El Toro — Restaurant in Cornelius

Ugh worst experience at El Toro. We have been searching for a new go-to Mexican restaurant and were excited to try this one after seeing the reviews. The experience was very bad from the start to the end. When we went in, the hostess brought us back to our table and threw our menus onto the table from a few feet away and just kept walking without looking at us. Then, someone came with a tray of chips and salsa. He put the chips and carafe of salsa on the table but then dropped the little pour bowls and silverware onto the floor. He picked them up and put them back onto the table after they had been on the floor (we were later able to ask someone to switch those out for us). Next, we opened up our menus and they both had wet salsa in them from some previous customer. Continuing along this theme of gross and unsanitary, I went to the restroom to wash the salsa off my hands and the soap dispenser was not working, which means none of the women staff were washing their hands with soap after using the bathroom. To top it all off, the food was mediocre and the acoustics made sound constantly bounce so we could barely hear each other over the people at the bar. Finally, after we finished eating we waited for about 15 minutes and our server was nowhere to be found. We were able to get the bill from another staff person and could not wait to get out of there. I normally believe in allowing restaurants 2 strikes, but this was so bad in every dimension that I can’t imagine giving it...

I give it two stars because the food was decent, not exactly what we ordered, but probably would have been better if the waitress listened and wasn't so clear by her actions on how much she didn't want to serve us . The waitress was so rude to us that I would never come back here again. Her actions showed that she was annoyed to even hear our voice and didn't want to wait on us in the slightest. So much so that she appeared insulted by our asking for food and barely responded to our requests solely by her clear annoyance of facial expressions and lack of service. We were polite the entire time, very patient and not difficult in the slightest. We even apologized as if asking for our food was asking too much. She eventually gave up on us and had other people bring us the food and hand over the bill. I think this place may be a good restaurant in general but she definitely ruined it for us by not even doing her job despite us trying to work with her. (Side note: my wife used to work in the restaurant business so we understand what goes on and how difficult things can be). Basically, we got terrible service and an incorrect order from her as she didn't care to pay attention. Hope no one else encounters this as I'm sure a good waiter/waitress would get the order correct, come often to check on our drinks, and receive the order...

Sunday, September, 19th @7:00

The food was good. It wasn’t amazing. The Mole Enchiladas were just good. I am used to Mole with more complex flavors. The rice also wasn’t up to par. However, The basic Margaritas are thirst-quenching and delicious. The environment was nice.

The restaurant is clean.

The real stars of El Toro are the amazing staff! I witness lightning-fast efficiencies; and genuinely nice, personable people.

They had to deal with two combined tables of (entitled) young families. Each had small children. The parents allowed these kids to yell over themselves and run around the table, without regard to waiters who might be coming out with hot Caldos, or pitchers of Margaritas. I blame the three couples who were so intent on having a good time that they let their children run amuck! They even broke a large pretty platter and basically laughed. 🤔🤭😵‍💫 The staff handled this much better than I would have! They deserve kudos!

I am glad that my daughter has El Toro to eat Mexican food when she needs a taste of...