Cruisin' the Ave, I wandered in here for some lunch. I chatted briefly at the bar with the 'tender himself and ended up getting the Braised Carnitas. It was rather good but not as flavorful as I thought.
It was a cool afternoon to just chill, watch the screen and knowing the sun is outside, waiting for you.
Side note: I also had the random fun opportunity to chat with a customer next to me who was apparently a lil drunk and she was debating with us over to drive or walk to sober up a bit. Those 15 minutes were, uhm, special.
Great happy hour! And it's everyday!
Nachos super big and lots of topping. I got the chicken. It was dry and with so many toppings you don't really need meat. Though the steak on my friends nachos was good.
The Ancho wings were great!
My friend got both the prawns and said good. Â I tried the habanero sauce very flavorful!
In love with cucumber jalapeño margarita!!
Service good, sat quickly, always refilled water, love the decor. Will be back for the wings and margaritas!
My friend took me here because I said I didn't care about the food but wanted a good ambiance. Â Well Matador fits that pretty well. Â The bar stools around the fire are a great place to sit, and pretty much in the center of the restaurant, so I would imagine it's a come-and-be-seen thing on a saturday night. Â It was very dark in there, but I liked it that way. Â Just had some appetizers; the calamari was piled onto the plate, no way 2 people could finish it but it wasn't all that good. Â Too bready and over cooked, and the sauce wasn't what I was expecting. Â The tex mex rolls were pretty darn good though.
Review Source:I need to learn to listen more in general.
I went here last night for the first time in a long time. Â Oddly, several places were closed due to Memorial Day and visiting the Matador was largely decided on because it's close to my house and it's doors were open. Â
FOOD:
My gf and I were starving for large, delicious plates of Mexican food. Â Looking at the menu, I had my eye on the pork enchiladas with the ancho sauce. Â When the waitress came by, I asked what was amazing there. Â She listed a few things, which I pretty much ignored. Â Then, I asked about the enchiladas, and she said "they're awesome!" Â "Perfect," I thought. Â I continued to be annoying by asking which sauce was the best/most popular. Â She clearly said the verde was her favorite, though the spicy option was also good. Â I ignored both suggestions and went with the only other sauce, the ancho.
The food came out a little warmer then room temp. Â I was expecting a deep, rich ancho sauce, and I was left hanging. Â I'm not sure how to describe it but boring. Â
My gf had the chicken burrito. Â We both agreed it was better than my dish, but I would still give it a B+.
SERVICE:
Maybe it was because it was so dark, but the server rarely stopped by our table or noticed that our chips, salsa, and water glasses were empty. Â I spent a good amount of time instinctively picking up my water glass to drink, and then realizing it's still empty. Â Just thinking of the Matador now makes me thirsty.
The Matador is West Seattle is a pretty decent place to grab a bite in the Junction. Â It can be crowded, and it's hard to read the menu sometimes (it's really dark in there).
The food seems to be on a bit of a downward trend lately. Â The last few visits have yielded exceptionally spicy entrees that come back to haunt me the next day. Â
Happy hour has some great choices, and their prices aren't bad at other times. Â They're worth a try if you're in the area. Â Hopefully, they get back on track to their usual 4 star level.
My friend and I went here for dinner the other week. We received our food very quickly. My friend noticed her mexican rice was not completely cooked. When we alerted the waitress she responded with 'oh...that's too bad'. She didn't take the plate away, or apologize for the meal, or anything.
I had the beef medallions which were very nicely cooked. I went the following week and the beef medallions were over cooked when I ordered medium rare to a point they were chewy.
The reason for my 2 star rating is I know they can do better than this and the food wasn't bad. But I was extremely upset with the service considering all other places I have been in this area, service is exceptional!
I've come to the Matador a few times now and it never disappoints. Â The best time to come is definitely during HH. Â Living on a budget, it's really the only time I ever come here. Â BUT just a note, there are NO drink specials during HH. Â ONLY FOOD, which, I am perfectly fine with. Â
HH is every day from 4-6pm and 10pm-1am
**FOOD**
NACHOS - First, let me just start off by saying that my boyfriend and I order ONE and we can't finish all of it. Â And we are not light eaters. Â Second, these are only $5 at HH. Â I repeat 2 grown adults get 1 for only $5. Â This is the best steal (and the best nachos) in all of Seattle. Â Truth. Â This is what keeps us coming back to Matador. Â It's a huge plate of nachos LOADED with cheese, beans, pico de gallo, GUAC, AND sour cream (no extra charge!)
ANCHO CHIPOTLE WINGS - I've had better wings. Â The sauce was good, but a little sweet for me. Â And it wasn't spicy enough. Â And they came out a little cold. Â No bueno. Buuut they were only $5 at HH so it's all good. Â No regrets there.
