El Caballo de Oro Joplin — Restaurant in Joplin

I preface this with this: normally, my reviews aren't this elaborate! I'll start with the good before I start the full story. The queso is quite delicious and a bit unique flavor, as maybe sour cream is also used. My family quite enjoyed it. Now the bad and full story. My family and I entered the establishment today, 26 April, 2025, to try this place for the first time after seeing an ad on Facebook. We were greeted promptly and sat, in which chips and salsa were delivered shortly after being seated. Our server greeted our table and asked our drink order. We gave our drink order, consisting of 2 waters and a child's sweet tea and ordered a small queso. We had a short wait for the drinks, but within reason. With the queso, we waited longer than expected, to the point where we believed she had forgotten to put in our order for the queso. Our kiddo was hungry and so focused on the queso, he remained indecisive on the extensive kid's menu. Once the server finally brought the queso to the table, she proceeded to ask if we were ready. Our son had not decided quite yet. The server stated she would return in a minute or two. Understandable. Once we had his decision, we were unable to ever get our servers attention. We watched her respond to the other 2 table she had, one being 2 tables away from us, all while never looking our way. I gave her the benefit of the doubt thinking maybe she may have other tables out of sight within the restaurant. That was no longer the case when our server walked from the back of the restaurant by the kitchen to the front of the establishment, passing within 2 table of ours all while never looking our way. We watched her walk to the front of the restaurant and chat with her coworkers and stare out the window and rain. Our server continued to stare out the front window for an extended period of time before I had had enough of waiting and walked up to ask for our check. Our whole time there was 28 minutes for waters, sweet tea, and a small queso, which was quite good. Who knows how long we would have waited before our order was...

We went for dinner recently and started off by ordering queso and the waitress asked small, medium, or large and we picked small. Upon bringing out our food, she dropped a queso fundido at our table. We were confused and trying to figure out whose food it went with. Eventually we are done and the bill is brought to us and we see they charged us 8.99$ for the queso fundido.

Which at that point we couldn't really fight to have it taken off because we had consumed a good portion of it. But I was extremely irritated upon further going over what we talked about and ordered and confirming we did NOT order that. They also really do charge you the 3% for using your card which is bonkers. Also the tipping screen was kind of wacky. With that being said, we will NOT be returning and please, please, please check your bill for things you didn't order....

Hands down, one of the best Mexican restaurants around! The food is incredible—especially the queso fundito, which is a must-order every time. Portions are huge, and for the price, it’s almost shocking how much food we end up taking home.

And let’s talk about the margaritas—their 16 oz house margaritas for just $5 are dangerously good (and way more effective than a giant fishbowl at other places). As someone who doesn’t normally drink well tequila, I can confidently say these margaritas get the job done!

Beyond the amazing food and drinks, the owner is the absolute best—always so welcoming and genuinely checks in to make sure everything is perfect. The service is fantastic, the atmosphere is warm, and we always leave happy (and full). If you’re looking for a go-to Mexican spot, this...