El Cholo

Always good food with amazing service. Our kids love this place and the margaritas are awesome

I came here for the first time yesterday. The food here was so good, although I kinda forgot the name of what I ordered, I think it was «Annie [something] California» in the enchilada section. Holy sh*t I was not expecting it to be so delicious. The description made it sound kinda weird and it was a bit sweet but it worked! Came with rice and beans and was about $ 12.50. The waitress was really nice and quick with the refills.

This was my first time trying this location (been to the La Habra and Downtown LA) and I wasn’t disappointed. The service was excellent, we were seated immediately. The waiter was very friendly and the food was served fast. My wife and I both the carnitas special and it was great. We will definitely be back.

Love this place. My first time here, I’ll be back!

This is the best Mexican food ever. It is so delicious. Ivan our server was super nice. This is the first time my son and I have been here. I will be coming here from now on to get my Mexican food fix.

Been to the El Cholo in LA and this one. For some reason the one in LA was better for me. The food even tasted different. Good happy hour with the El Cholo margaritas. The HH quesadilla… not so much.

Our first time here, the food was great and plenty of it. Our waiter Martin was super nice, he really took the time to visit with us and get to know us and explain the history of this 90 year old same family owned business. That says a lot about a business when an employee is that engaged, something you just don’t see much of anymore.
I would defiantly recommend this place, a very good lunch and a very warm and friendly place.

I’m not a margarita girl (anymore), but when it comes to El Cholo’s «LA Lemonade» I gladly make the exception. I will not drink anybody else’s margs BUT theirs. They taste good, they don’t rip you off on the tequila… it’s all good. The food is great too. Love their tableside guac and their enchiladas suiza. They get a 4 instead of 5, because sometimes the service is great and sometimes not so much. It makes a huge difference in the dining experience if you have great service. But I’m a fan and have been back many times.

Great food. Amazing service. We found it on a whim and keep coming back. The crab enchiladas are to die for!

Items too pricey and quality not good. We ordered table side guacamole for $ 13, and what we got was not worth $ 5. It wasn’t even prepared table side. Apparently, they prepare the guacamole in the kitchen. It seemed like they used only one avocado. And it lacked flavor.
More to come. We haven’t ordered lunch yet.
Part 2
Lunch was good. Service was better. Liz and Ivan were perfect. Ask for them.

My family and I have been coming here almost monthly for over two years. We grew up in SoCal so we are picky when it comes to Mexican food. El Cholo does not disappoint in quality or quantity. The only knock I could give them is sometimes you might get lower than average service, but that is rare.
I’ve had almost everything on the menu and it will satisfy the most hungry carnivore and please the happy soup and salad herbivore.
My personal favorite is the fajitas.
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The warm chips and well balanced salsa with a Diet Coke and brother you’re in heaven! Enjoy!

We met at El Cholo for a happy hour/​Christmas party with our friends from Loan Simple, Inc and it was very pleasant. We occupied one back corner of the restaurant where we could network and mingle without disturbing the regulars. Flavorful dishes and drinks. Perfect spot for a business meeting.

Love this place been going to the original location for years and was worried the quality would not be the same but I was wrong the food and service is still top notch.
Second time here forgot to review last time but when it’s good you need say something if tour close stop by.

«This is not the El Tortito you are looking for.»
It’s waaaay better. Great food, amazing service and a great experience all around. I highly suggest the carnitas Cantina tacos (in the bar during fiesta hour) as the flavors are better than most of the greasy-​assed Taquerias around. If you are not into sitting on the bar top cause you are some sort of sober weirdo or have some screaming kids, then order the green corn tamales or fajitas out in boothland as they are not to be missed.

In short: great service but food was alright.
Went there for my cousins birthday dinner. There was 7 of us. It was nice of them to let us sit on the table since three of us got there earlier than rest of the group instead of having us wait in the area. Well I mean their waiting is quite small with only two chairs.
Their complimentary chips are good! But salsa to be honest I have had better. We were bunch of indians and that means we would like our salsa to be big spicy — we asked for spicer salsa and even that was pretty mild for us! But then he bought us chopped chilies and it did the magic!
Our waiter recommended La Lemonade margarita and it was bomb! I think that was my favorite part of the meal (not to sound like an alcoholic).
— guacamole was pretty decent
— cheese enchiladas were alright… proportions are big (my brother and I shared it)
— flan was pretty good actually
— chicken tostada looked bomb, I didn’t try it but my cousin said he liked it

So I’ve been here before about three or four times years ago. I remember this place to be amazing but it is anything but. In recent events, I’ve been seeing a lot of people saying this place isn’t very good and now I can see why.
I came here yesterday most recently with my family, and right off the bat we had good service. There wasn’t a long wait time, but there were a lot of people coming in. The waiting area in the front is super tiny, literally only two chairs. You can sit outside where they have two more benches but on a hot summer day it’s not ideal so we just stood inside.
We were seated relatively quickly, our server was so nice and was helpful to any questions we had.
Complimentary chips and salsa: (3 out of 5)
The flavor was good but it was pretty watery. However, my sister didn’t care for it at all.
Guacamole: (3 out of 5)
It wasn’t that great to be honest. Didn’t taste bad, but it could’ve been better. It was definitely a litter watery, most probably because of too many tomatoes.
Cheese Enchilada with Cilantro Rice and Black Beans: (2 out of 5)
Me, my brother, and my mom got this and I did not like it at all. It was swimming in cheese and oil, and the cheese wasn’t even fully melted. The cilantro rice was decent but it had more flavor when mixed in with the enchilada sauce on the plate. However, my mom and my sister didn’t think it was that bad so maybe it’s just a matter of preference.
Nachos: (2 out of 5)
This was also swimming in cheese with close to no flavor which is odd for nachos. At least this time the cheese was melted.
Overall, great service less than decent food.

