El Toro Mexican Restaurant

The bar service is horrible. Always different people and tonight was the worst service ever. We ordered a burrito, taco, and two street tacos and everyone received their food but us. Waitress tried to make a joke instead of making right. We had to ask twice about our food after that. Then we waited an hour for the bill and that was not cheap. Never will go back and spend your money somewhere else where they appreciate your business.

This restaurant has a sentimental value for me, as I used to go there with my uncle who is now deceased. The staff is friendly and efficient. This place caters to a military clientele. The menu features typical Mexican dishes geared for an American customer base. The food is okay although you can do better elsewhere.

My last review must’ve just been an off day. I’m here today and ordered my favorite meal just to give it one more shot and it’s perfect! I love them again and they’re forgiven lol.

The atmosphere was very welcoming and clean. Our waitress Paula was very personable and always had a smile on her face. We ordered a large Margarita on the rocks… It hit the spot… The chips were fresh and we enjoyed both flavors of salsa that xame with them. I ordered Flautas they had good flavor and was a generous portion, I’ve got breakfast for tomorrow. My husband ordered Molcajete. It was served in a big metal bowl with tortillas on the side with a large plate of beans and rice and fixings to put in the tortillas. Looked wonderful and so was the flavor. Overall a great date dinner! I would definately recomend!

They have the best carne asada. My family has loved going to this restaurant for years.

Facility was Newley remodeled which is nice, was sat down immediately great. Watched our waiter push soldiers to pay their meals as if he wanted them out that was not ok! Kept hearing «MONEY, MONEY» as if your in a lunch line. He didn’t wait he was standing over the table looking at everyone saying that & one soldier was not even done eating but the waiter wasn’t moving till he got his card… irritated me. Let them eat in peace! Rushed or not they are customers too. Such bad manners. So I Looked over their new menu & I asked for their special. When my plate came it was a generic made chile Relleno instead of the real one. I would of assumed they would of put in their menu if it was anything other than the original but I had to reorder the authentic one and I was told I would have to pay more. Ok a couple more dollars not a big deal. My food was tasty other than the toothpick I stabbed myself with that was in my chile hidden by the pepper & cheese. Told the manager he told me it is part of the procedure of cooking it and they didn’t notice that it was stil there & that it was the cooks fault. Fine we are human but at least I wasn’t bleeding. but no apology he just walked away after blaming the cook asked if I was ok? After he noticed my husband was concerned. I got my receipt and was charged a different price and on top of that extra 2.00 for a authentic plate which was the same darn rice and beans except the Relleno but the waiter said i had to be charged the lunch combo not the special and then just to get the authentic another 2 $ I am still unsure what the difference is between rice and beans special verses the regular lunch combo? So pretty much I was charged more for what I asked for originally with no apology (toothpick) or any sort of compensation. I am just shocked. I was not going in for a free meal but this is the first place I’ve ever gone into that just ignored a unhappy customer. As long as I wasn’t bleeding right? Would of hated to see how unconcerned you would of been if I was. Thanks so much I think I will go to the gut truck verses here again thanks.

Worst restaurant ever after I ate here I got food poison. The waitresses even told me there soups where made a week ago and that they just reheat the food. Worst experience ever end up paying $ 70 on the food that made me sick. Never coming here again for sure !

it was good. It was very nice in there, very clean I enjoyed what I had and the husband said he enjoyed his, Both the red and green sauces were equally delicious and the chips were nice fresh and warm. The meal selections are good I had a hard time deciding. I was not a fan of PARMESAN cheese on a chile relleno, nor of the ORANCE shredded cheese on the tostada. Nor was I happy that I was not able to choose mole sauce for my chile reline that would have made it perfect perhaps… I am a real Mexican and when I see someone who is also Mexican bring me any food without the queso fresco and some crema Mexicana and some actual salsa picosa… I have to ask myself if they have sold out to the American taste buds. yeah yeah I know go back to Mexico if you want the real stuff. OK I realize I am in WA but don’t shut me out please at least have the «estilo Mexico» option for the ones who request it –its not that hard people. All in all I really like this place. I will go back again soon and try to get something else and hopefully give them the 5 star… I do see that potential here at this place.

Service was good but the food was very disappointing. My main course was almost room temperature by the time it came out, the chicken was dry, and there was no spice whatsoever in the sauce.
Also, avoid the flan at all costs! I couldn’t take more than 2 bites, it was really heavy, but not in a good way and the flavor was off.

1 star, and that’s me being generous with the great dissapointment I encountered at this restaurant. This place should not be worthy of being called a «mexican» restaurant because it is not mexican food.
I asked the server what she recommended and suggested I get street tacos (2 pork and 2 beef). My gf order a taco salad (if you can even call it that)
Long story short, my pork tacos tasted like cloves (spice) that was literally all I could taste and ended up leaving an entire taco on the plate and called it to the waiters attention to have the cook try the meat because I am mexican and that is not how adobada is supposed to taste. I am not a mexican food snob even though Im mexican but at least expect food to taste good. She basically said «oh I’m sorry» and that was it. No «can I get you something else?» or at least take it off my bill, nothing. Considering each taco was $ 2.50 I should have at least gotten dessert to mask the disgusting clove taste that lingered in my mouth long after eating one of the pork tacos.
My gf’s $ 9+ vegetarian taco salad was an utter joke. It came in a burnt hard taco shell, bland refried beans, on a bed of lettuce and topped with old brown guacamole and store bought chunky salsa. Seriously? I could have made the same salad for less than $ 3 at home and would be much better than the crap they gave us.
NEVER EVER EVERRRR will I go back to this place and will make sure no one I know will go to this «restaurant» and re-​live the joke I experienced.

