Who runs out of carne asada by 7 pm? Ok, so maybe I went in with the wrong idea; we were hungry and looking for delicious food. The service wasn't the best and the food was bland and overpriced.
Maybe a place for drinks at the bar, but don't expect to get awesome food and great service.
I rank this is the worst bar in Ventura. It does get crowded on weekends, but it is just a place to drink. I gave a waitress an unused $100 Visa gift card, perfect place to use it. She took off, after awhile she gives me bill without the Visa credit card.(This is actually called theft) The waitress, the bartender, nobody could find this new $100 Visa gift card (this was the story I was told and I got the feeling they've done this before). The result was the bartender paid me back in cash...this is more than just an error, this is clearly staff that doesn't care about customers credit cards. In todays day and age why are the waitresses taking off with your credit cards? Cheap owners that won't step up to the times and help protect us from identity theft. If the owners are this cheap then there is no doubt this cheapness shows through the cleanliness, the food and service, poorly mixed drinks, customer safety, etc.
Review Source:LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this place!! Â Great food, friendly wait staff and bartenders. Â Fantastic happy hour deals and super yummy margaritas (we love the El Rey Cadillac). Â First tried this place St.Patty's weekend and it was busy with a fun mix of people, James Brown on the juke box (amongst others) and patient servers who didn't get upset when we wanted to change to a corner table that had opened up after we got there. Â The street tacos were so good (especially the carnitas)!! You really get your money's worth on the margies, big glass, fresh juice, just the right amount of alcohol....nothing worse than getting a syrupy mess in a little bitty glass. Went back again last night after a bad experience at Peirano's left us hungry. Â Sat at the bar this time, again great mix of people, fun music, bartenders and servers were on top of everyone's needs. Â Food came out quickly and was delicious (tried the Chorizo bean dip for the first time- SO GOOD!!) Â It truly turned our night around, thanks guys!!!
Review Source:Bras on the chandelier? A table with bottlecaps nailed all around? Good Drinks and good music? Â Yes, El Rey's has all this and more! Â
The dance floor is small and no one really dances or at least that's the case when I've been there. The DJs can be good, but sometimes not. The tacos were just ok. I didn't think there were anything to write home about. Â
If you're DD for the night and looking for water they'll give you a giant cup of water. Â If you're not DD and just want water you still get that giant cup of water. It's a great people watching bar as well.
During the day you can still get drinks and on Sundays they play football on the TVs. Â What else can be said here. It's a nice spot in Downtown Ventura, but a little further away from the other bars.
Arrived about 6pm on a tuesday & was seated right away. Overall the food was good. Not traditional mexican food. They added their own lil twist of flavor in each dish. I tried a pastor taco ( which I loved & Â it was so flavorful) also had the chicken enchilada dinner. Reasonably priced, $9 for 2 enchiladas, rice & beans. The beans were a bit bland, but nothing to complain about. Drinks are stiff... depending upon the bartender.
Atmosphere was rad. Mexican movie posters and elvis paintings on the wall, loved the dim lighting also. Fun place.
The service was ehh. At first I didn't know if the waitress wanted tips for her service or tits. She seemed a little off at first and then warmed up, I guess.
I'd go back for taco tuesday.
This is mainly a review for Taco Tuesday.
Went to this place after work, because a co-worker was raving about their tacos. I must say I was pretty happy with what they had to offer.
El Rey, is certainly busy on Taco Tuesday, and getting a table will be a wait. The biggest reason for this is because they just don't have many tables. But if you grab a drink at the bar, your wait time won't seem too long. My margarita wasn't very strong, but considering I hadn't eaten for 6 hours, I was able to feel it a little. Next time I'll just stick with the beer.
The tacos are varied and delicious. They have more traditional types like carnitas, asada, or pastor. But I stuck with the specialty tacos, like: Gringo, El Diablo, and Cabo. My favorite of the three was the Cabo with it's soft tortilla, sauteed shrimp in tequila, bacon, lettuce, and creamy habanero sauce. The sauce was the highlight of the taco, as was the well flavored shrimp... and, it wasn't even that spicy. The El Diablo was also great, but I wasn't impressed with the Gringo. The gringo is a good hard shell taco, but I am biased against parmesan cheese, which is what the shell is coated with.
Other notes: The service was good. We didn't have to wait long for the bar or ordering at out table. The tacos came out in a good time frame. There are bras hanging from the ceiling lamps. Pictures of Elvis, 3 decent sized TVs, and a fairly mixed crowd of people. Keep in mind on Tuesdays, the tacos are half off!
Overall, it was a slightly above average bar experience, with much more than slightly above average tacos. i'll definitely return.
Nice vibe, and good music on the juke box. Â Hip clientele (except for me, of course) Taco's were good, and worth the $1 price on taco Tuesday. Â I don't know if I would want to pay the regular $2, but they did have a lot of variations on the taco, and my wife's chili rellenos were excellent. But the atmosphere drives this place, and there is tons of it. Â How can you not love a place that plays Interpol, followed by Thin Lizzy, followed by Kings of Leon, followed by La Bamba etc.?
