La Morena Restaurant & Cantina — Restaurant in El Paso

Heed The Bad Reviews! When we first came to “La Morena” formerly “La Terraza”, over 7 years ago, we were introduced to their weekend buffet by a family member. It Was Awesome! They had a wonderful array of very tasty and freshly made foods. The gentleman at the omelette bar was excellent. He always cooked my over medium eggs chef's kiss perfectly. They were always packed with a seating wait of no less than 45 mins. Unfortunately when they changed name things started going downhill fast and only picked up speed when they moved location. First, when they moved there was no warning or announcement. We went one Sunday then went back the next and all of a sudden there were signs on the door posting their move. It was a windy day and the one sign that managed to stay taped to the door was just barely hanging on. It was during the height of COVID but they were still pretty busy. Despite moving to a much larger location, we still waited over ½ hour to be seated. No problem, we were used to the wait plus we knew the food would be great. Right off the bat the service was extremely slow. The buffet was pretty much what we were used to but by that time the quality of the food had already begun to decline. The only thing that hadn't changed was the barbacoa, menudo and pozole. However the quality of the food and attention to detail on their buffet kept declining and the service just never recovered to what it used to be when they were “La Terraza” Almost 4 yrs later, we don't frequent their weekend buffet as much as we used to because it just isn't worth the money. A month or so ago I bought two tickets for a fundraiser from The Ladies’ Oriental Shrine of North America, they work with The El Maida Shriners. The tickets were $15.00 for The Enchilada Plate (red or green) not including the drink and gratuity (we paid an additional $7.00 for two glasses of iced tea plus tip). We thought it was pricey since we could pay about the same for the weekend buffet. But considering it was for a good cause, I bought the tickets. We've always gone for the buffet. Today was the worst. It took them 15 minutes to get us our drinks and tostadas. We waited ½ an hour before we got our food, but before we did we asked the waitress to please make them to-go because my husband had to get back to work. Then, after another wait, she brought out our plates and said, “They just put them out. But I'll bring you some boxes if you still want them?” We said yes. My husband ate a few bites of his enchiladas and I ate the gordita while we waited for the boxes. When she came back I remembered the sopaipillas so I asked if she thought she could get them quickly cause we had to leave. She asked if we still wanted them, I said yes cause they're included in the meal we paid for. Then she said, “If they're already made, yes.” So I asked her to please get them. She went back to the station where they serve the drinks. In the time it took us to transfer the food to the boxes and quickly finish our 1 glass of tea each, she finally managed to start walking to the kitchen. We left, sans sopaipillas. My husband got back to work with 3 minutes to spare. He works 5 minutes away from the restaurant!! The food was barely warm and not tasty at all. They've severely declined in quality and service. So Sad, They Used To Be Excellent. BTW, It's clear that management and the ownership doesn't care to read these reviews otherwise they would make an effort to improve from the negative reviews. However, I'm writing this for the savvy consumer who reads reviews before they spend their hard...

I am so disappointed with this place. If I could give them zero rating that's what they deserve. We use grab hub to order from here. The food that they brought is was under cooked and tripitas still had excrement in them aka (💩). They weren't cleaned properly. The tortillas were raw and plasticky texture. The chicken tortilla soup only one cube of chicken. So like any customer my wife called the restaurant to tell them about the order. From the get go my wife got attitude for the lady (Mona) that answered the phone. She told her to wait and that she had to talk to the GM about the food. When Mona got on the phone she told my wife that the GM said that everything was ok and I believe him and not you. My wife told Mona that we have the pictures and wanted to talk to the GM. She responded to send them to her personal cell but nothing was going to change. That she was going to place my wife on hold but this are Mona's words "I'll put you on hold but I don't know when the GM will answer." That's when I got on the call. I told her it was unacceptable. That she's also consumer if something happened to her like this she would be complaining too. She had nothing to say to me when I told her that. There was silence on the phone and I asked if she was there. She said I'm here. At this point when I would start to talk she would try to talk over me. So I told her what I came down to the restaurant and made a scene. At that point she that's when she started to talk about giving us a credit for the burritos due to the tortillas but that was it. I said no due to their incompetence and ruining our dinner. That we need a full refund. We were not going to eat tripitas still had excrement in them. That we don't have any dinner for my family. She told us to take the food in and we will see if you get a refund. I said no if you are not sure we are getting a refund. Her response was due to you ordering thru GrubHub. We are not responsible for the food that comes from GrubHub. I said "Your restaurant made the food. What do you mean you are not responsible for the food." Mona said well sir you need to call them and we don't talk to GrubHub. Then she hung up on me. I can't believe this people but they will be the first people to voice their opinions. This is so sad and I can't believe they have no human feelings for there fellow human beings. Do not order for delivery once it out the doors...

If I could give ZERO stars, I would, but the app won't let me give a review without stars. This place is DIRTY. Silverware and table we were seated at was sticky. There was a hair in the red salsa they brought us with our chips. The waiter took the orders of my husband and my son, and myself last, and only asked my husband, after our food arrived, "Is everything okay with your tacos, sir". There were no napkins or silverware on the table (probably because they sat us in a table that hadn't even been cleaned), and when we asked for it, the waiter said it was the hostess' fault because she should have given us the silverware when we were seated. And of course, the waiter bypassed me and handed the check to my husband. My husband joked, "Welcome to Mexico", implying that it's probably a cultural thing. Unacceptable is what I say.

Let's talk about the food. The green enchilada with a taco is what I ordered. My son had a bean and cheese burrito. My husband had street tacos. My son did not eat his burrito after one bite. He said the cheese tasted bad. The flavor of my shredded beef taco was good, but the lettuce seemed to have been thrown in the deep drier, along with the meat, because it was wilted and oily. Couldn't take a bite of the taco without oil running down my chin. The bottom of my enchilada was tough...like maybe they microwaved it and the tortilla became tough on the bottom. Couldn't even cut it with a knife, so I only ate the top of the enchilada. The street tacos were good, per my husband (shocker).

Bottom line, the food isn't worth coming to this place, and as a female and professional, I find this establishment off-putting. Train your servers on the proper way to address restaurant patrons, meaning, take the female's order first. When the server brings the check, he should hand it to whoever has their hand out (I held my hand out for the check) instead of automatically handing it to the man at the table. Also, not everyone with brown skin in El Paso is Hispanic, meaning that though I have dark skin, I was addressed in Spanish from the start. I'm Filipino and don't speak a lick of Spanish at all. I think that's part of the reason why the male waiter treated me the way he did...because I asked to be addressed in English.

Don't waste your time here. There's hundreds of Mexican restaurants in this city. They are a dime a dozen and this one isn't even...