I bought a Groupon for this place. My wife and I went for lunch to try it out hoping it was better than our low expectations. It was not. The service was friendly but very slow. The salsa and chips were fine. I ordered the chicken jalapeno quesadilla.
Grease dripped out and formed a puddle. Cheese was the main ingredient. It was difficult to finish and I didn't. My wife ordered the  beef tacos "Carne Asada". Typical bad taco with small bits of overcooked beef, shredded iceburg tomato. blah.
The rice was terrible. The beans were ok meaning they managed not to screw them up. At checkout our bill did not add to the $20.00 the Groupon required so I was charged $18.65. I think I paid $10.00 for the $20.00 Groupon that they did not honor so I'm out almost $30.00 for this very unsatisfactory lunch. Stay away amigos.
Oh, I gave the Groupon away to a salesperson who worked next door at a furniture shop. He did not seemed thrilled. He has probably eaten there before.
My husband bought a Groupon for El Toro in  Brownsburg, IN.  We went  for lunch on aSaturday and had a bad experience. Â
Husband ordered the jalapeno quesadilla with a side of pico de gallo.  It was so  greasy that at one point in the meal I said to him, "You know it looks as if you are wearing lip gloss."  I ordered the tacos de carne asada which is  a favorite - at least when I  have gotten it at other Mexican restaurants such as Puerto Vallarta located on LaFayette Road and 56th or Carniceria Guanajuato, the Mexican restaurant inside the grocery on Moller Road.  I was used to big flavor, big smokey flavor at that, and the Tacos de carne asada HERE were flavorless.  It was beef piled with iceburg lettuce and chopped tomato....I believe tratitionally it should have simply had raw chopped  onion and fresh cilantro.  Regardless, the dish was unappealing, flavorless....boring, and I did  not bother to eat but 1 (I was hungry).  The salsa we were served tasted as if  the tomatos were  from a can, then pureed and then tossed in  with some onion  and what-not. Â
Time to pay... we waited, and waited, and waited for the  check.  F inally I got  the servers attention from  across the room and told her we were ready for a check.  She did  not deliver  but instead continued to deal  with a larger  party across the room.  Finally she looked up at us and said, across the room,  "Do you guys want to just  meet me up there?"  So we did...we gave her the  Groupon as she punched in  what we ordered in the register.  Then she tells  us that we can't use the Groupon because the total of  our order did not equal 20 dollars...it was $18 and  some  change.  Yes, we told her  we had the Groupon when  we sat down.  She apologized at the registar about not  telling  us to  order more.  Whatever.  At that point we just  wanted out of there.  We  thought maybe she would honor the Groupon anyway but no,.  We paid the bill (and yes we left her a tip because that is  what you do, right?) and left.  My husband tried to leave the Goupon  with her  on the counter but I grabbed it and gave it away  to the fella who worked  in the furniture store next door.  We will  NOT  be returning.  Horrible  food, bad service.
So we spent 10 bucks  on the Groupon, 5 bucks  on tip and close  to 20 for the horrible food for a grand total of close to  35 bucks.  NEVER AGAIN.
Good food. Fair service. We had three enchilada dinners with special requests. One with no cheese, One with no cheese sauce, One with Cheese sauce only. Â Only the no cheese order came to the table as requested. Â The order with no cheese sauce normally comes with both cheese sauce and tomatillo sauce. Â When it arrived at the table there was NO sauce at all. They said they would bring out some tomatillo sauce. Â It was nearly 5 minutes before it arrived. Â My daughter ordered the enchilada dinner of cheese enchiladas with cheese sauce. Â She received a single cheese enchilada with regular enchilada sauce -- not the full meal. Â They took it back and brought out her replacement dinner (at no charge) as the rest of us were finishing our dinners. The order mixups were blamed on the combination of a new server and new computer system for order entry. Â I enjoyed my food (once I got my sauce) and would be willing to give them another try. The food was better than the only other time I visited which was many years ago.
Review Source:Back in my old neighborhood on the Southwest Side of Chicago, my wife & I had a running joke, every time a new storefront on Archer Ave. opened up, we'd say "oh man, that's the perfect place for a taqueria!" Â Sure enough, a few weeks later, mi amigos from Mexico would open a Mexican restaurant featuring authentic cuisine from their special region in Mexico. Â The point of my story is that I'm trying to communicate that I believe I have a pretty good idea how authentic Mexican food is supposed to taste. Â I might even argue with you that nachos, chimichangas, and chili don't belong on the menu at an authentic Mexican cantina,, but I'm lazy this morning and even more don't want to sound like a jerk. Â
Here's what I can tell you about my visit to El Toro.
I can tell you that I've never seen so many blancos working at a Mexican restaurant in my life. Â Not that a Hispanic person taking my order has anything to do with a restaurant's authenticity, but for this type of restaurant it's an oddity to me. Â The menu is pretty much what you'd expect it to be, except the prices are fairly low in comparisons to the other Mexican restaurants in the area. Two adult entrees and a kids meal, fountain drinks, and an order of flan was still priced under $30. Â
The food definitely comes in smaller, more manageable portions. Â I'm not sure how you feel about this, but I'm perfectly OK with ordering a reasonably priced meal, eating it, and leaving a restaurant full with no leftovers. Â And I may just be imagining the portion sizes because your standard beans & rice combo that is splatted side-by-side (inevitably to be mixed) at every Mexican restaurant imaginable is served in separate; rice on your plate next to your entree, beans in a small, but deep bowl. Â I also liked that the salsa came out in its own salsa-carafe; and while I really enjoyed the chips & salsa, about half of our bowl of chips (the bottom half) was unusable crumbs, totally unfit for scooping salsa. Â I'm sure I could have gotten more chips if I had asked, but our food came out so fast that I didn't care much for more chips. Â I can't say the food was drive-across-town delicious; I felt my ground beef chimichanga, and the accompanying beans were a little under spiced, but this tends to be my opinion of even the most authentic Mexican restaurants. Â Due to the lack of spiciness, nobody in my family spend an hour in the bathroom with a burning undercarriage, which is always a plus. Â
I'm giving El Toro 3 out of 5 stars because while our food was good, there was nothing that I would have considered above average, and these days I feel like it's important to do at least one thing really well. Â The staff is really nice, and the prices are great ($2.99 for a kids meal, what?) so as a neighborhood person I'll definitely be back. Â I just can't say that you need to drive across town to eat here when you can find similar food at most Mexaican restaurants in your area.
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