Eldorado Mexican Grill & Cantina

Drove by last week. CLOSED.
Sad Janet.

Unfortunately it is closed. It is now a lottery pub. Doesn’t appear to be very friendly.

Closed. This is now a «PUB».

I stopped by for the first time last night around 9:30pm I was going to place an to go order as I walked to the bar I was told the kitchen is closed wow ok I looked at the sign on the door it said close 10pm I guess the kitchen and the restaurant close at two different times i will not return

Fast and flavorful! We truly enjoyed our experience here tonight and found our new favorite. The service was friendly and quick. We’ll definitely return!

I really enjoyed the El Dorado Mexican Grill & Cantina I had their Carne Asada Burrito which is essentially a Super Burrito packed with flame cooked steak, guacamole, beans, pico de gallo and other goodness.

In my time in Portland, I’ve had amazing burritos from many taquerias, but I haven’t found found a good «sit down and eat complimentary chips and salsa» restaurant.
Spoiler alert: I still haven’t.
We went out on a Sunday around 7:00pm, and the restaurant only had two other patrons. Our waitress was pleasant, if a bit soft spoken and difficult to hear. She brought us a basket of warm chips and some watery salsa. I asked for a side of pico de gallo, which was pretty good. My wife and I both ordered a #5, which consisted of beans and rice, a taco, and an enchilada. The food came out about five minutes after we ordered, leaving me with serious questions about the freshness of our food. The taco (damnable Taco Bell style shell) tasted like the bottom of a Doritos bag. The chicken was bland, the rice was overcooked and crispy, and the beans tasted like they were straight out of a can. After dropping off our food, our waitress only made one appearance at our table to see if we needed anything. She went to get us refills, and returned about five minutes later. We had to track her down to get our check.
«Sit down and eat complimentary chips and salsa» restaurant, I know you are out there, like the TRUE El Dorado; unfortunately for us, this El Dorado was merely a mirage.

This place is two blocks from my house and it’s nice to have a decently okay Mexican place in the neighborhood (that doesn’t have Taco in its name). The food was as expected though the «one refill only» policy on the Coke seems a little stingy. You could just raise your menu prices 2 cents to make up for bottomless soda.

I live very close to El Dorado and walk my dogs pass the restaurant every day. In the summer there was quite a crowd sitting outside enjoying their food and drinks during Happy Hour every day. I’ve been craving burritos for awhile. On this particular Monday, April 9, 2012, I decided to come in for Happy Hour and Dinner at around 5.45 pm. I was surprised there was only a party of three people at one of the tables. I was told by the waitress/​bartender to sit any where I like. She came over with a basket of warm corn chips, salsa and a menu.
I decided to get a special from the board next to the bar, Pork Carnitas Burrito served with rice, beans and guacamole for $ 8.95. I waited for ten minutes or so for my food. The burrito, rice and refried beans came piping hot in a huge blue ceramic plate. The Mexican rice was the best thing on the plate; it was cooked and seasoned perfectly. The refried beans was like reheated can refried beans that you get from the supermarket. The burrito was big. It was close to nine inches long and four inches wide, with the thickness of a little over two inches. On the burrito was fresh cube onions, tomatoes and guacamole. The vegetable was very fresh but wasn’t marinated or seasoned. Inside the burrito was shredded pork that was cooked perfectly but lacked seasoning. The burrito was not crunchy; it was not soggy either. There was something done to the tortilla before filling it with shredded pork and rolling it into a burrito, but I don’t know what. I think a little salt and pepper would make the burrito good and super tasty.
The waitress/​bartender was friendly but she did not offer to refill the glass of water or came by to check on the customers’ needs. The portion of the Special, Pork Carntas Burrito served with rice and beans was very generous. I think El Dorado is better than the average American Mexican restaurants. I had authentic Mexican food in Tuscan, Arizona; the dishes were very different in the usage of the ingredients, cooking method and as well as textures.