Review Source:Favorite bar in Ventura? Maybe. I've yet to have a drink here that wasn't excellent. Margaritas are strong, sangria is delicious. The Mexican Mood Changer will alter your outlook on life. I've been here with friends and actually visited one or two taco Tuesdays solo, and always wind up leaving later than I intended. (Don't worry, I walk. Wait, considering I live on the avenue, maybe you should worry.) There are some stories I could tell about this place, but I'll keep them to myself. However, just know this: if you're open to it, you're probably going to walk out of this place with a story.
Tacos are good, I have a hard time with their regular prices considering what they're serving can be had off any truck between here and SD for less than half the price--I know, I know, that's the markup you pay for brick and mortar, but still. Taco Tuesday brings the price down to a manageable level. The fish taco's excellent, got a nice little kick to it. Also, get the ribs. They will burn going in (and possibly on the way out, but that's between you and your GI system) but it's very much worth it, especially if you wash it down with some spiked horchata.
Finally, a word about the staff. I dig these folks, I've yet to deal with someone with a bad attitude. They have fun, or at least they make it look like they have fun and at the end of the night they go home and take their frustrations out on a punching bag or something, but not on you. They can pour a drink and deliver some food with a minimum of BS, and I dig that.
Also, in case you were curious, the Rey is Elvis! That means black velvet Elvis paintings! It doesn't get much better.
Not satisfied with the amount of booze that was consumed at the Aloha Steakhouse, The Queen of Reseda wanted to party like Lindsay Lohan so we came here on a very busy Saturday night. Â The place was packed to rafters with hipsters in their mid twenty's. Â
It was a text messaging extravaganza as we pushed our way through the crowd.  The DJ was spinning some cool tunes so the Queen and I started dancing.  It got awkward when no one else wanted to dance with us.  Don't these young people know how to square dance? <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsquaredancemagazine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F04%2Fbarmera1-m.jpg&s=ce4759fb1e9c343ae14004879c81f9bcc8398ad01ab8e2b5124ff0b73e108f73" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://squaredancemagazi…</a>
We tried really hard to get a right and left grand started but the kids weren't having it. Â As we made our way to the exit, some muscular black chick threw a shoulder at the Queen of Reseda. Â NO SHE DIDN'T! Â I had to drag her out of there kicking and screaming! Â
That would not have been a fair fight. Â That chick was really lucky. Â The Queen of Reseda knows Kung Fu and has tigers blood coursing through her little body. Â She could have really hurt that girl.
I wanted to go out for a drink at a place where I could get a good drink, talk with friends and not have to wait in line or pay (I don't believe in  paying to get into a club/bar. Especially in Ventura!). Glad to say I found all of that in El Rey. The place is small, has a full bar and a decent amount of tables along the wall. This is not the type of place where you will see a lot of people dancing and grinding (thankfully!!). I had a couple of margaritas. One of them which I believe it's called the "Rosa Margarita" was very good. Tasted fresh and the bar tender was generous with the amount of tequila he put in it ;). Overall a good place to go hang out on a Friday/Saturday night if you are a small bar kind of person.
oh, the DJ has a great selection of music. GOOD for HIM!
I can appreciate this place for what it is. A BAR. Don't expect phenomenal customer service or great food, you'll be disappointed. My husband loves the 'horchata' drink they serve (I think it's got vodka in it)
Bottom line, fun place for a quick drink but not to linger in all night. It's a small space that can get very crowded very fast on the weekends. Their 'dance floor' is the size of my cubicle at work.
My favorite part is the velvet painting of 'The Most Interesting Man in the World" Make the trip just to see it. :)
I should have been suspicious when the waitress asked "Are you here to eat or just to drink?". Â Um, okay...she hands us menus and looking over the meager offerings, I settle on two tacos. Â She comes back and suggests the pink lady margarita. Â All is going well until she comes back to the table with cold open tacos on shells the size of wonton wrappers. Â For $3 each. Â I felt hungrier AFTER eating them.
I liked the interior of El Rey Cantina, but it is definitely not a restaurant--and I felt misled by Yelp for even coming in looking for food. Â This is a place to bring your co-worker for her birthday, feed her tequila shots until she ralphs, and throw her bra at the chandelier. Â
The waitress was awesome though. Â She knew I was bummed but never acted unprofessional and still gave really good service. Â I just wish I hadn't gone there to eat.
It's hard to really put my finger on what I loved most about this place.
Was it the bra chandelier?
Was it the giant framed portrait of Dos Equis' 'Most Interesting Man in the World'?
Was it the perfectly prepared Halibut tacos with a Habanero cream sauce and magnificently magical marinated red cabbage?
Impossible to pick just one, so I will have to go with all of the above!
Yes, I absolutely loved this place and would return for that Halibut taco in a heartbeat! They were so good, we had to order a second round! Yum, perfection!
As for the place itself. It's cute. And I liked many of the decorative choices they made. The crowd seemed all kinds of mellow yellow, with the exception of one high maintenance princess who was having a conniption fit over her boyfriend trying to touch an "unsanitary bra?!?!?" hanging from the chandelier. Umm, really, princess? If this is sending you over the top, you might wanna ditch your own bra and get some and chill the eff out. Just sayin'.
