El Vaquero

Called and ordered take-​out and was told 15 – 20 minutes. It was 45 minutes before I got the order. Was given a ‘sorry’. Order was not correct when I got home (wife ordered and I picked up)
If it’s going to take 45 minutes, that is fine, just tell me that. I could have continued sitting out on the back patio spending time with my family.

We walked in at 6pm and were seated immediately. We had a quick server take our drink order and bring chips and salsa. We ordered queso dip and it was pretty good. They have a HUGE selection with lots of options. The dinner was good and served quickly. We were a bit surprised at the final bill. It was a bit more than we expected from a casual Mexican restaurant. We will be back to try more options but we will keep an eye on the prices.

I visit this location more than i’d like to admit. Their margaritas ‘hit the spot’ and their cheese dip is my favorite indulgence. They consistently meet my expectations.

Amazing! Best margaritas in town even over the other locations. Great service and food. I go once a week and would go more if it were socially acceptable.

Time to update my review and take my rating down. Tonight’s experience left much to be desired. I had not been here in awhile. Last time I tried to visit their parking lot was full. There is another parking lot across Dublin Road for overflow parking, but at that point decided to try somewhere else. Tonight, I was early enough before the dinner hour that there was plenty of parking. I had arrived at the same time as others had. So, there was a little bit of a queue. Patrons did not have to wait long to be seated.
Chips and salsa were delivered promptly. The menu has been reworked since my last visit. They have shortened the menu, but still many of the same entrees. Prices are competitive. I recommend using the menu item numbers when ordering to avoid confusion. I ordered my usual chimichanga supreme (#152) and my dining partner ordered the carnitas (#36). Meals were slower than normal coming out of the kitchen yet the restaurant was less than half full.
Our meals arrived. Portions are smaller than what they have been, but still quite filling. I ordered the chicken version for the chimichangas. After eating the first of two, I found that the second one was beef. Disappointing that it was not what I ordered. As for the carnitas, the pork was burnt and the flour tortilla’s were all soggy. They did promptly replace them after we called it to their attention. A side of chipotle sauce had been ordered with the meal, but was forgotten when the dinners arrived. We had to request the sauce again. And my water glass ran empty halfway through the meal. It was only after finishing up the meal that someone came up to the table and asked if I wanted more water.
Their wait staff are spread too thin. There were plenty of servers and runners about. All were running quite a bit, too. They must use some sequential order for assign servers, instead of rotating seating by stations. Our waiter was serving tables in the bar area, outside on the patio and along the back wall while we were seated upfront next to their kitchen. I noticed other servers were also waiting tables in different locations. The issue is the servers cannot keep an eye on all their tables because as they are spread so far apart. It took forever to get our bill!
There are a lot of different Mexican restaurants to choose from. El Vaquero has been around in Columbus area for some time, but with so many other options now available, I will likely choose a place that has better service and gets your meals right the next time.

Eat here 3 – 4 x a month. Great Mexican food, always quick to get in and out even if it’s crowed. Staff is great too.

Dine here at least twice a month. GREAT margaritas — frozen! Staff is mostly Spanish speaking which adds to the great atmosphere. Very authentic flavors and décor.

Great patio for three seasons! Food is always quick and consistent. Service is friendly and fast. The inside dining room can get pretty loud but fun atmosphere. Lunch menu offered

El Vaquero on Dublin Road is my favorite restaurant in the whole world. I go there probably two or three times a month, it is so good! The waiters are all very nice, and the service is fast. The chips and salsa could be a satisfying meal in itself! Order a side of queso dip for the chips… sooooo good. I have never ordered anything but the 170, though I have heard great things about the rest of the menu. The margaritas are quite strong, and though I’m not a huge fan of ANY margarita, El Vaq seems to be famous for theirs.

