El Cortez Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Laguna Niguel

We frequent El Cortez at least twice a month. The margaritas and fare are great. Happy hour and/or regular dining menu always a treat. The owner is usually present and rounds on her customers to ensure their experience is a good one. She was not present this evening. Tonight has spoiled our previous experiences.

We were seated In the dining room and several tables away (in one of the large individual cubby booths) was a group of 5 children (estimating their ages between 3 and 10) seated alone. Their mothers sat at a separate table and provided absolutely no supervision. Food and water was thrown. 3 of the kids stood bouncing on the seats while the other two were running back and forth on top of the booth backrests banging on the windows. They were loud and argumentative with each other. All were wearing bathing suits and no shoes. We spoke to our waiter expressing that once again our drinks, food and service were wonderful but that the behavior of this group was quite upsetting. He didn’t respond. On our departure, we again spoke with the person at the front desk who assured us she would make the manager aware. I believe that in the owner’s absence, the employees should be empowered to better intervene and not tolerate this type of disruptive behavior that ruins the experience of other paying customers. Doubt we...

Exceptional Mexican Food the owners make most all of it from scratch including tortilla chips, salsa and corn tortillas. Their prices are about a dollar or two more than most Mexican restaurants, but the food is worth it. The best salsa, chips and corn tortillas I've ever eaten. Also their enchilada sauce is fabulous! They have a few negatives that are irritating, and complaining to the owner does no good. Your first bowl [small] of chips and salsa is free, but if you want more they charge you $1.35. Tacos and/or enchiladas: if you want shredded beef instead of ground beef its at least a dollar more. 'Any substitutions' they charge you a couple dollars more. If you order sides like a side of beans its $3.99 and its just a small dab of beans...same goes for sides of rice. The food doesn't get to your table soon enough; I believe it sits too long waiting to be picked up. Also, if you intend to eat lunch there make it a late lunch because they don't turn on the heater until almost evening and in November through March it's cold in the mornings and that restaurant will be in the low 60's. And lastly for sweeteners say you want ice tea...all they have is regular sugar and Sweet and Low no Equal so I bring my own. I wish the food wasn't so good because the other things are...

Nice little strip mall restaurant with dated atmosphere. Waitress and staff were friendly and nice. Service was good but if you're going for a signature dish it's a big disappointment. Guacamole was tastless. We ordered the special Discovery Chicken Burrito which was extreemly large but average tasting. Their signature dish, Camerones al Mojo de Ajo was inedible. Yes inedible! The shells of the shrimp were so dry they had to be torn off the shrimp before putting in the mouth. The shrimp were also dry and tough to chew. I tried to return it but I was told they wouldn't take it back because that's the way they make it. Any restaurant that argues or disagrees with a customer, especially a customer who knows food quality and is enjoying themself, should not be in the customer service business. What a way to end a great evening. Find another place to enjoy Mexican food! Still can't believe I was told to...