El Tapatio Mexican Grill & Bar

I love this place my family and I come here every time we want mexican. The portions are big, they stay on top of refills, the staff is very friendly and the food is great.

Ventured out to this place because it was close to the movie theater we were going to. I brought along four others with me and after leaving the restaurant, not one of us was pleased. Our server wasn’t very friendly at all. She brought out the non alcoholic drinks immediately and it took about 10 minutes for her to grab two drinks from the bar. After she brought those drinks, and the chips and salsa, we waited about a half hour for our food without being approached at all about refills or anything. Finally, our food came out and I didn’t get rice or beans which came with the meal in clear print on the menu. After our food came out, we had a different server, who seemed much nicer than the first, though I thought it was very weird we were dumped off to another server. I got two enchiladas with rice and beans. While the enchiladas were decently tasteful, the refried beans were tasteless and the rice had an almost dry, stale taste. The atmosphere of the restaurant was very boring and lifeless, the wait staff did not seem friendly at all or go out of their way for anything. As for the food, it was below average. Out of five stars, I would definitely give it one. Not happy with the choice or money spent here and definitely won’t venture out to this restaurant again when I’m in Newport News.

I have been to this restaurant 2 times now with a large group of co-​workers. Each time we called to reserve a large table. Both times the restaurant was not very busy but they had a hard time getting waters, drinks and menus out in a reasonable amount of time. It took on average about 10 – 15 to get anything from a fork to a beer. We had to go track down a waiter to order. The server forgot several people’s dinners. Once we were served the server vanished and did not come to check on anyone or bus the tables. As for the food it was just ok. I will not be coming back or recommending this restaurant based on service alone.

«Americans are the only people who celebrate cinco de Mayo, WE don’t even give a SH#%».wow.that is what one of the managers said as she was correcting our bill of all the mischarges. I guess that is what the server thought too the whole night since we never saw him except for when we got seated and that was only to apologize in advance for the wait on drink orders. Well to our dismay, that was the least of all he should have apologized for. He came back to our table of 7 people with 5 waters then went to a table on the other side of the room that just left and brought us two waters from there that appeared fresh and set them down at our table with a nervous smile. After he zoomed off, one of our guests noticed her straw had lipstick on it. I wanted to leave but one of the other guests, including, a very pregnant former server in the restaurant business, said to just give them a chance since we waited for over an hour just to get seated. That’s another thing, we left Plaza Azteca because it was an hour wait but when I called this place they said it was only 30 minutes. Well, unfortunately for us that was a lie. When the chip runner came out to our table with one small basket of chips and watered down dips (especially the white dip), he gave this mean mug look to another guest when they asked if we could have another basket. He ignored my guest and came out with another basket and still mean mugged the same guest. He never said one word so it was kind of scary. The server kept rolling his eyes whenever we asked a question on the rare chance we saw him and the whole reason for going there was for the margaritas that we had experienced in the past, but he came out with these medium plastic cups that had no salt on the rim, which we ordered, and said they were the same amount as a jumbo size glass but never explained why there was no glass or salt. So I went to the bar to get two empty cups with salt and past two tables with salted cups on the way to waiting for 20 mins just for the bar manager to hand me a cup of salt and say that the salt doesn’t stick to plastic cups. Well it was fun playing bartender as we proceeded to successfully salt these plastic cups ourselves at the table and try to make a bad experience a little better. It worked! Yay, just a few seconds and it worked quite well actually. Now mind you, when we were seated I noticed there were quite a few empty tables and even after waiting for an hour to get our food there were still a significant amount of empty tables. So when we got our food the 3 small tortillas that I got with my «fajitas for two» were stale. My friend, who is hardly is ever picky, didn’t even eat half of his taco shell bowl entre because it was gross and had a weird smell. Any way, long story long we get our bill and have to wait in line just to pay that also. Of course we had to go find the manager so she could correct the bill and this is when she revealed the whole theme of the night…“Americans are the only people who celebrate cinco de Mayo, WE don’t even give a SHI#!” .Wow, more power to ya as long as she fixed most of the charges but the horrible experience and time lost we will never get back. So do yourself a favor and never come here on cinco de Mayo or any night that might be «busy»…if your American anyway!

Horrible service, waited an hour and a half for a beer. Will never go back to this place

Well we just stopped here for lunch and after 25 minutes no food they lost our order. They wanted us to order again, we left no one even apologized. HORRIBLE SERVICE, shame on you. I had to check a star it would’t let me post without it.

I noticed my prior review had been removed. So I’m reposting it:
«It’s been years since I sent food back to the kitchen. It was that bad. Bad food. Bad service. Bad experience. And it wasn’t as though they were up to their eyeballs in customers. The place was empty. Now I know why. My polite advice is to just keep driving.»

