En Fuego Cantina & Grill — Restaurant in Del Mar

A very poor experience in several regards... Mistakes on the order Poor service Slow service Attempted over-charge No effort to fix or mitigate the problems

En Fuego does not accept reservations, so I was mildly surprised they were able to seat our party of five (5) at 7 p.m. on a Saturday without a wait. However, the restaurant was busy but not full, so perhaps it was coincidence. After we were seated, the problems began.

We waited ~20 minutes before the waiter finally first stopped by. We elected to put in our order immediately to get it into the kitchen, since we were not sure he would be back quickly.

The food arrived 40+ minutes later, but they brought the wrong dish to one person in our party. The waiter acknowledged the error and said they would fix it. It took another 20+ minutes to get the fairly simple tamale plate; meanwhile, the food for everyone else got cold because they did not wish to eat in front of the one person without food as a courtesy. The food overall was "okay", not particularly notable, even for a somewhat modest place like En Fuego.

Throughout the evening, there appeared to be plenty of staff but plenty of confusion and a low-level of attentiveness.

After eating, staff again was slow to check on whether we wanted dessert. We decided we would not get dessert there since we were not willing to extend the evening yet another hour for dessert. Instead we finally flagged-down the waiter and asked for the bill.

Shockingly, the waiter billed our party for six(!) entrees, including the restaurant's mistake. I brought it to the attention of the waiter. He took away the bill and returned with a corrected bill.

Normally in most restaurants when there is a serious mistake, or series of mistakes, the restaurant makes an effort to rectify the error. For example, comp'ing the dish or offering a complimentary dessert, etc. En Fuego not only chose to ignore such courtesy, but tried to over-charge for their error.

I guess now I am NOT surprised as to why we were able to get a table for five on what should be the absolute busiest time for a restaurant - Saturday evening at 7 p.m. One star is perhaps...

My boyfriend and I came here for happy hour. Their website says its 4:30-6:30 and we got there at 6 just to find out it is actually only 4-6. We tried to find a different place to go for happy hour to no avail. So, we went back to En Fuego to give it a try. We ordered the carne asada fries to start. Honestly, they were the best tasting item we had. It came out piping hot (for reasons explained later) and it was extremely flavorful. The carne asada was not dry at all. For our main entrees, my boyfriend ordered tamales and I ordered combination no. 2. When the food came, the waitors told us that the plates were hot and to be careful. I was most exctied for the cheese enchilada in No. 2, however I was extremely dissappointed to find the inside cold and the cheese not even melted. The fish taco--my boyfriend and I concurred--tasted and had the texture of frozen fish even though the restaurant is right on camino del mar (steps from the ocean!!). The chile relleno was fine but what do you expect, the cheese was actually melted and it had a fried coating. Not even 10 minutes since receiving the food, mine was completely room temperature. My suspicion, from watching too many kitchen nightmare youtube videos, is that they microwaved my food. The fact that the enchilada was not cooked at all shows that they obviously prepared the plate ahead of time, put plastic wrap over it, and waited for someone to order combination no. 2. Then, they stuck it in the microwave which explains why the enchilada in the middle of the plate was cold while the waitor told me my plate was piping hot. My boyfriend was not mad at his tamales, however he ordered one beef and one chicken tamale expecting the meat to be on the inside cooked with the corn, but what he got was two tamales with piles of meat and cheese on top. We suspect his plate was also microwaved.

It's a shame that a place on the main street of del mar, with such great ambiance and outdoor seating, microwaves their meals. Probably won't be...

Is En Fuego a dive bar? Does this part of Del Mar even have Dive bars? Yes, and apparently yes.

Something strange has happened over the last maybe decade here. With La Jolla being a well known cougar den and the flavor of the week in which they hunt changing all the time there is this new thing going on. Younger men came for the older women and when they left, younger women came for the younger men which of course bring older men to sleeze it up a bit. Of course they have stragglers, but my last few times here has been with women my own age and lots of them. Kudos to the circle of life.

You walk in and it's standard Mexican restaurant décor, the back bar screams tropical deck with foliage, watch your head if you are tall. It feels more hotel resort bar than Mexican restaurant bar at this point, think cruise ship on the 4th day. The décor is eclectic. The set up is very weird. The bathrooms are kinda bad, but the drink prices are very, not Del Mar priced and they have a DJ. The last 2 times I was here I saw cops, so that's weird and they weren't there for me either. Lots of weird seating and when you leave you have to go through the patio gate. I like to call it Cabo (Oceanside) south. Everything is in reference to Oceanside. OMTI's west (Tony's), Cabo south, Tajima north (Wulan), you'll get used to it.

It may not be a totally fair assessment like my usual reviews, as in all the maybe 20 times I've been here in the last decade I've never eaten here. I'm rarely here in daylight, but it's a great establishment if the typical La Jolla experience doesn't call to you.

As much as I love a cigar and as many people love the smell of cigars, don't be that guy here. I'm all about my smoking freedom, but there is a time...