Fine
El Cholo is decent, but I think the name «El Waspy» would be more appropriate.
We got seated pretty quickly — it wasn’t that packed for a Friday night. Our server was on point, with drinks and requests being taken care of immediately. The food was also solid, but kind of odd too. I had this quesadilla concoction that used aged cheddar and that didn’t fully work for me. The four-​cheese blend at every other Mexican restaurant would have been preferred. The aged cheddar just didn’t work half way through with the rest of the ingredients. It started strong, but grew tired quickly. Still, it wasn’t terrible by any means.
So far so good, right? Well, this is where it went downhill. Our great server just went AWOL. We went from getting A+ service to getting D service. We waited forever for boxes and our check. And by forever I mean a solid 25+ minutes of just waiting there. My wife and I weren’t in a hurry and were fine just sitting, but still that was a bit ridiculous. And then of course another long wait to get the card back. I know people get busy, but it was like he went on his lunch break and no one covered our table.
I don’t think that’s a normal occurrence here, but it did kill the experience a bit.
I might come back — I’ll just get something else and check the waiters break schedule.

I used to go to El Cholo with my co-​workers for its mango margarita.
Ordered mango margarita green corn tamales, chimichanga combo plate & fresh guac.
Chips & salsa: complimentary chips and salsa. I couldn’t stop eating these. The chips were fresh and crispy and the salsa was delish.
Mango margarita: I couldn’t taste the mango in the mango margarita and it was a disappointment.
Green corn tamales (1923) with shredded beef: corn off the cobb, cheddar cheese and Ortega chile, steamed in its own husk, beans & rice ($ 11.95): the tamales were slightly sweet and kinda good. It is only available May-​October.
Chimichanga combo plate: not too bad.
Fresh guac: I was being greedy ordering full size instead of half size… it was way too much: P Not as good as fresh guac at the other El Cholo locations.
Our waiter was friendly and helpful.
3 stars!
El Cholo is almost yummylicious!

I am a fan of El Cholo. It’s one of the places I often go to with my parents when visiting them in the OC. We typically went to the Irvine location but that has since closed/​relocated, so we drove to Anaheim Hills.
I am a creature of habit and get the Blue Corn Chicken Enchiladas every time. The enchiladas are reliably tasty each time I come and this visit was no exception.
On this visit my dad got a #4 and commented that they seemed differently prepared that the Irvine location and he rated it just OK. My sister ordered the Annie special (?) and noted that the recipe seems to have changed though the menu description has not. So they weren’t quite as satisfied with their meal as I was. They weren’t miserable with their food though either.
The guacamole, prepared table-​side gets 2 ½−3 stars because it lacked a little flavor. We realized after we’d all dished it out onto our individual plates that it lacked some lime juice and a dash of salt.
Our server, Sergio, gets 5-​stars for his friendly, attentive service. He was delightful.
Overall, I still give El Cholo my 4-​stars because I left happy and satisfied. I’ll likely be back on another trip to CA.

El Cholo looks like a family style traditional restaurant inside with some lounge chairs and sofas on one side of the room for drinks and causal dining. Not the most chic of places for a happy hour and you might stand out among all the families enjoying a dinner with their kids if you and your party are a bit loud and having a good time after a couple of margaritas.
Coworkers and I went to El Cholo on a Friday evening after work for Happy Hour. They have a pretty decent deal that includes $ 6 house margaritas and appetizers. This was my second visit and after my first experience with ordering their $ 2 street style corn on the cob and $ 6 ceviche tostada I was looking forward to ordering the same thing again.
My second food and service experience was a bit disappointing. We showed up with a group of around 6 people and the restaurant was far from busy. I figured we’d soon be greeted by one the waitstaff in their traditional Mexican dresses and offered some happy hour specials. This was not the case. After 15 minutes someone finally had to get up and find someone to take our orders. The staff was not apologetic for the wait but we let it go, just wanting to enjoy our night and get some margaritas in our system.
When the drinks finally came it took around 15 minutes before our orders were taken. My corn on the cob was not as tasty as it was the last time I had it. The ceviche was good, they give you a decent amount for the price and add a scoop of guacamole on the side. The table ordered some guacamole and a server actually comes over and asks what spice level you’d like and mashes it for you on the spot — pretty cool!
My friend ordered the 2 tacos for $ 2 and described them as some of the best happy hour tacos he ever had noting how juicy and tender the carne asada was. My other coworker ordered the nachos. If you’re looking for a heap of nachos with all the fixings, don’t order them here, you’ll be disappointed. Her plate looked like a bed of nachos with some cheese thrown on top and heated up for a few minutes. No toppings, just flat chips and cheese.
The waiters hardly ever checked on us or refilled our drinks and when they did finally ask if I wanted a refill I declined because I figured it would take another 20 minutes before the drink ever got to me.
This won’t be my first choice of happy hour locations again but if you’re in the area and are looking for some Mexican sit down food, I’d recommend the ceviche and tacos.