El Chacho — Restaurant in San Bartolomé de Tirajana

Short Review

The food was decent but the service left us baffled. The waiters simply are not trained enough to deal with customers. The managers are also very inefficient, their only job being to bring checks to the customer and simply ignoring a request made my other customers.

Long Review

We request the waiter to arrange seats for 7 inside, as it was fairly cold and some of us were unwell. The waiter was adamant on us sitting outside despite there being visible space for 7 inside. We decided to oblige, but probably shouldn't have. A little while later, the manager walked towards the window and opened the blind, we didn't see this being a problem. However, 15-20mins later, steady winds started and we started to feel cold. We requested the manager to close the blinds that he previously opened, but he arrogantly replied, "You can't close the blinds". Being in a position to not do anything, we simply wore our jackets. Now it was time for the waiter to show that he wasn't trained to be a waiter. He approached us in a very cocky manner, said, "Yes, drinks?". Most of us were unwell already and a cold-drink would probably make it worse, so we suggested that we skip the drinks. In reply to this he shrewdly responded, "Oh, you must get a drink". We asked him to just bring some water. We ordered Chicken Balti, Lamb Curry, Dal Tadka and Mix Vegetables along with Tandoori Naan.

We ordered naan in 2 rounds to ensure they do not get too cold while sitting out, so first 4 naans with other food and then 4 naans a little later. In reply to this the waiter showed his attitude problem once again, saying this wasn't possible, and making a rather stupid excuse. The food took some time to come out, but when it did we asked the waiter to bring more naans'. We got straight into the food, being very hungry, everything tasted good and we were enjoying it despite all the service issues. It usually takes around 5-10 mins for an experienced cook to make a handful of naans', but we waiter for almost 25 mins. Our food was now becoming cold, we asked the waiter to bring the naans soon or the food will become inedible. Again, the waiter gave a foolish excuse and proceeded back. After multiple requests, we lost it, we went towards the kitchen, on the inside, and asked for the manager, who was now nowhere to be seen. The staff came out making another excuse, we have countless orders and it takes time. Yes, the restaurant was busy but the majority of the customer had only ordered beers and no, nowhere does it take 40 mins to make naans'.

Overall: Decent Food,...

Would not recommend. We went there because we were looking for some good authentic Mexican food. The nachos with cheese were really soggy and not crispy at all because there was so much cheese on it and the portion was really small for over € 10,00. After that we ordered a quesadilla with chicken and a burrito with beef. The quesadilla was just a wrap topped with a lot of cheese, chicken, corn and jalapeños. It was like a pizza, just with a wrap underneath the ingredients. The burrito was big but also just beef with cheese and beans+rice on the side. The beef kind of reminded me of pasta with tomato sauce. It was ok but nothing special. The quesadilla had no spices at all. It was just cheese with vegetables and chicken. The beef was spiced a bit. We left around half of our food on the plate. As there was a guy who looked like the boss (was dressed different and gave instructions to the other employees) we asked him to come at our table. We asked him if he is the boss and he said “a little bit”. I kindly explained to him that I did not really like the food because it just tasted boring and that it was not authentic Mexican food at all for me. He then blew the whole thing up, he doesn’t care, he works in this business over 40 years and if I don’t like it, it’s my problem. Don’t get me wrong, but just because you do your job for such a long time doesn’t mean you do it good at all. I just don’t understand why he got so angry because I just friendly explained why I did not like it. In my opinion, as a boss, you should be able to take criticism. He interrupted me several times, he didn’t even want to listen to what I have to say. After I told him, that I would like to talk and not be interrupted all the time he became dignified again. After that I asked for the bill and he ran off to another table. I usually do not write reviews or say something but as he was really harsh with the employees (who were really nice by the way) and the food did not even taste good I had to. If you want to grad a small snack while shopping it’s ok to go there (although it’s really pricey) but if you want to eat mexican food, I would definitely not...

As a Mexican American from Texas, let me just say that this isn’t Mexican - it’s TexMex AT BEST!

If you don’t know Spanish, you might get some rude vibes from the waiters. But don’t sweat it, I think it’s just a communication issue. I am fully fluent in Spanish so I didn’t have an issue but I did see others struggle a little.

The food’s similarity to Mexican food is about what’s expected in a Spanish territory on the coast of Africa. Don’t expect anything extraordinary.

However, there are some things you can get that are pretty comparable to TexMex. I got the Big Burrito with chicken.

The good thing about this restaurant is that they have pickled jalapenos - all you have to do is ask for a side of them. Also you can ask for a side of sour cream to go with your burrito. Also, ask for the SPICY SALSA as it is different and tastes a whole lot better.

It was really filling. The portion was excellent. And overall the burrito was acceptable; again, keeping in mind that you’re just off the coast of Africa!

What I would suggest is having a section exclusively for smoking customers. Many tourists do not want to be exposed to cigarette smoke and sometimes the smell can ruin your dinner experience. As an ex-smoker, I’m not entirely disgusted by it but I can definitely see it being a problem for people.

I will warn though that the Appetizers are most definitely not worth it. I wouldn’t recommend any of the appetizers. The regular salsa tasted like tomato paste. My friend got a meat skillet and the sauce they provided tasted like barbecue sauce - which is NOT used in any...