El Rayos Authentic Mexican — Restaurant in Calhoun

Best Mexican restaurant I’ve been to in many years, possibly ever. What makes it great?

1.) Start with the food. I had the Tacos Carlos, one chicken, one steak. The meat itself was juicy (not hastily overcooked and sopping in sauce like so many “street taco” places). The cilantro and onions were fresh. The corn tortillas were perfect. I also had two tamales, happy I ordered two because they were outstanding. But again, simple. My wife ordered the Pollo Loco and the flavors were just fantastic. The table sauces were excellent. My wife had a margarita — perfection — and I had a Negra Modelo. Our toddler son in the high chair happily dined on anything we handed him; having a kid there worked out great. We finished with churros and sopapillas, probably carrying everything too far indulging ourselves, but so fun to go overboard. Simple, perfectly flavorful recipes built around authentic ingredients.

2.) Add atmosphere. Now, Mexican restaurants are an old idea in the United States. You will run the gamut from Taco Bell to some very fancy places that char the meat, put on a show, all amped up and every dish comes out like a fireworks display. But not El Rayos Authentic Mexican. This restaurant is HUMBLE. and so much the better for it. No one in charge at El Rayos is designing dishes because they look pretty and photograph well. The Pollo Loco in particular was not especially attractive. But it was essentially...homemade. It looked fine, it tasted WONDERFUL. If you want to make a splash on your first date or something like that, this is not your place. If you want to relax for an hour with loved ones or a good friend, come by.

So, back to ATMOSPHERE. We were among the first guests to arrive Saturday evening. The radio was on, playing Mexican pop music, and the senior waitress was quietly and unselfconsciously SINGING ALONG. I bet every Mexican restaurant manager in America wishes to God they could get their waitstaff to sing along to the music without affectation or fear. It was just one touch illustrating a hundred small ways that this clean, well-kept, simple place was so welcoming and so easy. You get the feeling you were in these people’s home and they were just being themselves.

3.) Value. Are you kidding me? I can’t remember the last time we each had a drink and desserts and the bill was (compared to other places with just as much service, care and attention to detail) so low. Go online and check out the prices yourself. What you want to pay is your business, For for my money, it was pretty unbeatable. Like a time machine back to the 90s.

Anyhow, that’s my take. I don’t have much reason to be in Calhoun GA often, but I am so so happy we stopped by. I recommend getting in there before it becomes a thing. Pretty awesome. And hats off to the people of Calhoun for supporting such an...

Will never go back! We sat down inside ordered our drinks, received then ordered our food shortly after. The food came out like it had been sitting in the kitchen and just heated up for us, nothing comes out within 5 mins fresh! It tasted horrible, the worst Mexican food I had ever had in my life.

We finished our drinks with not one person eating out of 4 people. After 30mins our server finally came by our table, which we had to get their attention, we politely told them we needed more drinks and about the food. THIS WILL BLOW U AWAY!!! She told us if we didn't like their food to pay and leave! We had ate at this place a dozen times but we will never, ever eat here again!!!

Do yourself a favor, go somewhere else and eat. These people do not know how to run a restaurant in any form or fashion! They are rude, not the cleaniest and apparently reheat all meals that have been cooked the day before because that's exactly how fresh...

Went here to eat and was brought out the wrong thing. No big deal just asked if they would fix it. Took about 30 minutes for them to bring back my food but then seen a hair in my food. Asked them to just remove it from my bill. Then they brought it out a 3 time just 5 minutes after I told them to just take it off my bill. It looked liked they had just removed the hair and put more cheese on top. My whole deal was, when I asked for you to fix it the first time it took atleast 30 minutes for you to cook it up. But then the next time it took about 5 minutes. Ummm No. I'm not dumb. So then when I go to pay they still had that charge on my bill. Said no I didn't eat it so take it off. They came back to our table and just got my food that I didnt eat. So eaters beware your probably getting...