El Torito

Shrimp wasn’t cooked all the way, Jesus handled it professionally. Offered a discount & had the chef cook my shrimp well! He forwarded it to his manager. He has great humor & always checks on his customers with joy.

I really enjoy this restaurant. I eat there frequently and never get tired of the menu. They have some unusual things like I had Vegetable Fajitas that actually had vegetables… lots of vegetables; carrots, potatoes strips and slices, zucchini and yellow squash, onion, and spinach. It was FANTASTIC. I have had them make me a vegetable enchilada as well and they brought me the most wonderful tasting meal. They have a «can do» attitude about everything. Jesus C. was so helpful, let us sit and talk without pestering; just kept our cups full of coffee. Every waiter/​tress has been great each time I have been there. El Torito Mira Mesa makes the short list of my most favorite restaurants EVER. Thanks guys.

If you haven’t come to El Torrito for brunch latey than you need to give them a shot. They have organized the brunch and it is just over all a better brunch experience. They have added a bloody mary station and burritos so it is great! They also have Go-​Gurts for kids in the kids section of the buffet which doesn’t sound like much but if your kid loves them than it is major. My kid does lol. Great value and great atmosphere!

***New Sunday Brunch Menu! Fantastic selection great service! Thank you Margarita for always being a wonderful server!***

New Sunday brunch! So many great new options! Huge improvement! Our waitress Amanda was top notch and the service today was so attentive! All the food options are so tasty and overall it seems they’ve doubled the options for buffet! Strongly recommend everyone try this new Sunday brunch!

Jesus was a wonderful server and management was very friendly! I enjoy going to restaurants that have efficient and friendly serve as well as delicious food!

I’ve been living in Mira Mesa for most of my life and had never heard any buzz about El Torito (except for their karaōke night) until taco Tuesday this past week. So I decided to try it out.
Their tacos are $ 1.50 and they have chicken, steak or carnitas. My personal favorite were the chicken and the carnitas. They’re really small but they give you a good amount of meat so I’d say it’s a pretty good deal.
Before we told the waitress how many tacos we’d like, I asked her about the mole enchiladas because I’m allergic to peanuts, which are in the ingredients so I ordered enchiladas chilaquiles. We went to get tacos, brought them back, finished them, and waited for 10 min and still no enchiladas. So I ask the waitress if my enchiladas are still coming and she runs to the kitchen to check, but never comes back. 20 min later my enchiladas show up, and the waitress doesn’t even come back to the table until AFTER I’ve finished them, just to tell us she’s going home and another waitress will be taking care of us. I work in a restaurant and I didn’t want to go through the trouble of complaining, although the manager working at the moment was very sweet and accommodating, so I didn’t mention the enchiladas.
Our next waitress introduces herself, clears all of our plates and asks if we need anything else, so we said no. Then she walks away and proceeds to do her side work as we wait at the table for another 10 min until we asked another waitress for our check.
The service here was horrifically careless and slow. The manager was really caring but I can’t extend that to the rest of the staff. Will never be returning to this establishment and will spread word of the horrible service we received.

We sat at the bar side so we wouldn’t have to wait for a table. For 20 minutes no one bothered to take our order or spoke to us. We had to flag a lady down for service who then told us she was new and was going to find a waitress…10 minutes later still nothing. We decided to leave. Upon leaving I mentioned to the waitress how The service was horrible. The manager Ruben happened to be standing nearby and followed us out. He convinced us to give them a 2^nd chance. We did. Although the service at the BAR was ! The restaurant side made up for it, thanks to the manager Ruben and waiter, Jesus! They treated us like royality and made up for the poor service at the bar…

I work in the area, so many of us from my office come here regularly for lunch. I’ve always found the service to be prompt and professional and the food to be fresh and tasty. It’s important during the work day to be back into the office in a timely manner — within an hour or so. I really get the feeling that the management and staff here understand that concept, as I’ve never experienced any delay in getting my food or the check. They’re *quick* and *on-​the-​ball* at lunchtime which is something I REALLY appreciate during the work week.
I was last here earlier this week and ordered the street tacos — one chicken, one beef and one pork — and we ordered the guacamole which is made table-​side. Everything was delicious and fresh and I left feeling satisfied (although I had to loosen my belt one notch for the rest of the afternoon).

