El Pastor Grill

This establishment is not too far from where we live, so we’ve visited it on several occasions. This week, we went on the occasion of our daughter’s birthday. As long as one has a Spanish-​speaker in one’s party, it is a nice place to go. Nice feel to the place, and a quiet atmosphere as well. The waiter we had, when we ate their recently, was quite attentive. The tortillas and meats were great. The chips, black bean dip and salsas, quite tastey. Our family shared a botana, with short ribs, fajita and chicken. The chicken was a bit on the dry side, but the fajita and short ribs were very good. We will certainly be back again.

I’ve had breakfast and lunch here and have always enjoyed the food, but this was the first time for dinner. Our party of three had an excellent meal. Tacos Matamoros (street tacos), enchiladas suizas, and cabrito al pastor, all great. Wonderful homemade tortillas and very attentive service. Talavera plates, great ambiance, and a 8 piece mariachi band showed up at 8:30. If you want something other than Tex-​Mex, something much more like a restaurant in Mexico, this is a great place to go, any time of day. Experience plus great food!

Officially a landmark in the Valley. Delicious food and great service. Riñonada is my favorite. The Flan is amazing. Excellent place to take the family out to eat, very nice atmosphere. I highly recommend it.

Came to this place with high hopes of having an amazing meal with my family. My brother and I received our meals promptly. However, my sister in law’s meal came in 10 min after ours. Not only did it arrive late but her fried fish was completely raw. Sushi style raw. Fish was cooked again and now sister in law is eating by herself 20 minutes after we’re all done eating. Not a good experience at all.
Chef did come over while sister was enjoying her fish. He apologized and brought out a nice dessert for us to enjoy.

The only thing that is good is the prime rib and goat that’s it. Wife ordered stuffed potatoe it was cold I ordered fetuchini Alfredo the brought out spaghetti sauce. Waiters are nice limited selection at family prices they are kinda expensive.

I have been eating in the Martinez family restaurants in Reynosa since I was a kid. My favorite of them being El Jardin close to the Plaza Principal. I have great memories of eating there with my kids, my grandmother and other family members. I was a little hesitant to visit El Pastor here in McAllen, thinking that it just wouldn’t measure up to the older more established restaurants in Reynosa.
I am glad to say that I had a great time and the food was delicious. I went in on a weekday afternoon, before the dinner rush, and had great service. Our waiter was a young man, who knew his food and the menu, he gave good advice to give the folks in my party who didn’t want cabrito.
The cabrito was tender, smoky and delicious and was served with hot frijoles and home made corn tortillas. Folks in my party had a wide variety of dishes and no one had a complaint about the food. My tocayo, and business associate, has impeccable taste in food and he loved it.
They have a wide variety of wines and a great list of imported Mexican beer to compliment the meal. They also have a full bar for cocktails, for those inclined for stronger spirits. I had iced tea this time, but was glad to see my favorite beers, «Indio» and «Negra Modelo» in the drink menu.
The place was clean with a very nice décor and conveniently located off of Expressway 83 right next to COSTCO on Jackson and the new Krispy Kreme. It’s twice the price you’ll pay in Reynosa, but you don’t have to cross the border to get it.
Check it out, you’ll definitely enjoy the food!

Service was extremely poor. We had to ask for refills, napkins, silverware, and don’t forget my favorite, to bring my food back hot. The beans felt and tasted as if they just were dumped from a can. I had to send rice back, too. It was cold as well. After we paid, I approached the manager to let him know. I first started off by letting him know I had been watching him stand at the front, not doing much of anything. I had also watched him for 5 minutes as he was on his phone. While him and our waiter laughed and joked around, we waited for more refills. I also told him, that on fact, I could not blame the wait staff for the way they acted seeing how he was as a manager. I continued on letting him now our service was poor, and he gave me the «okay…» attitude. He went back to his ways and stood back up front. The food flavor was only decent. Beware: overpriced for food for only average taste.

Contrary to some other reviews, my husband and I really like El Pastor. We were served a default chips, black beans and salsa that had a spot-​on smokey flavor and just the right amount of spiciness. We also ordered a queso flameado and chorizo. The very nice waiter offered to mix it up for us, and the chorizo was not too greasy. For our meals, we ordered fajitas and beef ribs. The fajitas were nicely seasoned and VERY tender. The ribs were moist, tasty, and seasoned well. Tortillas were fresh and piping hot, just like my grandma’s! Both plates were hot and were accompanied by a prepared baked potato. Two managers came by to make sure we were being tended to. Overall a pleasant and tasty eating experience!

