El Vaquero West — Restaurant in Haymarket

Whoever said this is authentic and best Mexican food, is NOT Mexican. I am Mexican. This is as authentic as Taco Bell but with less flavor. If that says anything. The steak if flavorless. We had to add salt to choke it down. It was not high quality. The worst? Chille rellenos. They are supposed to be dipped in an egg mixture and deep fried. There was no egg mixture. The server told me the put the egg inside? I didn’t taste any egg but even so, that would be gross. What I tasted was Kraft cheese inside them. And drenched in tomato sauce. The server said that was their spicy sauce. No. It was tomato sauce. No flavor. And worse. It was COLD. The servers knew of my dissatisfaction. They didn’t care. Did not offer a refund or a replacement of the meal.

Then again. When we arrived, we asked Catarina, our server, to please bring the refried beans first as we had 11 month old twins that were hungry and fussy. She said it comes with the plate. I said I understand but if she could bring the beans apart, first, the babies need to eat. She told me again, they come with the meal. Again, I told her if she can bring them first. She argued with me. I speak Spanish so it’s not like there was a language barrier. She finally said OK she will bring the beans first. Great. Well 30 minutes later. We had ZERO BEANS AND ZERO MEAL. This is unheard of in Mexican restaurants when food comes out so quick and service is great. We asked a male server, and he said would get the beans for us. The babies were crying with hunger but no one helped with the beans. Finally, he came back 10 mins later saying the beans were coming. Another 10 mins, and all our plates came. At the same time as the beans.

My son’s chicken breast came out bathed in pepper. It was also mushy texture. Too chewy and soft. I told them about this and asked for just chicken nuggets instead afraid of what else would be brought. The waitress said she could give us 2 chicken nuggets or the cook could scrape off the pepper. I confirmed “2 chicken nugget!?!” She said yes. I asked a few times. Yup. I heard her right. So we decided to give her the chicken to get “cleaned up”. Idk how they did this. But she took the whole plate leaving my 7 year old without rice or beans or anything to eat after this extended wait. It took them 20 mins to return with the chicken breast. By this time his beans and rice were cold. But chicken was eh but not bathed with pepper anymore. For all this. We paid the same amount of money as we do at Parrandos in Ashburn. But for food that felt fast food. Or worse than fast food. It was $100 plus tip. Catarina did not care about making it right or my babies crying with hunger. I feel like we just burned $100 plus on nothing. I Left the chille rellenos at the table.

Service, customer service and food is garbage. Avoid this place at all cost. Go somewhere else even if it means driving a bit further. Here are pictures of the chille relleno and the ground beef tacos. The steak tacos were bland but didn’t get a photo of them.

*Edit, my 10 year old daughter’s stomach was...

The food is excellent, but I didn't give 5 stars for a reason.

My friend told me about this place. She had never been there but said it always seems busy with cars parked down the road. The parking lot fills up quickly. I was skeptical when she suggested it for dinner because its a Mexican restaurant down in Haymarket. How good could it be? I agreed to try it, reluctantly. She lives walking distance from this place so we headed there on foot and got there just before 5pm. As we approached, I could smell the Aroma of tasty Mexican food which got me excited. We were immediately greeted and seated when we arrived. The place was warm, cozy, with festive decor. So far so good.

Here is why I gave 4 stars instead of 5. We were served chips and salsa, with our drinks as we waited to order our entrees. There were empty booths when we arrived so the place was not as busy as I was expecting. I don't know what happened but it seems our waiter forgot about us. It took about 30 minutes for him to return and take our order.

Slowly, the place started to fill up. Within minutes there was a crowd of people near the entrance, some stretching their necks looking for seats. It got loud, smokey (from the fajitas) and crowded.

The servers were doing their best (thank you Mario) but I wish the restaurant would have a better process in place for controlling the overcrowding. We are still dealing with a pandemic and it's not a good thing having all these people crowded inside a small restaurant.

Over an hour later, our food arrived. It was sizzling hot and delicious. I had the fajita del Mar. My friend had the tilapia y camarones. The food was absolutely delicious. I now understand the crowding but they need to do something...

Had to go to a fast food restaurant on my way home after my most recent experience here.... I have been to this restaurant a few times before as it is close to my house, and have had mostly ok experiences previously, but after my experience tonight I will not be returning. There was clearly some confusion with my table’s order and they brought us out two incorrect meals. We clearly communicated with multiple waiters what the correct orders were, and one of the items came out, however, my meal did not. I waited for an extensive amount of time, and did let the waiter know I was still waiting for my meal. After over an hour, my order still never came. At this establishment, you pay for your meals at the front register, so when my table had finished their drinks and accepted the fact that my meal would not be coming, we went to the register to pay. My husband informed our waiter, who was at the register at the time, about our meal not coming out, to which he responded that he knew and it was taken off the check. To confirm what he heard, my husband again asked this waiter, “so you knew her meal was never coming our?” and he just smiled and nodded and said yes... Another waiter overheard this exchange and jumped in to help, clearly appalled that I never received my meal, and I very much appreciate his attempt to help- had he been my waiter I have no doubt I would have gotten my meal! Unfortunately, he was not, and I am now writing this review while eating a...