This place is pretty underrated. People I know always go to plaza azteca and trust me I’ve been there to check out the place but wasn’t happy about it that much. First, you’re greeted by like 3 servers all looking nice and sporting a purple button up shirt :) (today) the server will seat you, another one would come up to bring the chips and that awesome white sauce and salsa. Then I guess our real server would ask for our order :) the wait isn’t long since we’re munching on chips while we wait. It came about 15 minutes after we ordered! I always get the cabo burrito because I love shrimp !!! Also we had four different serve us so we really don’t know who to tip! Lol I enjoyed it everytime we’re here we enjoy our time :)

We visited here this evening, after a long stint away. Back when we lived on the other side of town, we used to go here every other week or so. When I was pregnant we were there every other day. Lol.
In a fit of nostalgia tonight, I asked my partner if he would like to go back. He jumped at the chance. And wow. Did we remember what we’ve been missing!
The food here is legit amazing. The fresh guacamole is to die for. Tonight we tried the coconut shrimp appetizer — largely because I thought it was something my toddler might eat — Lucky for us, toddler didn’t want any of it. It was so delicious I can’t believe it was something that I got at a Mexican restaurant!
Then the entrees — HUGE portions. Every time we go here we plan for leftover lunches for at least two days. I had the seafood burrito which is served with this delicious cheese sauce. My partner had the fajitas as usual and apparently they were as good as ever. Little man even liked his choices — you know the food is good when a 20-​month-​old will destroy it rather than throwing it on the floor!
We didn’t have the service problems that everyone else has been commenting on. Maybe it’s because we went on a Monday and it really wasn’t crowded. Overall we had a fantastic experience, and I’m looking forward to when we get a chance to go back.

First off, I’m from San Diego, so I’m blessed with the best Mexican food.
This place was so-​so for me. The food wasn’t bad, but if you want authentic Mexican food, this isn’t the place for it. The salsa is sweet, they serve some white ranch flavored sauce with the chips (uhh that’s not Mexican, guys! Lol). I got chicken fajitas, only because its really hard to mess them up. They were good, but nothing special. I wouldn’t mind going here again, it’s not bad, but it’s veryyyy white washed Mexican food. Like upgraded Taco Bell lol.
Someone tell me where the REAL taco shops are at!

Service was terrible food was decent. And they stole my and my friends credit card numbers.

Like Salsa’s in City Center, this place is basically Plaza Azteca without as much seating and higher prices. However, the food is a lot better than both Salsa’s and Plaza, and they have some awesomely/​wildly inappropriate drink names, so bonus for making me laugh. Knocking off 1 star for having pork tamales when the menu specifically says chicken.

The food was amazing! It reminded me of this little place in Jacksonville, Fl my husband and I loved. however the service is less than amazing however.
Our waiter was very attentive until we ordered our drinks. He asked my husband if he wanted the «grande» size, but never asked me. And then we hardly saw him. We chief down on the chips and salsa (which was amazing! Especially the white sauce) while looking at the menu, but never had him come by ask to ask if we were ready. We had almost finished the chips by the time he can’t back and we ordered an appetizer of the fried jalapeños and our meals.
The appetizer was good, but it looked like the frozen jalapeño poppers you but at the store except served with queso and salsa to dip in. And then our meals came. they tasted amazing! My husband and I both got different types of enchiladas, he the can in enchiladas and me the enchiladas rancherias. It was probably one of the best enchiladas I’ve had in a very long time. I liked them better than plaza Azteca.
We were almost finished when our waiter came back to ask my husband if he wanted another margarita, my husband declined and he was on his way. However he came back much later and we were obliviously finished to ask me if I wanted another sangria, I declined. He walked away and never asked about dessert of if we wanted the check. Eventually he came back with the check and we finally made our way out a while after. I’m not sure if it’s just our waiter that wasn’t attentive, but the table behind us came in well after we did and got their check before we did.
This food was awesome, the service I hope will be better the next time. And the prices were very fair.

Not a fan of TexMex foods but hey every now and then some Americanized Fahitas sounds muy bueno! (That’s sarcasm, btw!) But in all seriousness if I go to any TexMex place in Newport News, I’ll go here.
Parking is simple no hassle, just like the outside décor… typical TexMex joint.
Interior is alright nothing fancy, think an interior of Plaza Azteca but less fancy… pft…if you can even call Plaza Azteca fancy by any means. Yea, I’m a hater.
Anyway, my two favorite aspects of this place is… you guess it! Alcohol and then the customer service. Being as I prefer more tradional Mexican dishesthe food is so so but what I do findy very tasty here is their cactus dish! Won’t find that at Plaza… or maybe I don’t know, I don’t go there.
If you order please order a monster margaritia, they are awesome! When I’m feeling froggy I’ll order it and they give me an extra shot hanging from the side. I prefer my Margaritas on the rocks and the mango flavor is divine! But regular ol’ lime is fine too. I’ve had an assortment of salads and burritos and it is your typical menu so no surprises here. The salsa and queso blanco is your run of the mill stuff too. I do like the fried ice cream too: o
Customer service has always been great but I feel like this can be biased. I’ve noticed that ethnic restuarants cater to their kind, and from my experience here I have not seen preferential treatment towards Hispanics but who knows. The waiters and bartenders are great and really try to make the experience a pleasant one.
So in conclusion if you want to get wasted and have some carby TexMex food to help hold your liquor down while being in good company… GO HERE!
Skip Plaza Azteca please!