This place caters to Mexican Nationals and woe to the Gringo that comes through their doors. I am not the average Gringa, having traveled to most States in Mexico, I’ve eaten my share of delicious foods throughout. I have eaten Cabrito at El Rey del Cabrito in Monterrey where I enjoyed Cabecita (Cabrito Head) among other delicacies. Sadly, after six wonderful years, I am moving home to Houston and this was meant to be a last Celebration in the Valley, a treat from my Son and his Wife. I chose El Pastor because it had been recommended to me by a young Valley native and having driven past it dozens of time I was curious how a place that never seemed to have any cars in front of it could stay in business. It was a good experience only because it reminded me of what I won’t miss about The Valley, the dearth of decent places to eat here. No reason a group of three should spend $ 125. and leave a restaurant dissatisfied. Now that you have the backstory here is my review; Our waiter spoke NO English and I had a question about the menu. I had already studied the menu online, which made the place look promising, so I knew that I wanted Cabrito, There were two choices, Cabrito (tender char-​grilled baby goat) and Rinonada (tender char-​grilled baby goat, the kidney part) I was considering. Because our waiter spoke NO english he went to get someone who allegedly did. This young man translated for us and I specifically asked if the Rinonada included the kidney or was just the area of the goat where the kidney grew. His english was such that he started to tell me what a kidney was so I repeated my question. He assured me the Rinonada was the most popular tender cut and DID NOT INCLUDE THE KIDNEY so I chose that for my entrée. For starters we shared the Machito (tripe stuffed with heart, liver, sweetbreads). I am a lover of Offal, except kidneys, so I was excited about this appetizer. It came out on a fajita platter and it was tasty but overly GREASY. If I didn’t know better I would think it had been deep fried. As we were waiting for our entrees I noticed a squeeze bottle on the table. I decided to see what was in it so I squeezed a little on my plate and tasted it. It was salad dressing so I commented to my tablemates ‘I wonder what this is for’. The waiter brought us tasteless Charro Beans. Then our entrees were brought out and of course attached to my cut of Cabrito was what looked like a testicle, which turned out to of course be the KIDNEY. Note to translator; Speaking English doesn’t help if you don’t know what you are talking about. The small amount of meat on my cut was greasy and the rest of it was dry like jerky, clearly the centerpiece of the cut was the unwanted kidney. As we were leaving I noticed there was a salad bar with lettuce, marinated onions and cucumbers so the mystery of the salad dressing was solved. It would have been nice if the waiter had told us (with hand motions perhaps) that it was available to us. A salad would have gone a long way in salvaging the meat-​centric meal. The ample glass of House Wine I had was the best part of the meal.

So, El Pastor… Let me tell you, I wish I had walked past that door tonight.
Started off fine. We saw the cabrito split and showing it’s loins to the hot coals underneath. This was definitely a tourist type view of what’s being offered. Sat at the bar to have a couple bottled’s. Apparently the slim selection of draft beers they have is for decoration only because they were out of both Dos X’s and Bud light. Fine, I took a modelo in a bottle and the wife took a lemonade. Our 3^rd member arrived and we took to the back of the restaurant to enjoy a little quiet.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all that quiet. Table next to us was being loud as ish, but that’s fine. Eating out is a luxury and should be entertaining. When the experience started to go downhill was when the waiter walked up and asked if we speak spanish. That’s a negatory at this table. He proceeded to walk off cussing under his breath like we were going to be a problem. Hey! I understand enough spanish to know you are talking bad about us and excuse me, last I knew we were still in the US. Shouldn’t someone speak English? One person in our party had a menu question and the waiter had to grab someone from the kitchen to come translate. The guy didn’t seem to know anything about the menu but was just spouting off whatever the waiter told him. He turned out to be wrong. If the menu says «From Kidney area» wouldn’t you want to know if the kidney is included? Translator said no, we got a kidney.
I can get past not being able to communicate. The problem lies in the food. The Cabrito was too greasy in some parts and overly charred in others. Just dried out and would have been happier with a strip of pepper jerky from stripes. The plate of enchiladas suizas we got had some rolled with no filling. There was a nice looking salad bar, but we were not offered it even though it is included with the entrees. I guess if you speak spanish this is a great place to go. Judging off of the quality of the food and the lack of language control I can’t forgive the place.
Will not be going back.

Such a great meal our first night in McAllen :) We ordered a platter of cabrito, beef fajitas and other meats I can’t remember the name of… tortillas were handmade and fresh. Finished off our meal with some homemade flan… perfection!

The baby goat was fabulous. If you have not tried it, you should. Good beans, the fish tacos not so good. This is the sister restaurant to one in Reynosa.

I was quite dissappointed. Our waiter couldnt speak English, but i thought with my pidgen Spanish, we got the order straight. He asked me if i really wanted“goat” (duh) then failed to bring our soup orders. When we told the manager, i was brought cold soup & my husband never got his soup order. Probably won’t be back.

El Pastor Grill is a Mexican restaurant with their specialty being goat meat, they are by far the best. They also serve regular steaks, along with poultry and some seafood. Their customer service is amazing. The owner is always on top of things making sure you are feeling good and that your dish came out to perfection. I plan on going again next week. If you let the owner know that you are from out of town he will treat you to coffee and desert.