TEX MEX SPRING ROLLS - These are actually so good. Â They're deep fried, sort of like taquitos but much thicker and way more filling. Â They're stuffed with shredded chicken, black bean, corn, and sour cream. Yum!
**DRINKS**
BEERS - draft beers are $4.50 - pretty standard.
MARGARITAS & SANGRIAS - these are damnnn good. Â I've tried the HOUSE, BARTENDER'S, and CUSTOM margaritas and they are all incredibly well made and they make them strong ;) Â I've also tried both the RED and WHITE PEACH sangrias and they are delicious.
**SERVICE**
The service here is consistently good. Â Your glass gets refilled with water always, servers come around often.
Note: this place gets really packed, so prepare to wait if you're coming on a weekend.
Lovin' that Happy Hour. $4 nachos (+ extra $ for meats, chorizo is delicious), steak tacos, and steak burrito (lunch/dinner menu) are bomb dot com. The nachos are literally a mountain of tortilla chips, cheese, and meats so plan on sharing or bring your A-Game.
For HH it's best to get here right around 4pm, as more people tend to trickle in around 5pm and fill up the place. Service is friendly and attentive even when the going gets busy. Easily in my top 5 for Mexi-Food!
I only ever get the happy hour nachos or tacos. Salads are mediocre (definitely don't get the romaine outside of happy hour, unless you like fishy salads. I asked for a different dressing, but in the end I realized I bought a $9 salad with just romaine lettuce and vinaigrette... WASTE of money).
They have delicious cocktails, the blackberry and strawberry margaritas are tasty and STRONG, the sangria's (red and white) are yummy as well. They only have food on their happy hour menu, if you're going in for drinks, expect $8 a drink.
I have been here numerous times but only for their amazing happy hour! Â Large portions and all food items $5 and they have a LOT of choices. Â I may try their dinner some day but hard to pay $12 for something you can get for $5! Â Parking is free either on the street but I recommend the free parking lot in the back then you can use the rear enterance of the restaurant.
Review Source:Ugh! Â Too long of a wait for food. Â We came at around 1:50 and as I draft this review at 2:20, we are still waiting for food. Â To make matters worse, when the food finally arrived the meat in the tacos we ordered tasted like sloppy joe meat.
My suggestion would be to drink tequila. Â Although a friend said she had their happy hour nachos and they were really good. Â I'll try their food again and maybe this time I'll drink tequila first. Â I'm sure everything tastes better after throwing a few back, SMH..
DIET-FRIENDLY.
Yeah; you heard me. Everybody knows about the nachos at the Matador. They ARE really good. And their tequila selection? Lovely. But what about people that are on wacky self-imposed "eat clean" programs? 'This be the spot.
Since Matador seems ubiquitous in the Pacific Northwest, it seemed like a place where they may have something that my friend and I could eat. (You think I'm going to eat clean on my own? If I am descending into food-he**, I'm taking somebody with me.) I was prepared that I would only be able to eat maybe a dry salad, pico de gallo, and maybe some beans...and was I surprised when that was not the case!
Our waitperson (gawd, I love good service) listened to our food woes. (I think my homie was outright weeping at the table.) She smiled brightly and said, "Oh, we have a menu binder that has EVERY INGREDIENT in our food! Let me get it." Homie looked up from his tear-soaked napkin in disbelief.
She made some recommendations, and we scoured the menu binder. SO MUCH STUFF WE COULD EAT. Unbelievable. Do you know hard it is to find food without sugar, soy, guar gum, dairy, alcohol, non-grain/white potato carbs??
The chef made the food with our omission requests. It was delicious! I had the Chicken Limon with broccolini, while my friend had the Carne Asada with beans--sans a couple of things.
Even though I'll be done with this program in 4 weeks, I'll ALWAYS remember Matador and how good they treated us. I'll celebrate with an anejo, and [we] will clink our nacho plates with joy.
So...walking up, such a nice entry...then walking in - a heavy red curtain is exactly what I wanted to see, walking in to a restaurant called "The Matador". Pull it back and voila! Beautiful rich wood, wrought iron and a cozy fire pit beckon. Love the vibe. Where to sit? Friendly wait staff ask and direct. We select a small table for two, I'm not even settled on to the comfortable stool, when water and warm tortilla chip and salsa appear with a smile. Queso Fundido, OMG eye-rolling amazing. Our entrees were good-though I expected my braised pork carnitas to be more moist and my sister makes better guacamole-plus the guac was a strange color. Â I would recommend the "scratch" margarita over the "house". But the service..wow, where do they find these people? Really great collaborative service. Definitely will visit again!