Won’t be returning.
I came in wanting a chimichanga with some sort of seafood in it, like shrimp or lobster. The waitress said that they had them, but for some reason she had me get a Burrito instead. The burrito had the exact opposite of what i wanted in it. I ate it anyway, and when we got the bill i noticed the burrito was $ 16 dollars which is pretty expensive, and she charged me another $ 3 for shrimp even though there was practically no shrimp in there. Not a big fan of the waitress/​bartender not listening to what i wanted, and then tacking things on the bill without even letting us know.
Long story short, I paid over $ 30 for a bad burrito and a small margarita.
It isn’t the worst restaurant i have ever been to, but there are soo many other places in the area where you can actually get what you want, and for a lot cheaper.

So I returned to el torito after about a year or so, I thought I’d give it another try and to my surprise, it was amazing… I believe it’s under new management.
To my surprise, new waitresses «CRYSTAL new bartender «JULIE» and they were amazing… great personalities and great service. The food was better then ever before, even my coworker was surprised that the food was as good as it was.
I will defently return, as long as the service and quality of the food remains this good.
Thumbs up to the management, crystal and Julie
Thank you

Julie makes the best margarita you will ever have! I always love El Torito, but she really raises the bar. literally! Yummy Mexican and great drinks! Come here and ask for Julie! :D

Really disappointed. !!
We order fiesta platter and the chicken came out raw
Manager came to the table no apologies only respond: he will tell the cooks…

I went here for my boyfriend’s work dinner & everyone was disappointed in the customer service & the quality of the food.
Mexico City Flautas = 4 crispy tortillas filled with grilled chicken & Jack cheese, topped with cotija cheese, crema fresca, pico de gallo, served with jalapeño jelly — This dish was delicious but after the 3^rd flauta, my stomach was churning. I think it was just too greasy. The jalapeño jelly was a great addition.
Regarding customer service, the workers were friendly but unorganized. They brought out appetizers & one enchilada when the group asked for everything to be brought out at once. So one of the coworkers had to wait awhile for her food. In addition, some of the food items were bland.

I love their Taco Tuesdays; $ 5 margaritas in a multitude of flavors! My server suggested pomegranate and I was not disappointed. :D Her attitude was great all night despite her being pretty busy and she joked around with us in passing, which was nice. Very attentive without hovering awkwardly. They have a casual atmosphere, which is appreciated; I find other places often try too hard, but this location doesn’t overreach to put on unnecessary airs.
They have a full bar, which is the perfect compliment to their delicious meals. Since this place is pretty far out of my way I usually only go to meet friends for Taco Tuesday, but I highly recommend you get out there to check it out for yourself at some point. You serve up yourself during Taco Tuesdays, which is a great system because you can carry on with your feast uninterrupted. NO TIME TO WASTE ON DIGESTION! CRAM IN ALL THE TACOS!
I have never had a bad experience at this location and while reading through others’ reviews had a hearty laugh at what was said. «I hate this place because I had to wait 15 minutes on a Saturday»… Please tell me you’re joking… I’m curious as to how your day to day life functions if you’ve set up such unreasonable expectations. «Racist» bartenders «worse than Donald Trump»?? I hope against hope that this person is just a troll because if he isn’t he must be the most on-​edge and defensive dolt ever cursed to exist. I’m not sure what «hey brother unwelcoming say» means so no comment there… Ugh
Word to the wise: when facing a ridiculously poor review, ALWAYS check the writer’s previous entries and if you notice a distinct pattern of pissing and moaning you would do well to DISREGARD.
Do yourself a favor and hit up this El Torito on a Tuesday for good food, good times, and good prices.

