El Molinito – 22nd Street

Service is good and the food is quite delicious! Always enjoy the atmosphere and the authenticity

I’m guessing they have too much business to make a meal for 21 people. I’ve left messages for this location and the other on the east side and not one person called me back to give me a price on catering for my class. Even when i talked to someone, she said to call back. That was my 5^th try! I said they obviously dont need my business and told everyone at work not to bother calling them for catering ever.

El Molinito looks tired and spent, used and abused even. The fact that it has a drive-​thru window obscuring the front entrance should have been enough to deter me but I was committed to giving a Tucson institution a fair chance.
The interior looks as dated and depressing as the exterior. Luckily the flat ware appeared to be clean. Chips (cold/​not fresh) and salsa (jarred) arrived and drink orders were taken. Draft beer arrived in an 8 oz. wine glass (weird/​rip off) but the margarita was stiff (slight redemption). The menu is full of stale «classics». For some reason they seem adverse to serving rice along with beans which I found strange. I had the cheese enchilada and chicken flautas plate. The cheese in the enchilada was unmelted with a sauce that was mildly flavorful at best. Flautas are normally flour tortillas. Molinito’s version seemed to be one corn tortilla stuffed with bland/​dry white meat chicken cut in half to create «2» pieces. They were covered with iceberg lettuce cheese and tomato. A small spoonful of flavorless guacamole was plopped on the plate as well. Sad. Just sad.
While the food was technically edible and the service was acceptable everything about the place was dull. The fire/​passion for the food is GONE. This place is a shell of what it may have been decades ago. I’m astounded it is still in business. One experience here is quite enough.

I ordered the steak ranchero burrito with red enchilada sauce and my wife had the #1 combination with a green corn tamale.
After every bite I took I really couldn’t taste the steak, instead every bite tasted as though I was only eating a green chili. I hadn’t been to this location in awhile but I remember it tasting much better. Very disappointed.
I ate a little off my wife’s plate and the beef taco was ok, I liked the cheese enchilada, and the tamale had a very weird after taste.
I may give this place another try but it won’t be any time soon. Instead I’ll be going to the El Molinito on Pantano and Wrightstown. I’m really hoping that they were just having an off day today.
The waitress was very nice and pleasant which is why I gave it an extra star!

LOVE IT! Great chimichangas of Carne Seca… For the price and the great food… it’s always worth it to me.

Yuck
Dirty, dirty, dirty. It took 4 place settings from 3 different servers to get 1 clean set. This should have been my 1^st clue that this lunch wasn’t going to go well.
The booths are falling apart. The table wasn’t very clean. I asked to have it wiped down. I am not a clean freak, but I don’t want to dine with the previous patrons.
I ordered a Topopo salad with chicken. I asked for Italian dressing (yea I know I’m in a Mexican restaurant). I was brought a tasteless salad with 4 packets of dressing. Ranch, blue cheese, thousand island and french… duh. i didn’t care for either of them, so I asked for more salsa. It didn’t help my salad at all. I reached for the salt shaker. It was encrusted with dried salsa. UCK…
I’m never going back. This used to be a decent place for mexican food. I believed the expansion to several other locations has played a role in the great decline of the 22^nd st location.

Not gourmet, but great standard fare. Very good salsa, chili rellenos were fantastic. Don’t know what the service complaints are about-​our easier was fantastic. Atmosphere could stand freshening up but still a solid place for Mexican food.

I’ve never had bad service until tonight! I no its a Friday night, but C’monnn!!! Its going to be awhile for me to come back to this place. Our waitress was slow and had an attitude. If u don’t like ur job leave it!!!

Really good mini chimis at an excellent price per dozen! There were a super hot with all that attended my house party!!! I’ll be sure to return again for more