I grew up in a Mexican Restaurant, for 20 years, where I didn’t appreciate the food. Now that it’s closed, I really miss the special flavors my mom created, that certainly weren’t authentic, but they were GOOD.
I’ve found that most Mexican restaurants are very bland, everything kind of tastes the same, and actual FLAVOR is hard to find. Not here.
Flavor is bursting from the meals, everything I’ve had was good, to great.
As I said, my mom is a fabulous cook, used to own and run the kitchen in a Mexican Restaurant, and this is her go-​to Mexican place now.
Their prices are good, portions are better, they always have specials, good priced drinks, and a good happy hour. I’ve always had good service here. I’ve been here 3 times and never been disappointed, my mom has been here probably 10 times, and since she’s pretty picky, I’d say that it’s a pretty safe bet. Unless you LIKE the bland stuff that comes out of most Mexican places, which I assume people must, since so many stay open. Don’t be scared of the flavor.

My portions… my god… the plate sizes, the margarita sizes, so good and so cheap…“fabled land of the golden city” indeed.

So as a California native, I have a really really tough palate to please when it comes to Mexican food, but since living in Portland for these past years, I’ve let my expectations down a bit for the sake of survival lol. So lately I’ve set out to try all kinds of Mexican joints, restaurants, carts, fast food types and so here I ended up at El Dorado.
Went in on a Sunday afternoon about 1pm, not too busy, only had 2 older ladies working that you had to flag down literally wave your hand for service. We didn’t get water until our meal actually came, and our chips basket sat empty for 20 minutes before we had to ask for a refill. The food didnt take too long, and was good. I ordered the enchilada and taco combo. However I did notice when ordering, a dollop of sour cream and guacamole is extra with your meal, and thats a lot, considering the meal is already $ 10.(the combination meals). A healthy side of extra sour cream and guacamole, yes charge me. But to not have the meal come with a dollop of these condiments and charge for it, is a little too much. And since it was a dollop of each, we had to order more sides! Making my meal $ 17. Wow! For lunch?
But I give 3 stars because the food was good and steaming hot when I got it, but I’ll keep the other 2 stars for myself because the auntys that were working were over worked it seemed like and couldn’t offer bare minimum service besides just giving us our one water, one basket of chips and food. And then lastly the cost. That’s just way too much for lunch, especially when almost half of it was spent on guacamole and sour cream :/

Love me some El Dorado!
Fresh, reliable, family (‘hot plate’) style Mexican food. Very warm service, good margaritas. Kitschy south-​of-​the-​border décor is fun. Got a very impressive pork carnitas burrito last night and two Cadillac margaritas and left full, relaxed and happy. They also bring out warm chips and excellent salsa as soon as you sit down. This place is a solid choice any time I’m looking for some Mexican comfort food. Seafood items are also excellent — camarones a la diablo are quite spicy, with large shrimp in a slightly sweet and very spicy sauce. Recommended!

My Spanish is terrible. But I somehow managed to have a brief conversation with some blue-​haired ladies hanging out in this joint in the middle of a weekday, playing video poker (they, not I). They were clearly also native English speakers, and I have no idea why we were trying to speak anything other than good old American English. Surely we sounded ridiculous.
Terrible language blunders aside, lunch was a win for a combo plate around $ 6 that came out quickly and tasted fresh. Best Mexican Food Ever? No way, Jose. But it did the trick and El Dorado is probably the best bet on that block for a quick meal. Cheese enchilada, veggie tostada, beans/​rice — a-​ok, and plenty big. I only took down about half.
Free chips and salsa, full bar, very friendly service. Olé!

I love burritos. My burrito tasted like cigarette smoke. This made me a very sad Sarah.

Simple Mexican food. They’ve recently added fish tacos and if you go on Margarita Monday, the drinks are four bucks. So we go there every Monday!

I love this place– the food is good, portions are big, and service is always great. I was surprised by how tasty the vegetarian burrito is, since a tortilla stuffed with vegetables can tend to be bland at some places. The grande margarita is relatively cheap considering how huge it is.
Definitely the best Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood.

