El Mazatlan Bar and Grill #8 — Restaurant in Bowling Green

My wife and I went there last night for her employer's after Christmas Christmas party. When we arrived, the gentleman at the door was speaking Spanish to us telling us where to join our party. Fortunately, I do speak some Spanish so I could make out where he was telling us to go. Had I not been able to we would have been at a complete loss. Why would a restaurant that serves mostly Americans speak Spanish or any other language for that matter when giving directions to a table? My wife just looked at me dumbfounded and I had to translate. When we reached the room where our party was being held, we found a nightmare. There were approximately 150 people literally crammed in a room that seated probably 100. There were no seats available and other party members were lining the back wall. It was so crowded that we were hardly able to walk between tables or pull out chairs when seats became available. I'm not even kidding. I had almost had to climb into the man's lap who was already seated to my left to be able sit in my own chair. It was quite uncomfortable. The room was very hot and there wasn't enough elbow room for me to cut my food once it finally arrived. Speaking of the food, I was very disappointed with my meal portion. I ordered a beef chimichanga and it looked like a small burrito. I had to ask the waiter if he had served me the correct meal. I have never gone to any Mexican restaurant and found my portion so small. If I had been paying for my meal, I would have sent it back and ask for a do over. At this point, my wife had not received her food. She ordered a shrimp chimichanga. From the time my plate was delivered until the time she received hers was thirty minutes. She was literally the last person in a room of 150 to get her meal. So by that time, mine was room temperature because we always eat together out of respect for one another. I don't know if her portion was huge because we had to ask for it so many times or what. It came out taking up most all of her plate. I was happy for her but it made me even more disappointed in mine. I didn't make a fuss and just ate what I was given in the extremely small space I had to eat it in. The food had a good flavor but I'm sure it would have been better hot. We enjoyed our salsa and queso while we waited on the main courses. The salsa was made to perfection. However, the chips were not that good, probably the worst I've ever been served in a restaurant. My wife seemed to enjoy them so I guess it may have been just me, but I noticed that there were many half full baskets left all over the room when we got ready to leave. My wife did mention while we were eating that this place was not as good as other places in our area. I agreed. One good thing I can say is that no matter how busy our server was, he was very attentive to our needs. Our drinks were full the entire time and he kept checking for my wife's food. He apologized when bringing it out. He was very good at his job. Overall, my wife and I will not be choosing to eat here again. The food was just not that good, just average.

Don't book a large party here because it is quite miserable. I wish I would have opted out.

There is a for real authentic Mexican restaurant on the other side of town we love that is far...

WOW!! I am blown away. I’ve been living and dining here in BG for two years now and I mean it when I say this place is by far the best place for the over all food, service, atmosphere and drink experience!!! I am blown away. It’s a busy Wednesday night and I came solo. I was seated at a booth, not the bar RIGHT away.. greeted at the table and the door RIGHT away. Complimentary chips and salsa were out to me in 60 seconds. My server greeted me within 90 seconds. My first drink was to me in 120 seconds. I came to drink but my chips and salsa were refilled. My server stayed attentive with me throughout my visit Despite him juggling multiple other tables who were drinking AND dining. He remained patient with me and didn’t rush me off because I wasn’t ordering an entree. After two hours I finally decided to order food. I ordered my third round and it came immediately. Ordered my food and went to use the restroom and it was piping hot on the table when I returned less than three minutes later. The drinks are STRONG. The food is FLAVORFUL!! Everything taste FRESH. Like, I couldn’t even wait to get back to my quarters to write this review. I’m still sitting at this table sipping my drink. The bill?? Super affordable. I’m glad I came to enjoy my last night here in bowling green at El Maz. Unfortunately it will be my first and last time but no fault of their own. Thank you for having me and delivering a great experience! Make sure you guys check them out during happy hour for these super strong and affordable drinks if you haven’t already.

Signing out of bowling...

You don't want to see pictures, but hours upon hours of diarrhea; up all hours of the night and Monday morning causing me to miss work. Large and impressive looking establishment, the parking lot was full early Saturday evening. We were seated quickly, and overall service and timing was very good. But the kitchen manager is obviously incompetent. The chips weren't the best, a little more crunch than crisp but ok. But worst salsa I've ever had: Basically canned diced tomato with oregano...that's it. Maybe they ran out of Ro-Tel and cilantro? Would be good with some macaroni, but completely bland. We doctored it with salt, and liberal doses of the red picante and green habenaro sauces from the adjacent table in an effort to overpower the Italian seasoning. Habenaro is a brownish red pepper, but this stuff was lime green for whatever reason. Anyway, it was finally edible. We asked for some queso dip, and it was probably the best I've had since I really like Velveeta. So the wife got steak fajita and barely touched it even though we were both starving. I got a Victor's Special which consisted of a chimichanga, burrito, and enchilada; all exactly the same, filled with that awful unseasoned ground beef out of a can that tastes like dog food, they love to serve in these places. But it was smothered in the yummy queso, so I gave it a good dousing with red picante sauce and inhaled it. Out of the myriad of cookie-cutter order-by-number Mexican restaurants that have near identical food, this was by far the...