El Vaquero

I love mexican food and this is one of my favorites in mattoon. The waitstaff are very accommodating and kind. The food is always delicious and piping hot. My boyfriend and I usually share the molcajete and order extra shells. 14.98 total for both meals and there’s always leftovers. Saturdays they have 3.50 regular margaritas and they’re perfect! Kids meals are also reasonably priced and their tacos are always full. I only have one complaint and it’s the salsa, very bland. no spice and not enough cilantro for my taste. Other than that, this restaurant is remarkable. My go to place to eat and I highly recommend it to everyone before kindly asking to join them for dinner lol.

I was visiting town for the weekend and met with local friends for Mexican here, they raved about it. We ordered the Molcajete stew (Shrimp, Chicken and beef), it was delicious. The chips and salsa were great and the service was top notch. I ended up eating here 3 times throughout the weekend and every time, everything was excellent. I will definitely be back!!!

Food was flavorful, the tacos if you ask for hard give you Taco Bell style taco so for me next time I’ll stick to soft. I was assuming hard was fried. Nevertheless food was awesome and prices were definitely fair. I don’t live in the area, just passing by to go down south and Unilocal had great reviews for this place so figure it was worth taking a detour to avoid fast food chains and I’m extremely happy I did. Would visit again

You have to make an effort to screw up Mexican food; it’s not rocket science. Thankfully, El Vaquero gets this. However, don’t expect just the usual fare from this Midwestern Mexican joint. An inventive menu featuring staples alongside offerings like paella, molcajete and a boatload of seafood torments the indecisive soul. I don’t generally like to order ocean munchies too far from said ocean, but I was curious about the seemingly voluminous love for all things salt-​watery.
I ordered the El Vaquero Seafood plate — grilled fish filled with shrimp, served with rice and grilled vegetables. Cheap at $ 9.99 and quite good. The shrimp and tilapia were tasty; veggies included broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, lettuce and tomato and there were also mushrooms and onions. I almost didn’t want to put sauce on it. But sauce I must.
Place is small and was packed when I arrived; a good sign. Service was excellent and atmosphere was strip-​mall charming. Quite a nice stop in the heartland. You should make it too.

Great food, good service, cute patio for nice sunny days & beers. I usually go for the pollo mexicanos. Lots of cilantro and cheese with chicken, rice, and beans. Try it!

I love this place! Their salsa is to die for. The staff is always very nice and attentive and never let your drink go empty! Even when they are busy they are very courteous. I love their food and we are regulars.

I went in at 830pm and was greeted like I was the first customer of the day! Very open friendly staff. Eager to please. I had awesome chicken chilaquiles and 2 well made margaritas.

We were looking for a good place for lunch en route from Carbondale to the Chicago area. I pulled up my handy dandy Unilocal app and saw this was highly rated. So… we stopped in.
1.) The place was packed (we were lucky to get a table on a Sunday at lunch) yet we received top notch service, answering any questions, and quick to get food.
2.) We had a lot of it — we were hungry — yet left feeling full.
3.) The menu was very large — things for any taste — from authentic Mexican to gringo Mexican
4.) The price was excellent for what you get.
5.) The workers are genuinely spanish speaking and know their menu and how to explain to those of us who might be confused.
GIve it a try.

Ate here for the first time today. I had the tilapia lunch special. I was surprised how large the filet was and it was excellent! And served with lots of different vegetables. I asked for some guacamole with it and got a large portion. Chips and salsa were great, salsa was nice and fresh (bland but a little Yucatan Sauce fixed that). Service was excellent. My husband had a burrito, he thought it was ok, he was less impressed than I was.

I think this place has been in business 5 years, but this was our first visit.
Very attentive and courteous staff. Excellent food. We will for sure be back.

The service is outstanding and the food is delicious. Combine that with reasonable prices and you have an awesome place to eat! The chimichangas are delicious, I recommend the shredded chicken. My husband loves the playa plate that has steak, chicken and shrimp covered in their delicious cheese dip and served with tortillas. Haven’t had anything there that I didn’t like. Salsa and chips are delish as are their nachos and quesadillas. I also appreciate that any of the servers that are running around (and I do mean run, they are always hustling) will get you anything you need, not just the server that takes your order.

We stopped in to El Vaquero on a lovely Friday evening and were greeted with some excellent old school signage and some slightly older inside décor that both reminds you and declares that this place is gonna be good!
The beer selection is standard Mexican restaurant with all the normal must haves. The Margaritas come in large and kiddie pool size — we saw one walk by that small dogs could chillax in! Chips and salsa were excellent with some great flavor from the salsa.
The entrée’s were really solid — in fact some of the better standard Mexican we’ve had in a long time. The molcajete we enjoyed primarily by my better half, but we all had a little and wow was it good! The lava pit of cheese, chicken, veggies and shrimp was amazing — some of the best we’ve ever had. I enjoyed the carne asada tacos and los tacos son buenos!
The dudes helping us out were very nice, attentive, and provided an endless supply of chips = A+. If we lived in town, this would be our spot for standard Mexican food!

Good food. I think that there are some good dishes that we really enjoy. This is plan B if we do not go to Los Portillos in Charleston. We really enjoy this place though small, and the food is just the right serving size.
Salsa is very fresh and delicious.