El Fenix Mexican Restaurants

Not sure what the deal was today, but not the greatest experience. Waited 10+ minutes for our drinks after the waiter took our drink order. They ran out of lemonade, which is what our kids ordered, then the Sprite they brought out was bad, too. One of the kids’ quesadillas was excessively greasy. Usually we walk away happy, but today that was not the case. We will probably not be coming back to this particular location.

Pros: place was clean, atmosphere was pretty good, food wasn’t too bad, margarita’s were good.
Cons: server was never seen after taking our food order and bringing it out, never refilled our water, didn’t specify that flavored margarita’s cost more (just would be nice to actually know) finished our food and waited more than 10 min to get our check, and no military discount (always upsetting) prob won’t be back ever.

The worse el Fenix experience ever. I felt bad recommending this place to a coworker after the meal I had. 8 bucks for 6 chips with cheese and one piece of meat on each chip… horrible I won’t be coming back.

My brother says he comes here a lot and usually gets pretty great food but I wasn’t that impressed. I was impressed with the service. My brothers margarita was pretty bad and the manager came right over and corrected it. Our waitress was also pretty nice and accommodating.
Now to the food, the queso was the canned nacho cheese kind and it was pretty gross. I had the brisket nachos which weren’t bad, and my bro had a hamburger he said was pretty good. The chips were nice too.

It’s okay. They serve up typical Mexican factory food. It’s not bad and it’s cheap. It’s great if you are in a hurry. The place is clean and the food is decent. I wish they had combo plates like other similar Mexican joints (like a #12 with a chili relleno, taco & enchilada for example). They do have combos, but not numbered.
I liked going here for lunch because they participated in the Hilton Honors Dining Rewards program, but they stopped that on 4÷30÷15, so I don’t eat here anymore.
A lot of the waitstaff has trouble with English. This is common at a lot of places in this part of the country, but it’s also a little annoying.
It can be a challenge to locate because GPS devices take you on a wild goose chase. Fortunately when your Garmin leaves you in a neighborhood with no retail places at all, you just have to drive to the I-​35 feeder and look for the chain restaurant. It’s on the right. I think it’s an Applebee’s. This place is right behind it.
One last tip: when they bring your check don’t sit there waiting for the waitress to come take your card. You need to pay at the front. I guess they had trouble with people skipping out on them or something.

This is my first time at an El Fenix in over a decade. Although the parking lot looked full, I was seated immediately. The host asked for my drink order, but I needed the drink menu to decide. The chips and salsa were served soon after he gave me the menu.
Since I had no utensils, I also had no napkin to prevent the crumbs from covering my pants. Unfortunately, it took some time for the waitstaff to come to my table. While waiting, I played the «Who’s waiting on me?» guessing game. I did poorly as the only staff near me were clearing the tables.
Eventually, a waitress did come by to get my order. When she came back with my beer, I had to remind her that I had no utensils. The rest was non-​eventful.
I ordered the Spicy Brisket Enchiladas. They were tasty, but I was surprised how small the two enchiladas were. The Chocolate Caramel Sopapilla was more sopapilla than the chocolate and caramel combined. On the plus side, it was nearly the size of the plate.

My family and i love going here! Everyone is always so nice. We never have to wait no matter what day or time we go which is nice seeing that our 3 year old doesn’t like to have to wait for too long! The service is outstanding, the food comes out quickly and is always right!

I’ve eaten at A LOT of Mexican restaurant being a Cali native… Also was a waitress for 5 years at 2 different ones during college. I have 3 things that I judge a Mexican restaurant by: 1 chips (were actually the best I’ve ever had hence the 2 stars). 2 chile rellenos, and they were just average. 3 margaritas, also okay. There was nacho cheese sauce on everything (tamales, enchiladas, etc) it was very different than anything I have ever tried. Imagine Mexican food from a snack shack at a football game. The place and atmosphere were nice.

