El Paseo Méxican Restaurant — Restaurant in Azle

I visited El Paseo wanting a ride to a great Tex-Mex experience only to leave with a mediocre one.

We were greeted amiably and promptly seated in the colorful yet rustic dining area, replete with wooden beams and Mexican decor. We ordered the Botana Platter, Tortilla Soup and for the main dish, a Pollo A La Mexicana. We were first cordially presented with chips and salsa.

The salsa was too acidic, possibly to aid in preservation and lacked organic depth and regional spices. I was taken aback that this may be not freshly made throughout the day. Salsa should first present with a defining tomato base then gently yet succinctly mushroom with spicy textures, preferably sourced locally;it can be the defining aspiration of Tex-Mex and El Paseo has plenty of work to do here.

The Totilla soup was an ample portion of broth with tendrils of corn strips, chicken, avocado and cheese. The soup was the pleasant surprise on this cold day, offering an convection of flavors evocative of Sonaran and Oaxaca regions of Mexico.

I found the Botana platter a good sampling at first sight, but found the flauta's fillings of chicken flawed and overwhelmed by the tortilla. The nachos were sumptuously topped only to have the beef over-salted, and I found the quesadillas lacking the creamy, silk-smooth body one should expect from a cheese whose origins trace back to Mexican Franciscan friars.

The Pollo A La Mexicana's large chicken breast was probably not a range-free offering, which is disappointing given the number of rural farms in the area. The mexican toppings were sufficient but where was the ethos of garden freshness and local sourcing? The medium cooked chicken was upstaged by the jalapenos which I found overwhelmed the meat. The rice was impeccable but the beans were firm and undercooked.

El Paseo has work to do to get to a four or five star, but it...

Guys, it really saddens me to write this. I’ve been coming here for 20 years and usually love it every time. But today was different in an incredibly disappointing way. I placed a simple to go order for some quesadillas. Also relevant to the story: I’m walking with a cane and recovering from a foot injury. I got to the counter and asked the older woman wearing pink with blonde/ light brown hair for my orde, as I’ve done literally hundreds of times before. She told me I’d have to pull around to the other side of the building. (New to me but okay.) I suggested since I had already limped up the stairs and was ready to pay, that she just bring it to me. I was in the restaurant already with my card. I told her I was having trouble getting around. I said “It’d be great if you could just bring it to me since I’m already here.” She responded in a snarky tone, “it’d be great if you could drive over to the other side of the building since that’s where they keep the food.” And then ignored me and walked off. I left without paying for anything at all. Customer service is as simple as using your own discretion to realize that I, as a customer, am not very mobile and it would be easier to just bring me the food. Instead, she insisted on sticking to some BS protocol, making both herself and the restaurant look inconsiderate. I thought she seemed pretty weird during the times I’ve been there before, but didn’t realize she was rude also. El Paseo, I hope you take recommendations from your long time Azle customers seriously. Pancho has been serving me since I was a child and greets us when we come in, we love it there. But this lady...

Food was delicious, waitress was the nicest, but OMG do NOT try to get a to-go cup for your Margarita. I did not intend to drink this, but no Diet Coke was available so Margarita is my second choice. I drank 1/3 of it. My waitress was busy so I walked close to the register and asked for a to-go cup to the boy behind the register that looked like a cross between John Wick and Marilyn Manson. He asked "For what drink?" I told him Margarita and he said he cannot let me take it. I have heard this before, so I said "Oh it needs to be sealed?" HIM: "No. You may have contaminated it". I don't know what made him choose that word but flames shot from his eyes. ME: Can I have a cup for my salsa? HIM: You are not taking your Margarita in a salsa cup! (I was planning to, of course, but how dare he) And then I looked up and his eyes were running green code like in the Matrix. He then brought me a sealed cup of salsa that was shrink wrapped in Saran wrap so I could not leave this establishment with my contaminated Margarita. I'm not sure if I can go back knowing what I have learned about the agents working there. **EDIT TO SAY this story is true, minus the hyperbole and Matrix fun. He actually did say "You are NOT taking your Margarita in a salsa cup" and when I looked at him with shock and said "Ok" with a tone, he said he would get the manager (I did not ask for this or any supervisor of any sort) but he did not, and no management was alerted. And he really did refuse to give me any type of...