El Patio

Really good food! Huge portions, fresh and hot. Very busy but still are able to get people in and out. The staff works very hard. I highly recommend!

They have lunch specials on the weekends÷ we had drinks and chips with salsa within a minute of sitting, and our food came out within 5 minutes of ordering. The beef was absolutely delicious! A little salty but we like it that way. The taco salad was the best I’ve had in a LONG time. My kids loved that they made them chocolate milk with syrup and that it wasn’t premade haha. For 6 of us to eat it was under $ 60! Just be forewarned… when he says the plate is hot… he doesn’t mean like olive garden hot plate… he means burn off your fingerprints hot!

Great place for vegetarians! Had the mushroom appetizer and veggie fajitas that are actually big enough for two! We found our new favorite restaurant!!! Great food, FAST service and fun environment!

The food isn’t awful, but it’s certainly not worth the return. The chili relleno was cold and over priced — way over priced. The tamales were mushy and the enchilada sauce tasted like Chef Boyardee ravioli sauce. Ugh. The worst part, though, was the awful customer service. Whoever it was, (maybe the manager?) picked up the phone and was incredibly short with me and had absolutely no care when I arrived either. You do not just throw a bag on a counter and then walk off on the phone. I just can not understand the high rating of this place. Terrible service, cold mushy food, and high prices (for the quantity). I will never be back. Ever.

The perfect place to stop for lunch. Delicious food that comes out fast… very fast. Free chips and salsa that basically beat you to the table. Reasonably priced as well for the large portions you receive.

This is my first review ever given on Unilocal which should say something about ElPatio, and that is not a good thing! I could have gotten the same quality food at Taco Bell for half the price. I ordered dinner to go tonight which was frustrating to begin with. Not only was the person taking my order difficult to understand, they also refused to add chicken to a shrimp burrito because «the cooks don’t like doing that». I got there, they confirmed my order, I paid and got home and found my Fiancé’s Chicken Tacos were in fact Beef, which wouldn’t have been the worse thing in the world if the Tacos were any better than 1.00 tacos from Taco Bell. I ordered the Nachos Supreme which can only be described as Nachos Bell Grande with Browning lettuce and some sort of cheese paste that gathered at the bottom of the tin it was put in. Chips were good though.

As far as service goes, this place can’t be beat. You barely sit down, and they’re dropping off a plate of nachos and waters and asking for drink orders. They bring the drinks right away and they’re asking for your dinner order. If you’re not ready, they’ll attentively come back in an appropriate amount of time, and not disappear forever like some places that make you feel like you only have one shot at ordering, and if you missed it, you won’t get to order for another 20 minutes. The building is a definitely simple, but well maintained and painted in seemingly authentic colors.
The menu is extensive, but I find most of the items taste like each other. They may all look different on your plate, but I sometimes have a hard time distinguishing from a chimichunga or a burrito in my mouth. But it’s all delicious and inexpensive. And the nachos and salsa they bring when you sit down are free and bottomless.

Food is authentic and amazing! Staff was outstanding when they first opened. Now there is no customer service, no manners and no courtesy. Language barrier is understandable, but this is getting bad!

I about had a friggin’ aneurism when I called this place today! I get it that you had Mexican people there, it makes the experience and food more authentic but when the conversation goes like this, it’s a bit ridiculous and disheartening to even want to support such idiots. I’m not saying that Mexicans are idiots, just possibly this one particular individual that either had a serious issue or a language barrier so high that they need to ban him from any and all phones within reach of English speaking patrons.
So here was the conversation verbatim:
Me: «hi, do you have any lunch specials today?»
Guy: «no more lunch today, senior»
Me: «ok, no problem what kind of specials do you have after the lunch specials?»
Guy: «we have dinner»
Me: «that’s great, what kind of dinner specials do you have then?»
Guy: «we have dinner now»
Me: «ok, what dinner specials are there?»
Guy: «we don’t have lunch anymore now…»
Me: «ok I get that, do you have any dinner specials then?»
Guy: «no dinner specials»
I about blew my brains out trying to get any information from this lunatic…
My patience wears thin when you’re in America and don’t speak English… Sorry for being crude or whatever you want to call it but I’ll never go here just because of this encounter. I suggest we all support America and do the same!

Best Mexican in the area! Staff is hyper efficient and my 5 yr old will actually eat the tacos,!

I really don’t understand why this restaurant is rated so high. It’s rather dingy and the food barely passes for just Okay

Mmmmmmm! Muy delicioso! The chicken enchilada was excellent, as were the tacos. My sons like the steak tacos. The rice and beans are great. Good, fast service. Love this place.

