Torero's Authentic Mexican Cuisine — Restaurant in Cary

Some meals nourish the body. Some nourish the soul. Then there’s El Torero, which nourished nothing except our growing sense of confusion, regret, and existential dread — and that was before the food even arrived. We were seated and then promptly forgotten. After several minutes of sitting there with our drinks (which, I assume, were meant to keep us hydrated during the waiting period). Eventually, a staff member approached to ask if we would, in fact, like menus — a refreshing twist on how restaurants typically function. We started with the guacamole, which, to its credit, made an attempt. It may have contained onions. There may have been cilantro somewhere. But whatever flavor was intended never quite materialized. The end result was still largely smashed avocado that felt like it needed an adult to come supervise the seasoning process. Then came the entrees, where things spiraled: My first friend received shrimp drenched in marinara sauce. Not horrifying, just confusing — like the kitchen was briefly experimenting with fusion cuisine without notifying anyone. She took one bite, looked up, and calmly said: “This is proof that we live in an unjust world.” Difficult to argue. My second friend received what can only be described as one of the most baffling food presentations I’ve ever witnessed: chicken roll-ups with unmelted Kraft Singles flopped on top like someone in the kitchen sighed deeply and gave up. The chicken’s texture was somewhere between sponge and damp towel. The flavor? Plain printer paper. In a desperate attempt to salvage the dish, my friend tried removing the Kraft Singles entirely — which, sadly, only revealed that what remained underneath was somehow worse. It was beyond repair. I ordered the infamous Expresso Burrito. It arrived covered in thin, watery tomato sauce that tasted like someone rinsed out a can of stewed tomatoes with warm sink water. Inside: rice and beans cooked into an unseasoned, flavorless, mushy paste. I tried to salvage it with salt and pepper but quickly realized I was simply performing seasoning CPR on something long deceased. As if that wasn’t enough, halfway through the meal my friend accidentally spilled her Sprite across the table — completely soaking her plate and, the star of the show, the guacamole. A server eventually arrived to assist and thoughtfully provided us with four thin paper napkins— roughly the thickness of tracing paper —(which did not absorb the spill so much as smear it artistically across the table.) and watched as we ineffectively smeared the spill like some sort of sad watercolor painting. For reference, the Sprite itself was so flat and strangely sweet that my friend was already planning to request a replacement drink before the spill occurred. She switched to Coke. No acknowledgement that any of this was remotely unusual from the staff. At the end of the meal, when we informed our server that much of the food was completely inedible and mostly untouched, he responded with a polite “OK” and walked away — returning moments later with the full bill, every item included, no adjustment made. Apparently, feedback at El Torero is taken with the same seriousness as seasoning: lightly acknowledged and entirely ignored. The final insult: a bill with a number that seemed to appear out of thin air, as the sum of what we actually ordered didn’t come remotely close. I can only assume the pricing system at El Torero is based on the impact of the trauma of the experience. At one point we considered bringing leftovers home for our cats but ultimately decided we loved our pets too much to take that risk. In conclusion: El Torero is less a restaurant and more of an immersive absurdist art installation, boldly challenging the very concept of flavor, customer service, and basic math. If you’re searching for actual food, proper service, or any recognizable dining logic, I strongly recommend literally any other...

On April 28th, I went with my cousin Michelle and her husband, Curtis along with their dog! We had a nice place to eat outside! We got plenty of food 😋! MARCO was nice and wrote down my order! The owners are my wonderful neighbors! Maria is a wonderful mother to her children ❤️! There was a Mariachi singer playing the guitar that day at the restaurant! I wish that he went outside since I Love Mariachi music! However, the restaurant has Great atmosphere with a real Mexican flair! My food was so good that I ordered a second order for the next night! MARCO remembered my mucho cilantro from my first order! He put it in my second order without me having to tell him! There was a Mariachi singer playing a guitar that night! I wish that he could have played outside also since we were eating with Jock, their dog! Jock enjoyed his own plate of Mexican food and water! I LOVE ❤️ Mariachi music! I missed hearing the Mariachi singer playing the guitar! I Love Mariachi music! I miss seeing and hearing it! Years ago in my hometown of Whiteville, my mother and I went to hear the Mariachi Band coming from Florence, South Carolina each month! Mr. Cruz and his sons had several Mariachi Bands that traveled all over both South Carolina and North Carolina up and down the East coast! I was a loco gringo, who would dance and sing with my Mariachi amigos! My sister would take the three hour trip from Cary alone just to hear the Mariachi Band as well with her family! Thankyou, Torrero family and entire staff including Junior, Sandra, Eddie, Jacinto etc. You make us feel like family every time, we are there! Mucho Amour to all of You especially to Maria Torrero ❤️! It is now November 2024, I feel like theTorrero staff has become a second family to my sister, Kimberly and me! I feel like I can be myself here and 😌 relax! Orlando makes the best Margaritas and he makes them fancy! All the cooks do an Awesome job since they use their corazon in creating culinary masterpieces! I plan to celebrate 🥳 my birthday 🎂 at Torreros bringing sister, Kimberly, her husband (Craig),cousin,Michelle(Curtis) minus Jock, her 🐕! Junior and the staff really enjoy 😉 singing Happy Birthday 🎂! I may bring my own Mariachi hat from home which is turquoise with white embroidery! Maria Torrero and Mr. Torrero have a wonderful ❤️ staff! They are themselves and my family...

Incredibly disappointed with our 2nd experience at the restaurant, as the first time it was pretty decent. First, we were seated and waited for drinks and menus for around 10 minutes before the poor busboy brought them for us even though he didn't know the menu and was completely swamped.He was doing the absolute best that he could under the circumstances. We were seated and ignored for quite some time before we even got menus. Our server decided to grace us with his wonderful presence about half an hour in and we ordered 10 soft tacos (6 beef, 4 chicken), 2 hard tacos (1 beef, 1 chicken). He had a terrible attitude the entire time and was incredibly rude from start to finish. It took around an hour for 12 tacos . We waited and waited and watched our server ignore us in favor of tables with more customers. A family with kids came in and was seated right next to us, and we observed our server describe, in detail, every single variation of taco that Taco Tuesday had to offer to them, while our busboy was not sure of the special, but did his best to take the order for us on his own. We were ignored from start to finish and treated badly by our server, who ignored us the entire time we were there for no reason. When the food finally came.. Surprise, the order was completely wrong. When we informed our server, he snatched the plates with the same foul attitude and snapped that he would "switch them out", throwing rude looks at every opportunity he could. Once we received our food, quite honestly, it was digusting. They clearly didn't drain the meat when they cooked it. The soft tacos were somehow already soggy and dripping wet. I personally didn't order the crunchy ones, but I'm sure they tasted like stale lettuce soup-paste. It was gross. All in all, this was a terrible dining experience and since we ordered in bulk to have some for later, I have to throw out digusting tacos. I know my dog probably...