El Progreso Mexican Restaurant

The reviews sounded great and we decided to try it. Purchased our food and while waiting the kids went and served their drinks. One of the workers was cleaning up ice and tossed the ice that has fallen back in the machine. Needless to say we never went back. If that happens in the open what happens in the kitchen

Skip everything else on the menu and go straight for the Anaheim chili burrito. So, so, so good. It comes with rice and beans, but most won’t really need it because the burrito is grande!
Mom had the Carne asada burrito and said it was good too.
Not a fancy place, not a lot of ambiance, but they do have good food, offered at a great price.
They serve traditional Mexican drinks and also beer and wine (including sangria).

I came here based on the 4 star reviews and wanted authentic Mexican food. Not even sure how they got 4 stars so far. The restaurant is old and dirty. Ordered chicken taco plate and was disappointed. Didn’t taste good at all. You have to get your own condiments which is fine if there were any. There was no onions or cilantro. How do you eat tacos without them. When asked if they had any more. The waitress said no but she will let the cook know. It was 11:30 am. How do you not have any? It’s lunch time. I do not recommend this place.

Sorry. I wasn’t impressed. Other than the free chips and salsa bar there was nothing remarkable about my visit. The carne asada burrito is better defined as a bean and cheese burrito with a couple of chunks of carne asada thrown in. I couldn’t even tell you if the asada had a good flavor or not because there was too much beans and cheese. No pico. No guacamole. Just beans, cheese, and meat — in that order. It was hug though. I guess you can afford to give big portions if the primary ingredient is refried beans.

Atmosphere is poor. Cleanliness is questionable at best. Salsa bar had many mild options, but nothing for a little spice. They don’t wipe down thier condiments, so hot sauce had crusted top, salt and pepper had a film on exterior. I had a vegatarian burrito, very little taste, I added salt pepper and hot sauce. The tortilla wrap had a little crunch on the outside but a doughy taste like nmmmm it wasn’t cooked through.

Although the food was tasty and the salsas were incredible, I have come down with food poisoning. Not worth the risk.

Authentic Mexican food. Always consistently good. I only take a star off because I wish they were cleaner. That being said, it never stops me from coming by.

Wife was looking for a good breakfast burrito and Unilocaled for her search. This place came up. She got a breakfast burrito, then got me a chorizo burrito. She only ate half the burrito and was so unimpressed she didn’t eat the second half. There was absolutely no flavor to the burrito. Bacon was flavorless and weird texture. As for my chorizo… same thing, no flavor, actually tasted mushy and old. The whole burrito was just mushy. Kinda weird. Anyways, my wife did say they were very nice and had cheap prices, but we’d never go back again.

CARMELS IS BACK! Finally…
A little piece of me died when i moved back to California and they got rid of it…
Service is good, food is better!
If your going to come here, go on Taco Tuesday. Best $ 1 taco you can get!
Salsa bar is really good also

Love the food, brings me back to the days when Carmel’s was open. The food is in good portions and tastes good. The burritos are a bit skinnier then the Carmel ones, but still yummy. The nacho supreme are still the same size and tastes just like they should. Love it!!!

Went for lunch and this place was very good! We had breakfast burritos and a carnitas burrito. Salsa was excellent, service was ver good too! Highly recommend this place. We will be back!

BEST TAMALES !!!
This place is amazing!!! 18 dz but totally worth it!
the owner was nice and I couldn’t be happier.

Living in south OC has its pros & cons…
A major con is that there’s no authentic Mexican food around here, so I usually drive to Santa Ana for some great grub… Until now.
First of all, it’s Christmas Eve & I had a late night craving for tamales and Mexican food since I’m not home with family at the moment… I called the restaurant & the owner Miguel was kind enough to stay open until 2200 for me. He gave me a free tamale to sample before buying any & he was able to make my made-​to-​order meal.
The hospitality at this place is amazing! Like I said, it’s Christmas Eve & the staff told me to take my time & enjoy my meal… The food was soo good!
I know this isn’t Pelican Hill or Mastros, but I gave this place 5 stars because of their hospitality, the cleanliness, their hours and most importantly the food! It’s a must try! It’s kind of easy to miss though if you drive past the shopping center off Raymond, so pay attention lol good night and happy holidays!

Never disappointed. Caldo is very home like. Better than my mommas…(but Shh don’t tell her) lol. Salsa Verde is yummy and chunky. Champurrado is delish and my mans meal was excellent too.

Thanks Unilocalers (not)! I checked it out based on your reviews and was thoroughly unimpressed. Stale chips, watered down flavorless salsa, mediocre breakfast burrito and sorry guacamole. I can cook better than this at home. Wanted to like it… but couldn’t. Not worthy of a 2^nd visit.

