El Mariachi of Hamilton Mexican Restaurant & Cantina — Restaurant in Hamilton

two issues: the food is way overpriced for the quality and taste (just not very good) and the staff desperately needs more training on customer service. when we walked in, there were two hostesses at the door. neither of them said hello, and we actually did not even realize there were hostesses at the door for a minute or so and went to seat ourselves when I finally saw the two women standing behind us silently. my father asked if we should seat ourselves, and they just stared back blankly. I finally said, "three please", very deliberately, and one of the women eventually showed signs of life, picked up three menus and said, "follow me" with no manners, and led us to a table, where she simply threw the menus down and more or less stormed away wordlessly. even 16 year old children working their first restaurant job know that you tell the customers to "enjoy their meal" after seating them. very bizarre behavior. I think it's possible that English isn't her first language, but that still doesn't excuse the weirdly rude behavior. server was equally rude, and even got irritated when I said, "thank you" after every interaction we had. it seems that this staff is completely and totally ignorant of manners, and even hostile to the idea of being polite. again, very bizarre behavior. the waitress got the bar drink order wrong (even though the order was just one small margarita), and made it clear that she wanted us to leave quickly. the food was not very good. the chips were good (because the place was a little busy, so they probably have to make more chips during busy hours, so they're warm chips), and so was the salsa, but the food itself left a lot to be desired. they advertise authentic street tacos, so I decided to try the authentic fish street tacos... yeah, it's false advertising. nothing could be further from an authentic street taco than the meal I was served. an authentic street taco should contain your choice of protein, cilantro and chopped yellow onion (for a basic street taco), double wrapped in warm corn tortillas. instead, I received sour tasting cilantro, what appeared to be diced shallot (??) instead of diced yellow onion, a single flour tortilla instead of double corn tortillas and, I kid you not, the most bland fish I have ever tasted in my life. not a drop of salt on that fish, and it also tasted very fishy, and it made my stomach hurt later on, so it was probably gone off slightly or not kept cold enough. and the price was ridiculous for the food quality. a $60 bill for a total of two waters, 6 tacos, one small margarita and a couple sides of rice. MUCH, MUCH better food across the street at Taqueria Guanajuato for a fraction of the price. the street tacos at Guanajuato are miles and miles better than the tacos at Mariachi. our meal at Guanajuato would probably have been $30 at most, with tip, and would have been delicious. oh, and one more issue: on the way out a gentleman working there dropped an entire plate of food right next to my foot as we were walking out, and the glass shattered everywhere. thank goodness I was wearing boots and not sandals. he didn't apologize at all; not to me, and not to the table to whom he was meant to serve that plate of food that he just dropped all over the floor. in short, El Mariachi leaves a LOT to be desired. will...

This is hands down the best restaurant, serving Mexican-style cuisine, that I have ever had the pleasure of eating at.

I have tried a number of different dishes from the menu and the food has been consistently good. The quality of the food has been good across the various dishes that I have tried. The actual dishes that I have ordered again, on subsequent visits, have also been consistent. I have not had a situation where I have liked a certain dish and then ordered it again and had it be bad or different than what I originally ordered and enjoyed.

The service has been good each time I have visited. I have never had a rude waiter or waitress. The best thing is that some of the wait staff have been there a long time so you will see familiar faces when you make return trips here.

The restaurant is also very clean. The dining area and bathrooms are both well maintained.

I no longer live in state, but this is one place I always stop by when I come to visit.

Alright, now that the good stuff is out of the way, in the spirit of full disclosure let me say the following:

First, I did have the kitchen send me three soft tacos in stale dried out shells once. And the waitress and kitchen tried to convince me that that was the way the dish was served. Their soft taco shells are made fresh and they are soft and very tasty. Having gotten this dish more than a few times I knew what they were telling me was BS and had to push hard to get them to remake the dish. Eventually they did and it was great. This was my first and only day shift experience here. Previously and since then I have only been there in the evening.

Second, for such a fantastic restaurant it is located in a fairly crappy part of town. Don't let that deter you from giving it a try. It's worth it.

Lastly, this is the only place I have ever dined at where a waitress changed the tip on my credit card receipt. I had stopped in for a quick appetizer and left a 3 dollar tip that became an 8 dollar tip and caused a fraud alert to pop on my credit card. This was a one time experience years ago. It has never happened again and hasn't kept me from returning to...

Called and was told no wait for two, we were already on their street so we pulled in but when we got inside there were two couples waiting to be seated and there was a 25-30 minute wait. I really hate being lied to, bad form El Mariachi! Drove 5 miles to El Rancho Nuevo after they said no wait and though they were packed it was no wait! We’ll give El Mariachi another chance but management needs to stop the stack and pack then at the door and lie if need be!

Update: They got better but now their food quality is going downhill. Service is suffering too. Smaller portions, hard tasteless chips, substitutions result in ridiculous overcharging. They charge you more for using a credit card, this is the 21st century in case they missed the memo! Most expensive drinks of all local Mexican restaurants, better food and drink prices and much better service at La Piñata, better drink prices and service at El Rancho Grande, food is about on par or slightly better too. I just hate to have to drive that far but like all West Hamilton restaurants they bet on their location to keep customers on this side of town. Bottom line, if you don’t mind the drive to the township then skip this place!

Update 12/23: Tried them again as the place has been stacked and packed lately. Never ever order a salad here! The lettuce is just what they use on their burritos, etc., shredded! Their breaded chicken is just a couple of kids meals chicken tenders sliced up. Light on cheese but very thick cut cucumbers, the tomatoes are also under par, can't say anything about the onions as I don't get onions on my salads. I was going to order a grilled chicken as I prefer that to breaded however they tend to over grill their chicken. Just two guests, one had a appetizer, the other this salad, a margarita and 2 beers, without tip it...