Ugh! Why does my husband LOVE this place so much? I will never understand! This restaurant defines yickiness. Words that also define this El Molinto location are: filthy, food-​encrusted, fly-​infested, hectic, gross, yikes and poorly managed.
I have been here more times than I care to mention, because for whatever reason my husband like the chimichangas here. I don’t know why, but he does. To me, the filling is like cat food. That was my actual thought when I tried his a couple of days ago. The sauce is flavorless, watery and spiceless.
The thing I almost always get is the chicken fajitas, and quite honestly I don’t trust the food. It never seems like a good cut, there always a ton of gristle, it’s oddly dry and oily all at once. Don’t ask me how they manage this but they do. I end up taking it home for my husband to have later.
There has been nothing that has come out of this kitchen that I have looked at and thought «Yeah, this is probably safe.» Not one single thing. Except for the hard liquor, which I will get in a moment.
We ordered a cheese crisp this last time. It has been a damn saga with the cheese crisp here. Once we went, and apparently the chef was pissed off, because when we asked for green peppers on it, he PILED it on. I’m not talking a little extra. There was an actual little mountain on it, effectively soaking the cheese crisp, and keeping the cheese cold so it didn’t melt. We sent it back, and it happened a second time. Then a third. Then we just had them take it off of our tab. This last time, we got a plain one, and it came out with burnt cheese on the edges… not crispy and delicious, burnt and hard. The server didn’t ask us what size we wanted, and when he got to our table with the crisp in his hand, asked us if we wanted a large or small.
The poor waiters have to wear basically a tuxedo. All that’s missing is the jacket and the cumberbundt. 1) I feel bad for them since it’s a million degrees outside and 2) it’s super awkward. This isn’t a fancy place. This is a place to which people wear shorts and flip flops.
The backs of the booths all have old food crusted onto them, the plants are SUPER dusty. Dust hanging off, building their own little colonies to take over the world by raining down on patrons. Look up next time you go in here. The plants, the lights, the walls, everything is COVERED in dust. The walls have food crusted on them, the floors look like they have seen better days… this is one of the most revolting restaurants I have ever eaten at.
The ONLY, and I do mean only, saving grace is the fact that their margaritas are strong and will probably kill any virus you’ve just ingested.
Look, I have looked up their health evaluation, and they have gotten an «Excellent» on their most recent review, and all this does is make me nervous for the standards that the department of health has. Surely crusted food, dust mites, and general filth don’t constitute a rating of excellence?
Ugh. Here’s the thing. I know I will have to be back, for my husband. I will hate it and I will complain bitterly and I will make a PB&J when I get home and save my fajitas for him.

EL Molinito is one of my favorite Mexican restaurant to eat at. décor is lacking but the food is super good with out a lot of variety and service is good prices are pretty average

This is certainly not my favorite El Molinito. The service is a little less friendlier than the one on Pantano. Similarly, the food was slightly less appetizing. The bathroom was also dirty with graffiti. There is a drive-​thru at this location and is the only one in the El Molinito family that has one. It’s around a number of other Mexican restaurants if you continue heading east on 22^nd street. There’s two better one’s if you are in this area (Taco Giro and El Sur). I’ll be sticking to the other El Molinito when I want to dine with this Tucson chain.

Food Quality: ³⁄₅
Customer Service: ²⁄₅
Env Psy: ²⁄₅
What was Ordered:
–Cheese Crisp de Chili Verde
–Combination plate #3
Pros
–Beans: El Molinito is known, to all of my family at the least, for their beans.
–Nostalgic Value: I grew up eating here. My dad was a big fan.
Cons
–Staff Image: our server was wearing stained + wrinkled + oversized clothing.
–Disorganization: our server struggled to take our order & then when we did not recieve what we ordered (Chicken enchiladas, Chili Verde cheese crisp), there was a loud argument between our server & the kitchen staff.
–Unsupporting conduct: our server spoke negatively about the kitchen staff to us.
–Cheese Crisp: too much butter, overly greasy.
–Chicken Enchiladas: the chicken was dry & still had bones in it.
–Space: the restaurant needs an update as benches are falling apart & the space is filthy.
Business Suggestions
–Kitchen: don’t serve dishes that you are not proud of. Rekindle your passionate critique of each individual component of the dish. Back to basics.
–Staff: take pride in your appearance. Prepare both mentally & physically for work.
–Management/​ownership: upkeep your restaurant & set the group norms that align with your mission. Poorly cooked dishes, dirty clothing & stressed/​disorganized staff are unacceptable. You can’t ride your old fame forever, you must do better each day. Remember, customers employ you.
Recommend?
No. I only recommend taking out beans/​rice. The experience is sadly uninspiring. There is a clear lack of passion & social loafing occurring here. We only support restaurants that are interested in self improvement. Those who are relying on what they did last year (or the years prior), all you are is a memory, for now.