Service was good but the best part of our
Meal was the chips and cheese. Worst taco salad and chimichanga we have ever ate.

Pretty bland. The refried beans were watery of all things, I didn’t know that you added water to them but there would be no other way for them to be like soup. In fact my whole plate was watery. My chalupa was soggy & the burrito was too. My son just ordered rice & beans so his whole meal was awful. Same with hubby’s enchiladas verde. Also the meals weren’t hot. Chips were nice & fresh though. Service was good. Wasted $ 55 for lunch.

Great food and service! We go there a lot and they are always spot on with everything! Salsa is awesome. The kids enjoy it as well (very kid friendly).

Food is too over priced. Also ordered burritos to go, got home and realized they were completely wrong. I rather go to a tiny taqueria.

We love eating here. Our regular dinner item is usually the crab chimichanga, chile relleno and enchiladas. Yum! We are never disappointed and always leave completely stuffed. We had lunch here for the first time today; I got the fajita quesadilla and the husband got the tamale and beef burrito combo. We both are totally stuffed and satisfied. Portions, plenty. Flavor, strong. Authentic eh who cares it’s GOOD! We plan to take some friends and family here next time they visit.

I am not sure why this place is popular. To call the food «mediocre» would be giving it praise well in excess of what it deserves. It is very bland, even the salsa lacks both flavor and heat. I tried the lunch buffet ($ 8.99) but was surprised to find that tortillas were virtually absent! There were literally two tortillas available on the entire buffet. I went back about 30 minutes later for more food and there were four tortillas then– and by the way all four were were flour. No corn tortillas available… unless you count the hard-​shell tacos which are even too Americanized for me, and I am a 100% white American. The rest of the buffet was wholly unremarkable. No guacamole or anything that memorable.
Service was friendly, but it took a laughably long time for the food to be delivered to those at my table who ordered from the kitchen. The place was not crowded. It was a weekday lunch. Most Mexican restaurants turn out plates of food in 5 – 10 minutes at lunch. Not here. I could have eaten two full meals before my companions were even served.
The décor is not bad in the small part of the restaurant near the entrance. But once you walk through to the main part, it becomes quite dingy. Dirty carpets, and very dated and worn furniture. Unused and possibly non-​functional restaurant equipment piled up near the buffet. Ugh. All of this atmosphere would be forgivable if the food were outstanding. But that will never happen.
I don’t care how good it used to be in the 1990s. It’s not the 1990s anymore. You may have a loyalty that keeps bringing you back here, but I don’t.

Been here a couple times in the past but it’s been awhile and it’s seems to hold the same as I remember.
Nothing outstanding but good enough to visit again and since my bestie is now living in the area I’m sure we will visit more, especially if we get the type of entertainment we got in the bar waiting for our to-​go order! Probably a rare occasion but we had quite a show from a Father and Son «talking» about life over drinks and I think they had thrown a few back, lol! The bartender was quite entertaining as well, stirring the pot when needed.
Our mondo margaritas were delicious and well priced, the food was good as well when we arrived home. Only irk I would say is that they charge for to-​go items. Yeah, it was only a quarter but for each item and it just looked a little much on the receipt.

Should have known from the empty lot and restaurant that this place had lost its luster. I used to each here as a kid and the enchiladas were so amazing. Now, I would have to say any other restaurant including fast food would have outdone this place. No one was rude and the service was quick, but the product was a complete fail, and I’d never return because of that.
Frozen meals have way more flavor.

I admit it. I’m a Mexican food snob. But hey, I’ve got an excuse; I lived 60 miles from the Mexican border for 30 years. I’ve had some of the best Sonoran Mexican food out there, from roadside taco stands to fancy places with real napkins and mariachi bands. That being said, I will Never. Ever. Eat at El Toro again.
First off, the margaritas tasted like they came from a mix — not freshly made. Second, the ambiance is dark and depressing, with yellowing light bulbs and dark corners. We lit our tabletop candle, which instantly gave off more light than the surrounding lanterns. I have no idea how clean the place is; it’s too dark to tell.
I had combo #23 (pork), which was an enchilada, a chile relleno, and a tamale, served with rice and beans. My partner had a different combo — 2 tacos (ground beef) and a relleno.
The pork in my combo was cubed (not shredded) and dry and tasteless. My entire plate was swimming in melted (cheddar?) cheese, so that the actual items were identical under their greasy blankets. The enchilada lacked enough sauce, and the sauce that did exist was bland. The relleno was barely recognizable as such; I’d like to see a firm, plump chile-​shaped object with light breading. This was a sad little flat lump on a plate. It could have been road-​killed for all I knew. It almost certainly was pre-​frozen and sat in a steam-​table for hours before ending up on my plate, hoping to go to relleno heaven. The tamale disappointed as well. So much cornmeal and so little filling (where are the raisins, the olives, the lovingly seasoned and shredded meat?) had me picking it apart just searching for the filling at all.
Both my partner and I left half the food on our plates and didn’t bother with take-​home boxes.
The staff was friendly enough but since it was so dark I could barely recognize their faces.
The only reason that I gave this place 2 stars instead of 1 is that I didn’t see any cockroaches.

This is a decent Mexican restaurant. I had the carne asada quesadilla, which was delicious. The other one had the chicken enchilada and taco. We both scarfed our food and was out the door in 20 minutes. This place was very speedy in getting our meals out and a constant refills of our drinks.
I will come back time and time again for their lunch specials.