El Torito Grill — Restaurant in Brea

We came here for Easter Brunch and were: (+)grateful to be in a public setting together for a holiday but (-) we were not delighted with: the food quality (mildly warm chicken tamales, cold enchiladas, w/unmelted cheese). (-)Not fans of the new Covid style 'buffet'... (You point to which food options you want, and an employee actually spoons them on to your plate behind a glass shield. Maybe, I am too neurotic bc I dislike barely warm refried beans mixed atop my sweet corn balls, with a luke warm chicken and crema sauce, etc?? (+)Thankfully, the Machaca was actually hot. My plate looked really disorganized and tasted like it like too. Both myself and others of our party of 6 wished for better temp quality, we would have prefered the piping hot 2 cheese enchilada w/rice, refried beans combo and chips/salsa, and proper blended drinks. The El Torito Grill quality that we love was absent on Easter, hopefully it's still there on regular days. We are not a tough crowd. But 2 of us, just gave up after really long lines and dissatisfaction w/our first plate. (+)The Omelette ordering process, by the 2 that ordered, was ok...no longer made to order in front of you, rather utilized a pre-order type process by marking up a pre-selected ingredients sheet, giving it to your server, then your omelette was delivered promptly. Which may be a quicker option. (+)Fajita bar was appreciated by another 2, I tried a bite but the beef was too heavily peppered for my tastebuds/throat, again different quality. Desserts were great (flan and bananas foster were the fave of our table), and delivered via individual dishes, so although distributed by a staff member, each flavor component retained it's uniqueness. (-)Bar drinks were confusing bc there was such a loud crowd, masks on...our server could not hear and so many of the margaritas, even a couple of piña coladas were served over ice, not blended as requested, but again we just rolled with it. Dad enjoyed his unlimited Bloody Mary option. (+)Parking was easy. (-) Server was getting his groove back. (-)Mgr was M.I.A.? (+)Restrooms were clean (+)Hostesses were kind....

This place has some serious sell-more-margaritas game. I order the Cadillac margarita before ordering my meal. Margarita was good but it was about 80% ice so it didn’t last long at all. And slightly annoyed because I didn’t feel like I got my moneys worth.

Maybe 5 minutes later a random waiter (not my current waiter) approaches and as he’s walking (doesn’t stop, keeps walking) by he points to my margarita and gives me the thumbs up. I give him the thumbs up back indicating I’m good. Next thing you know the guy comes back with another margarita. I asked what that was for and he acted surprised and said “oh, remember when I walked by and asked if you wanted another one?”

No bro - I remember you walked by without stopping and gave me a thumbs up.

I realized I had been bamboozled and he offered to take it back but I ALSO noticed this second margarita had way less ice in it. So after some quick thinking I decided why have one when you can have 2 for twice the price? But at least the ice to margarita ratio balances itself out. Fine. They managed to upsell me on a second drink.

Food comes out. The taco trio was really good. The chips and salsa are really good and fresh made. Good atmosphere. Very friendly staff. All good.

Then after I’m done, waitress brings me the check. I hand her my credit card. 5 minutes goes by and yet ANOTHER random waitress approaches me with a big smile and ANOTHER margarita. What? I tell her no, that I already paid. She apologizes and walks away with the drink.

So the takeaway here is (1) food is really good (2) atmosphere is really good (3) staff are all super friendly but (4) beware of the game.

Maybe it’s all good. Better to get over-serviced than to be...

I actually really love this place. Not so much this last time. The cleanliness of the restaurant is lacking. My baby is sick. They don’t sanitize the high chairs before giving it to the next family apparently. Again, now my once healthy, happy child is ill. We literally never leave the house. We went there and he woke up sneezing more than 272 times. I had to stop counting I was irritated. I do generally wipe down things and I fault myself for forgetting to do so before we seated him. We forgot it in the car and had to go and grab it. By that time he had already touched all over the stuff and we couldn’t keep his hands away from his mouth and face in time. My recommendations for this facility is to sanitize things you know toddlers will be touching, make sure the plates & utensils are CLEAN before placing on the tables. Don’t be lazy about it. We had to dine- in with to-go trays and utensils because everything was with residual food particles. Literally everything encrusted and that was kind of gross. Also, the waiter brought us our drinks in the wrong cups and kept the same straws but gave it to the wrong ppl. I just happened to notice my lipstick on the other cup and my daughter had the wrong drink entirely. ALSO, they forgot our side dips and such with our dinners because they thought it was a to-go order. Aht aht…I noticed immediately and requested it. I always get the same thing and I’m very observant. No courtesy refills without having to ask for it. And the place was not busy at all.

Edited to add: they don’t even have napkins! We had to use 46...