El Bolillo Bakery

I HATE writing bad reviews, but some things are what they are. Easy access from my office, friendly staff, and the salsa was herbaceous and fresh. However, for over $ 7 a burrito and pubpar meat, I can’t show much love. Shit, I grill and make badassery all the time and I KNOW that the cook wouldn’t eat that gristle himself or service it tonhis family! Travel a minute south and order the same at La Rosita, much better quality and save $ 2.

Very good Mexican food at a very good price. Super casual atmosphere, with telenovelas playing at seeming all times. Always walk away full and content. We like the enchiladas in particular. I go with the verde sauce, which has plenty of kick. The red sauce is practically volcanic. Warning: no booze.

I was hoping for fresh tamales but I don’t think they make them in-​house. The tamales were pre-​made and packaged. I liked that I could create a mixed bag when I purchased a dozen. The tamales were good. Not great but not bad either.

Came in a few weeks ago for breakfast. After having a time figuring out what they had on offer based on the picture-​sign on the wall, a very pleasant woman asked us what we would like and I asked if they had a menu we could look at, She smiled and shook her head and said «we can make whatever you want, ham and eggs? On a tortilla? With beans sound good? OKAY :)»
This interaction was charming. Not what I’m used to when I walk into a restaurant, but that’s okay, it felt homey. We ordered a couple of pastries while we waited. When the food came out it was a generous portion, and eating eggs and ham and refried beans with feta cheese on hot corn tortillas was new to us, and we were pleasantry surprised at how much we enjoyed it.
When we left the lady said «next time you can try the chorizo breakfast». Ok!
Each breakfast was around 7 dollars I think, a fair price. Would have been nice to have the different breakfast options with prices displayed or printed somewhere. Also the water had a faint strawberry taste to it. Might have to order horchata next time!

Very tasty taco. They have a nice variety, and they follow the golden rule, KISS, keep it simple stupid! Seasoned wet chicken, cilantro, lime on the side, oaxaca cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion. Simple is perfect. The cookies are on the firm side, but they taste good (think «less sugar» «more orange extract» than yours).

What a surprise! Amazing affordable authentic Mexican food. It is also a bakery, perfect for lazy Sunday mornings, or breakfast and coffee on the go.

Stopped in for the first time this Saturday to give it a quick try. The bakery looked great and a wide selection of goodies, but I was interested in the Mexican cuisine. Generally when visiting a Mexican establishment for the first time, I order pastor tacos. If they can’t get that right, what’s the purpose of trying anything else? I was not disappointed.
I ordered 3 tacos ($ 2 each) to go and they arrived in an appropriate amount of time. The first thing I noticed was that they had corn tortillas — I hate corn tortillas, but shrugged it off and squeezed the fresh lime over the pastor tacos topped with fresh onions and cilantro and dived in. It was delicious.
I have come to the conclusion that its not that I don’t like corn tortillas, I just have hated the ones that I have had in the past. I associated corn tortillas with mealy and overpowering flavors, but that would not describe these tortillas. The portion was huge and my large appetite would have been more than satisfied with just two tacos. I can’t wait to give this place another try.
If I was a Monona Grove student, which has an open campus, I would be spending every lunch hour at this place.

For now, all I can speak for are the pastries. And they’re fantastic. We’re in town for a quick vacation and this place popped up as a nearby Unilocal recommendation. Once again, Unilocalers have come through with a good spot. The tres leches is excellent, as was the carrot cake and chocolate cake. We’re thinking of making another trip for lunch or dinner in the next few days. But for the time being, friendly service and delicious sweets earn 5 stars from me.

HoLy CoW!
$ 2.25 for a delicious chocolate cream puff and a fresh croissant. What a great deal for two delicious pastries.

This place is a great lunch buy – I had the cheese enchilada, my companion the steak tacos, both full of fresh ingredients, with good salsa.
Staff are friendly, it’s not a fancy place, but is comfortable. The pastries looked good too. Definitely worth a stop, we’ll be back for sure.

There’s a lot of hole in the wall places to get a taco in the Madison area. This place may be the best. $ 2.00 tacos, best horchata in town, and a clean atmosphere.
Pan & Pan is good too, but this place rocks!

I was waiting to review this place until I’d broken into the giant bag of tamales we brought home and put in our freezer, and I’m glad I did, because now I can tell you to run, don’t walk, to El Bolillo and get yourself some authentic and delicious mexican food.
We visited El Bolillo for a late lunch on a Sunday, and were the only people in the place when we got there. We gazed at the menu for a bit, but both ended up ordering chicken enchiladas, since my companion had had them before and raved about them.
Before the enchiladas came, the owner came out and asked us if we wanted to try a new sandwich he’s been working on. Well, we both love free food and experiments, so of course we said yes. What we got we a fresh sesame bun stuffed with carnitas, cilantro, and green salsa, and boy was it delicious. We sort of wanted to forgo our enchiladas and just eat another one of those! Anyway, we got to have a really nice conversation with the owner, who seems to be a super friendly and enterprising guy, since his goal is apparently to have everyone in Madison eating these new sandwiches. I’m with him, and will be rushing back for another.
The enchiladas were very tasty. It was a massive plate, piled high with enchiladas, lettuce, avocado, and queso fresco. I’d recommend them, but it’ll be hard for me to order anything but the carnitas sandwich when I go back.
We took home a dozen tamales for the freezer, since they’re pretty much the best possible quick lunch, and they were some insanely cheap price like $ 5 for a dozen. Tamales are not easy to make right. All too often the masa turns out tough and rubbery or too soft, or just not flavorful. El Bolillo’s masa was awesome. It was tender, but substantial and had a lot of good corny flavor. I thought the proportion of filling to masa was about right, but I wasn’t totally crazy about the flavor of the filling (we had the chile-​stuffed ones). I think next time I would choose a different flavor that was more to my taste.

We had memelas, tacos and a gigantic torta. All delicious and AUTHENTIC. Great place if you want real Mexican food (not Tex Mex).
We’ll be back.

Good peanut butter chocolate chip cookies– large chocolate cupcakes for just $ 2.00.

I stopped in around noon with my girlfriend to get a gift certificate for a close friend Birthday party later that evening. They were pretty busy and I got a croissant pastry while we were in line. When it was our turn we asked for a $ 25 gift certificate. The gentleman informed us that they were out and would have some available later that evening. He assured us at 6:30 they will have some. The party was at 7 so we stopped on the way at 6:30 and a young Lady says they don’t have any. She didn’t seem to care that we were promised this earlier in the day and was very rude in saying, Their is nothing I can do. We asked could they put in writing some sort of card that says we have a gift certificate. We informed her that we were on the way to a party and were promised a gift cert earlier. I just think in this day and age small businesses should not operate like this. People have many choices in Madison and I feel this was very very unprofessional and inconsiderate. My family and I will not recommend or do any business with this place again unless they make it right for what they did.

I dropped in quickly today to see what it’s all about.
I grabbed a horchata (all I could think about was the Vampire Weekend song) and some pastry with cheese in the middle. Both were okay.
They have food also — I want to try one of their Tortas, since they bake their own bread.