Alright Eldorado, alright, I hear you crying «uncle» so I’ll let up. Maybe my last review WAS a bit harsh, but you’re not «all that» and seriously, I don’t like to find foreign objects in my food!
So, true to my word we HAVE been back to Eldorado — many times in fact, due largely to their proximity — despite the relative suckiness of that one visit. More often than not it’s been a little better than average, occasionally it’s been very good.
No, I’m still not the biggest fan of their whole beans (though I appreciate a non-​refried frijole option), and yes they still serve gyros (c’mon, wtf?). Their service still leaves a fair bit to be desired, though I’ve noticed that the more we go there the better it’s been getting (being even a semi-​regular has it’s benefits). Quite a few of their dishes are rather pedestrian and seem to be made with less than the best and freshest ingredients, but I HAVE finally found that standout dish: the Pollo Asado!
Eldorado’s Pollo Asado is pretty basic, but it’s executed so well that I appreciate them not trying to get all creative and fancy. They take a phat chicken boob, marinate it in some delicious spices (what the hell is achiote anyway), then grill it up to juicy perfection, slap it on a plate with rice and beans and there you go! That they avoid the temptation to pour some sauce or sprinkle cheese on top is a credit to their confidence that the chicken is flavorful enough to stand on it’s own.
Many other Ameri-​Mex restaurants would butterfly the boob (some I suspect even serving just one-​half of the boob) — this can work well as it lets the cook fire grill the thinner piece of meat faster to seal in the juices — but Eldorado gets it right with a much thicker cut AND you end up with 2 – 4 times as much chicken. Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a tasty grilled chicken breast (and I’m too lazy to do it myself) and Eldorado’s Pollo Asado stands up to some of the best you’d find anywhere, including non-​Mexican restaurants!
So, while overall Eldorado is nothing to write home about, they do have their strengths and for an affordable, relatively quick and tasty, standard «chips ‘n salsa» Mexican restaurant it’ll do just fine.

Maybe it was the warm smile when the server walked up to our table and waved away our IDs because «I know you. Be sure to get your license, I don’t want to see that thing on the floor!»
Maybe the margaritas were stronger.
Maybe my taste buds are slowly but surely shrugging off their cigarette coating and starting to remember how complex a humble burrito can be.
Maybe it’s the onset of fall and I’m still getting used to the chill that clings to everything but immediately evaporates when seated in a cozy, friendly place.
But whatever it is, I think Eldorado is starting to grow on me. I didn’t expect to catch feelings. I use protection against that sort of thing! But I’m still thinking about Eldorado this morning. Even as I contemplate other cheap meals, I still wonder what Eldorado is up to.

If Sir Walter Raleigh were still around today, I’d venture to guess that he could have found his gold at this Glisan gem.
I’m tempted to give this place five stars, just because it’s such an improvement upon Acapulco, but I’m holding back… for now.
While this place is definitely not an authentic taqueria (perhaps this is my hesitation in granting that extra star), it’s not so far into junky «Mexican» that you’ll see enormous sombreros and obnoxious costumes on the waiters. It is, however, a deceivingly endearing cantina with surprisingly good grub.
You wouldn’t guess – or at least I didn’t guess – that this run-​down corner of Glisan would actually be a nice sit-​down restaurant. The menu is extensive and affordable. You know a place has something going for them when the drinks menu comes right after the appetizers. On a regular day, you can snag a stiffly poured margarita (although poorly salted) for a mere $ 4.50. Child’s play, I’m telling you! The happy hour fare is so cheap, you’d think you’re robbing the joint. And if Mexi isn’t your thing (but you like the theme and the drinks), there’s complete menu of various (cheap-​ass) hamburgers and sandwiches (not to be confused with tortas, which they also have).
The mole was just right – not too sweet and not burn-​your-​mouth spicy. The chicken was tender, and the beans were flavorful. My mate’s burro also looked pretty tasty. Chips and salsa were also a plus… the salsa was spicier and more delicious than I had anticipated.
Our server was super nice (and made a nice drink), although the service was a tad on the slow side. But then again, she was the only gal working. Or, she could have taken a hint from the name and was serving on Mexican time – laid back and with ease.
I can definitely see this becoming a regular dinner spot.