El Herradero Mexican Bar & Grill

Hands down — best meal of our vacation! Stumbled upon this place while wandering around San Jose one day. Local guy told us it was real «Baja» style food — more flavorful vs. spicy. Stopped in for an afternoon snack and relief from the heat. Had margaritas and ordered their specialty — a Molcajete bowl — to share. Hot, stone bowl with steaming fresh shrimp, avocados, cheese, onions, cactus — in a savory, delicious broth. That, along with the fresh made corn & flour tortillas (best tortillas of the week, BTW) filled our bellies. But, that was AFTER Blanca made us fresh salsa table-​side to our «heat level» — perfect! Bonus was finding out they had JUST opened a second location on the Marina in Cabo San Lucas, so of course, we went there for dinner the next night and were not disappointed! Highly recommend!

Its an easy walk from the Hotel area. First of all they make the salsa from scratch at your table — grilled peppers and tomato, garlic and chicken stock. Absolutely delicious.
The skirt steak and fish of the day were terrific along with the perfectly grilled vegetables.
Margaritas and Pina Colardas were some of the best we have had.
I would highly recommend this place. its on one of our favorites — right up there with Maria Jimenez in Cabo. Value is awesome, dinner for two with drinks for $ 45 USD.

Good service. Interesting authentic dishes mixed with tourist fare. The margaritas were tasty but weak. Fun atmosphere.

It was our best seafood dinner ever!
We celebrated our Mom’s 80^th birthday and our hotel concierge recommended this place as he has taken his family there-​affordable for sure!
The ambiance was relaxing and open style and we honored the Lenten season with focus on no meat. We went with the seafood combination which was in picture only on the menu. It had lobster, coconut shrimp, best sea bass ever, wonderful octopus, and «bacon and cheese» wrapped ever. We also thought that the mashed potatoes are wonderfully made.
Will we come again for sure. Was it our holiday celebration– it became that as it wasn’t on our initial list.
Go for it. We talked to 3 other tables and they loved it too! Recommend the molcajete soup/​seafood dish as well and margaritas– homemade vs everywhere else we went.

Authentic Mexican food at its best! Homemade tortilla making as you walk into the restaurant. The food was delicious all the way down to the rice and beans! The reason I didn’t give it five stars was because I would like to see more dessert options on the menu. at least have the desserts that are listed on the menu available.

We stopped some at the bank in town and found they come to San Jose Del Cabo annually from Canada and recommended Herrados highly. We tried it and we liked it: good food; friendly and efficient staff. My wife had a red snapper dish and I had Grandmas stone chicken. We will return on this visit and in the future.

Seriously the best Mexican food! I got the stone pot and we also had the quesadillas. Flour tortillas are amazing. Every thing was actually amazing. I live in southern California and we get pretty good Mexican food. Nothing quite like this. Will be back for sure!

This is a great authentic Mexican food. The Lava Rock dishes are fantastic! A must stop @ every visit to San Jose de Cabo!

Great recommendation from our resort. We wanted seafood so we tried this place out for an early dinner. From the time we arrived, the staff greeted us from our taxi and seated us right away. We took up the free margarita offer given by our resort and it was refreshing. Started off with guacamole and chips and made to order salsa tableside. It was fantastic. They have a lot of options on the menu however our waiter recommended combo #3 as we were interested in seafood. Wow… presentation and portion was bigger than we expected. 2 lobster tails, jumbo shrimp prepared 2 ways (coconut and bacon wrapped), 2 fillets of fish, grilled octopus and garlic bread. This meal was meant for 2 but it can easily 3 or 4 people. They had flan on the menu however we had to skip dessert as we just had too much food. I would definitely recommend this to anyone as the staff was really friendly and attentive. Food was delicious and we even had enough left overs for the next day.

