El Paso Tacos & Tequila — Restaurant in Hendersonville

We were excited to try this new place but left extremely disappointed.

Our server was very sweet, but clearly did not have enough training. She said it was her second day and it was very obvious. The timing of everything was off all night. Before we could even sit down she asked what drinks we wanted. She delivered our queso order to our table with no chips. I saw the host tell her we still don't have any after a few minutes and she walked over a bit later to confirm and went to the kitchen, I'm assuming to get some. Next time she comes by, she sees we still dont have any and said she would ask to get us some. 5 minutes later we watch multiple tables that are just sitting down get chips, while we've been there 15 minutes, queso steadily getting cold and nothing to eat it with. Finally, we get chips but then we have to ask for the queso to get reheated, so we're back to square one. When we ask for a chip refill she clearly saw that asking for a runner took too long, so she took our used basket and refilled it. Appreciated the effort, but seemed like a cleanliness risk.

When we go to order we have to point at the items because she didn't know the menu and seemed unfamiliar with mexican food. As we're waiting for our food, once again we saw parties who came in after us get their meals before us. Finally it gets delivered and one item is the completely incorrect meat. We told the runner who was delivering it and he put in the correct order. There were multiple times where she didn't know where to place things because the table was so full, but she didn't offer to take any plates until she came with dessert, which was two plates, so I had to offer to hold one so she could have a free hand to actually clear anything. Those were the big issues, but there were also small things that impacted the enjoyment of the service like having to ask for napkins, only one offer to refill our waters the entire meal, not asking what size we want for our margaritas, etc.

Meanwhile, we kept seeing groups of workers gathering around talking in the back while the host stand was unattended. This waitress clearly needed support and a lot more training. She should not have been put out on her own, and there seemed to be enough unoccupied staff to allow her to shadow rather than go solo.

We get the check and there's nothing comped or discounted. I ask if there's a manager on duty, she says yes. Few minutes go by and she comes back to say they're coming. More time goes by, and the runner who fixed our order comes up. He says he's not the manager, there isn't one on duty, but he can help. 😅When we told him what was going on, there was a bit of resistance, but in the end he comped our queso.

The food was ok and the decor was cute, but certainly not good enough to go back after such a mess. They really need to focus on their training and food running. I felt so bad she was thrown out there on her own when she was clearly not ready, and we were very patient, but it just an unpleasant experience. If you know you have an extremely new waitress, and multiple other staff are witnessing errors, why would you not either help her, or speak to the customers to try to repair the situation?

There seemed to be a large party in the back, so maybe this was just an off night due to them not knowing how to balance the labor between big groups and smaller parties yet. Whatever it may be, I hope they're able to shape up soon. I would love to give them another chance when they're more mature, but for now we unfortunately won't be...

This is the third time I have been here since they opened a few weeks back. The first and second time were great! Great service, the food was good, everything went as expected.

Tonight was genuinely one of the most baffling experiences I’ve had at a restaurant. The main issue was with the waiter: Steven S (as listed on the receipt). It was obvious pretty early on that Steven was not a very attentive waiter, but that is something I can typically deal with.

I ordered the combination A. My friend (SINGULAR, it is only me and my friend) ordered the equivalent of an ACP - I forget exactly what it’s called here. My friend received both her margarita and her food about 10ish minutes after we placed our order. I assumed my food was just taking a little longer, which is fine. However, nearly 15 minutes go by and nothing. My friend had been waiting for me to get my food, so hers was cold by this point. Steven comes over to the table and asks if everything is okay. I ask “are there any updates of the status of my food ?” To which Steven replies: “oh, what did you order?” With a confused look on his face. I genuinely have never been more baffled in my life. When I ordered, I ordered the combination A, he replied “okay!” And then moved on to take my friend’s order - keep in mind it is only my friend and me. He appeared to have a notepad and writing our orders down, was he not?? Why in the WORLD would I have come to just sit and watch my friend eat her meal and drink her margarita?

This was such an odd thing to occur that the people sitting next to us even commented how bizarre it was to just gloss over my order? Or to think I was there just watching her eat ?

Another waiter came around fixing Steven’s mistakes - he brought another table salsa they had been asking for for a long amount of time, and even asked me what I had ordered. As soon as this happened, my order came out within minutes. I wish I had gotten this waiter’s name. He apologized for the wait, as well as the runner who brought my food out.

I’m honestly at a loss for how bad Steven’s service was. If he had come to check on us after my friend had received her food, I would not have been so frustrated. But we waited a good 15 minutes before he came to check - all the while we watched him wander aimlessly around the restaurant, go and hold the door open (for no one to walk in), basically anything but checking on his tables. But to also COMPLETELY forget or ignore a customer’s order - and NOT double check with them whatsoever - is...

Overall: 2.5/5. I doubt I will ever go here again.

Service: 4/5.

Drinks: 1/5. The organic margarita was terrible, tasted like water and cost $20 for the medium size. Barely any salt on the rim.

Apps: 3/5. Pretty good queso but it was not very much for $9 (claims it is “large” on the menu). Decent salsa. Chips did not seem very fresh.

Entrees: 3/5. The menu said the Camarones a la Diabla came with a guacamole salad, but it came with broccoli instead. They forgot to tell me until it arrived. The shrimp came in what looked like a bowl of tomato soup but the tails were still on. Had to scoop the shrimp out of the soup bowl one by one to remove the tail. Overall, the flavor was pretty good but not the type of sauce you would expect from Camarones a la Diabla, and not very spicy. The chef should visit Tequila’s restaurant in Hendersonville to see how Camarones a la Diabla should be served.

Atmosphere: 5/5. Really cool interior and a cool place overall. Wish they had good drinks or good food so I had a reason to go back.

Side comment: They were out of the tequila I ordered (Espolon añejo). Not a big deal, but if you have “Tequila” in your restaurant name, then a fairly small tequila menu, you should at least keep the few you...