Well, I really liked El Torito and this location used to be good. The last good experience here was well before the pandemic. It seems like the current staff has given up.

First, we ordered table-side guacamole which should be fresh... they make it right there in front of you. But, the server put way too much lime juice, so much so that it tasted mostly like lime juice and was not edible. We pointed it out nicely and the server took it away. Instead of bringing out fresh avocados to make it again fresh in front of us (table-side), she brought out what was clearly the pre-made guacamole which the use to serve on the side with meals. It's slimy, likely due to an additive so it doesn't turn color and clearly not made fresh.

I ordered carne asada and shrimp. The steak was clearly not freshly made. It look, felt, tasted like it was precooked and just microwaved. It was really embarrassing that they would try to pass this off as fresh. There is literally no way that a freshly grilled steak could go from freshly grilled to that state in even 15 minutes of sitting. It was tough, rubbery and dry and the outside texture didn't look like it seen a grill in over an hour.

In a previous visit I ordered carne asada and cheese enchilada. Same results with the steak and the cheese in the enchilada was thick and hard, like it was pre-made also.

Ironically, in both cases, the kitchen was full of staff. But these were Saturday evenings and the restaurant was set up for their Sunday brunch. I suspect that the staff was mostly doing prep for brunch rather than attending much to the current diners, so instead they were just reheating previously prepared food.

I was thinking about giving this location another try on maybe a different night, but I'm not sure I want to waste my time for another bad experience. We walked out after telling the manager. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens a lot there.

This problem would be easy to fix if someone there just cared a tiny bit. What horrible reputation for a previously decent restaurant chain.