They changed the menu and it's still good ...but the last few times we recently went there customer service is getting worst... we noticed their are less  servers so the wait was  long... it took long to get our orders in, it took longer for our food to come in and when it did it was cold so it wasn't that good esp the soup.. it also took long to get our bill.. overall- service was just slow!
Review Source:The waiter was nice. He refilled our chips and salsa multiple times before he got our food. The food was simply alright. I got the macho combo. However, the small corn cake that they include is very good. The waiter didn't come back to refill our drinks at all once we got our food, though. We got fried ice cream and that was alright too.
The
military discount is 20% and the service was good for the most part. But the food is just 3 stars worth.
Only good thing about this place is their happy hour specials...meaning their margaritas, they are quite delicious, but sadly they do not make you forget about the price of entrees (way too much money for mediocre mex food.... I much rather go to a taco shop...) or the lack of service. The waitresses are terrible and don't know how to service clients, I mean really with a huge party of drinkers, you'd think you would want to continue to make these people happy and service them well since they are buying so much food...
Ok for happy hour cocktails but not so good for the food...
I have eaten at El Toritos for over twenty years, they sent me a coupon from their Birthday Club so a friend and I went for dinner tonight. It's been a couple of month since I last ate their and over the years some meals were better than others, but tonight I must say was the worst food I have ever eaten there. I ordered the #1 Combo Plate...Beef Taco and cheese Enchilada . The Taco was dry and the Tortilla tasted like cardboard and the Enchilada was right down nasty tasting, stale...my friend had the Carnitas, the meat she stated was so so and the sides, Rice and Beans made her almost sick...the Bill was $59.85 after the $10.99 credit for the coupon...what a total waste of time and money...this was so bad, I'll never eat there again!!! I hope I won't get sick...that's how bad it was
The waitress was nice but with crap food like that even that did not help...
the One Star is for the waitress...the food deserves a (minus) 5 stars at best
This service was bad, before El Torito was good and the food was hot when you got served now it's plain and cold. Me my uncle went for dinner and we ordered the appetizer with everything on it, it was really oily and cold. The wings didn't taste the same the sauce was off flavor and the quesadillas were cold the cheese was not melted all the way it was as they forgot our order because right after they brought the appetizer they brought our Dinner I ordered the tortilla soup and it was to oily and the chips in the soup tasted stale not good at all but I was hungry so I ate at least half the overall experience was not good and our waitress was not attentive too.
Review Source:During Happy Hour on Taco Tuesday, I can get 2 tacos (preferably carnitas or chicken) and a drink including bottomless chips with salsa for the same price as a Cali B elsewhere.. Now I think El Torito offers more for your buck. It's a hit and miss with the quality of their service, but Rodalpho, the chip man, makes up for it.
Review Source:Came here for Sunday Brunch. Waited for approximately ten minutes. Their Brunch was very good and for the price, was reasonable. They even give a military discount!!! Hand made tortillas was a bonus. Also had live mariachi music for the ambiance. Service was friendly and great, always checking. Absolutely would recommend dining here.
Review Source:Came here for happy hour drinks (M-F starting @2PM) and appetizers with my brother and sister. We sat outside while the sun was setting, which was perfect weather. We had the house martiniti for $4, which definite did the job and had the appetizer sampler. THe sampler was alright, nothing amazing. Generic mexican food but i would definite go back just for the drinks and happy hour. The waitress was very nice. It was hard to find parking, i dont know cause its happy hour or there is a gym nearby.
Review Source:Tequila flights selection? Check.
Free chips and salsa? Check.
Happy hour from 2pm to closing? Perfect.
Appetizers and food are highly forgettable. No different from those instant taquitos and such one could purchase at the local grocery store. What won we over was the consistency of their blended house margaritas. While most places compromise the quality of their drinks during happy hour, I am very glad to report that El Toreets doesn't come short. My favorite? The coconut pineapple margarita. At $4 each, it's a cheap thrill anyone can partake in sans shame.
