Taqueria El Torito — Restaurant in Kansas City

I see that my original review ( 2 yrs ago) has been deleted. The food was fine. The staff...not so much. My friend and I are caucasion. (just r.wanted to get that out of the way). I can't say we were greeted, as such. A young lady simply picked up 2 menus and headed to the dining room..not a word, not even a smile. We followed her to a table and we sat down. She just plopped the menus on the table and walked away. Well, now I know how it feels to be "unwelcome" without a word being uttered. We read the minues and were ready to order, but the waitress just continued to ignore us. My friend want to leave, but I refused. She continued to serve others (who were hispanic). Finally, I tried to get her attention by calling out to her. She came to our table .,but didn't say a word...she just held her pencil and pad and stared at us...still not a word. Now, we'd been sitting there for about 25 minutes and we should have left the place, but I wasn't going to give her that satifaction. She took our order, delivered our food. I thanked her graciously, but still no response. In spite of everything, I left a very generous tip and headed to the cashier. When I got to the cashier to pay the ticket, I got the same treatment. Not a word! The cashier wouldn't even make "eye contact". This treatment was new to me. I had to laugh later. If they wanted me to feel unwanted...it was working. I could be upset by all of this, but I'm old enough to remember when mexicans weren't served in any bar or restaurant west of 7th street in Armourdale. If I were a mexican, I wouldn't be happy serving...

Went with some friends who have been dining here for years. Arrived at dinner time but was able to get seated right away. Was busy but took our order in a timely manner. I ordered Al Pastor carney asada tacos 🌮. Others had a chicken burrito 🌯 and carney asada quesodillas. The corn chips were authentic and came with 3 salsas. The salsas were all delicious and not like the canned stuff in other chain restaurants. It tasted really fresh and home-made. They also served bottled coke with labeled in Spanish. Different but really good! The food finally came, but they were super busy, and we were not in a hurry. The food was very authentic. I got to taste the wife's quesadila... wow! Not like the crap they serve in bars and the chains. The tacos were street tacos served on corn tortillas, super soft, beef (not burger) a little cheese, raw white onion, and cilantro. I ate two as is, and two with some salsa!!! Wowsers delicious!! This was better than some of the tex-mex places back home, or maybe I was just lonesome for them. If you're looking for a no frills honest to goodness home cooked Mexican meal, this is the place to go... oh did I mention they are connected to a Mexican Grocery Store. We plan to go again, soon, when we have time to grocery shop....

I will start this review by saying any taqueria I go to in the United States is measured by this place. I put them at the top of any of them. I've tried other fancy taquerias and find it hard to spend $10 for 1 street taco that may have avocado or some special garnishment when I can go here and spend $10 for multiple tacos and be stuffed. When you order the street tacos they come filled with meat. The steak is not crispy pieces of beef jerky but small moist flavored pieces. The same for the chicken. I also enjoy the shrimp tacos, I love the taste. They serve a green pureed jalapeno sauce that we always purchase in the grocery store (next door) to take home. I can't get enough of it. I've tried other things like the fajitas and the quesadillas and have never been disappointed. Recently I ordered for a family dinner. Lots of meat and reasonably priced. There are many lists of best taquerias in Kansas City and this always shows up on that list, but I would always put it as number one. One. It's weird to say but they have other restaurant locations in Kansas City and I never find the food to taste the same. I only order...