El Gran Toro Mexican Brasserie — Restaurant in City of Newburgh

Yooooooooooooooo! I’m sitting in the place right now ! I told my wife : “I gotta leave a review —— immediately—— ! “ This place is absolutely amazing. Peep the menu , it’s bananas … these guys have —- seriously—- raised the bar here in the Hudson valley as far as Mexican food is concerned and will —— clearly —- be on any list of note in the coming years for best restaurants across —— all genres —— in the HV … I got the lamb shank and it’s as good as the best lamb I’ve ever had in my life ( Yemen Cafe on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn ) … this is of course a totally different take on that dish , but it’s perfectly executed … For what it’s worth : my wife had the birria with braised short ribs , I think she’s on the verge of tears , it’s a thing of —- beauty—- …. Also-also : portions are legit ( we’re both full / but not , rolling out of here like bowling balls full ) and pricing is totally fair / reasonable …. I’m SO proud of what’s going on , with food / bev culture in Newburgh … there was a lot of preexisting quality here to build on ( solid older establishments ) , and the “new-comers” , particularly near the Broadway-Liberty corridor all seem to be sticking the landing …. 👏 👏 👏….. thanks again Gran Toro ! We’ll be back here on a weekly basis !

• oh , and I’m a massive fan of horchata as well , and...

This review is going to be honest.

I’ll start with the cons:

Con 1. The location is sketchy. But hey, if you’re from NB then you should be fine outside of the gentrified areas.

Con 2. The wait time was pretty bad. Our group of 9 came in without a reservation (so partially our fault) but we ended up waiting roughly two hours… I should note that we were basically the only customers. Also, I believe they only had one chef working so I was being as patient as possible.

Now for the pros:

Pro 1: The owner was very interactive with us and gave us more details on whatever we needed.

Pro 2: The food was INCREDIBLE. Out of 9, only one did not like their meal. That person is also somewhat of a picky eater so I don’t even think it had anything to do with the restaurant.

Pro 3: The portion sizes are wild af. You get your money’s worth.

Pro 4: The fusion between traditional Mexican cuisine and a modern flare is nice but not too over the top. It was nice to find a restaurant that was able to find the perfect balance.

Pro 5: The decor was very interesting. I typically don’t like darker restaurants, but this one seemed almost refreshing.

Overall, my bf and I agreed that we would definitely order from here again. We look forward to seeing this...

This review is for delivery only. My wife and I have a newborn baby at home and usually are ordering food a couple times a week for dinner. We have ordered from El Gran Toro about once a week for the last few months or so.

The food is truly excellent. We have tried a variety of their tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas, and mains and have been impressed with all of them. Everything is always very well seasoned and they have a variety of flavorful salsas. The lamb and cochinita pibil tacos, braised lamb shank main, and quesabirria in particular are standouts. It’s slightly more expensive than your average Mexican place, but you get what you pay for in terms of quantity and quality. For the portion sizes and quality of ingredients they are using, I think it is great value for the price. Their specialty tacos are very large and probably equal to two normal sized tacos. They have also included fresh chips and salsa with the delivery which is very much appreciated. I hope to be able to dine-in and support the restaurant in person at some point in the coming months.

In my opinion, this is a phenomenal restaurant serving a creative and inventive menu with high-quality ingredients worthy of your support...