El Torito

Ate here a couple months ago and I was pleasantly surprised with the food. The carne asada burrito I ordered at that time was flavorful and full of steak.
Tonight I ordered the same thing and was highly disappointed. There were only about 5 chunks of meat in the half of the burrito I ate, and it was packed with cold guacamole and even a giant piece of bay leaf. Gross.
Crossing El Torito off my list again, this time permanently.

The food in here it’s always a great we had the seafood platter the mahi with the shrimp this location in foothill and Day Creek it’s one of my favorite spot our waiter his name is ****Chris J *****they need to hire more like him he is the best service for our table

We celebrated my father in laws 80^th birthday with a group of 14. Our waitress was amazing. She stayed on top of our needs and most impressively made separate checks for us at the end. She was the perfect waitress. And my chicken avocado salad was one of the best salads I’ve had. Great job!!!

Wow, thought it couldn’t get worse. Came in on a Saturday night for dinner. Put our names in and were quoted 20 minutes, grabbed a seat at the bar. Got a few drinks, were called to our table after 40 minutes. Strike 1.
Sat and had a nice guy run up and take our drink order. 2 minutes pass and a lady comes over to take our drink order. We explained we already placed it. Ordered ignited fajitas and tortilla soup. Server returned after 10 minutes and said tortilla soup would be 15 more minutes. We said pass because we figured the fajitas would be out shortly. Strike 2.
35 more minutes pass. No food. Tables all around are looking impatient. Server has just dissapeared. Food hits the table, dismal at best. Server tries to light the fajita dish on fire (supposed to do that), the flame doesnt light. Steak was obviously old, several hours old. Chicken was fresh, shrimp was good. Onions were not cooked at all, super raw. Peppers were Ok. Sweet corn dish was cold. Rice was super cold. Beans were lukewarm. Wow, $ 19 down the drain. Strike 3.
Waited 15 minutes after finishing with no sign of the server. She finally comes over to the table, acknowledges that we have waited a long time for everything (without us saying anything) and mumbles something to the extent of … «I will take care of everything»
Ok. Fine by us. We left some money on the table for her troubles and took off. The food was TERRIBLE. Where was our server? She never asked how the food was, I would have surely told her but I dont typically bring things up. Why didn’t a manager stop by to explain the comp? Not questioning free stuff, but it was odd.
We have decided that we will never, ever return here. The experiences just keep getting worse. The food is never really good and we ALWAYS wait a long time. The table behind us said they had been there 2.5 hours. Wow. Head to Luna Modern Mexican at Victoria Gardens, its worth the wait.

Service was awful took along time to even get our drinks and napkins. Food portions for the price was awful. Don’t get Fajitas unless you only want 5 onions and four pieces of chicken. Will not return to this location.

I love this place. The food is always fresh and tasty. The service is good. I the place is clean. I never have any problems at this location.

Wow I wonder how this location stays open a complete disaster I believe the manager of this location needs to be deported to the dark side of the moon or Mars. We have been dinning at the Ontario location for years the service and quality of food is top we decided to go to this location because their was a 45 min Waite I thought al the locations are similar not really it started when I called the Rancho location to ask if their is a Waite it took them 5 min to give me an answer the we showed up to be greeted by no one for five min the manager never acknowledged us.
1– Forks and plates were dirty
2– not once we got a refill on our drinks and water
3– wrong food was delivered and when I complained the offered a new plate so I ask for it in a take away they simply put my wrong order and handed it to my they did not expect me to open it
I have never in my life dinned in a place without leaving a tip but that time I had to make sure to tell the waiter how unhappy I was and explain to him we are people not animals
4– my sister threw up and decided to Waite outside
5– my doge had a 50 $ plate for first time he loved their food .
CLOSE THIS LOCATION it’s disgusting