Worst customer experience ever. I ordered fajitas and the steak was over cooked to charred. The waitress was horrible and was unhelpful, not sure if he totally understood. I asked the mgr to just take off my bill but he said he wouldn’t because I had eaten a few bites! How can you mess up fajitas?!? They found a way. That is how I found out it was charred. The mgr was the biggest a hole I have ever experienced, I will never go back to any el vaquero. I wrote the corporate office and it was difficult to contact. They offered me a gift certificate but I refused it was that bad of an experience. Food and service were the worst I have ever experienced. Avoid this restaurant chain. There are many other great Mexican restaurants, and with poor customer service by the mgr, I have boycotted this chain.

Just had them «cater» a luncheon for our COO, CFO, CEO & global VP. Was 20 minutes late, I had to set the food up, gave me 1 container of guacamole and 3 of salsa, no utensils. I SUGGEST YOU NEVER have them cater or at least pick the food up yourselves. Driver didn’t even apologize.

Love this location. Years ago I ate at the one on polaris and was not impressed, but this location is great. The food is delicious and the workers are very friendly.

We LOVE El Vaquero on Dublin Rd! The food is consistantly good and the people are awesome!
This location is newly built and the nicest one in the Vaquero family.
I’m vegan and order #6 without the cheese or sour cream and load it up with salsa for a tasty meal.
The newly remodeled patio is fabulous! I can’t wait for summer when the doors are opened and the ducks waddle over to eat the chips tossed to hem!

Cool place. Nice décor inside and out. Very authentic all around. Food was good. Our server coulda been better. We will go back when we’re in the area.

This place has really good Texmex with the usual order by number menu. Our service was fantastic and some of the best I can remember from any place. The food for an order by number joint was exceptional and the final bill was relatively inexpensive. I have had better overall Texmex but not from very many places and few at this price. The chips were fresh, the salsa was tasty with a hint of cilantro, the cheese dip was sharp and the main entrees were all finished with delight.
We were only visiting the area but when we return, I will certainly add this place to my list of places to stop in.

This location is one of the nicer ones for this string of restaurants, with a patio and somewhat secluded view with trees. The food is the same as the other locations — standard Mexican fare but there are more veggie-​only options than at most other Mexican places. All of your standards — enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, chimi’s, etc. are all available as veggie.
If I was rating the food only, I’d add another star. The service was just not where it should have been. There were plenty of tables, yet we waited almost 10 min to be greeted by a host who would seat us… yet several servers were hanging around (?). We then waited another 10 minutes for a server to find us at our table. The side of guacamole arrived late and after 2 reminders. The staff is friendly, just maybe they are not all cross trained. I did not have any margaritas but maybe I should have… sometimes that helps enhance the experience and in this case, I think I needed it.
If I’m in this area again, I will eat here. I won’t go out of my way to come back here, though.

El Vaquero is one of those places that is like an old friend. You always know what you are going to get. The service is fast, the food is good, and the margaritas are why most people go there in the first place. The staff is friendly, attentive and will humor you when you say «Como estas?» as if you actually remember anything from high school Spanish. The menu has lots of selections to choose from, including pretty good vegetarian options. Although, after awhile, everything starts tasting the same. I wouldn’t say the food is the best in the world, it is your pretty standard americanized Mexican food. But the dishes are large, relatively inexpensive and there is something for everyone.
So back to the margaritas, you can have them on the rocks or frozen, with sizes from regular or jumbo to a small pitcher. They have several flavors of margaritas, but lime and mango are my favorite. They also have cold draft beer served in very large mugs, if that is the way you want to go.
The place is very kid-​friendly, at least the one in Shawnee Hills is, so if you come on a weekend be prepared to wait for a table if you arrive before 7:30. On Saturday’s there is the balloon man there who will make balloon animals, hats or other shapes for the kids.
Also, you can bring your significant other here on her/​his birthday and they will make her wear a large sombrero, sing a Mexican birthday song to her, and wipe a bit of the whipped cream from the free dessert on her nose.
Only complaint, the TV is always on ESPN, no matter what time of year. That’s OK usually, but in the summer, when ESPN is showing women’s college softball, and the Reds and Indians are on a different channel, please help me out.