Review Source:pretty impressive. Â i brought my food allergy group, sensitive in seattle, here for dinner and drinks and the food was pretty good. Â i had the prawn fajitas off the gluten-free menu and they were pretty good. Â the side of black beans were the best part - delicious! Â others had the gluten-free tacos and hubby had vegetarian enchiladas. Â everyone was happy with their selections.
i like that they offer tequila flights, so if tequila's a new friend (like it is for me) or an old friend and you know just how you like her, you can get shots of a style or brand. Â i had the don julio flight and learned that i only like blanco and that don julio is great.
they salted the rims for me and gave me plenty of limes. Â our server was excellent and helped me choose my tequila flight. Â the margaritas are good, too. Â i don't know that i would go out of my way to eat here (i prefer real mexican food), but it's a good place to meetup with friends where i know i can eat.
I love this place. But if wasn't for Danny it would only get 4 stars. Â
The first thing I appreciate is there is easy parking in the West Seattle free lots. Then, it's 21+ so now loud kids. Â Best of all the drinks and food are always consistently good. The happy hour menu is yummy, but my favorite are the shrimp fajitas.
Plus, the booths and vibe is very nice.
But the real winner for us is adding an outstanding server. We always try to sit in the same section as we've found there is one star in that place that knows how to take care of her customers. She realized we had become regulars even before we did!
We've only had a couple bad experiences, and each time it was with the same server. So we've learned to avoid that particular lady.
I know a lot of people rave about the nachos, but I think there is a lot tastier - and healthier - options on the menu.
Oh, Matador, you knew I couldn't stay away for long....
I used to be a regular at this bar several years ago when I first moved to Seattle and lived a short drive away. They serve great drinks and have the most delicious quesadilla's ever. I moved away, quickly realized it was the best Matador of the chain, and pushed the tasty margaritas out of my mind.
Now I'm back but I gave up drinking tequila, in any form, almost two years ago. That lasted one week. Leave it to Matador to be the place to pull me back into tequila's not-so-warm embrace. *sigh*
Best Tex-Mex Ive had in Seattle! Had some friends in town-- the happy hour and bar snacky food menu was perfect for a meet-up. Â Killer tunes, happy atmosphere, and great service! Our server was workin hard but took real good care
of us:) her name was kylie, and I told her her service was yelp worthy, so here I am!
I go here for late night happy hour which has good prices.
Usually order their Romaine Salad which is the most tasty salad I've ever had. I love it and come here just for the salad. If you get the nachos for happy hour which I recommend - hot damn! you get a lot of frickin' nachos. Like a lot. (=
Drinks can be a hit or miss on the margaritas depending on which bartender makes the drinks. So I usually go for a basic cocktail which is a-ok.
Employees are pretty, sometimes not the most personable... but not ever rude.
Atmosphere is really cool, love the decor, and has a cool fire pit thing.
Overall: would recommend this place.
Awesome! These guys are doing it right-- the lady and I stopped in for dinner last night and everything was spot on. This was the first time we'd ventured away from the standard Happy Hour fare and we were pleasantly surprised!
-- Goat cheese stuffed jalapeños rocked! I could make a meal out of these alone.
-- Prawn Timbada blew us away-- it's like a Mexi jambalaya, with chicken and chorizo in super garlicky, tomatoey rice, served in a cast iron skillet, topped with two huge skewers of grilled prawns. Oh. My. God.
-- there was an app special with a mass cake, pork, avocado and pickled veggies that I can't remember the name of but it was absolutely killer.
The drinks were great, and strong, the way they're known for at the Matador! The GM even came and cracked some jokes at the table. That guy is hilarious and has a beard that Geoege Michael would be jealous of.
We can't wait to come back.
