El Torito — Restaurant in Lakewood

My grandson and I have been having events it seems for days now in Lakewood. Tonight was the circus and he was very excited about it and was excited to find, in his mind, the perfect Mexican restaurant in town. He spotted El Torito, right near where our event was being held. It is on the exterior of the Lakewood Mall property on Lakewood Blvd. Parking is super easy and free.

Now, I had an issue with the choice. We have been to the one right near our house and I thought it was overpriced and awful. There was little I liked about it. Buddy, however, was insistent, so I caved. I am so glad I did. We might even give the one near our home a second chance.

This El Torito had everything right and not a thing wrong. We loved it all. From the service to the food to the décor. First, the place is really pretty outside and the inside is super cute and it is spotless, and this includes the bathrooms. We were seated straight away in a really large and comfortable booth. We had menus and chips in seconds and our server came by to get a drink order.

Now, as we sat there and dinned, we saw the place start to get very crowded. It was a Saturday night, so I suggest you make reservations if you plan on going there at 6pm or after and for brunch on Sunday. Our server was back to us very fast to help with the menu. We ordered guacamole made tableside, enchiladas, Spanish rice and beans, a chicken tamale and a great little side dish, not on the menu of Polenta. It came, a tiny amount, with my combination plate and I loved it. It is corn and cornmeal made into a very soft little cake, it is not as soft as a pudding, but not really like a cake. Just try it. I have a hard time explaining it. It is not the Italian dish that I would always call Polenta.

The guacamole was just as my grandson wanted it. The server had him help him with the spice level and the ingredients. He was very patient with my speech impaired teen. Oh, and this place is super family friendly.

The rice and beans were traditional Mexican fare, but they were good. Our chicken tamale was amazing. Not spicy and just loaded with chicken. We loved the enchiladas bursting with cheese in a wonderful mole sauce.

Their chips were served warm which we love and their salsa was great. Go there. This one. Drive...

I walk in at 9:05 PM on 10/19/2109. The place is fairly empty. The parking lot is fairly empty. I am looking forward to having El Torito since the one in Temecula where I live closed from what I believe was bad management. I walk to the hostess tell her table for two she politely ask my name and then tells me there is a 30-45 minute wait. So I sit down and notice my surroundings. Two managers (at least what I believe are managers are laughing and giggling with the pretty hostess. It is 9:15 at night there is only one other party waiting. There is a guy in one of the dining rooms that looks to be a server vacuuming mind you they don’t close till 11. There is another server in my general view that is preparing that dining area ( filling the sugars, placing the table sets, and other things) As for as I can tell there is only one dining area open and the bar area. I guess the management is more concerned with leaving on time than customer service. With only two parties waiting and 2 employees occupied with other task also two managers more concerned with chatting up the hostess. I imagine this El Torito is on the closure list also. It is really sad that such a great company and staple in Southern California has upper management that has aloud such a quality establishment to fail. I know this first hand with the Temecula location. I frequently dined at this location and some would say to much. I use to love El Torito, but watched management run it into the ground. It’s amazing that customer service is not first any more instead vacuuming and flirting with the hostess has taken precedence. I realize that the vacuuming is necessary but do it when the store is closed. No one should have to listen to an electric vacuum when they are eating at a restaurant. No we did not stay and wait 45 minutes for our table

10/28 El Torito You state in your reply to contact you on your website to talk further about the situation. Well I did that night, the same night I wrote this review and have heard nothing from you. So was this just a corporate response for the public to see. Kind of shows how the company cares about...

My family, friends, have frequented this particular location more since our favorite Long Beach location closed down. But, Lakewood location is just not the same, and I understand that the time we are in has a lot to do with it too. 3 of us had dinner today. The host looked tired. No smile. No greeting. I kind of felt for her. Waitress looked tired too but she was kind, and she took awhile to take our order after delivering our drinks, chips and salsa. After about 20 min or so, she kept helping other customers around us, I had to call for her attention that we were ready to order. It was not busy, but maybe they were short staffed. 🤷🏻‍♀️ The food??? Just didn’t “look” appealing. The food looked cold, though it was fairly or barely warm. We asked for more chips and were told more had to ‘be made’ and it took a half an hour, It was 8:15 pm and they close at 10pm. We ordered the appetizer platter and I hate when food is barely warm and not hot and fresh. IT WAS NEITHER. Did we complain? Did we have it returned? NO. You almost feel too guilty to do this and so we didn’t. We ate quickly because it literally was barely warm, and we paid for it - tip and ALL. We all agreed that the food was not up to par - again, not as delicious, not the same. We also had a similar experience 1 month before when we had lunch there. 🤦🏻‍♀️ There have been more disappointments than satisfaction and more bad experience than good within the last 3 months or so. Just not right, especially since cost has skyrocketed. We pay WAY more for food and service that, time after time, just doesn’t meet our expectations anymore and sometimes it seems people don’t even care?! It’s no longer worth it because bottom line, we are the ones throwing away our hard earned money. Unfortunately, we’ve finally made a solid decision - we won’t be returning. It’s just time to be more wise with our money and spend it where we know we will get a satisfying return at the very least. Thank you El Torito for the many other years of good food and...