Honestly I have no idea why this place has 4 stars.
Service is horrible and food is very blah, bland, and just average at best. Nothing really to brag about. The actual décor and the place itself is rather plain, more on the ugly neglected side.
In my opinion this place is barely worth 2 stars but I gave it one more star for having very low prices, which actually kindda reflects everything else at this place.
Will I come back? Absolutely not!

El Progreso. Empty. Not a good sign especially after I suggested this place after I read the Unilocal reviews. Also, it was 12:30pm. Yipes.
We walked in and the menu we saw was above the place we had to order. It was hard to read and all over the place. It didn’t seem to have an order of any sort. I felt rushed, even though we were the sole patrons in the whole joint, so I just ordered a green chile burrito. I have been known to try a place’s verde sauce as a benchmark of how they do Mexican food. Mexican food anywhere in a 10 mile radius of Irvine is very suspect to me so I had to try it.
I felt empty as I paid for my meal like I really wanted something else but I was happy with what I ordered and went off to get my chips, drink, and salsa from the salsa bar. The salsa bar was okay and not very attractive by any means but who cares if the salsa rocks. I did my usual tasting of all the salsas and there were a winner of sorts so I went with that one, a roasted rojo salsa.
As I walked back to our table, I checked into Unilocal on my phone. I happened to start looking at photos and I immediately saw a Torta. THAT’S WHAT I WANTED! I knew something was missing from the ridiculously huge overhead menu and that was it. I had saw that on their Unilocal site and I had told myself that I was going to get that and I ended up with a burrito. Man.
The burrito came and I was happy. The sauce was tasty and the beans were well cooked and homemade. It was very homey tasting and very homey looking. Homey meaning that it looks like one of my Mexican friend’s mom made it for me like they did when I was younger. I loved going to their houses to eat if they invited me to.
I can’t say it was the best Mexican food I’ve had but that’s because we were so close to Irvine. I am brainwashed already. If this place were in the barrio of East LA, I might have a different opinion. Anyway, clean up the menu and get some lunch patrons in and I will definitely be back.

I took my family here for breakfast, expecting perhaps too much due to the positive, even glowing reviews. The only thing that really stood out was the selection of salsas, and the homemade tortillas.
Menudo: This was good. A very nice base, with plenty of tripe, although much of it being the soft, slimy type. I’d give it a seven out of 10.
Chorizo platter: Moist and good, and better than most places, but nothing to really rave about.
Pancake platter: All three of my kids had this. The pancakes were bitter, with a very strange consistency on the syrup. The eggs, all scrambled, were drenched in margarine, and tasted of it. Not at all good. They even had a sickening shine like they were dipped in a vat of oil before being served. The bacon was not fresh, and was hard and overcooked. None of my kids like it, and it was obvious why.
I don’t think I will go back.

So, my husband and I are Mexican and love going out looking for authentic Mexican food restaurants and this is one of the best restaurant we’ve been, not the best though
I ordered the chicken taquitos with rice and beans and they were amazing! My husband had something with beef and veggies gags but I don’t remember the name exactly but was kind of like a beef stew, anyway we really liked the place and what really surprised is was that we arrived like 30 min before they close and we could taste that the food was made fresh! :) it took them a little bit to cook our food but it was worth the wait, my chicken taquitos were so crispy and the chicken was so moist.
Now the thing here is that, for what I ate, I can say this restaurant is homemade style food so I understand the reviews saying that some stuff was bland, soggy, not seasoned well, didn’t taste like other Mexican foods they’ve had and yes! That’s right, it doesn’t taste like something you’d eat at other Mexican restaurants but what you’ll taste here in the food it’s priceless if you are Mexican and are really used to homemade food and if you haven’t had that in years… Oh men! This is the place for you :) I really miss my moms food and when I came here and tasted the food I felt like home back in Mexico!
There’s nothing better than homemade dishes :)

FOOD:
* GRAND menu.
(Tacos, Burritos, Nachos, Tostadas, Salads, Breakfast Burritos, Drinks, etc.)
* LARGE salsa section:
8 or more different salsas like red, spicy, hot, habanero, white, green, pickled carrots & onions, diced onions/​cilantro, lemon.
Guacamole is okay. I can make better and I’m Asian. Sorry but it wasn’t that great.
Endless chips were okay too. I liked how they keep the chips underneath the lighting to keep it warm. You can grab a paper container and help yourself to all the chips you want! :)
Service is ok. Not much customer attention.
Pretty clean.
Round booths along the walls remind me of a diner.
1 TV in the corner to watch «Futbol».
Party Venue: karaōke stage, disco ball on ceiling.