CAUTION: They do a walk-over open taco bar on Tuesdays. Be wary of high foot traffic. Oh, and don't let the high volume of middle-aged mamas scare you -- Â this El Toritos is one of very few drinking establishments along the suburban confines of the 54. Relax, have a drink, and enjoy the vibrant decor.
The Family and I were out and about and wanted to get breakfast before we went to watch a movie at Plaza Bonita AMC. Â We had originally wanted to stop off at Denny's for a quick bite.. (I know Denny's? Â but we were in a hurry and wanted something close).. well Denny's was super busy so we just said forget it and headed to the mall. Â
My wife suggested El Torito.. we'd never been there before so we didn't know what to expect.. turns out.. it wasn't that bad.. wasn't great but wasn't that bad either..
I guess Sundays they have a buffet.. it was pretty good. Â It had all of the normal Mexican treats and eats from Menudo to Flan.. plus they had a omelet station too. Â We enjoyed it and it suited our needs.. would it be my first choice if I wasn't in a hurry or limited to the Plaza Bonita area? Â Nope but it wasn't bad either..
This place is alright for a Happy Hour fix.
The food is alright. Nothing special that you can't get at another chain restaurant.
The waiters/waitresses are a hit and miss. You get ones that actually care about you and how their service is and some just ignore that you're sitting at the table.
I was there at the beginning of Happy Hour (2pm), which the side where the bar was, wasn't busy at all. I had trouble flagging someone down for water. I mean common, I saw 2 waitresses look at me with my hand raised from my seat right in the middle of the room, next to the bar, where the waiters/waitresses go to pick up orders.
RUDE.
I'll just go to Applebees on the other side of the mall from now on.
Very bad service,
Food was mediocre,
Waitress spilled the margarita, overfilled the cup and didn't leave the rest with us when we know there is still about half a cup left.
Food came by, but waitress did not know which table to deliver to. She just kept calling out tacos, anybody ordered tacos.
OMG I'm I at a fast food place?
Never will I come here again.
Foods okay. It's an Americanized Mexican chain restaurant, so there isn't much to expect. I'd only recommend this place for two reasons:
1) Happy Hour
2) Birthday Singing
The last time I was there, it was for a friend's surprise birthday dinner. We had the servers sing to her, and there was something about the presentation and singing that left us impressed. It was well orchestrated, too well orchestrated....
Could it be that these employees just aren't your regular waiters/waitresses? Under their obligatory El Toritos insignia uniforms are members from a band... a mariachi band?!?!
I think so.
In addition, they temporarily placed a huge folklorico/mariachi hat on our friend, took her picture, printed it out and gave it to her. Jealous much? :)
Went to this location between shopping for Mothers day presents and picking up our kids from school.
Service was extremely slow, husband ordered the street tacos, two beef and one shrimp, the beef were just ok, the shrimp had this incredibly thick flavorless batter and not sure if there were actually any shrimp in there.
Me being vegetarian, well, I ordered the roasted vegetable fajitas, and it's probably the worst meal I've ever eaten at any restaurant. The fajita pan looked like someone had raided the vegetable crisper and just threw stuff on it, it had potatoes, raw spinach (but with the heat of the pan it wilted horribly) some squash, and a roasted chile stuffed with cheese, which was probably the only thing with any flavor, but still no seasoning.
The only reason I gave any stars is because the margarita was awesome, and the side salad was good as well.
The service was ok but really slow, fortunately when the waiter asked how everything was I said the fajitas were awful and they removed it from our bill, so at least they were mindful of that.
Over all, I'll not be wasting my time there any time soon.
Nice location right outside of Plaza Bonita Mall. This location is the cleanest and newer looking compared to the others I've been to. Happy Hour is good.
