El Nopal — Restaurant in Paris

So I want to start off by saying 1 experience does not define the whole place.

Before I start talking about what went wrong I'm just going to say my burrito was very very average.

Average does not deserve 1 star though. The problem was the service.

When I stepped up to order my burrito the girl behind the counter was very friendly but had to warn me that there would be a 20 minute wait for a burrito. Now I've never waited 20 minutes for a burrito but first time for everything right?

Ok so 20 minutes was probably a fair assessment as they had many Uber eats orders (I counted about 7 orders which they had hung on pegs). Some of the orders looked like they were for 4-5 people too. So great! 20 minutes then. Nope.

I decided to wait pretty much directly in line with the counter, leaning on a poke in the street. There I watched people step up and place their own orders.

About 25 minutes later I noticed that people who ordered after me were getting their food. Since I was directly in line with the counter I made eye contact with girl at the counter.

She looked at me but didn't say anything (mistake number 1)

She also just kept standing there (mistake number 2). This is where you try to remember what I ordered and if you couldn't you ask me then check with the kitchen that its being made. Didn't happen.

Ok so its been 45 minutes and I'm about to let them know (I should have at the 25 minutes before but I wanted to see how it would play out). Anyway I see the girl at the counter having a conversation with the 2 kitchen staff about the orders, clearly she realised a problem. This took another 2-3 minutes of hushed arguing.

The girl at the counter asks for "Mark" but I'm the only guy waiting at that point so obviously it was me, I'll forgive getting the name wrong.

"There has been a small problem" "Ok how long will it be?" " It was a burrito right? Spicy?" "Yeah" "Hes making it right now" "Ok, no problem"

Right so 5 minutes later I get my burrito and I force a smile and walk off to eat it. As I said before, it was very average. It was 90% rice, hardly any beans, the avocado was fresh, the beef was ok but everything was under seasoned.Oh also the tomato was cut into huge chunks. Pretty bland and not worth €9.50.

Right so I hope the owner/workers read this part and before you dismiss any of this cause I'm just some guy this is mostly common sense and I've also had 10+ years in the food business: There were 3 of you, doing 1.5 peoples worth of work. All 3 of you were extremely slow as I watched you. The girl at the counter should be helping the kitchen with menial tasks to speed things up if there is nobody at the counter. (Get her to fetch ingredients for the cook) I know it was nearly closing time (1 hour before) but the sink does not need to be cleaned like you're closing for the night if you still have customers. Give it a quick soapy wipe and rinse. Efficiency needs to be improved. Look at where you store your ingredients. I swear your cook had to turn around 3 times and also reach for an avocado from really up high to make 1 burrito. Speed up, you all looked and acted like you were serving 1 customer while there was 5-10 orders stacked up. Be observant with your customers. There is a guy you told 20 minutes who has been waiting for 25 minutes and LOOKING directly at you. Check that order. Offer compensation? I'm not going to ask you for free stuff but you made a mistake that you yourself acknowledged. Follow step 6, notice I didn't order a drink. Maybe offer me a free drink?

I know you have some awards, maybe you're just not handling the influx of more customers? Good luck...

Context is everything in a restaurant, isn't it? Why am I eating Mexican food in Paris? Because I live abroad and try to get it when I can. And yes, I'll make allowances because of the location.

It's a walk up window, you place your order and can pay by card. Cashier switched to English after my garbled attempt in French, and said that any options could be done vegetarian. We got a veggie burrito and a pork, and asked for both to be spicy.

Waited a few minutes for the order to come up, walked to the canal, sat down and enjoyed. Very satisfying! My date said the veggie was actually the better of the two, classic grilled vegetables, rice, beans and avocado, but seasoned nicely. Both were extremely mild, so if we go again we will ask for super extra spicy if possible.

If you live in Southern California or Chicago or Texas and are in Paris for a weekend, don't put this on your list, you can probably do as well at home. But if you're an expat or don't have access to good Mexican food regularly, this will...

I just came back from El Nopal and I loved it. I’m Mexican and I never bother to try Mexican food in Paris. I always get very disappointed because authentic ingredients are hard to find, and the food ends up being very similar to Tex-Mex for the exact same reason. At El Nopal, I ordered the Picadillo, Chicken and Chicharrón tacos, and I can tell you that the last two tasted just like home. The corn tortillas are excellent (not too hard, not too soft), their salsas are spicy without burning your tongue and they have Mexican beer! Excellent for a nice sunny day by the canal. I can’t wait to go back and try the Gordita...