El Patio is like taking the best parts of a 2am Mexican food run and giving it the American twist (sour cream, English menu,) and making it authentic with hard labor and zest that can be found in a true Mexican meal. Hot plates, sloppy refried beans, smoke oozing out of the service window, warm chips, and a remarkable refresh on service makes the lack of a mariachis band enjoyable when pitted against the «standard» the «other guys» seem to dance to. A bow to a really tasty yet mildly spicy salsa, is the final «dip on the chip» that makes El Patio the best authentic Mexican food in the Waterford area.
But don’t be fooled. No gourmet plates and fiercely decorated piñatas line this establishment. Almost a border dive, the lack of a verbal greeting hasn’t stopped a line out the door of customers every freaking time I have visited this place.
With food made from hands of the people who lived in Mexico, with adaptions to the American palate, the blood of hard work is in the servers and cooks, not the dingy peach colored walls, or the bull statues with a swinging ball sack by the register, or fierce echo that travels between the conversations of tables. This place is made to be walked in, sampled, indulged, and send a weary traveler right back out to the road. We eat here because of the food, not the view.
The service is a fast turning set of gears that does NOT effect the overall experience like some people have previously described. Other patrons just aren’t used to being a human with humanity at a restaurant, instead of a prince seated on vinyl throne. You will not be attended to with overly cheery greetings and smiles, just to enhance a tip. You will however be greeted with efficiency, and a silent but mutual agreement that whatever you will order will be crafted fresh. By the grace of God, I don’t think anyone in the history of El Patio has ever had their chip basket sit empty for 30 seconds, or sat with an empty coke for more than a blink of the eye. Plus, the food is out in a flash without the reek of foul play and the start button of a microwave.
El Patio is simple, delicious, filling, and like its tamales, warm and soft after you break through the husk. El Patio is true to its nature, that had more flavor per dollar than I have ever encountered in the area. It’s like a big food cart in Mexico, with a line around the block. El Patio is like unwrapping a big ol plate of fiesta that feels fought for and worth the occasion.
Im in. I’ve been caught with a Mexican flag in my hand. I’m proud to call El Patio my home for a taste of Mexico. Even if it was illegal to dine here, I would still sneak in for a bite.

How a place should run. First, let me help those who think the staff is rude. They are not rude, just efficient. You walk in and are instantly greeted, as soon as you sit down another associate comes over with chips and salsa, followed by your server who is there to get you drinks and your order if you know what you want. They don’t kiss your ass like most people have come to demand of servers when they go out to eat, so maybe that makes them «rude» in those peoples books, but not in mine. I have had several great conversations with the waitstaff and have laughed each time. The food tastes great, it is clean, and the staff all work together to ensure that your food comes out fast, hot, and fresh. Next time you go in, just watch them work, it is how it should run. Each one helps the others out and they rarely stop working! Keep up the great work!

Best Mexican Restaurant in the State. Service is a+++! Very quick! Food size and quality is awesome. I’m a big guy and can’t finish their fajitas! Also price is very cheap!

Didn’t even eat considering the waiter was a jerk right off the bat. He snapped at us right away from on simple question. No margaritas here! Honestly not even going to bother to ever go back considering there’s tons of other Mexican restaurants that I know and love without a jerk, rushy waiter.

The food is really good, however, the service is a different story. I’ve ate here several times, spaced out from each other and the service is always less than pleasant. The wait staff is rude and comes off as irritated about any questions or request. My friend was mocked, the waiter wasn’t aware she speaks Spanish fluently until after. If you eat here get take out and save yourself from the ridiculous customer service

A good lunch spot. The food was really fast and the salsa was really full of flavor. The chips were very bland and the chimichanga really didn’t have much flavor beyond the cheese sauce and the guacamole salad and rice
I don’t think this place is horrible, but I don’t think it deserves 4 or 5 stars. I have eaten at a lot of Mexican restaurants and this one is just average
The prices were really reasonable and they accept AMEX, which is a big deal for a business traveler.
Overall I would come back, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it

Great Mexican food. Authentic, quick and affordable. It’s our favorite dinner and movie stop.

I’ve been to the Waterford, Farmington Hills, and former Highland El Patio locations, and they’re all pretty consistent.
In saying that, though, they’re consistent in being the Bill Knapp’s of Mexican cuisine.
On my last visit in Waterford, I actually lucked out with the Fajita Quesadilla Texana. The quesadilla itself was great, and the grilled chicken, steak, and shrimp were excellent. That’s tempered, however, by El Patio being ridiculously stingy with guacamole, and overly generous with lettuce and their flavorless Mexican rice.
The overwhelming majority of their menu is heavy on cheese, and light on flavor. After trying my wife’s Pollo Fundido, the bland mushyness reinforced long-​repressed memories of Bill Knapp’s and reminded me that most of the other items are difficult to distinguish from one another.
The restaurant itself is clean enough, and the staff was pretty good. No problems there. But once you’ve been somewhere like Burrito King, El Patio is a sad, distant alternative.
Final note: if you don’t like cilantro, you’re pretty screwed. I don’t know why they insist on incorporating that godawful stuff in to everything, but they do.