El Tipico Mexican Restaurant

Been coming for over 25 years once or twice a year but no more. The food used to be solid, traditional tex-mex at a reasonable price with good service. However, over the years the place has become old and overpriced - and the quality of food and service has slipped.

I will start out by saying that the interior of the restaurant is really quite nice, and it looks like something straight out of Mexico.  The place is quite clean, and the place is kept up reasonably well.  With all of that being said the food here is really average, and the quality of the food here is fundamentally not all that much better than a Mexican takeout place.  About the only difference here than a takeout place is that this place is quite a bit more expensive for what is fundamentally an average product.  The prices here are not cheap, and the helpings are average.  I cannot say that the helpings are small, but they are certainly not as big as other Mexican restaurants in the area.  With regards to the food I would pass on this place especially in light of the prices they charge as well as the very average quality these folks offer.

The service is not good at all, and the staff seems to disappear all at once.  At least when I was there all the customers were looking around for the wait staff, and it seems like the staff has other priorities besides the customers.  It was tough getting the most basic things such as refills on drinks, hot sauce, etc., and for the price I had paid for a dinner here it was not worth it.  Especially with there being so many other options for Mexican restaurants this place is a pass when it comes to service.

In short, while I cannot say that this place is a bad one a person is better served by going to another Mexican place in area.  With the Dempster Street corridor filled with restaurants there are so many other better options than this place.

We used to go back in the 80's and 90's - food was great, abundent and well priced.  Now it's expensive, not good and the portions are tiny.  I keep going back (for the drinks) thinking I went on an "off" day.  NOT - I went again this week and the service was worse than usual.  I had to (again) keep asking for the bartender for another drink.  She was so busy chatting with the regulars she forgot about us.  We had to ask for chips then when we went outside for moment - we told her we'd be right back - she took the chips and salsa away as well as our almost finished drinks and our food to go was neatly packed up - a clear message that she wanted us to go.  Instead of order more drinks we left. When we got home with our order the portions were so small.  We spend over $20.00 for this.  Needless to say, I wish El Tipico was the way it used to be.  The bartenders and waiters are unfriendly except to the regulars.  We wil never go back.  It sucks.