that looked nice. There were tables that could accommodate large groups and at lunch on a Sunday, there were large groups.
Fun place to have a very casual and authentic Mexican meal.

We ate here this past Sunday (4÷27÷14) after a hike at Jean Lafitte Park. When we pulled up, I couldn’t help but laugh as the building itself (The old Visko’s) is in the same delapitated looking state it was 25 years ago. Inside it’s nice enough (but looks the same as well) with a lot of seating. This is good because the place got very busy while we were there.
We started off with their fresh made guac. I really liked their version as it had tomato, onion, and quite a bit of cilantro mixed in. I was super excited to see a Mole Chicken dish as it’s a rare dish in these here parts. Unfortunately their version didn’t live up to my excitement and was just ok. Nothing wrong with it but the flavor I was accustomed to just wasn’t there. The did however give a very large portion of the dish. The girlfriend got the steak fajitas and those were rather tasty. They came with the usual steak, onions, and peppers on a hot as hell skillet. Their version however added the red and yellow peppers as well. Enough food for 3 meals.
The food was cooked fast and served at the same lightning speed. The service was great. My only complaints were the mole sauce and the annoyingly loud mexican pop music. It was terrible. I’ll go back when I’m on the wank and try something else and maybe sit outside away from the speakers.