Well my girl friend and I decided to finally try this place. Â We have been going to all the other places in the area, but finally said well we should probably try The Matador... Â
Hmmmm well that was a MISTAKE! Â First off the waitress that sat us was a complete and total B%tch! Â Her attitude when she sat us was rude and snobby. Â My girl friend said she had a negative vibe right off the bat. Â When she came back over to take an order for drinks she says in a condescending attitude "well would you like anything other then water to drink". Â We had only been seated for maybe 30 seconds. Â I asked her what was on tap and she gave me a sigh like I shouldn't be ordering a beer! Â She rattles off in hyper speed what is on tap and its all so so beers that I can find anywhere. Â I order a Mac n Jacks which is a decent beer, but it was honestly the only thing I could understand out of her mouth. Â So helpful level so far is pretty poor. Â My girl friend says she will just stick with water and the waitress sighs again and then says I need to see IDs. Â That is not an issue I pull mine right out and she seems to have an attitude when I take about 10 seconds to get it out... Â The waitress then looks at my girl friend and says "and yours too"! Â My girl friend looks up and goes ummm ok. Â We both look at each other and kinda think that's odd cause we are not seated at the bar and she didn't order any alcohol... Â Well my girl friend left her ID at home in another bag cause she had been on a bike ride earlier in the day. Â (I have my Washington State Liquor License). Â The waitress then says "well both of you need to leave then." Â I ask why and she says well she doesn't have ID and we can't serve you and she then grabs the menus and stares us down. Â We were seated in an area well away from the main bar and there is a partition between the main seating area and the bar. Â There are no signs on the front of the restaurant that say 21 and up. Â In my experience if you a bar only then you have your 21 and up deal on the front door. Â It's fine if that is the deal, but you dont have to treat us like low life scum.
Maybe Im out of line here, but this was the worst experience I have had in a couple years. Â This waitress should lose her job for being so unreasonably rude to us. Â It amazes me that some people can be so blatantly rude. Â If she had been nicer about it we would have just run back to the house real quick and grabbed the ID, but instead we walked down the street and had an awesome dinner at Elliot Bay! Â At least there we have always had amazing service and the food is always good. Â At The Matador you can't even read the menu its so darn dark in there.
We left feeling like we got kicked out cause my girl friend didn't want to drink and it was cause I ordered a beer and not tequila...
I was someone who was excited to try this place and now I will never attempt to try this place again. Â Good luck on your poor service and super low lighting...
First time in, have been told that it was good. Â Didn't eat, just had a cocktail and some friendly convo with someone who sat next to me. Â
Definitely the place for mid-20's to early-40's in our neighborhood and, while I felt comfortable there, it was a little trendier than I typically like. Â That's fine, the drink was good and the people seemed nice.
But, when Salt-n-Peppa "Push It" came on, I had to leave. Â That kind of garbage is more suitable for crappy discos and sportsbars.
I have been here a few times, food is usually pretty good. I did have a bad visit a few weeks ago when I ordered the tamales special they had going. The first one was great, the second one had a nice, long, black hair running through it....I will refrain from the rest of those details, but you can imagine. The waitress offered to bring me a new dish, but as you can guess, I was just done.
They did remove my lunch from the bill - a little disappointed they didn't credit the whole thing, but not going to stew on that.
Believe it or not, I did return a couple of weeks ago and everything turned out great as did the visits prior to my hair experience. I am confident after a couple more visits I should be able to bring this up a star.
This is so far the only perfectly delicious Mexican place I've found in all of Seattle. La Carta de Oaxaca in Ballard ain't bad, The Saint in Capitol Hill has great cocktails, but not great food, and Rancho Bravo in Cap Hill and Mama's downtown, while popular, leave much to be desired. This place has it all.
Tequila flights. Delicious carne asada fajitas. FREE yummy chips and fresh salsa. I absolutely loved their pomegranate margarita and their sangria was bomb.
The decor was sweet  - skulls and flames in wrought steel (maybe? I don't know my metals), with dark wood and stained glass.
Really awesome. I can't wait to go back.
Don't go here very often but have been several times nevertheless. The food can be good but it's possible to get maxed out on chipotle everything. Lots of Mexican places around so have gotten a little tired of the fare.
Went on 4th of July since it was about the only place open. Opted for the burger. Not a bad way to see how they handle a relatively simple item. Unless I'm grinding the meat myself, always order the burger well done.
Burger arrived, nicely charred on the outside. Got to the center and an irregular piece was completely raw. Looks like it was still frozen when it went on the broiler. Informed the server that the middle of the burger was raw and not well-done as I requested. She seemed a little confused. I did my best Gordon Ramsey and dissected the burger with my knife while saying, "Look --- it's RAW."
So the server offered to comp the burger or get another one for us. That's the way it should have been handled so, nice job there.
We had some things to do the following weekend. I mentioned that, if we get sick over the next 3 or 4 days, we'll know what it was. So I got a nasty case of the runs exactly 4 days later. Of course I can't prove that it was from the Matador burger, but the timing was right.
So when the customer asks for a burger WELL-DONE, it's REALLY IMPORTANT that you cook it WELL-DONE. They usually don't find out until they have consumed RAW GROUND BEEF. It's possible to kill people with this.
Good job by the server so, 2-stars. Serving/eating raw ground beef of uncertain origin is really, really dumb.
This was our second stop for my gf and I of HH bar hopping in West Seattle Lol.
The place was totally packed for HH and they even had to take peoples name down if you wanted a booth instead of sitting at the bar.