Never again. It was our first time at an el fenix and we got seated right away. Waited 5 or so minutes and saw no active server. Only staff we saw was hanging out in a closed off section. A few tables were in the place but not enough to be busy. I have been working in the restaurant business for almost 20 years. So sitting there the manager was walking around and I guess noticed we have had no one come to us. She took our drink menu and when our drinks came to us they were both wrong. We didn’t say anything cause we were happy to even have drinks.
So a guy came to us and asked if we were ready to order. We ordered quickly and seriously 90 sec later our food came to us. Now no food that is fresh comes out that quick. They must have a lot of microwaves to heat the shitty food that they placed on our table. So the 3^rd person who brought our food heard me make the comment saying how quick the food came said I bring food out fast. Saying that doesn’t reassure me that food is good. So cautiously eating the food it was horribly microwaved food that wasn’t even hot. No one came to us asking how it was. She just dropped off the check and from beginning to end it was 16 min. Horrible experience. It was our first and last time there ! DONT GO!!!

Love it 100%!! Love to grab a dinner or two here each week. I usually get my dinner to go, but have eaten in the dining area as well. It is a good casual atmosphere, not too loud, but enjoyable. Food is always served quickly and hot.
Tonight I did the Puebla Plate to-​go. Everything made it home hot and tasty.
The prices are very reasonable, and the staff are great. I’m always promptly greeted when I come in. You can’t go wrong here!

I love this place they make sure you’re chips and salsa stay fresh which are the best chips ever… I ordered the spicy brisket enchiladas and our food was delivered to our table in no time flat… Everything was delicious and our waiter Daniel was awesome and got everything right… I will definitely be back…

I am an advocate of el fenix. Bought a friend from Kansas to this one tonight. Very disappointed. Waiter not good, wait time longer than usual and food was really bland. I will be back but tonight they did not do well at all.

Service was terrible– waited an hour for our food and when it came, the tortilla soup I had ordered tasted like a can of tomato sauce. Will not go back to this location!

I wouldn’t say Im a fan of this El Fenix, my overall experience was just very blah. The food was bleh. The time we waited was normal, the hostess was nice, and our waiter was efficient. The restaurant was clean and it wasn’t loud. I wouldn’t go back to this El Fenix, sadly because there wasnt anything that really wowed me during this visit.

Tiny portions. Only four tortillas for an order of fajitas for two people. Go to a place less stingy. Our waiter was great. Poor guy has to put up with jerks as customers and bosses.

Very tasty.
Lunch special was fast, good and the perfect size. The restaurant was clean and the wait staff fast and friendly.
A great lunch.

Not the best El Fenix location, but the food is still good. Thought it was odd that they did not bring out all the food at once, so we had to wait to eat for a few minutes before everyone was served. If you tell them that you are on your lunch break, they will give you your check when your food comes out.

I grew up on el Fenix bean and cheese nachos. They are still my favorite nachos, hands down.
Now that I don’t eat dairy, I cannot partake in my nacho addiction. I ordered the chicken beef combo fajitas and they did not disappoint. I wish there had been more peppers with the onions, but the meat was very good.
Service was great and the chips and salsa are out of this world good, but I just don’t like the ambience at this location.

We ate here for a late lunch on a Saturday afternoon. I am sure there are better options in the area for Tex-​mex, but we needed a place close to our hotel. Looked it up on Unilocal and read the reviews– not that bad. The hubby and I shared the Botanas platter, kids had the cheese quesadillas and we all shared the queso. We ordered the plain queso. Chips were hot and fresh, the salsa needed more salt (?) — something was missing from it. The queso was a bit of a dissappointment for me. It was almost as though they used corn starch to thicken it up. Not really sure what was going on with it. I really enjoyed the guacamole on the Botanas platter. That tasted fresh to me. Everything else on the platter was your normal Tex-​mex items. Nothing stood out. The kids enjoyed their cheese quesadilla, so that was a great choice– how can you mess that up?
We ordered their sopapilla for dessert– which was delicious! It was a soft, crispy, pillow of fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar and a strawberry sauce. Usually, we like our sopapillas with a side of honey. However, this was great! I would go back just to oder that and nothing else.

Had the chipotle fajitas, they were tasty.