I loved this place. I was there on September 5^th 2015 with a group of seven. We had a salsa cooking class before lunch. I had very high expectations and they did not fail not one of them.
When we walked in we got seated right away by the hostess. The décor was beautiful, I felt like I was at Abuelitas house for a second. Right away our server asked if we would like anything to drink and they suggested their very best, Margarita, and I of course ordered one because who can turn down a best selling Margarita when you’re in Mexico?! It was very tasty and definitely top notch Tequila.
The salsa cooking class was a bit rushed and not very detailed but I know I will be making that salsa at home for sure now. It was delicious!!!
Afterwards we sat down and enjoyed our salsa and chips along with freshly made Guacamole. Everything ordered tasted fresh. Everything on the menu is organic. Plus!!! That’s just awesome!!! We were all a bit unsure of what to order but thankfully our server suggested the Molcajete, which is kinda like a stew of your choice of meat in a hot stone dish. I wanted chicken and fish which wasn’t on the menu but they made a special order for me which was great!!! The presentation, which was honestly just the hot stone dish, was sooooo appealing and appetizing it made my mouth water. And the second I tasted it I was hooked!!! The sauce it had was sooooo flavorful and tasty!!! The fish had a kind of earthy taste to it, which sounds weird and disgusting but it was delicious because it tasted fresh. The chicken was not your typical hormone filled chicken, it was organic and fresh. And of course every Mexican dish comes with flour tortillas, ohhhh they were amazingly warm, fresh and super tasty!!!
On top of amazing décor, food, and drinks they had such a lovely staff. Our server, and I’m upset I can’t remember his name, was sooooo nice, kind, friendly, and helpful. But I know when I return I will know exactly who he is. The other staff like the runners and busboys/​girls were also very kind, friendly and helpful. They were fast and efficient when it came to clearing our table and setting it up for the next course.
Hopefully I can return soon. I had an amazing lunch there!!! Would love to taste some more amazing Mexican food like this place!!!

Had such an amazing here that we want to crown it the best restaurant in San Jose del Cabo. The seafood is super fresh and made to order. Best salsa in town and they prepare it for you table side. The ceviche and the combos are not to be missed. It’s the only restaurant where we immediately knew we want to eat at more than once during our trip. Best of all is the super friendly service from Polo and Marta. Love this place!!!

I ordered shrimp with shell on boiled in seasoning and I received baby shrimp steamed without any seasoning. I ordered a side of broccoli and cauliflower and received a broccoli floret and a bite of cauliflower. Needless to say, I had to dine elsewhere after seeing the disappointment. I’m from the south, so when I order shrimp, I’m not expecting baby shrimp that look like they were born last night.

El Herradero was recommended to us by one of the bellmen at the resort we stayed at. It was very close and easy to find. Staff was friendly, funny and attentive. I got the molcajete del abuelo (steak stone dish), and my BF ordered something similar, but with Shrimp & chicken. I really enjoyed mine. I didn’t taste my Boyfriend’s food since I don’t eat seafood, but he said his was really good as well. Margaritas didn’t taste like they had very much alcohol in them and were pretty small, but overall great food and experience.

Waitress got pissy when she brought guacamole that we didn’t order and sent it back. Food was a little overpriced. Big misunderstanding on the supposedly free margaritas. Wouldn’t go back

El Herradero
This is a very nice restaurant, the favorite of locals and tourist as well, their staff it’s very friendly and helpful and always trying to fill all your needs, they’re food it’s one of the best in San Jose Del Cabo (for a touristy restaurant) I have being coming to this restaurant for the last 4 years, they’re service have definitely change and not necessarily for the best, sometimes less it’s better, the owners are trying to make it a little more upscale and they have the wrong idea that if the waiters cook almost everything on your table it’s more luxurious, in my opinion they should let the cooks-​cook and the servers-​serve, they made their signature salsa that we always get and it was a total failure, no flavor to it and very pasty like and then we order a queso fundido with chorizo and that too are cooking it on table (that’s just insane) it dries on the molcajete and it’s very hard to eat it from, the portion of their original molcajete has being reduced to more than half and is not even close as impressive as it was before, we decided to give it another chance the next day but this time we actually requested our food to be cooked in the kitchen and not in the table and it was definitely a big improvement, so don’t be afraid to ask this you will have a more enjoyable dinner.