Nothing amazing, though nothing horrible either.
I got the pollo en chile colorado. It came out on a sizzling cast iron plate with a side of rice and beans. The plate the rice and beans came out on was bigger than the cast iron plate. The chicken pieces were a bit small, but least there were 2. The chile colorado was decent tho not super impressive. I think I would have preferred more chicken & grilled veggies and less rice & beans. And it came with only one large tortilla that I had to judiciously tear up as I ate.
My friend got the bistec ranchera special, which came with a good size portion of meat. I should have gotten that. But both meals came with a generous portion of avocado, something that’s usually extra in California!
The table salsa was good, I’ll give them that.

I arrived at this restaurant with my fellow coworkers expecting to have a basic Mexican lunch with a nice aquas fresca to wash it down, sadly I received neither. I ordered a combination special that included two chicken flautas and a cheese enchilada. I had to suffice with a fountain drink lemonade as my beverage.
The wait for food was not very long, and when it arrived the presentation looked alright. Sadly the flautas were over fried and the chicken was long over cooked and almost inedible, the enchilada was basically a soggy tortilla filled with goopy cheddar cheese with a flavorless enchilada sauce drizzled on top. Luckily the salsa given to us was laced with some heat, so I could drown everything in that and at least feel full.
Beyond the mediocre cuisine, the service dropped the ball at the end of our service and could not remember to bring a box for my coworker who was in a rush to get back to her office. Honestly for the price I’d much rather visit a taqueria and save some money.

I don’t like this restaurant. I don’t like the yellow cheese on everything. I’m not sure what kind of cheese it really is.
Now, Mom loves it here. But after this last visit, she’ll have to dine here with someone else. Not only due to the food, but due to the horrible parking lot and to the waitstaff. The waitstaff were just rude on this visit.
I hate the parking lot. There’s not a lot of good parking spaces, but there are a lot of bad spaces. It’s a small lot. There’s a drive-​thru pick-​up window right by the front door and it’s along a row of spaces. You have to watch out if there’s someone parked there to pick up something. Never mind trying to get to the disabled parking spaces.
I won’t be back. Mom and Hubby might be, but not me.

My new favorite Mexican place. Crossroads used to be. It’s very casual but cozy. The service is somewhat good, though sometimes there are language barriers.
Favorites include Chile Rellenos, Tamales, and Carne Seca. Portions are large and prices are low.
Happy hour beer is under $ 5 for a large pitcher of Bud.
I try to keep my favorite places a secret, but this place well-​deserves more business.
You’ll find me there at Happy Hour.

If I had seen the Unilocal reviews before going here I probably would’ve picked another place.
For Mexican food it is just «ok.» The service was just «ok», too. At first I was a little surprised it wasn’t busier for a Friday night but now I think I understand why.
I had the shredded beef combination platter. It was well seasoned and the food was well-​prepared and tasty. The atmosphere was open, bright and what you might expect from a more traditional Mexican restaurant. Our kind waiter brought our food and then kind of disappeared.
All in all I just feel underwhelmed by this particular dining experience.

I have to have this Mexican food every time when I am in Tucson. Great margaritas! Make sure you get a side of refried beans, they are the best I have ever had.

No joke — I just signed up to Unilocal specifically to review this restaurant. If the health department doesn’t shut this place down, hopefully a lack of business will. It’s truly horrible.
I stopped in for a quick, simple bite to eat thinking that no self-​respecting Mexican restaurant in Tucson, Arizona could totally screw up Mexican food. You’d think that… at least… the Mexican food at this Tucson institution would be fit for human consumption. It’s not! The food here is truly dreadful. Go elsewhere.
Chips: stale and served in dirty red plastic baskets
Salsa: spiceless/​seasonless/​flavorless (not even close to being fresh!); perhaps served out of a can
Hot sauce: none available!
Beer: luke warm with juiceless/​dry limes
Service: uninformed and ambivalent
Ambiance: outdated
Hygiene: just totally filthy
Rice: flavorless and clumped into mounds
Guacamole: not particularly green (probably a result of sitting out for a while) and totally bland
Fish (for fish tacos): absolutely zero seasoning — just a pathetic pile of brown fish on the plate — couldn’t even get an answer as to what kind of fish it was
Corn Tortillas (for fish tacos): totally saturated with grease
Garnish: one flimsy green onion, browned-​out & shredded iceberg lettuce and a dried out & useless lime
If you are thinking of going here… and please listen to this carefully… DON’T. Go elsewhere. For gentrified Mexican food… go to Guadalajara Grill. For real deal Mexican food in town… go to El Mezon Del Cobre. For great Mexican food in South Tucson… go to El Merendero.
If anyone reading this has connections at the health department… please make the call.