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME HERE! There are so many other choices in the area that actually WANT your business. I understand that this is a chain restaurant and that there is probably a quick employee turn around so the staff are a bunch of strangers who are just there for a paycheck. The food is as good as all El Toritos, nothing to do with staff. They have no Management, I have tried to dine here several times and the service is consistently AWFUL, very slow waiters and waitresses that don’t know the menu. Dirty tables, dirty flatware, dirty glasses. Overloaded wait staff that is impossible to get a hold of if you need napkins, a drink refill, salsa, forget it. And if you make the mistake of ordering from the all-​you-​can-​eat menu, forget about it. They will make you wait 20 – 30 minutes before they refill. I guess it saves money. Disappointing experience every time. Go somewhere, anywhere else.
*Zendejas
*Luna
*Fonda Don Chon
*Chipotle
*Del Taco

The service was the absolute worst we have ever had.
Then the waitress tried blaming another employee for not bringing the soup after waiting 15 minutes.
Be sure you have ALL DAY if you order the ALL YOU CAN EAT soup and salad .
And the music is way too loud!!!
I wouldn’t even rate one star, they should give a star for staying so long.

Every El Torito I have been to has a variety of great Mexican dishes to choose from, daily specials and buffets, great services and a full service bar. My favorite is the pollo enchiladas rancheros. The appetizer menu excellent, it includes freshly made guacamole and tasty Mexican flautas.
My point, you can pretty much hit any El Torito location and count on a quality meal, quality margarita, and quality service.
I cannot speak to the other reviews giving the Victoria Gardens location only 2 ½ stars. It kicks butt on the other Mexican food in the area and deserves a higher rating

Came in to check out the Thanksgiving Buffet for $ 20.99 and all of the food was delicious, we are stuffed and the service was great! The servers were friendly and even got to watch some football. Happy Thanksgiving!

Horrible!!! I have years of memories coming to this particular location. I had been coming here since it first opened. Due to the poor service and really poor food quality I stopped coming 3 years ago.
I came into today for taco Tuesday. The service was great but the tacos were super bland and looked like dog food. It was so bad I literally took one bite of my three tacos and was completely done. The tortilla wasn’t good and the meat was soggy. Overall, I think it’s the chefs or lack there of which has resulted in the decline of this place. It basically taste like school cafeteria food. Two thumbs down. I hope it improves before it gets shut down. So sad

I have no idea how this restaurant deserves 2.5 atars?!? I lived in this area for over 15 years and used to have to drive to Haven for my mex-​fix. I was so happy to see a new ET 5-​mins away from home. Although this site has had its ups and downs, overall, the food and service have been above par. I agree that the front desk can be rude generally by the newer, younger help, but, speak with the manager and be prepared to be over compensated for any minor hassles. My family has eaten here for years and have never had any of the complaints I’ve read in the reviews.
My favorite is the spinach cheese enchiladas. Had these today… so delicious. My wife and boy had the grilled chicken Caesar salad. Always cooked to perfection and always served hot.

Save yourself the trip and go elsewhere. Got all you can eat fajitas and these so called fajitas were slivers of nuggets put on a bed of onions and green peppers with some potatoes. As soon as the waitress put down my first plate i asked for another order to be placed. 12 min later, I got my next round of Nuggets. Well this time the bed of onions and green peppers was now just 4 pieces of onion, 1 piece of green pepper and a runt of a potato wedge. What the hell happened to all you can eat. I think I forgot to look at the small print. It must have said all you can eat for a mouse. For an adult, its more like snack size nuggets. The only reason I got full was because of the chips and salsa. Waiting 10 – 12 min intervals, I was filling up on chips and salsa which she was more than happy to refill.
We came on a Monday after 5:30 and sat in the bar area. Out of 20 open booths, 4 were filled with customers and there were 2 waitresses to cover the bar area. I asked for extra tortillas (which by the way, if you don’t ask, is not offered freely as part of the all you can eat) and when my 3^rd plate of nuggets were brought out she totally forgot about my tortillas. I asked the other waitress who brought them to me. Our waitress, came to tell us «sorry, I forgot» REALLY? WITH ONE OTHER BOOTH YOU WERE TAKING CARE OF, YOU FORGOT?
Even my kids asked me «Dad, why do you keep ordering a kids meal? You’re not a kid.» Well the only reason I gave it 2 stars was because the other waitress was helpful and because as small as my steak nuggets were they were moist and cooked well.
SKIP THE ALL YOU CAN EAT FAJITAS FOR 16.99 AND JUST GO FOR THE ½ PRICE APPETIZERS or just skip the place entirely.
the second round they

