El Nacho’s Cantina Mexican Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Elizabeth

With everything that we experienced, it’s hard to assume this was an off night. The restaurant seemed awfully slow at peak dinner hour on a weekend —red flag. We stood alone in the entrance for several minutes before anyone greeted us. Red flag. Seated, I immediately noticed the ambiance was off. Bieber, The Weeknd, playing so loudly we couldn’t communicate well at our table. It killed the vibe. At some point you stop counting the red flags. Ceiling fans were also going full blast—enough to move our hair and making the restaurant uncomfortably cold for those of us sitting there. We ordered drinks, watched a lot of employees not moving too much or too quickly while we waited twenty minutes to be told they were out of a basic staple drink two members of our party ordered. Identified and ordered a substitute, and then waited another twenty five minutes for any drink at all to be delivered. No water, no nothing until 45 minutes after seating, our drinks finally came out—so watered down you couldn’t much tell the difference between them.

Appetizers took another twenty minutes after drinks for guac and nachos. We are past an hour at this place before they came out. The guac came with no chips (those took an extra ten minutes for some reason) and had so much lime in it, it was inedible. Our starving kids devoured the nachos. Hard to say if they were good, but the poor kids were losing it at that point.

Our mains were then delayed about another forty-five minutes after our appetizers, with no check in from our server and no explanation as to why. It was a burritos, a Chimi, and some tacos, lest you think we ordered anything crazy. Lots of employees standing around, but our drinks were empty and we were clearly miserable. Still no one checked in on us, or offered an explanation or an apology.

When the food finally arrived, it was cold. They didn’t bring my spouse’s meal (tacos—literally tacos) out for another ten minutes after the rest of us were served. We tried to wait so we could eat all together (it was a special occasion), but the food was already cold and not improving either time. I took two bites and handed my plate over to hubby. It was gross but better than nothing. Then his food suddenly appeared. Although we were starving, each of us left more than half our food. Several sides we ordered were never delivered but, because our server never checked in, we didn’t get to say anything and eventually had to ask for them to come off the check. The maduros were not ripe and should have been 86’d. Hard as rocks and basically tostones in a different shape. Meanwhile the tostones were swimming in oil. After we gave upon eating the cold, bland food, we waited another twenty minutes with no attention from the staff so we chased down a member of management to get our check—to which they added an automatic $30 in gratuity for poor service and inedible food. Hard to blame the server given nothing went right, but equally hard to pay so much for a truly terrible meal. We were so excited to try this place, and drove a long way to do so. It was inexplicably one of the most disappointing dining experiences of my life. Sadly seems to be all hype and no substance. Go take a picture but don’t eat...

I went today for the Mommy & Me branch and it was fun for my child I’m glad she had a great time of course there was face painting and balloon animals and what not. As for the service the waitress tried her best to understand me even though I spoke clear English and I understand it is a Mexican restaurant but it could help to have some waiters who understood the English speaking customers. I had to turn down both the waiters and the bus boys that returned with five different orders that weren’t mine to my table I simply ordered what was on the menu which was the salmon mashed potatoes and vegetables for my daughter I ordered the chicken nuggets and french fries they came over to my table about five different times with chicken and waffles and I had to keep telling them that I did not order that. After they finally brought me my order it was a piece of burnt salmon with rice and peppers and other vegetables I told the waitress that I did not order this I had actually ordered the mash potatoes she offered to make the mashed potatoes as a side order I told her that I no longer want that order because it did not look appealing to me and I wanted to change my order to the fajitas instead because I saw how it looked. The waiter went and got the manager and she returned and told me that I could not change my order because I had already ordered the salmon and if I wanted to change the order I would have to pay for both of the orders. I never touched the original order that I had made. I feel that the manager was very abrasive with how she tried to explain that I could not have a change of order that I had to purchase both orders and I told her that I would not have neither one of those orders and then I would just have my daughters cold fries and cold chicken tenders and call it a day. Zero out of 10 highly don’t recommend. For the kids it can be a great spot of course...

A group of us went to the mommy and me brunch yesterday. It was a great entertaining time for us and the kids! Decent activities, souvenirs, entertainment, etc. This event offers a ore-fix brunch menu that's $55 per adult and this doesn't include the $18 already spent for entry and materials used in activities. I have to rate this experience a 2 because of the over pricing for the kids meals as well as the adults. I wouldn't mind paying $55 for a pre-fix brunch with unlimited mimosas, sangria, etc. If these drinks weren't so watered down and juice like. We basically paid for unlimited juice. Additionally, the kids meals were way overpriced. I have never paid $20 for a kids meal (chicken tenders at that). The portion def wasn't $20's worth either nor did it include a kid's drink. The kids drink was $10 so that's $30 for a child to eat which is crazy because I spend about $36 for my child and I to eat at ihop. This info should be more available prior to ticket purchases so people can be prepared to spend when they arrive. Not cool to have these type of prices for parents who are already likely budgeting and even worse for single parents. Lastly, we had to valet parking (fine), the parking attendant tells us as we're leaving it was $5. He asked me to zelle since I didn't have cash and when I put the number in I realized it was a request for a tip and not a parking fee since the fees had his personal name and not the business name. As a business, why do you allow this? They're lying and springing up fees on people who already spent a good amount of money in your establishment. This info should also be shared upfront. Great event and concept but needless to say that was my 1st and last time and I won't recommend solely based on price and the lack of transparency with pricing. Also, I believe it was an automatic 20% gratuity, which wasn't made known upfront...