Green Chicken Enchiladas are excellent. Table made Salas excellent. Coconut shrimp excellent.

The food here was mediocre at best and definitely over priced. My three friends and I all agreed. There are so many other better authentic options this should not be your first or even your third choice. Really two stars is being kind and my boyfriend who went with me said I should give them one star!
We had the queso with mushrooms and chorizo and tortilla soup to start. Then the steak and shrimp mocajete and chicken enchiladas. I’ve had better queso in Texas, the tortilla soup was sad and salty, the mocajete soggy, and the enchiladas, don’t even get me started.
The service was friendly but slow. It was clean and if you like to watch sports tv while dining well… you can do that here.

We went to El Herradero for a birthday celebration after our first day in the area. Sonny, the owner, was extremely welcoming and made us instantly realize that we chose the right place. He kicked off our meal with a slice of flan with a birthday candle while the whole restaurant serenaded my mom. It is genius to do this up front. Why be like everywhere else and wait until the end? Cadillac Margaritas soon followed.
Christian was our waiter and made excellent suggestions on specialties. We had Grandma’s Hot Stone Dish with chicken, red snapper, and shrimp wrapped with bacon. I am not a bacon fanatic, but this shrimp dish (Camarones al Herradero) was one of the best wrapped shrimp dishes I have ever had. The sauce was a sour cream base with spice, but was not spicy or heavy. The shrimp was done perfectly and the bacon complemented the wrap without dominating. My mouth waters thinking about it even now. The other dishes were also delicious but are being overshadowed in this review by my favoritism of the camarones.
The atmosphere was celebratory and welcoming. Sonny and Christian were naturals in making our experience memorable and worth coming back for. They had TVs which would definitely bring me in for a Seahawks game or watching soccer.

One of the best meal I’ve bad in Los Cabos.
The service is really fast (for Mexico) and attentive. The food was great.
Place was pretty nice considering it’s in the outskirts of main strip. Leather seats, nice plates… they also have TV if you want to catch a game.
I would recommend the clay pot dishes. We got the shrimp and fish clay pot. They are flavorful, well executed and I even loved the cactus… which was tender and juicy.
They also have good margaritas.
I would not order dessert there though… it’s frozen, not made fresh.

Let’s start by confirming that this place has free Wi-​Fi. Now that we have the most important thing out of the way, we can talk about this nice, open-​air restaurant just off the strip of San Jose. It’s one of the most southern restaurants, and if you’re coming from the resorts, you’re likely to pass right by it as it’s not on the main street!
Nice ambiance, though it was slow (we were 1 of 2 parties). Service was very friendly, though it was slow, and painstakingly so when the customer load is considered. TV sets and the aforementioned Wi-​Fi will keep you busy, because there’s just an empty lot across the street, and no people walking by.
The first question was what kind of fish they used for their «fish fillet» molcajete. Basa, replied the server, and it was an immediate no-​go for me. Let’s just have the asada. Tortilla soup and kids meal was ordered (chicken nuggets IIRC). Another party member decided to go with the basa, even after my warnings of it being a mushy fish. After everything was ordered, the waiting game began…
Food came out sporadically! Entrée with the kids meal? Soup shortly after? Where are the tortillas? Oh, here is a pair. Molcajete last, with the rest of the tortillas a few minutes later? I don’t know what the heck happened there. Yes, the basa was mushy. The molcajete was very good, and very hot! Kids’ meal was a joke, unfortunately. Yes, there was a free margarita included with the entrée’s, but it was WEAK.
Tally it all up, and there’s a charge for a margarita. No big deal, the server was very apologetic and quickly took it off the bill.
**very stereotypical, I know, but you HAVE to check your bill when you get it. It seems like it’s just the norm for there to be an extra item or weird charge discrepancy down in these tourist towns**