Is new always better? It’s difficult to compare this relatively new El Vaquero restaurant to the one on Riverside Drive. «Down by the Scioto» the restaurant has what I would call ‘character’ from the standpoint of ambience. But don’t let the NEWBIE fool yah.
I’ve now been to «Shawnee Hills» El Vaquero for lunch 3X and each meal was wonderful. The taco salad was immense; shell crisp; ingredients both hot (meat) and cold (fixings). That’s always great. Two other meals not to be missed are veggie variety — in particular — the veggie burrito grande! The sauce on top was light but still queso-​good. The veggies went from yellow zucchini, to onions, to red tomatoes, to mushrooms, to peppers… crammed into a large soft tortilla… and hot from the grille. Oh yeah! This meal also included rice and good lettuce & sour cream to boot.
One thing I feel El Vaquero could do to upgrade would be to serve a higher quality pre-​meal chip with its salsa. I just am not a huge fan of the tortilla chip being served… but the salsa is very nice.
Service — quick and the servers are very nice. The place is very clean and airy. All good. Viva El Vaquero!

El Vaquero is decent. I’m still not sure what I really think about it because in my honest opinion it is comparable to dog food, but somehow there is an addictive quality to the food that keeps you coming back if only every once in awhile. If I ate here more than twice in a week I feel like it would probably make me sick. It is definitely something you have to be in the mood for.
The free nachos are good, warm and delicious like they just came out of the oven. The salsa is okay, good enough for an appetizer. However, when it comes to the main courses the beef tastes like it came out of a can. It’s probably not the worst Mexican restaurant, but not the best either.

If you’ve been to one El Vaquero, you’ve been to them all. Admit it, this thought has passed through your mind as you’ve entered your neighborhood El Vaquero, probably waited for 20 minutes or so in a cramped vestibule, ordered your «usual» number off of the massive menu (I go with the #37 almost every time), eaten the complimentary chips and salsa and sucked down your frozen strawberry margarita in two big gulps. The food is always consistent, if not stupendous, and you go home a little bit tipsy, with your stomach gurgling, and with a pocket full of candy from the front register.
Almost every experience at El Vaquero has followed this same script, regardless of location, and I always leave satisfied. That is until a couple of days ago, when I visited the Powell location and had probably one of the oddest experiences I’ve ever had at an El Vaquero. Mind you, this isn’t intended to be a negative review, as the food was the same as its always been, and the salsa was even better than usual. I guess two things stand out to me in an odd way and neither can probably be permanently rectified.
The first issue was that we had a gringo waiter. Has this ever happened to anyone else in the history of El Vaquero dining? You always, always have a live, authentic, slightly gruff Mexican server. It’s supposed to be how it works at this place. This immediately set the rest of the meal on a wayward tangent. It was as off-​putting as a turd in the punchbowl. Also, the guy had the personality of a plate of cold refried beans. I actually think he spoke poorer English than any Mexican server I’ve ever had at one of these establishments.
The second issue is that the place just doesn’t have the «feel» of an El Vaquero. It’s too shiny and too new. Too Dublin. Too «Ethnic Dining for Dummies (aka Whitebread Suburbanites).» It doesn’t have the crowded entryway that forces you to stand outside and wait for your name to be called. The place was also dead. When is El Vaquero ever not busy? I missed the smell of onions and peppers caked into every nook and crevice like at the Olentangy location. I missed the kitsch of the parachutist action figures hanging from the ceiling like at Riverside Drive. The décor seemed forced, too upscale, too… fake.
Unfortunately, since I’m now a Dublin resident, this is my closest El Vaquero, and if I’m sucking down multiple margaritas, as I’m known to do, it makes sense to stay close to home. I’ll probably be back here, but next time I’ll probably sit at the bar or on the patio. I can’t stomach another experience dining in the main room.
Stick to the Riverside, Olentangy, or Hilliard locations if proximity isn’t an issue.