El Cortijo Taqueria — Restaurant in Burlington

Walking into El Cortijo was a shock to my olfactory system — the strong smell of urine hit me immediately. Luckily, my nose adjusted once they turned on the AC, and the smell faded.

The menu was nothing special — your basic tacos and other staples you'd expect at a Mexican restaurant. When I came in, they were playing rap throwbacks, which didn’t really match the vibe of the place. Eventually, the music shifted to artists like Frank Ocean or Tyler, the Creator, and finally to some Hispanic tracks that actually matched the food. The ambiance was average — decor was basic, a casual diner setup. Service was standard nothing bad nothing amazing to praise.

Fish Tacos These were very good. They reminded me of a taco spot called Escondite. The fish was delicious, the cabbage added a great crunch, and the sauce was flavorful — though I definitely wanted more of it. 8.4/10

Shrimp Tacos The sauce was very spicy and kind of overpowered everything else. It was still a good taco, but I wish it had a creamy sauce to balance the heat. The one random slice of carrot felt out of place — I wish they added something more thoughtful instead of just pineapple. 7.6/10

Fries Over-salted but well-seasoned. I loved the queso — overall pretty good. 7/10

Side Dishes

Rice: Basic Spanish rice, but honestly? Delectable. I loved it. 9.5/10 Side Salad: Surprisingly a 10/10. The dressing was amazing and brought it all together. I genuinely loved it.

Final Thoughts All in all, it's a decent spot. Would I go back? Probably not. The area felt a little sketchy — people walking by in the alley next to the restaurant made me grip my purse a little tighter. And while the food was solid, I don’t see myself returning to a place where the bathroom smells better than the...

To start if I could leave a 0 star I would. I placed an order at 6:28 PM for an ASAP pick up timer of 7:15PM. Quite a long time for some tacos but I understand that they are busy. I walk in at 7:15 and see that one of the two orders I placed were ready. I proceeded to stand there for the next hour and 10 minutes. In those many minutes, I watched as people came in to dine in and be served food. I asked multiple times to the FOH manager what was going on, each time I was told something different, one of the most notable being that something was 86'ed. After asking what was 86'ed so I could order something else, he went to the back and came back and then said nothing was 86'ed. Another notable instance was him mumbling something under his breathe when I expressed my disappointment and confusion on the food taking so long. Being a manager in a restaurant myself, I understand how things can sometimes be hard to manage, but at the end of the day, your one job is to make people happy. This didn't happen in the slightest today. After being brought my food after the hour and 10 minutes, I asked if there was some way that I could compensated for their mistake and my loss of time. He said there was nothing he could do and that I should feel good because he was able to put the ticket through again so that I could get my food. After he told me that he would have to explain to his boss why the ticket was sent again. Being told this bewildered me. If you are incompetent to the point in which you have no clue what is going on in the restaurant and think that this is the way to correct your mistake is hilarious. If the owner reads this, it was a darker toned manager with brown/black curly hair; find new...

I’ve never left a bad review before and I certainly thought I’d never leave one for Cortijo since I usually love coming here. Last night I received terrible service though and it’s very disappointing. My group waited 30mins for our appetizer and our server hadn’t even taken our order yet. By the time our food came out we’d been there for an hour. When it was time for dessert we ordered the churros—which we’ve had before and that are usually AMAZING—but they came out so burnt my stepmom thought they appeared to be chocolate flavored. When we voiced our complaint the server just told us that they also came out looking that dark, even though every other time we’d gotten the churros they had never come out burnt. She offered to take them off the bill but was very condescending when we asked to just have them re-fired. I’ve worked in many restaurants and I realize that it was nearing close and they probably didn’t want to turn the fryers back on, but the delayed service was the reason our table was there for so long. We tried to pick at the churros but they were so burnt we didn’t want to finish them. Overall the service just wasn’t good. If our server had been apologetic and honest I would’ve felt better about the mistake but we truly were just given attitude and poor service. Very disappointed, we’re gonna take a break from...