Emilios Mexican Restaurant & Cantina II — Restaurant in Lake Elsinore

My wife wanted to try this new restaurant for Mother’s Day after she saw good reviews on Facebook. We went the Saturday before Mother’s Day because I had to work Sunday. As soon as we arrived we were told the wait was going to be 35-45 minutes before getting a table, however the restaurant was less than half full of customers at that time. So we waited and we were seated in less time than they expected. The waitress came over to our table and took our drink order. My mother-in-law decided to order a beer. The waitress started to name off the beer selection and one of the first beers she named off was Coors Light. So my mother-in-law just said that’s fine I’ll have a Coors Light. Jokingly I said to my mother-in-law “You’re not going to have a Mexican beer in a Mexican restaurant?” And the waitress tells me “we really don’t have many Mexican beers here.” Um, why? Isn’t this a Mexican Restaurant AND Cantina? So anyhow I ordered an Iced Tea with lemon. We get our drinks and I received an Iced Tea with no lemon… ok whatever. The waitress comes shortly after to take our food order. My wife, daughter and mother-in-law place their orders. So before ordering my food I ask the waitress if they serve Menudo all day and she said that they did. I said great I’ll try that… Nope, she then tells me that she overheard the cooks saying that it burned so they may not have any available. She then asks me if there was anything else on the menu that I may like in the event the menudo isn’t available. So I give the menu another look and decided that the “Del Mar” dinner (I don’t recall the exact name of the dish) would be a good alternative. I also ordered another Iced Tea and asked if I could please get lemon this time. She said that she would place the orders and let me know which dinner I would be receiving. I was then brought over another Iced Tea without lemon by a younger gentleman. After a little while she came back and said that not only do they not have the Menudo they also don’t have the Del Mar dinner available. So she again asked if there was anything else I would like. I asked to see the menu again and tried to decide now for the 3rd time what I wanted for dinner. After a few minutes I just settled on a Carne Asada burrito. I got my burrito and cut into it and it was super greasy. Unfortunately the carne asada had no flavor, was tough to chew and was dripping with grease. I’ve had a far superior carne asada burrito at some of the local quick service Mexican restaurants in town. My wife, daughter and mother-in-law were also not too impressed with the food they received… they said it was mediocre at best. So unfortunately I was not impressed at all with the food let alone the service… which was a complete disappointment after seeing the great reviews people were posting on Facebook. I could have just gone to one of the quick service Mexican restaurants in town and received much better food for less money. On a side note; I cant really fault the waitress as she was kind and prompt with her service but the restaurant itself ruined my...

Since we didn't want to go to a "self serve" Mexican restaurant, we popped in here for lunch today.

Despite some of the ridiculous reviews left on Google, we went anyway. Yes, they recently opened. Yes, they're working out the kinks. Plus they're hiring. However, they did their best to accommodate us.

It wasn't too busy when we arrived and opted to sit in a booth in the bar.

We interacted with 4 staffers during our visit and each person was very nice.

This place has potential. I liked my food as well as the others who were with me.

We will return.

My advice: Just go and try it. Support your local business!

Update February 14, 2023 Time had passed since we first ate here. So we thought to give it another try on Valentine's day, albeit, around 2pm.

We haven't eaten much at dine in restaurants since the start of, well, ya know, so we figured to head back out now that "it's all Over". Figured a return to Emilios was in order.

Since we went at a good time, it was not that busy, which was fine with us!

Friendly hostess and server. Very accommodating to my older mother which is always a plus.

We were happy with our food (plenty of cheese on those tacos, delicious but dangerous! Yum).

Got stuffed and ended up taking a taco home and the left over Guac (we were given some limes and container with some tips to keep it in the fridge to eat later the same evening).

It was worth the drive from Menifee. And that's saying a lot in this area. Ugh. Traffic. Everywhere. Just.. Everywhere.

I would have taken a pic but I now realized I was hungry and just dug right in. I guess that's a good sign.

We...

Went there on a whim recently. My partner had fond memories of the Hemet location. The wait staff was friendly and for the most part attentive and they are the only reason this deserves any stars. The food, if you can call it that, was sad and pitiful. The chips to start, we’re hard, too large and greasy. They were accompanied by a tiny dish of “salsa” that had the consistency of ketchup, with about the same flavor and texture. I ordered a two item combo, with cheese enchilada and chili Colorado. The sauce for the chili Colorado was adequate, but the meat was fatty tough, and of poor overall quality. The enchiladas, let me start by prefacing that I’m from Santa Fe New Mexico, and love my enchiladas. The sauce was a slight green, to cream color, with flecks of brown, from oxidated and old chili powder, it had no flavor save a stale taste of chili long gone. The cheese was not even close to melted. The beans and rice that accompanied it were pedestrian at best, and showed no inspiration. My partner had the tamales which were dry and required considerable drinks of water to get them down. Portion sizes were HUGE, which must be how they justify the price, because the quality was not there at all. It would serve them better to reduce the portion size, and pay better attention to the overall quality of their product. There was absolutely no thought in the presentation or overall taste. I would avoid this restaurant at all cost, especially since there are much better choices locally. I don’t foresee this place having much...