Szell: Is it safe?
Babe: Is what safe?
Szell: Is it safe?
Babe: I don’t know what you mean. I can’t tell you something’s safe or not, unless I know specifically what you’re talking about.
Szell: Is it safe?
Babe: Tell me what the «it» refers to.
Szell: Is it safe?
Babe: Yes, it’s safe, it’s very safe, it’s so safe you wouldn’t believe it.
Szell: Is it safe?
Babe: No. It’s not safe, it’s… very dangerous, be careful. [laughs but in a scared manner]
[Szell takes his dental explorer and mouth mirror and approaches Babe]
Marathon Man
It’s nice and clean here. «A» rating from the health department. Good AC for those hot days and plenty of booze in the bar. Staff is friendly and hard working. Free chips and salsa for every table. Chips are fresh. Can feel the warmth. Very crunchy. I’m not a fan of the flavor though. I prefer the chips at El Indio even though you have to pay for them. I was intrigued when the manager mentioned the ribs are broiled and then fried. I ordered the rib plate for $ 11. Looked kinda like riblets I’ve had at Applebee’s. The ribs plain didn’t have much flavor so I ate them with the sauce which gave them a mostly sweet and slight tangy flavor. Taste similar to other chain restaurant bbq ribs. Marie Calender’s or Applebee’s come to mind. French fries were hot crunchy and hot good potato flavor. Very much your typical fast food fry. The potato slices which appeared baked had a much stronger potato flavor.
Crispy beef tacos were dripping grease and crunchy. Could have used more beef and the flavor of the beef was good but not great. Don Carlos Taco Shop or El Indio has better seasoned beef in their crispy beef tacos.
I haven’t found anything I consider great here. I prefer bbq ribs at local rib joints with a smoker. I prefer my tacos at little taco shops.
Yes. It is safe here.

A pretty decent spot to go to for happy hour or taco Tuesday. Tacos are $ 1 on tuesdays and can be ordered anywhere in the restaurant. Happy hour is only in the bar /​cantina area though. Happy hour is half off appetizers. They carry the usual drink specials on margaritas and dos equis.
Tacos are pretty good for $ 1. They’re about 2 – 3 bites each. Offered are chicken, grilled steak, and carnitas. My personal favorite is the carnitas because it tastes most tender and marinated. Order the number of tacos from your waitress and you take it to the taco stand and redeem.

Went here for an early dinner. Ordered a root beer & 3course trio; which includes cheese enchilada, Cesar salad, chicken taco, beans & rice and a little sweet corn dessert. The trio also comes with dessert nomnom!
The Mexican Cesar salad was really tasty. The salad was crispy and fresh. It has pine nuts, with crunchy strips of tortilla & celantro green dressing. The meal had melted cheese inside the enchilada with a reddish\brown enchilada sauce on top, pinto beans w\ cheese and Spanish rice. After the salad I could barely finish the whole enchilada haha. Took the left over a home.
Btdub the dessert was fried ice cream Yay! Saved room for that Of Course. Vanilla ce cream with chocolate chips & tortilla chips covered in cinnamon. so delicious

I’ve come in for drinks and tacos before and have had okay experiences, and would probably come back for taco Tuesday or something. but I had brunch with my family this Sunday and I thought it was a joke. Brunch for adults cost $ 22, and in my photo you’ll see how much food I got. Minus the taco bar, although I didn’t have any tacos, it’s like free hotel breakfast. Minus the corn cake and potatoes, nothing was worth $ 22. We had a large group of 20 and I thought the service was terrible. My whole meal I didn’t even get a glass of water or beverage. I did run 20 mins late, but that didn’t hurt them from adding me to the head count, and adding 3 people that weren’t in our party.
Overall, weak brunch experience for $ 22. Terrible service for a large group. I was deprived of water my whole meal. They charged us for too many people in our party. I would not recommend dining here unless I was heading to the bar for a drink or taco Tuesday.

Really good deals for Taco Tuesday if you don’t want to venture to more crowded parts of San Diego. In the dining room it’s $ 10 for AYCE tacos, including rice and beans.
We benefitted from the bar’s Throwback Tuesday promotion, where tacos were 99 cents, and there were three sizes of margaritas starting at $ 3 apiece. For $ 21 altogether, the three of us had a very filling, delicious dinner of tacos and chips, with a margarita each to wash it all down. Best deal I’ve found so far!