El Toro Restaurant — Restaurant in Doncaster

El Toro is a nice little restuarant that is easy to find in Bawtry.

On our visit it felt a little like the front of house department was understaffed for the day (Bawtry had its Christmas market and it was very busy).

When we booked the buffet we did so as it had a variety of Gluten free options. On the morning of the booking we received a call stating that the buffet wasn't on however we could have the normal or festive set menus. We enquired about the variety of Gluten free options on these and were assured there were still plenty. When we arrived we were solely offered the festive set menu which was fine with us - however the options for the starter were just garlic bread or garlic bread with cheese and churros for dessert. We were told we could pick something gluten free from the normal menu instead as they didn't do gluten free garlic bread. Additionally we were told that we would be informed of the gluten free choices when ordering dessert too. I picked chorizo for my starter and when it came it was lovely. All the food was great and the time it arrived was super quick to say how busy they were. The only delays we seemed to face were because the front of house staff seemed to be struggling to get to all of the tables with only 3 of them on, and not for lack of trying on their part. We had to wait quite a while to order our dessert and after asking what the gluten free options were we had to wait a further 15 minutes for someone to tell us what they were. When the waiter did tell us the choice - which was vanilla ice cream - I said that's fine thank you and she said it's ready now they've already done it for you (I'm assuming that vanilla ice cream was THE ONLY choice) . When the bill came we had been charged for 2 festive set menus as well as an additional chorizo starter. When I queried this I was told that I shouldn't have been allowed to have that starter as it's not included. When I said I wasn't informed that there was specific things I could and couldn't have and was led to believe that it was just a straight swap I was told "just leave it we have taken it off the bill for you" whilst I think this abrupt reply may have been more to do with language barrier than anything else I do think that there should be a set practise in place for dealing with menu ammendments for dietary requirements and clearer communication between the waiting staff. If I had been given a narrowed down choice of alternative gluten free options I wouldn't have questioned this selection and have chosen something happily. To expect a customer to pay extra without giving them the heads up in the first place and then charging them for a starter from the set menu they didn't have in the first place is a bit cheeky, I kind of felt like I was being led to feel like the mishap was my own fault. I do feel like if the restaurant had been quieter then hopefully the mistakes wouldn't have happened, although a set procedure for FOH would eradicate any confusion...

On an irregularly busy festive Monday night (18th Dec 2023) me and my wife were greeted and seated at the bar immediately by the friendly Leo, Dil and their colleague (we didn't get to ask her name as she was serving a different section of the wonderful restaurant).

We were given the chance almost instantaneously to order drinks of which we both had cocktails. A Bahama Mama for myself and a Blueberry and Passionfruit Martini for my wife. She politely asked to swap out the gin for vodka which came as no trouble at all for Leo who then momentarily gave us a theatrical mixology show.

Our table was ready moments later for us to start devouring their all you can eat tapas menu...

The food? Wow. "Value for money" as an overall summary doesn't even come close. The speed of service for each round and quality of the food accompanied with smiles and humourous anecdotes from Leo was phenomenal. Bare in mind that this standard was delivered all the while being what seemed at capacity for 2015hrs and the 1hr45 thereafter.

With an Xmas party table of about 15 and other various numbers of hungry, thankful diners filling the place and receiving the same level of thoughtful yet urgent service, I tip my hat to you all.

Nothing was too much. Regular check backs. Recommendations of their own personal favs from the extensive, beautifully crafted list of generously portioned tapas. The attentiveness.

Just freakin' awesome. Especially the San Miguel battered, Argentinian prawns of which I had 4 rounds of during the barrage of plates being brought to our table.

I wish we had taken some photos to add to this review.

Go and try. See, taste and lavish in the experience for yourselves.

We shall be back. Thank you for making our evening a memorable...

We decided to turn up for a meal post lockdown, booked for 8pm. Turned up at 8pm to be turned away because earlier customers turned up late and they are now over running. - why that affects us I have no idea. We were told to come back 20 minutes later, so we had to go back to another bar to wait.

Back we came and sat down and drinks and food order taken. Drinks came immediately and they took order for more plates on the tapas.

First food came at 9.25, and the second lost came at 9.45. The staff had no further communication from there, so we assumed the kitchen shut at 10. For an all you can eat, this didn't appear great.

At 10.20 we went to speak about the bill because nobody had approached us. Discussed the bill and the supposed manager basically said it was a new team and tried comparing a restaurant to going getting a burger. Tried saying if the full bill wasn't paid that it would come out of staff wages etc. After further discussion he told us to walk out and not pay, but I left over 50% of the food bill ' which considering everything that happened was generous.

Such a shame because the place has previously been good. But if this is the new team, then it is kot something I will frequent again.

We were not the only table like this, there were 4 tables around us in the same position. I hope they sort it out because the food is decent enough, but the service is atrocious...