El Maguey Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Claremore

This small mexican restaurant is a source for what I consider to be a perfect example of oklahoma-mex cuisine. Oklahoma-Mex isn't a term you see very often, but in my opinion, it's a thing.

To my mind, Oklahoma-Mex is gooey, very mildly spiced, far from authentic, faithfully absent of spicy heat, and drowned in savory sauces which push the envelope of authenticity to their absolute breaking points Oklahomans know exactly what I'm talking about here; sauces such as chili con queso, sour cream, and mild red salsa, which has a very particular style, which has a thin, slightly pulpy consistency whose prime ingredient is crushed, blanched roma tomatoes. The chips at El Maguey are great, which makes it hard not to fill up on chips and salsa alone. Herein lies one of the prime enigmas of Oklahoma-Mex, the salsa. It's a mystery to me how a lowly condiment, following a narrow set of rigid standards that were clearly constructed to create a consistently boring blend can at the very same time be so addictive. Somehow there's never enough of it. It's a salsa that silently screams at you, begging you to drink it, or maybe more accurate to say guzzle it But rest assured no one ever does this in a public setting, which puts salsa drinking in a unique class of unwritten but somehow ubiquitous ethnic food no-no"s such as eating sushi with a fork or putting ketchup on a tomahawk ribeye.

Mind you, this is just my personal definition of a cuisine style which may or may not be an officially recognized genre, depending upon who you are talking to. Another way of looking at it is oklahoma-mex is Tex-Mex, without the roasted vegetables and minus the mesquite.

Labels aside, the atmosphere of this sit down restaurant is uninspiring but sturdy, unintimidating and mostly cliche, but oddly cozy and inviting, with high backed wooden booths that lend a sense of privacy to an otherwise tightly packed dining area.

Take out orders are handled with accuracy and plated with generous portions. In my experience, (comprised of four visits over the course of two years), El Maguey won't set any speed records. They aren't in a hurry. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are slow, because they aren't. I will say if you have a craving for mex, but are crunched for time, be prepared to deal with the dreaded "customer time vs kitchen time" standards mismatch. But really this isn't fast food to begin with. Indeed, El Maguey doesn't present itself as a taco bueno style fast food establishment. Pricing of the menu is comparable with taco bueno, but with a level of quality that surpasses bueno across the board. So much better that I was hesitant to even make a taco bueno comparison, but when it comes to communicating a complex concept, iconic establishments such as bueno pack a punch too powerful to ignore. In the same way as a picture is worth a thousand words, an iconic restaurant is worth a thousand bites.

So If you are looking for a tasty but tame mexican meal that won't break the bank or leave you with a burning in your belly,, you'll find exactly what you are looking for when you visit the hard working crew at El Maguey. Enjoy!

PS... they serve beer wine and...

Oh my goodness, we decided to make this our first night out after social distancing. Man was it worth it. They sat us in the corner, if there was another person in the room we could not even hear them talk. Amazing. All of the waiters head on masks and we’re taking extra precautions to serve our food in the cleanliness way possible. The chips and salsa we’re better than ever and it even seem like they took more care to make sure the food was spectacular. Before this visit, this is our second favorite place in town. Now, I do believe it will be our first. Try it out Oh my goodness, we decided to make this our first night out after social distancing. Man was it worth it. They set us in the corner, if there was another person in the room we could not even hear them talk. A magazine. All of the waiters had on masks and we’re taking extra precautions to serve our food and the cleanliness way possible. The chips and salsa were better than ever and it even seem like they took more care to make sure the food was spectacular. Before this visit, this was our second favorite place in town. Now, I do believe it will be our...

Visited with a group of high school students while traveling. Service was average, the waiter was hard for the kids to understand but when they asked a question or asked him to repeat himself he would get irritated. The kids paid for their meals and we were leaving when one employee cut us off at the door while another came from behind and got in a kids face. At this point I couldn't understand what the waiter was saying and the other employee was loudly telling us how rude we were. The kids were not rude while we were being served. At this point I had to step in front of the waiter and ask what the problem was. He starts asking me if we didn't like the service and waving a receipt in my face repeatedly. I was finally able to get the guy to slow down and what happened was a kid left a note about the waiters attitude (unbeknownst to me) and chose to not tip. While the student was wrong and was reprimanded there is NO REASON a GROWN MAN should bow up and get in...