Typical Americanized Mexican food. Service was friendly & prompt. Food was what I expected. I & the other guests had various nacho platters. We were all pleased. They were all slathered in a jalapeño cheese sauce & tasty. There aren't exactly a whole lot if options around here, so it could've been worse.
Review Source:El Real has been open less than two months. Though I've been there three times, I have only eaten there twice.
The first visit was on their soft opening day. We walked in and it was packed. A family was leaving and told us to turn around and leave. The restaurant had run out of food and they had spent three hours just trying to get any meal from the restaurant. Trying to be a fair judge, we walked to the hostess. She confirmed that the restaurant did run out of some key meats and ingredients, but still had the ability to make some dishes. We asked what they were and how long the wait would be. She said there was one meat option left and it would take about 45 minutes to get our meal. I appreciated her honesty but we left immediately for another restaurant.
We returned a few days later (still during their soft opening) and had a 15 minute wait. I think because of the weather and our proximity to the patio door, we shared our indoor table with a lot of flies.
Per the recommendation of our waitress, I ordered the Molcajete with beef and my boyfriend got the fajitas. The Molcajete is a head-turner with its bubbling stone pot. The rice, beans and chorizo came in small cups on the same plate which was so small that the cups slid under the stone pot. I burned myself multiple times trying to pull the cups out. You eat the Molcajete like fajitas. The beef was cut into large strips and were very chewy. It made me have to do the ugly bite-down-and-pull-and-tear move in order to eat it. We were brought six tortillas for us to share. We were never offered more tortillas and when I asked for some to go with my leftovers, we were charged a dollar for three small tortillas. Had I known that, I would have walked over to Publix and bought triple the amount for the same money since the tortillas weren't better than any store brand.
The third visit was after the official opening. We went with two other couples. We were recommended a Spanish Margarita. Apparently, this is a margarita with wine poured on the top. I didn't care for it. Per the recommendation of our waitress, we ordered the Queso Real for an appetizer. This was literally a block of cheese on sauce, topped with different items. The taste wasn't bad. What is bad is the fact that you're eating a block of cheese. With the appetizer we were given three tortillas and no plates. Eventually we got a couple of plates, but with a party of six, that doesn't really help.
I ordered the Tacos de Arrachera. They provide a substantial portion of beef in the tacos, but like the Molcajete they were chopped so big and were so chewy that I had to employ the pull-and-tear move again. Not good.
For dessert, we shared the churros. The churros were nice and warm and came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Unfortunately, that's all they came out with. No spoon or anything. So I had to reuse the last churro to scoop up the remaining ice cream.
Compared with the surrounding area, the restaurant is decent and the location is prime (easy access, easy parking), but it's pricey for the quality of food you get.
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