El Torito Mexican Restaurant & Cantina

Decided to eat here after walking out of the joint next-​door from horrible service… What’s it called? Something brewery, I don’t remember. Anyway, this place had above average service and pretty decent food. If i’m ever back in San Diego, I’ll probably go back!

Juts because it’s the HH place of choice for my co-​workers and its two blocks from my place, I’ve been here several times.
The HH deals are pretty good and the margaritas can creep up into ya.
I’m not talking high quality here. But they’ve got room to accommodate your crowded masses and sometimes its the people more than the place that makes a good time.
The platter is usually a mess of dry fried mexicali grease food. OH well. Drinks up.

Not this review matters since it is now CLOSED, but you will have to now go to Mira Mesa to get some El Torito Tacos and and Happy Hours

Their mango margaritas are the best I’ve had.
If it weren’t for the damn hill at UCSD, I would have went there every day.

I’ve been here 3 times. Twice for the taco Tuesday with friends from work. This time, I popped in for lunch on a Saturday.
The restaurant was empty when I walked in, yet the hostess told us it would be a 10 minute wait for my table for 2. They were pretty short-​staffed for a weekend, and it showed with the service. It took about an hour to get the food from the time the order was taken.
This isn’t the best place to go if you’re on a diet. The menus list the calories now, and are all in excess of 700cals. Pretty big portions!
I ordered the chile rellano, which is my favorite entrée on their menu (if you love excessive cheesy goodness). The combo came with an enchilada (rather plain, and stuffed with more cheese), a sea of refried beans covered in more cheese, and a huge pile of rice with a mini corn-​bread scoop.
Although I didn’t order this time, the fried ice cream is pretty good here+it is chocolate chip ice cream with a crunchy shell, and is served on a bed of cinnamon tortilla crisps.
Overall:
*This location usually has crappy service. Taco Tuesday prices give them some redemption, but the Mira Mesa location is much better.
*Cheap drinks $ 3 happy hour
*A very accommodating place for large groups, kids, noisy/​uncouth friends

Someone tell me why it took our waitress to 20 mins to acknowledge us, take a drink order or WHY IN HELL you would take my half-​eaten taco to clear my plate. A simple «are you done?» would’ve sufficed. I lied, I don’t really need to waste any time of someone telling me how this happened. Fix it El Torito.
So I get it… I served tables for 5+ years throughout college, so you will get a fat tip from me even if I get slightly reasonable service. The flip side to that is that I will have a conversation with the manager, put up a bad review on Unilocal and on rare occaisions call a corporate office if necessary. I know how this works.
To Our Waitress:
Instead of treating each table as a two-​top taking drink orders, going to the computer to put it in, the going back to the table while (possibly) making rounds to other table just treat your entire bars as ONE BIG PARTY! Take all orders at once! One trip to the computer, one trip to the bar well, one return trip around the bar. If they need you, all you have to say is «I am going to drop these drinks off and I will be right with you. Thanks for being so patient.» Smile and move on.
DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT with a patron without acknolweding them. Oh, here’s another one, ASK FOR HELP. Don’t let yourself get slammed while the bartender giggle and watch the game. I know the restaurant was not busy because I asked and there was NO WAIT. Maybe I should right a book about how to be a good server, or maybe you should quit your job to I can have a better experience at these Happy Hours that i usually enjoy.
Thanks,
Customer «Stuck a chair at the side of a two top to accomodate us then let the ice in my drink melt as it sat in the drink well on 7.19.11»
By the Way… loved the cheap tacos and the strawberry marg on the rocks when I finally got them back. La Jolla will not get my business again, but other El Toritos will.

2.5 stars-​Man, how is this place still open?! This place is just as worse as Cozymels, or maybe better since they have a better menu for happy hour. Bad americanized Mexican food.
My coworkers and I came here for happy hour, everything in happy hour was pretty good (price, menu, food) but man, our service was HORRIBLE. Our waitress never came around. We asked for napkins, utensils, our orders… and an hour later it came… well just the food. I waited for my beer for an hour, so my buzz was gone, then I just went to the bar to get my beer and it only took 1 minute! We never got our napkins, I had to go to the bathroom to get bathroom napkins. Yes we were desperate! Eating food by hand, esp Mexican food we needed napkins.
Also our waitress messed up soooo bad on our bill, she put some of our other party on our bill (they sat at different tables). Her defense was probably, it was a big party, but she didn’t write down any of our orders and we told her umm aren’t you going to write it down, «oh I can remember it» MY ASS.
If you are going to go to happy, don’t get a waitress or order from the waitress (she’ll tell you it’s easier, no it’s not – she just want the service) Just go to the bar and get everything from the bartender. He was so much faster and I think he knew what he was doing.

Standard chain-​restaurant Mexican food. Nothing special. Tortilla soup is pretty good.
The thing I love about El Torito is their Taco Tuesdays/​Happy Hour! Nothing makes a college kid happier than $ 3 margaritas and $ 1 tacos. Neither are especially good or bad, but damn are they cheap. I can get decently buzzed and be well-​fed for $ 20. Money well-​spent!!!

