El Jefe Luchador — Restaurant in Deerfield Beach

I thought I had posted this review before, so it was either removed or somehow didn't submit.

I showed up on a day they were filming close ups of the food for the local news. You would expect a day like this to be when they serve the best food they have available, which is disappointing considering the flavors I experienced.

I ordered two different "quesadillas" and a side of re-fried beans. I will break down how each item was sub-par and further explain why the word quesadilla comes in quotes.

The "quesadillas" here are simply not. A quesadilla is a tortilla folded in half and grilled/heated so the cheese is melted. What I received was an unfolded tortilla with cold watery ricotta-esque cheese and luke-warm improperly seasoned meat.

The barbacoa had the right color, but I could not honestly distinguish any of the constituent incredients. This could have been the overwhelming cold cheese, or perhaps the lack of seasoning altogether because nothing I ordered had any hint of pepper heat to it.

The vegetables or cheese were very watery on the "quesadilla" which was more akin to a taco in size, appearance, and flavor. This took one of the few positives of my meal, the quality of the tortilla, and ruined it by making it soggy.

The other "qusadilla" I ordered I think was the chicken, but it could have been pork. What I remember about this is expecting a lot of flavor again based on the coloration. Instead, I was surprised to find no heat, no spice, no flavors to be found. It was really bizarre. Was it all the water from the cheese masking the flavors?

Moving on to the re-fried beans, I don't know where to begin. I'm not one to use very much salt on anything, but this was severely under-seasoned. Further, it was pureed beyond belief leaving no traces of bean and resembling baby food. Any expected roasty flavors were completely missing. I had initially avoided the crumbly cheese garnishing it, but with my second bite I gave in. To my surprise, this wasn't a creamy cheese nor possibly a sharp white cheddar that might have agreed with the flavor of black beans. Instead, this was what I can only imagine was off-brand Parmesan-style crumbles straight from Sysco which you would normally reserve for late-night drunken pizza.

Finally, the rice was a mexican red rice. It was tomato-based, but should have also included things like maybe garlic, onion, bay, etc. Instead it reminded me of straight ketchup, and further the rice was overcooked/overstirred/stirred to early.

In summary, quesadillas should be warm/hot with melted cheese. Mexican food should be spicy, or have some semblance of a kick to it. Barbacoa and other meats should have some degree of flavor. None of these statements were true. The only thing I can say is keeping this place open is the lack of a true taqueria within immediate proximity.

Overall, I finished my food without too much regret for having visited, which earned it three stars. I do not think I will be visiting again, there are too many excellent options for food nearby with much...

TERRIBLE! and im NOT a person keen on writing reviews. went in on tuesday night hoping they had taco tuesday specials like they previously advertised on facebook. they did not. we decided to eat anyway since the reviews seemed pretty great. now im convinced they wrote the good reviews themselves. the cashier was awkward and made us feel VERY out of place while ordering. ive worked in hospitality for 11 years so i am very skilled on communicating with employees of the same field. my bf has an allergy and asked for no toppings on his tacos. it cost $15 for 3 tacos and a soda which we were regretting since Agave down the street has 2 4 1 on tuesdays. we go to the front to get our food and my bfs tacos have ALL the toppings on them. So he asks for new ones and the cook gave us both a radiating death stare and shook his head at us as if we just ruined his life because HE messed up our order. Then we notice hes not even wearing gloves to prepare this food with his BARE HANDS. At that point we asked for a refund and decided the cook did not seem credible to be handling food, especially on an order he didnt read carefully and has to re-make. We were very suspicious about him doing something to our meal. As for the food i cant say because we were unable to get that far in our dining experience due to the unpleasant and unsanitary cook. we wound up going to Agave, we got 5 tacos and 2 import beers for $19! plus they gave me a large sample of their house margarita! El jefe is so overpriced and their...

Hmmmm...this is a place that my wife and I really wanted to love, but I think you'll just have to try it and make up your own mind.

If you've only lived in south Florida, then you'll probably love everything here. As I've mentioned in many other reviews of Mexican restaurants, once you've lived near the Mexican border, or in a city like Chicago with 1,000,000+ Mexicans...your expectations when it comes to Mexican food go way up.

So let's mention the positives first...great service (speedy and very friendly) and very clean.

What didn't convince me...every time I've been here the tacos are room temperature. I like tacos with the meat freshly cooked and hot. The tortillas have a good flavor but they fall apart with your first bite. Lastly, the flavor of the different meats, in my opinion, is only ok. The al pastor has huge chunks of pineapple instead of larger portions of meat with small bits of pineapple. The shrimp is ok, the lamb barbacoa was ok, and the Korean fried chicken is probably their best taco. The saving grace on the food is that it's filling.

At $4-$5 per taco...I say roll the dice and you decide if this is your kind of Mexican food. You will easily spend...