I had a Mojito and my gf ordered a Margarita which were both very strong. One of the best Mojito I have had in Seattle. We also got prawns with habanero sauce which were extremely hot in flavor. Their HH menu of food items were all $5 a plate and I saw that they had a huge order of nachos which were very tempting.
A big plus was the bartender gave us a complimentary order of chips and salsa. Very good salsa and the chips were served warm!!!
I wanted to like Matador. Its so mysterious and alluring from the outside. Finally yesterday we decided to check it out.
I get they dont take reservations; I do. That being said it seemed a little disorganized friday night when there isn't even a hostess stand. "I'll get you when a table become available" might make more sense if you had- oh I dunno- a list of names, in an order of when they arrived; perhaps how many people are in the party. That isn't a reservation, thats called organization. This lacking skill was apparent when I watched as people kept coming in and talking to different severs. How can they possibly co-ordinate that without a list? The answer is they don't. This being said I wont hold it against the servers since obviously its the lack of foresight of the owner at fault there.
Whist waiting I took in the decor. While Matador appears chic outside, on the inside it feels cheap. The style is attempting to be gothic Spain, but feels like an imitation of that. Something out of Vegas, maybe? Between the tribal-esque designs inlayed on the tables, The tribal cow skull stained glass "art" behind the bar, the excess crosses, and the bull skulls slung around the walls, it just felt contrived.
Ambiently the lighting was moody, which I feel fit the attempted theme. Noise level is high, not from the music, but just poor acoustics.
Drinks were okay. Food not so much. Of our entire party, each item ordered had a mistake. Beef medallions were overcooked (well done vs medium), Shrimp tacos replaced with fish tacos, corn tortillas for fajitas replaced with flour. I have to say I've never been to a restaurant where *everyones* order was incorrect; impressive, but for the wrong reasons.
I doubt I'll ever bother going back to Matador. Perhaps during happy hour, but outside of that I can spend my money on a much better dining experience and for less money.
After a long night at work, I wanted to relax a bit and have a drink. Â Someone suggested the Matador since they have a great late night HH menu. Â So my hubby and I walked into this place passing through curtains and once inside it was pretty dark. Â We decided to sit at the table with the fireplace. Â So the HH menu had different types of tacos, quesadillas, nachos, chicken wings, your usual bar food. Â They were $5 a plate. Â We ended up ordering white wine, garlic prawns and the spicy calamari. Â The prawns were really good and the calamari was perfect. Â Not rubbery and not too much coating. Â Pretty good for 5 bucks each. Â The wine was good also. Â Too bad they didn't have drink specials though. Â
The ambiance was nice and cozy, very romantic. Â It was like being on a date with the hubby. Â He also liked the place. Â We pass by this place all the time and it's too bad it took us forever just to try this place. Â Can't wait to come for lunch or dinner.
There's really one reason that you come to this place... Tamarind Margarita. So f*&%ing amazing. Don't limit your self to the straw. The sugar and cinnamon rimmed glass really adds to the experience. And yes - this drink alone is the entire reason the place gets 3 stars.
That being said, the food is decent too... but nothing to write home about.
One thing that is inexcusable in my opinion though is bad service. Refusing to split a bill, even when requested prior to ordering is crazy. When the table goes through the trouble of splitting the bill for you, and you then choose to modify the amounts they selected for each card... seriously WTF.
By the way - since when was there tax ON TOP of tip. This is the only place I've ever seen that.
I'm pretty ashamed of myself for not checking out The Matador sooner. How could I have missed something so great for so long?
My girlfriend and I went for Happy Hour and went home mighty happy an hour later! We order the steak tacos, nachos, calamari, and a margarita all for $20 or so. If you tried to get nachos or steak tacos any where else in the Junction, you'd be paying around $13 just for the one item.
The food was amazing and was brought out to us extremely quick. Including the time it took us to decide, eat, and then sit and let our bellys rest, I'd say we were in and out within an hour or less. Speedy service and the girls were really nice.
There were a lot of people there when I went, but it wasn't loud and obnoxious like some of the other places I've been to in the Junction past 11:30 pm on a Friday night. I didn't have to yell really loud to make sure my girlfriend heard me and I wasn't distracted by a bunch of drunk broads falling all over the place. :)
Okay. Â The food is really tasty, I'll give you that. Â But seriously...when you have to hold the candle up to read the menu...WTF?! Â Turn on some freaking lights! Â Or at least pass out some tiny flashlights. Â I was lighting my lighter while my friend used the candle. Â I felt like I was at a Pink Floyd concert or something.
Anyway. Â The food is really tasty.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 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