While my chemistry group meets in Convoy, my psychology group meets here to socialize. The happy hour is cheap. I like the drinks but it could be stronger. The food is very decent. Even though 90% of my friends are Latino due to being in MEChA, I’ve never acquire or developed their sophisticated palate for Mexican food. Mainly because they love Asian food and we always go to Asian restaurants.
So, I actually really like the food here and it fills me up – which is hard to do. But no, it’s definitely not mind-​blowing food and definitely not what I’d call authentic Mexican. Order the fiesta grande platter during happy hour when it’s cheap and try for yourself. You’ll know if you are going hate or like the food here since you get quite a lot to sample.
But I do like it and like this place.
I’ve never been treated bad here with slow service or impolite servers. They give me a new chips and salsa basket when the old one is empty. They have karaōke. And they have a great Sunday brunch.

I’ve only ever come for taco tuesdays. I used to come every tuesday until work and bingo started getting in the way. $ 1 tacos if you order a drink. I usually get a virgin margarita. mmm so good
Service during happy hour sucks balls. There’s a blonde waiter that is ALWAYS in a rush and kind of a bitch. All the other waiters are always
The only plus is this old busser that is super super nice and always refills my chips whenever he sees me.
Get the flautas. You will thank me. do not forget to ask for the RED PEPPER SAUCE or you can just call it orange sauce. You will most likely have to tell the waiter when you order it then two more times after because they never remember. We’ve started tipping based on how many times we ask for the sauce.
There are lemons around the salsa stand DONT TAKE THEM unless you want to get yelled at like i was –_​_​_​– Ask the bartender because the waiter will not remember if you ask them.

Spicy! Even their salsa that they serve with chips is spicy.
Margaritas are bad, waste of money. They do not pour any alcohol in them.

TACO TUESDAYS!
I love how they also have $ 3 strawberry margarita for their happy hour but OMG service is slow! My friends and I stopped by today, got seated around 7:45ish and had to ask 3 different workers before we could get our order in! After about 20 minutes, we asked the first waiter to take our order but simply replied with «I’ll go find you your waitress.» After another 15 minutes we asked a 2^nd waiter for assistance and he wondered off to find our waitress. Another 10 minutes or so pass by and we get the manager to come help… only to get the same response we’ve been getting the entire night, «I’ll go find your waitress.»
WOW REALLY?! so after a total of 45 minutes of just sitting around waiting to be served, we get our order in and finally get our tacos.
Needless to say, the food is alright here but the service is absolutely ridiculous! Next time I’d just drive out to PB to avoid the frustration that comes with this place =[

Cheap taco tuesday…
TT: dolla tacos (carne asada, chicken, or carnitas), 3 dolla margaritas
1. First, I’m laughing a Mike C’s prior review about not having the runs after eating here. It’s so true because when I thought of eating at El Torito, I thought yikes, I’m eating at risk here. However, I haven’t been here in years and this is what my girl picked out for HH, so why not?! I’ll get my diaper ready…
2. I was surprised to come in and see a «taco station» to the right with ladies rolling out freshly made tortillas. So basically you order your tacos with the waitress and bring the receipt to the taco ladies to make for you. By the way, our waitress Jenn was awesome!
3. My carnitas tacos were pretty good, not the best, but not the worst! I didn’t try the chicken and the carne asada was kinda fatty, but still ok. Can’t beat $ 3 dolla margaritas! Didn’t savor any but you can read Mike C’s review for the low down…
4. Didn’t need the diaper! Yipeee!

Hey… at least I didnt have the runs right after…
Somehow Taco Tuesday becomes a very busy place in this establishment; but the only thing making Taco Tuesday worthwhile is having good conversations with friends and random people… and NOT the tacos.
Does having an old latina lady making you your taco make it more authentic… not necessarily with this place.
Chicken tacos — this is sub sub-​par!!! Even lower than Taco Bell chicken tacos. What part of the chicken was this? Very runny, they may have boiled the chicken first before grilling it. This to me, degradates the flavor of the chicken itself.
Steak tacos — I had the impression it was carne asada, but when it was served, it was nothing at all steak. Sure it is steak, but from what… horse, kangaroo, donkey? The season was off, not marinated.
I mean $ 1 taco tuesday can be steal, but is it worth it?
$ 3 margarita Tuesdays…
House margarita — sour mix overpowered the tequila and tasted more like lemonade. But wait… lemonade these days cost $ 3, so I guess its a win in that sort… but this maragarita is just average (on the rocks)
Strawberry margarita — just like house margarita, the blend mix overpowered the tequila flavor, plus no taste in the strawberry.
Mango margarita — not bad, they may have actually used a mango mix, which totally have fooled me… average.
Piña colada margarita — more on the colada, not so much on the pina, again the mix overpowred the tequila flavor.
What’s holding me back from a 2-​star review is the fact that the ambience exceeds the food quality. And when I mean ambience, no not El Torito, but enjoying a conversation or two with frends and random people. Having a good time with others can go a long way… and oh… not having the runs too is a plus.