Skip the «All you can eat «specials. Its Ridiculous how loooonng you have to wait to get your order and then when you finally get your order its a super tiny portion. Im certain this is a scam. Thinking your really going to get your grub on but with the insane wait you get frustrated and said F*!# this…
services Blah… waitress Adela L… when you order fajitas generally people want the tortillas when the meat is served. liked we asked. Out of 20 tables in the bar there were only four occupied including ours and you said You said you were overwhelmed… What??? –Manager let this be a clue for a training opportunity.
Food blah… nothing special.
With such a bad experience we will take our happy hour nights elsewhere.

This review is only for the brunch! I have eaten here before and their food is not that great… The Cadillac margaritas would be the only reason to come any other time than brunch. Ok so now on to the brunch, for 18 bucks you get all you can drink mimosas and a pretty good layout of food! The ceviche was good and beans rice and enchiladas were pretty good. They have an omelet bar and a taco bar. I think it’s a really good deal for the price and everyone can find something that they like. The waitresses were all very friendly and they kept the champagne flowing! I would go back here for the brunch for sure!

Very friendly, great food the corn cake was my absolute favorite.
Not sure why the rating is so low, I would personally recommend for Mexican Food. Tastes pretty authentic.

Wow the employees are so rude here. Not just to customers, but to other employees as well. I just watched the hostess be so rude to another employee. Not a great vibe going on in here
ETA
Here’s the kicker… got home to find out I paid $ 12 for a chicken salad with no chicken. Ugh

I think I have been at this place maybe twice in the last few years. The food was not the greatest. I had the taco Tuesday special, which was no taste to it, and cold. I ordered a beer which came in a warm glass not a good start. The only good thing about this visit was the server was on her game even when the restaurant was busy she still
Managed to get to our table for service, the only reason I gave this a two star rating. Sorry not coming back to this restaurant when there better Mexican restaurants in the area.

I came here against my own will. My fiancé loves their over priced tacos ($ 1.75 I believe). I begged and begged not to come, but to no avail.
The way the taco process works is, you get seated by a waiter, he asks you how many tacos your going to stuff, oops I mean eat, then gives you a receipt with the amount written on it. You walk up to the taco line, hand your receipt, request chicken or meat, and the taco lady hands you your tacos made with home made tortillas. You then dress them up to your liking with the different toppings they provide for you. I personally love the Mexican cheese they have. It’s crumbled so you just sprinkle it on. They also have cilantro, onions and a couple salsa choices (they’re not very spicy).
We ordered a combination of chicken and meat tacos. The chicken tacos are pretty good. It has a good flavor and is not dry at all. The meat was also good, but if it’s one thing I despise, is big chunks of meat. You take one bite and the whole taco comes with it. They did a poor job of chopping it.
The overall service wasn’t too bad, but the bar seemed to be pretty busy as my beer took a while to come out. The server was very polite and constantly checking on us so I realize it wasn’t his fault that I was thirsty!
The meal did have a very happy ending as we proceeded to order a fried ice cream for dessert. It was delicious! It comes with strips of crunchy tortilla chips flavored with cinnamon powder. Reminded me of that Mexican snack ‘Binuelos’. We devoured it!
If you ever have the opportunity I would recommend eating at the «El Torito Grill.» The regular El Torito restaurant chain doesn’t do the food any justice. It tastes like any other Mexican restaurant. At the «grill» it’s much better!