El Tipico Restaurant

My son and daughter in law came home from Washington state for a visit and the first place they wanted to stop and eat at was El Tipico. The food is delicious and the prices are great. It’s a bit of a drive for us, but it’s well with it :)

Terrible service! Took 15 minutes to be acknowledged and offered a beverage. They weren’t even busy! Maybe 6 tables. Insult to Tex Mex! Store bought stale tortillas. Refried beans from a can. Christmas decorations still up in March. Salsa was sweet… like sugar was added. Very little cheese in/​on the enchiladas. Beef puffy taco was 90% lettuce. Had to flag down a waiter and request more iced tea… which took 10 minutes. Never again! I told the manager and he gave an excuse… which makes it 10x worse! Just apologize, ask how to make it right and move on. Can I give negative stars?

We loved this place. The food was great and loved the service. The server was very respectful. Pleased with the food. I highly recommend this place…

Though I used to live not too far from here over a couple of decades ago I have not been here once. However I’ve always been curious about El Tipico. I’ve always wondered whether it was a Mexican restaurant or an expensive steak place. From the outside it looked too nice to be a Mexican restaurant. On the inside it looks kinda fancy schmancy when you see how the tables are set up and how well groomed the waitstaff are. You can tell that the owner goes above and beyond when it comes to running the restaurant. To my relief, the most expensive item they have on the menu is around $ 17. Seafood, steak and Mexican food, lots of good items from each and tough choices to make but I went with puffy tacos since it’s been a while since I’ve had them. The salsa has a good amount of heat when I got my chips. The puffy tacos though weren’t really the best I’ve had, they were just average and nothing to write home about. However I’d consider returning here but will try something else.

El Tipico? Oh, you mean Big Baby Head Restaurant. Go on Wednesday for the lunch special. It’s delicious! Cheese enchiladas with chile con carne. Around $ 5. Despite the interesting décor… very large photos (like 4’x8’) of someone’s cute child, including one especially funny one of just the baby’s face with a bit of drool shining at you. Mirrors everywhere, so the size of the photo could actually be an optical illusions. In all seriousness, the place is quite nice for the price. The waiters are very kind and helpful and the tables are set nicely. If you’re in that part of town and you aren’t hungry enough for the 5 burger deal at Floyd’s next door, Big Baby Head is the place to go!

Where it comes to Mexican food (or Tex-​Mex or Salvadoran or Brazilian) I must admit I’m quite jaded — I’ve been around this cuisine since being weaned. About 90% of the places I’ve tried have been average or so-​so in quality with only a handful of real standouts in the crowd.
With all that said, this place has good qualities. The service was pretty good and the food was pretty good. The décor was interesting, featuring huge photo enlargements of somebody’s (the owner’s, presumably) kids in cute poses. To be fair, I would have to make several repeat visits in order to fully evaluate the food, as there were quite a few selections on the menu. What I had was served hot and flavorful. There just wasn’t anything about it that in my opinion would make it truly exceptional.

Why can’t there be more then 5 stars???
For any one who has followed me or read my reviews knows I am not a huge fan of Mexican food. But this place has completely changed my mind!!! I would go here as often as I can!!!
I just don’t know where to begin. The décor is ok. I was so impressed by the food, that I don’t remember much of the décor. I do remember it was small, had a cramped feel from the amount of furniture in there.
Then there is the wait staff. we went just before christmas. Every staff member on the floor was dressed up in nice slacks, wonderful tasteful button down shirts, friendly, seemed very genuine and appreciative that we chose their place to visit instead of the taco roach shack down the road. Oh, and becuase it was the holidays, and I found this to be so charming, Our waiter had on a homemade top hat that he made out of a coke-​cola box and added some garland too. He reminded me of my better halfs Dad. Dad was known to do wonderful silly things like wear homemade hats just to give you a warm fuzzy in the heart and a smile on your face.
OH, now to the food. I have never been there, and don’t know spanish, so naturally alot of the food I have no idea what it is. Oh, wait, it is on the menu in english as well as spanish!!! Yeah!!. Maybe I can try something more then chips and salsa.
He tried the Chili Con Carne, very flavorful, not to spicy, not to dull, I tried to Monteray Jack Chicken, which I posted a picture of. OMG!!! My only complaint about the food was that there was a few roasted jalepino (sp?) hiding under all that lovely melted cheese.
My better half and I agree that if there is going to be jalepinos in a dish they should mention that on the menu so we can make a wiser choice about what we are ordering, but we are DEFINATELY going back to this place.