El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Dickinson

I live in south Texas and often visit Mexico, so I have had all kinds of Mexican fare. That being the case, I really wasn't expecting anything too amazing given how North we are. However you never know and I walked in with an open mind. Right after that my mind closed. The initial problem was the nearly unbearable smell of mildew. I walked into past the entrance and decided to sit at the bar. Sadly the smell present throughout the establishment. If I was there to eat and not just pick up a to go order, I would have turned and walked out on the odor alone. That aside, it was some of the worse service I have experienced in years. There were possibly 5 occupied dining tables and the rest of the place was empty. But for whatever reason, I was ignored by at least 6 servers while sitting at the bar. After about 15 minutes someone finally asked me if they could help me. I said I was to pick up a to go order. We both walked over to the front cashier and it looked like my order had just came out. The cashier ran me up and told me the payment was twice as much as my order should have been ($24 instead of $12). I tried to explain that the price must be a mistake and her response was to shrug and just look at me blankly with her hand out for a payment. Of course, I pushed the issue and someone else came out to help and determined that she was charging me for the wrong  to go order. That's an honest mistake, but her apathetic attitude was off putting. Especially since it was her error. After ringing up the proper charge, I handed her my card, which she took. I then took about 2 seconds to look in the bag to make sure there was plastic ware. When I looked back up, she was just looking at me expectedly again. I asked if I could help her and she said I need to pay. I told her I handed the card to her and she denied it. Which was weird because when I handed to her, she looked at it and reached for it. I felt like the situation was getting ridiculous at this point (keep in mind the terrible smell was ever present). I asked her to look around her chair and she did not move and  said its not her fault and I need to pay her. I was persistent and she reluctantly got off her chair and looked down and low and behold there was my card. Underneath her chair. I said, it looks like it must of just slipped out of our fingers and she snapped "its not my fault. I did nothing wrong" Funny when it was obvious she was sitting on my card. I understand that people have butter fingers from time to time and make mistakes, but her overall terrible attitude made what could have been a funny, slightly awkward experience into a frustrating pain in the behind. If I wasn't starving, I would have just asked her not to charge the card and left without the food. But I didn't and took my food back to the room. Now all that could have been water under the  bridge if the food was decent. I had the enchilada combo and I have had frozen Mexican dinners that put their food to shame.  Under no circumstance will I revisit El Sombrero and will happily go out of my way to steer others away from it. Service stinks, food's wretched, and it smells like a moldy...

As a person who frequents El Sombrero once a week at least, and had been going for years. This dining experience was unsettling to say the least. If I could give this 0 stars I would. Get there to see some friends and they had already been there for 5 minutes and no one had come to the table. After we got there we waited another 10 for someone to put chips down. Then another 5 for drink orders in which we decided it would be best to order food too. The server tried to push us to get 2 monster margaritas. I had my 2 and 4 year old with me. And it was noon.

Anyways, after our food came out 2 minutes later (like I said food was faster then the drinks) one of my friends noticed her tortillas were hard. My fiancé also noticed his tortillas were crunchy too. She pointed it out to the server who brought her more tortillas which were also hard. She decided to give up but did point it out again. The server said something about how they aren’t traditional tortillas, what does that have to do with anything? I could make tortillas at home that aren’t traditional and they still wouldn’t be hard as rock. What qualifies as a traditional tortilla anyways? Made from scratch? So then after the server disappears we sit and talk and then he comes back and tells my friend (who had given up on eating) that he found soft tortillas. Proceeds to open the tinfoil wrapping and TOUCHES THE TORTILLAS. What person in their right mind decides it’s okay, as a server, to finger someone else’s food? Not okay. We asked for the check. Didn’t get talked to by a manager, didn’t get an apology, got charged full price. I don’t think we will be back. And whoever that server was (I don’t remember his name because if I did I’d be sure to call him out) you deserve...

El Sombrero, commonly and affectionately called “El Som” or “The Som” by locals, is one of the most popular restaurants in Dickinson. I mean literally, it is THE place to go there. There are very few other options and El Som is always consistent.

I have come here over the years more times than I can count. Every time that I visit now, or when family from out of town came, El Som is always assumed to be on the list of places to go somewhere in the duration of the trip. Anyone who is familiar with Dickinson or used to live there knows El Som and misses it dearly.

They are best known for their white queso. It really is fantastic. It’s thick and creamy and super addicting. People I know that have had El Som queso try so hard to find a close match to it all over out of state at other Mexican restaurants, but nothing can quite beat it.

I’ve always liked El Som. If you don’t know what to get, their famous dish is the “P5”- chicken and rice smothered in queso. But I quite like their fajita quesadilla.

As I was in town, I visited here again pretty recently, and I felt less than impressed. In fact, I was actually kind of grossed out going this time. The restaurant is just kind of crusty and in the 10+ years I’ve been going it has hardly changed. Most of the time this can be a really good thing for a restaurant but for El Som I feel that it isn’t. I don’t know. I don’t think it’s quite all it’s cracked up to be, but it’s slim pickings for food in little old Dickinson, ND, and no one knows actual good Mexican food. I suppose I might be back just because it’s one of the few options and only places to go, but I won’t be near as...