But yes, all in all, a wonderful spot to devour a few tacos at, sip on a tasty Reposado tequila and enjoy a few cold cervezas on a chill Saturday.
Stopped in with my mother coming back from Ojai. Â It was her birthday, so we spent the day in Ojai and did a pit stop on Main Street in search of a refreshing libation. Â This place is great-love the look, the drinks, the service. Â Be sure to check out the velvet Elvis paintings, the chandeliers--it's dark inside and that's perfect for a Mexican place IMO. I missed the skulls, though. Nice neighborhood addition!
Review Source:I live across the street from La Cita, the perfect Mexican dive bar with hundreds of bottles of Tequila on the shelves. El Rey Cantina in Ventura is La Cita's is sister from another mister.
This has a great vibe, like the Cha Cha Lounge in Silverlake it has plush seats in it booths and a very well stock selection of tequila on the shelves, just like home.
We visit a couple of times per month, so I guess we qualify as (semi) regulars.
Pros:
- Â Comfortable booths
- Â Friendly, attentive service
- Â Unique, dark environment
-  Corona & Negra Modelo beers  ($5)
- Â Mood Changers (Modelo & a shot of tequila - $9)
- Â Tacos ($1 & up)
- Â Guacamole with fresh tomato chunks ($5)
-  Chicken enchiladas  ($9)
-  Chili relleno  ($9)
Cons:
- Â Tequila shots ($7- $75 ea.)
Viva El Rey Cantina!
Puleeeez, this place is lame. Bartender was nice and all but the waitress was skanky and the food was waayyyy overpriced and the table  in the left hand corner was totally uncomfortable. Booth is like four feet away from the table!
Go to ogle the waitresses if you like feeling like you need a antibiotic shot with your drink!
Fun and interesting, not for kids. Â small bar with some nice booth tables. Â Tecates are $4. Â The housemade corn tortilas are expensive at $1 each ($3 for 3 torillas). Â Salsa OK. Â Chip and guac - underwhelmng and expensive.
None-the-less, check it out and have a shot. Â The velvet elvis's are worth seeing.
If you haven't been, GO! Great food and excellent drinks. Atmosphere is probably the best and most unique in Ventura County. If you're out in downtown Ventura at night definitely checkout El Rey its a must.
Oh yeah did I say that they have the largest selection of tequila I've ever seen.
I rarely venture to Main St. I'm not really a main street type of girl. I am, however, a big fan of this place. It's like one of my LA bars but in Ventura. The decor reminds me of home:
- dia de los muertos skulls
- velvet elvis
- a fine selection of tequilas
And of course I'm always down to try out a few new tequilas. The bartender when we went in was really charming and helpful with suggesting tequilas. I also tried this adult horchata that was delicious. I really enjoyed myself here. The cliental can get a little velvet rope, but that would be my only complaint. Â I can't wait to get my tequila friends together for a night of drinking at the El Rey Cantina.
Any place that offers homemade tortillas is a winner in my book. Our waitress was really helpful in offering drink suggestions (try the slammed pink cadillac) Â and totally took care of us all night. My only complaint is that it gets so crowded on weekends, although it's understandable.
Review Source:I really like this place. Â The drinks are strong and the space is great. Â I had a beer can chicken that was fantastic. Â They bring the chicken out with a can of Modelo still simmering inside it. Â It makes for a messy dinner, but its well worth it. Â This is a great place to come in early eat and then drink till they throw you out.
Review Source:Oh my god - this place is hilarious! Â If you love velvet Elvis paintings, this is the bar for you. Â Everything is tacky and fabulous. Â They have a huge selection of tequilas and most of the mixed drinks include some as well, which spells trouble for me. Â I skipped it and just tasted everyone else's. Â The velvet Elvis was actually really good - raspberry stolli, bailey's, tequila, some other stuff I can't remember. Â Sounds like a hangover, right? Â Anyway, we had a great time here admiring the walls and the jukebox. Â I'd like to think that The King would be proud.
Review Source:A fairly recent addition to down town Ventura's new, swanky Main Street.
This place rocks though, a Mexican cantina with a retro Elvis theme (El Rey = The King, geddit?).
The El Rey is worth visiting for the decor alone. Beautiful red Venetian plastered walls complimented with classic 50's movie posters. The ceiling features a dozen velvet Elvis paintings and a Stag's head complete with casually throwned ladies underwear on the antlers, including  a leopard skin bra.
The bar was very busy when we were there, the drinks were reasonably priced (not dirt cheap, but still reasonable) and the patrons all seemed to be having a great time.
The food was excellent, I ordered the enchiladas and they were delicious, the sauce was heavenly, even the king would approve.
Kellie had the chicken quesadilla which she couldn't finish, I did, and that was excellent too. The food might be a tad more expensive than the usual chain mexican restaurants but that's the price you pay for quality.
They also had a juke box which had some great tunes on it, plus exactly the type of bad shit you would expect to hear in Ventura. So if you don't mind hearing Bowie being played back to back with Free Bird, then the El Rey is the place for you.
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