We sat outside on the patio because of our large party. The music was way too loud (like I was in a club) and it was hard to carry a conversation. I asked the server to turn it down and he was nice enough to inform the manager.
Overall, the food was alright, drinks were not strong and the service was average.
I went on a Tuesday and got happy hour and taco Tuesday specials :)
Beer was $3 and $1 more to make it a michelada. Margaritas were $3 as well. So the 99cent tacos was a real good deal. First you tell your waiter how many you want to order and then she brings you a ticket, and then you take it to the ladies making the tacos (so its a self serve kinda thing). You pick between carne asada steak, carnitas, and chicken. They give you just the tortilla and meat and then you put your own sauce, lettuce, and cheese on it. I think its a pretty good deal for the price :)
Great drinks. Â Great tacos!
Go on Tuesdays, it's better! Â I just went on Christmas Eve and it was amazingly quiet, so I (with friends and family) watched some football, drank some margaritas and enjoyed some tasty tacos. Â The carnitas are theeee best, but watch out, they're kinda spicy!
I'm used to going to the location in La Mesa, so I guess I got spoiled? Â although I wouldn't call being able to mash up some avocados into guacamole "spoiled." Â Read on if you're not gonna be eating any time soon ;)
Amazingly, the waitress was able to screw up the tableside guacamole. Â I know the servers are responsible for getting the add-ins (onions, chilis, etc) before they come out. Â So she forgot a couple...there are only four, hello?
The waitress was awful, got our order wrong TWICE, blew by our table practically throwing things at us as she went by, and the place was NOT busy at all. Â There was a total of three tables, including ours, in her section.
What seriously almost put me off my food, was there was a hostess/waitress "in-training" or helping with drinks. Â She had a vest/shirt on that was too short, so about 4 glorious inches of her bare-skinned, fat, stretch-marked stomach was oozing out everywhere as she walked over....and when she reached over me to refill my water, I almost gagged.
So onto the food (finally)....
The food was great, with the exception of the tableside guac. Â
Ordered the Fajitas Supremas and Shrimp Fajitas. Â Must try is their Taco Cesar Salad, it's super yummy.
It was my first time at this location, so I'll probably give it one more shot before it goes bye-bye.
Consistency of bland Tex Mex food, that what El Torito is. Honesly I go here because its close, and I love the deep fried ice cream. I always eat whats on special, no need to pay full price for El Torito.
Honestly wish there was more than Fajitas packaged 9 different ways. I do love the little corn cake they give you.
Of course this place has the good drinks, totally in expensive during their 6hr long happy hour. They have good appetizers to go with the drinks also.
Dont try to park on the El Torito side, park on the Target side downstairs. The waits (especially at the bar ) can get a little hectic on Fridays. El Torito ...very consistant.
My wife and i went a couple of times, and each time the service was slow.
The waitresses have all been very friendly, but its painfully obvious that she has way too many tables to give us great service. The food we order usually comes out cold.
The tacos on taco tuesday are tiny...so tiny that you end up spending $10-15 just to feel kind of full. Which isnt bad...but you have to get back in line each time. Not worth the trouble
If you have a happy hour that's 6 hours long and as long as the chips & salsa and drinks keep coming in, then I'm definitely a fan. I try not to go here with a lot of people because their cantina area isn't as big (I think at most, I was with 6 people and we had to split the table). I enjoy their margaritas ("on the rocks" or "iced" or "don't blend it!"; however you say it, just make sure you have cubes in yours because it's so much easier to drink. none of that brain freeze stuff) and even without any of that artificial fruit flavor, I still find it delicious! Maybe the price makes it delicious ($3).
Their food is good too for their HH price. I've always had the same server everytime I went (yea, there was a point where I wanted to change my hair color because I didn't want her thinking I was an alcoholic or that I hated my job and *needed* a drink every Tuesday). She's (long black hair, always tied) very attentive to making sure you have chips and salsa. If you sit at the bar, you get your drink faster (obviously). This is a good place to just catch up with friends after a long day, and plus HH till 8pm in the South? Awesome.
