El Granjero Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

Life lesson learned--Always unwrap your order before paying for it and taking it home at El Granjero. Better still, just stay away! The worst experience and the most amazingly bizarre food I've ever been served. I ordered what according to the on-line menu is called "the Cuban Style Torta: Steak, ham, and beef sausage." The menu states that all tortas are prepared with lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, mayonnaise, sour cream and avocado. I ordered mine with no tomato or onion. Upon asking for my phone-in order when I arrived, the staff discovered they had "forgotten" about my order. They had the order, or what they thought was my order, or just at that moment decided to make up my order based on what was left in the kitchen or immediately at hand. Not incidentally, if you order using the on-line menus, you will discover upon payment that the prices are 15-20% higher than the menu prices as they appear on-line. It went down-hill from there. The real surprise was discovering what my Cuban Style Torta actually contained. There was no lettuce, no sour cream, and despite ordering no tomato or onion, both were present, the onion in great abundance, apparently fried together with what may have been the "beef sausage." It might have been sausage; it was after all, brown, and although it had the same taste and texture 70-30 ground beef stores used to sell, it must be most tasteless sausage ever made. Perhaps that's why it was buried in onion. As for the ham, that was one, count 'em, one, slice of processed deli "ham." The real kicker, though, was the "steak." Ready? No steak, just half a hot-dog cut lengthwise. I am not making this up. No steak. A wiener. Half a wiener, then cut in half again. One half for each half of what must be GR's worst sandwich served on the world's largest hot-dog bun, the kind of cloying awful doughy white stuff that gave Wonder Bread such a bad name. If it weren't for the fact that I live 20 minutes away, this monstrosity would have been returned. As it is, neither I nor the "food"...

This place is always packed around lunch and dinner time, and for good reason! The staff is extremely friendly, and very helpful when explaining certain menu items. It is all seat-yourself here, so keep that in mind if you walk in and see that the place is full. As busy as this restaurant can get, they do an extremely good job of keeping it clean. I'm writing this review from one of their tables now, at 12:30pm (so peak lunch time), and they're doing great at making sure tables are cleared and ready for new customers. The food is absolutely fantastic, well-portioned and affordable to boot (the chimichangas and flautas are a favorite of mine)! My only (very minor) complaint is that while the restaurant does feature a parking lot with plenty of spaces, ironically, parking lot space itself is somewhat limited, with opposite spaces being somewhat tight, and there really only being room for one vehicle to enter/exit at a time. But again, it's just one of those things that really become a concern at peak hours when they're the busiest. All in all, El Granjero's charm, affordability, and of course, their food, has made this is a regular dining spot for me, and I see myself coming back again and again.

UPDATE 06/08/2018: I have tried their quesadillas, and I am a changed man. These are the most filling, flavorful, delicious quesadillas I've ever had in my life, and I have been ruined for all future...

One word to describe this place: Legit. We hired El Granjero to cater our wedding, and were incredibly happy with everything. The food was of course delicious, and the catering end very well handled. As a bonus, the overall cost was a fraction of most catering places. It was unique, delicious, and inexpensive. I guess sometimes you can have it all.

The restaurant is great as well. It's definitely located in an old "Lee's famous recipe chicken" building, so if you remember those places, it might give you a pang of nostalgia (or PTSD). Beyond that though, the waitstaff is kind, and on top of things, and do a great job of explaining the dishes with which I wasn't familiar. The building is a little dingy, in the charming kind of way, not the salmonella kind of way.

I don't get over there all that often these days, but on the off chance I'm on that side of town, a visit to El Granjero is always...