El Torito — Restaurant in Cypress

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...

Giving 1 star in protest. Went tonight with my family for a little fun outing and was extremely disappointed. When we walked in the door there was no hostess and we waited around for almost 10 minutes before someone came over to seat us. We ended up being seated near the cantina bar. We waited another 10 minutes before our waitress decided to get our drink order. We were brought chips and salsa and the chips were totally stale and very oily which was unappealing. We all decided what we wanted to eat and put our menus down only to have her stroll by, look over, and ignore us and keep walking. This happened several times. Finally our waitress Amanda M. Decides that we are now worthy of having our order taken. We wait about 20 minutes and our food comes out. I had ordered fajitas they came out not even a little sizzle. Also my corn tortillas came in a holder with no lid and they were completely stale.My husband ordered a taco and enchilada plate. The taco was really salty and the enchilada was just a folded over tortilla with sauce, absolutely no meat. When I told Amanda about the tortillas she looked annoyed but brought me fresh warm ones. I told her about my husband's plate and she said oh and looked pissed. We all finished what we could, while we were still eating she brings the bill over and says when your ready. I looked at it and was amazed. It was over 50$ for the worst food. What was worse, she didn't even offer to change or discount something due to the food being below sub-par. I paid the bill and we left. Will never go back. Horrible food and horrible service. Never have I ever had a waitress...

First of all, I am always extremely honest about posting and placing a good or bad online review for any business establishment, as it helps every business to succeed.

Fathers Day Brunch price was $30 a person. Paid for two of us. We were not very satisfied with our experience at all. It was not worth the price! Maybe $12.50.

I have visited this location on Fathers Day 2019 for their brunch and I did not find the food to be on a high level of expectation of flavor, texture, some of the meats were overcooked and dry, shrimp dishes were not the best of flavor, but edilble.

The menudo barely had any tripe and only slim pickings were availble probably due to it being very extremely busy, being Fathers Day. Hot chocolate was not hot, just luke warm.

The young waitress never asked if we we alright of if we wanted more water. She never told us that champagne was included in the price either. But thats ok, because we do not drink alcohol. She never smiled at all. I srill tipped her 15% for just serving us ons glass of water and then ignoring us the whole time. I had to call her waving to her for just two straws and she came over unwilling.

However, I did love their corn cake and the flan was excellent.

My family and I have visited and ate at the 18512 MacArthur Blvd, Irvine, CA 92612 location in the past for the brunch and wehave always enjoyed their brunch as their food was very very good and delicious. My co workers and I also enjoyed their brunch as well.

Hopefully the quality their food improves. Hopefully the bad experience was due to the craziness of cooking so much all at the...