Wonderful! The service is great. The food is plentiful and yummy. The white sauce with the chips is to die for! We will definitely come here again.

While the food was pretty good, the service is way slow. The interior of the place is small but nice. It is a 50% I would come here again.

Can’t believe I wasted my money here. Seriously seemed like they just grabbed the food out of the boxes/​cans and cooked it with a ton of salt and put in on our plate.
Also, is that steak in the burritos, or beef jerky? Pretty hard to tell, it was barely edible.
On top of the crappy food, they like to nickel and dime you for everything. A lot of Mexican restaurants serve a cheese dip (for free) with the chips as a sort of appetizer. We mentioned it while asking what the white sauce was and they brought it right out. Then we asked for another small bowl so we didn’t have to share over our large table. They brought it right out again.
Finally, our bill came, and they charged us $ 3.99 for each bowl. Are you kidding me? Not only did you fail to mention it was going to cost extra, but all we wanted was another bowl so we could share across the table.
There are plenty of Mexican places in the Hampton Roads area, do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

I’m not the biggest fan of Mexican food but I did stop in this joint for lunch the other day. Took a seat at the bar and decided to do something different. I usually get some sort of steak or fajitas meal and decided to order some chicken burrito. I’ve never been to a Mexican restaurant alone so it was weird having a full bowl of chips in front of me. Normally, I’m fighting whoever is with me to get a chip but not this time… I sat there and looked at my chips and slowly took my time as no other hand was to get in my way.
Within 10 minutes (as usual) my lunch arrived. I had two large chicken burritos in front of me along with rice and what I would consider is their salad. The red sauce with my burritos really didn’t have any taste. My chicken was tender and the cheese was nicely melted adding a nice coat to my burrito. It was a bit too much food for me but for under $ 5 I was mostly pleased. Nothing stuck out as oh so good but my meal wasn’t bad either.
For a cheap lunch this place does just fine and of course, the food comes out quickly. It will be a while figuring out what else Newport News and Oyster Point City Center has to offer but I’ll come back.
Great service. White sauce with the chips. Happy Hour specials every weekday. Works for me. (I think I’ll stick to my steak Aztecas and fajita meals though).

Órale Ese…
Yesterday was my first time in El Tapatio (obviously or I would have reviewed it already)
The ambiance was nice, it certainly fit the bill when it came to my unofficial checklist to determine whether the restaurant is ‘authentic’…
Mexican staff — check
The staff was pretty attentive contrary to the slight language barrier. It’s all good though, I’d rather deal with a slight language barrier than knowing there are anything other than Mexican cooks in the back preparing my food.
The white sauce was really good. I have to put it up there with some of the best white sauce I’ve tasted. The picante sauce was good too, it was spicier than any other place I’ve been.
Tapatio has lunch specials from 11−3pm. I decided to pick from that portion of the menu and had a beef chimichanga with rice and guac salad. I need to be careful though, because I’m not a huge fan of the cheese sauce. It’s always so salty to me. I’d rather have some cotija on the side and sprinkle it on to my liking.
That said, the chimichanga itself was on point. Lightly fried and filled with shredded beef. The rice was very good also. It didn’t look like or have the texture of instant rice or that it had been sitting there waiting for someone to order it for that matter. It was pretty fluffy and fresh.
All in all, not bad. I will certainly be checking them out again to try my staple carne asada. I might be ruined for carne asada in VA though after my trip home to San Diego later this week…

This location is a branch off of the «El Tapatio» in Virginia Beach area. I believe this would be the 3^rd El Tapatio in Hampton Roads and the 4^th in the same chain. I’ve only gone here a few times and they have yet to disappoint me. The place is newly renovated from the old «Cheers» restaurant. It was pretty empty when we came here during lunch time but I would imagine that their service would be the same. The wait staff here doesn’t speak very clear English, but they understand your requests. Just try not to make sarcastic jokes at them because they don’t quite understand them. They are always fast and attentive, with quick water refills.
The food is your typical food from an ordinary fast Mexican restaurant place but it’s just perfect to me. They have an extensive menu to pick from. Overall, this place is A-​Okay! Good fast Mexican food.