El Grito Mexican Taqueria Mountjoy Square — Restaurant in Dublin

Disappointing Visit to "El Grito" - Not Recommended

As a group of five hungry men on a weekend city tour in Dublin, we chose the restaurant "El Grito" based on its highly rated Google reviews. Despite its location being quite far from the city center, we were looking forward to enjoying a nice evening with good Mexican food. Unfortunately, our experience fell short. Here is my detailed two-star review:

Upon arrival, we discovered that the restaurant was located in a basement. Despite having made a reservation weeks in advance, we were not seated in the cozy restaurant area but instead led to a small shelter that seemed more suited for children's birthday parties. This was already disappointing and did not meet our expectations.

After being seated, it took around 20 minutes before we could even place our orders. This unnecessary and frustrating wait was particularly difficult as we were hungry and had made a special trip to the restaurant.

We decided to order five margaritas, expecting to be served authentic Mexican cocktails. However, what arrived were frozen margaritas in plastic cups that were difficult to drink from. Instead of a refreshing beverage, we received a kind of frozen margarita semifreddo that we had to eat with a spoon. This was definitely not what we had in mind.

On the table, there were bottles of various sauces for the main course. Unfortunately, these bottles were so unhygienic that we chose not to use them. We placed them on a small adjacent table, but afterward, our hands became sticky and required immediate washing. Under these conditions, we certainly did not want to consume those sauces.

We ordered tacos and burritos. The tacos were decent, which is why this review includes more than one star. However, the burritos were extremely dry. Perhaps they would have been better with the sauce, but unfortunately, we couldn't use it. The food quality did not meet our expectations.

Throughout our entire visit, we were never asked if we wanted to place additional orders, despite a waiter frequently passing by our table. This lack of attention and poor service added to our frustration.

Overall, I cannot recommend "El Grito." It is possible that the restaurant had a bad day, but that does not excuse the lack of attentiveness, the unhygienic sauce dispensers, and, above all, the margaritas served in plastic cups. We were disappointed with our experience and would not recommend...

Rushed Service as they where approaching closing and poor food lacking any seasoning whatsoever, especially salt. I'd seriously prefer to be turned away if you are going to rush everything just for a last minute cash grab. I'm talking if a Hospital ward had a Mexican themed meal, it'd be comparable.

Neat-ish decor though, I can say that. Clean too, I think ( it's quite dark in there.) except for the little sauce dispensers on the table that where crusty.

No one asked us how our food was or checked in on us. My partners tacos came with a scant handful of completely cold chips on top, likely left in the bowl from the previous order. The only instance of them coming to the table was to tell us again that they where closing soon.

One of the staff was loudly stacking chairs right behind our table aswell, not very courteous. There was also about 4 other tables mid swing in their meals too, it's not like we where holding anyone up. After telling us again that they where closing soon they cut the music and we where in the middle of our already poor meal trying to rush it into us to get our.

We where there maybe 30 minutes in total? Paid €52 for one starter, two small main plates and two soft drinks. Not worth it at all.

We actually live in the area too and have wanted to try the place for months, hoping it could be a great alternative to cooking every other week, but definitely not which is sad as I'd think a restaurant in such a niche location would really want to try and entice a local following.

Wouldn't recommend,...

We went there to have dinner, we were told that the waiting time would be around 30 minutes but they found us a place quick which is good. The decoration and ambience is really nice... The bad thing about our experience is regarding the response from the staff when we requested to have a look at the door, because the customers that were waiting (they had coats on) left the door open and the cold breeze from outside came right to us while eating (which is not good; we were told that the customers were waiting and they couldn't tell them to do that... I find their answer rude and not at all caring about the people who is already inside eating, from someone working on hospitality for so long I can say that the comfort of the customers (inside) are a priority. Second of all, we asked the waiter if the food was spicy, he told us no, I have very little tolerance with spicy food, I understand that the place is Mexican and for them might not be that spicy, but I'm not Mexican. If the food is cooked with very spicy sauce don't tell me is not, I could have ordered something else, or not ordered at all. But the main dish for me was really spicy (the nachos were ok) and I barely ate, but I left with an upset stomach. I never leave bad reviews, but this one made me one to leave one. And don't ever go back. And in top of everything we requested the food to take away and they left up the plate to put ourselves the leftover which I've...