This rating is for the regular dinner, because if I had to rate it for taco Tuesdays, I’d have to give it a 1 – 2 stars because of Enrique’s horrible service!
But, because of the great service I had here the other night, I’ve decided to forget about the horrible taco Tuesday experience and write my review based on the other night.
So my lady and I had to get some good Mexican food after we had a not so good experience the night before. Our waiter Jesus was honestly one of the best waiters I’ve seen in a while. Honestly. El Torito bosses, if you are reading this, give Jesus a raise because he honestly deserves it.
But why Alex?
This guy had our water/​chips and salsa refilled before we even noticed it needed refilling, he came over and asked us how we were doing multiple times, and he was in a good mood despite the racist old white guy sitting a couple tables over talking loudly about Mexicans this and Mexicans that.
I ended up getting an original margarita and a steak enchilada. Both were very good, but I’m no Mexican food expert, so don’t blame me if you don’t think it’s as delicious as I did. I thought the steak was pretty well marinated, and I’m a sucker for Spanish rice and beans.
So if you want some delicious Americanized Mexican food, definitely avoid taco Tuesdays and just come for the regular dinner here, and if you can get Jesus as your waiter, you won’t regret it.

OH NO YOU DIDN’T!
You did NOT just charge me full price for a Cadillac margarita that should’ve been $ 2 off for Thursday evening happy hour.
You did NOT just argue with me and refuse to honor the happy hour discount even after I clearly pointed out that I ordered the ‘rita at 6:45pm and happy hour didn’t end ’til 7pm.
You did NOT just serve my friend and me a «fiesta grande platter» (a sampler of appetizers including nachos, flautas, quesadilla, and buffalo wings) where there wasn’t a single edible thing to choose from.
You did NOT just serve buffalo wings that were rubbery and bland.
You did NOT just serve flautas that were cold and slimy.
You did NOT just serve nachos that were greasy and soggy.
You did NOT give me an aching sensation that lingered in my upper gastrointestinal tract ’til the following morning.
Oh, nevermind, I guess you did.

Some friends and I had a hankering for some Mexican food but didn’t want to brave an outdoor taco stand joint in the rain. We chose dinner rather than the Happy Hour bar area and we were seated promptly. Our waiter was fantastic! My strawberry margarita was perfectly blended, not too watery or solid. I ordered #6 which was comprised of a cheese enchilada, crispy beef taco, and chicken tamale.
Sadly, my tamale had a sauce that was a bit too spicy for me but my dinner companions LOVED it so I’m sure it was delicious. I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy. The Spanish rice was divine, perfectly fluffy but could have used a teensy bit more garlic.
Overall, the service was great, the food was delicious but a bit more spicy than my meek palate can endure, and my margarita alone will make it worth a return trip!

I went into El Torito for the first time last night but we decided not to take advantage of the happy hour menu. Even then, after looking at the menu it looked like their regular prices are lower than similar big box Mexican places like Chevy’s. The waitress that helped my group of four was alright and our wait for the food wasn’t that bad.
I ordered the Oaxacan mole enchiladas. The enchiladas came with rice and a diced veggie ‘hash’ on the side. The rice was okay and the hash was pretty good. The hash was comprised of small diced zucchini, onion, corn, bell pepper, tomato and I’m pretty sure potato. The veggies tasted great because they were sauteed in a liberal amount of butter. Of course everything’s better with butter. The enchiladas were meh. The mole wasn’t very complex and pretty much was one note chocolate-​y/​sweet. The sesames sprinkled on top weren’t toasted or flavorful. Overall, the flavors weren’t there but the meal was filling.
Thankfully, I saw a coupon in the mail and used it on this visit. We ended up paying about ten bucks each. If I find another coupon in the mail, I may consider going back.

Grandparents-​In-​Laws 55^th Anniversary… they fricken love this place. My wife and I come here only cause the In Laws keep treating us. We wouldn’t spent our own $$$$$ here…
Since Grandpa McKay was paying, I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu: Flaming Fajitas Supremas for $ 17.99. FYI: NOT WORTH IT! The sauce was nothing special and the portions were small for the price. I’m sticking with regular combos.
Overall, this is the typical American-​Mexican-​Corporate eatery: bland food, non-​authenticness, fast-​friendly service, and overpriced. Chevy’s and On the Border fall under this category. And since us San Diegans have access to so much better Mexican food, I don’t see why people eat at these places.
But the Sunday $ 13.99 Brunch gives this place an extra star though. For that price, you get a decent variety of food (great tacos!) plus all the champagne and mimosas you can drink! You can get totally sloshed, and then chill by the pool or at the beach for the rest your Sunday afternoon.

4 stars for TACO TUESDAY and ONLLYyy that.
i had the steak, carnitas, and chicken taco and they are all pretty good. i LOVE the green tomatillo-​avocado sauce thing.
strawberry margarita… not so good. tasted like a really creamy strawberry smoothie =(
endless & free chips and salsa = DELICIOUS.