On a side note, they do have the restaurant part where you can sit down and enjoy your dinner. I've done that once...while the food is good, it's not as fun as eating in the catina with the cheaper HH food & drinks!
Pretty decent food although you really gotta read the caloric chart cause if you don't you'll be stuffing yourself with pretty much anything that's in a sizzling plate!
Servers are pretty attentive in comparison to the other El Toritos. Manager also hooked us up complimentary appetizer since we waited so long. Just be patient when you visit this location cause it gets pretty busy especially during peak mall hours.
My boyfriend and I came here for the first time since we saw this ad in the paper.. 3 course menu for $11.99 per person! Â We immediately had our hearts set on having this for our Valentine's Day lunch.
They started us off with our drinks and complementary chips & salsa - both were very good! Salsa was a bit spicy for me, but I've never been a fan of spicy things in general.
Here are the choices for this special deal:
Appetizer - mexican caesar salad, tortilla soup, or chicken nachos. Â I had the tortilla soup which was REALLY GOOD, and my bf had the nachos which were also REALLY GOOD!
Entree - carnitas fajitas, flautas/taquitos combo, enchilada/taco combo, or soft&crunch taco combo. Â All entrees come with rice, beans, and this cute yummy scoop of corn meal. Â We both got the chicken flautas & beef taquitos combo. Â I thought the taquitos were a tad bit dry, but still okay. Â The flautas were good, but I'd probably like them better if they were beef flautas, but that's just me. Â The rice was good. Â The beans were okay, but I prefer refried beans, whereas these were in a little cup like it was soup or something. Â The little scoop of corn meal was good.. it reminded me of cornbread, but not bread. haha.
Dessert - churros or deep fried ice cream. Â I got the churros which were good, but not as good as Disneyland's, and my bf got the deep fried ice cream, which he said was really good.
The place is very clean and the service was wonderful. Â Everyone was friendly and attentive to make sure we had everything we needed, waters filled, and empty plates cleared.
I'll definitely be going back because I saw that they have happy hour 2p-7p Mon-Fri AND they have a 99cent taco tuesday 4p-10p! Â Must go back to check it out.
I would definitely say that I am officially a fan!
This place was refreshing from all the taco shops around San Diego. It's a sit in restaurant. Very comfy and the atmosphere is very warm...
I loved the chips and salsa they give you before you get to order your food (AND you can ask for more) it's real tasty and the chips are so good. I also noticed there is a dine-in and also a buffet in the place.
Ordered a lot of food because I thought the serving sizes were small, but Bf and I ended up ordering 3 plates of main dishes that took up most of our table. The food is very authentic. Loved the beef tacos and the salsas.
Experience wasn't that bad... came here with two of my favorite gfs. Happy hour was still going on which is always a plus.
Ordered chicken "jumbo" wings. Not that jumbo, but not too small. Decent prices and overall not bad service.
Parking is always horrendous, so be a stalker and get aggressive!
Came here to experience happy hour with a few friends on a Tuesday afternoon and wish I hadn't. Our waitress took our order and our drinks all came out after an extended wait all at different times. I then reminded the server who was bringing out our drinks that I had been waiting on a Diet Pepsi for 15 minutes and still never got it during my stay there. I said screw it and went to the Plaza Bonita food court to purchase one.
The prices look great from the outside, but once you're there it's a nightmare.
I really dig this place located right outside the mall across from Red Robin and Borders bookstore.
They have comfortable Booth Seats and they have table seating. The decor is clean and simple with fiesta lights hanging above you.
They offer a buffet if you wish to indulge Enchildas and Tacos all day! Otherwise they have a small menu you can choose from. I decided to order the Fahitas Grandes: Served Sizzling on a skillet, Garden Fresh Veggies, Guacamole, sweet corn cake, warm tortillas, Frijoles de la olia, rice with grilled chicken, steak & shrimp.
Literally the food was sizzling and I was impressed they light it up in front of you. Served fresh and hot to your liking.
Met up with my cousins for dinner and a movie last night. She had a gift card for El Torito, so off we were. Knowing it's a chain I wasn't expecting much and therefore wasn't too disappointed.
Our server Alex seemed to know what he was peddling and did his usual programmed shpiel of the specials, the drinks and their claim to fame tableside guacamole. We nibbled on the complimentary chips and salsa (btw-please make different levels of hotness available to your consumers, I like spicy, but not everyone does and it sucks for the person who doesn't and can't eat it) Â went ahead and ordered the guacamole. (Yawn) Boring. Two little Haas avocados and a tiny bit of seasoning (pretty skimpy amount of cilantro, and some other mystery ingredients) later and voila, plain old boring guacamole. I couldn't taste any of the seasoning or the cilantro. The premade guacamole (probably Sysco) that came w my veggie fajitas had more flavor. I wouldn't waste my money on it again.
My cousins had a taco salad and a Mexican chicken caeser and I had the roasted veggie fajitas. The taco salad came out instead of one of those taco shell bowls, looking like it had been set on a stage with one end of the shell rising high above the salad. Interesting. The chicken caeser looked, well like an unoriginal chicken caeser, but with some spices on it. My veggie fajitas were so overcooked and overoiled they were pretty inedible. It did come with a chile rellenos, which I took home and haven't tried yet, so I can't comment on it. I love chile rellenos, so I hope I'm not as disappointed w it as the rest of the meal.
Overall, El Torito will not be taking the bull by it's horns in Mexican cuisine anytime soon. I'd say they're along the lines of being like the Mexican Chili's or TGIF. (Actually you'd probably like the Mexican dishes there better).
After visiting several stores at the Plaza Bonita mall and making the effort not to get agitated at the annoying nuances of the mall crowd I strolled into El Torito for some drinks and an appetizer. Â I sat at the bar but, there was not a bartender present for at least five minutes. Â Once one finally showed I ordered a couple of alcoholic beverages which were disappointing in flavor and alcohol content.
I ordered their table side guacamole (made to your specifications) for the complimentary tortilla chips and it was probably one of the best guacamole I've ever had. Â I then ordered buffalo chicken strips served with chipotle ranch. Â The ranch was tasty but, the strips were not nearly as spicy as I would have liked.
The service was unimpressive. There should not have been a long delay in placing my orders especially with staff standing around chatting with one another. Â The food however, made us for the service therefore, I'd return to try their other dishes.
It's about freakin' time they opened up a decent restaurant at Plaza Bonita! Â Yeah, the mall is still in process of getting a major face lift and it still has a good plethora of ghettoness in the crowd, but I'm thankful that this chain didn't shy away from opening up at Plaza Bonita.
I've eaten here twice last month and both times ordered the Mexican grilled chicken Cesar salad. Â There's something about the dressing, it's so dang good and the chicken didn't come out dry. Â Once you're seated, they bring you chips and salsa and happily provide you with refills. Â
I haven't eaten at an El Torito in years, so it was nice to see this place open up at the mall. Â The decor inside makes you feel like you're eating outdoors with the colorful lights hanging over you and the big terracotta pots and vases that accent the tables and walls. Â
The food is good, the service has been consistently great and the place is clean. Â One thing though, their A/C works REALLY well, I nearly froze from just sitting there and it's not because I was naked while sipping on a frozen margarita, I was dressed warmly (sorry for the visual). Â I have to go back to check out their taco Tuesday special! Â Mmmm....tacos!
Oh yeah, the parking lot directly in front of E.T. is busy (at least it feels like that everytime I go), so try parking at the new  parking garage on the other side of the mall near Target and cut through the mall to get to this joint.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,971 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,316 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,913 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,986 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
