El Mezcal Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Lawrence

We tried the El Mezcal on Iowa Street (now closed) shortly after moving to Lawrence last summer and were not impressed. So when I read the yelp* reviews for the 23rd Street location, e is such a thingI was a bit surprised that they were consistently so good. In fact, a fellow Elite '14 member, Alicia "Lush" R, had high praise for their food, service, and margaritas, so I had to give them a try.

I am admittedly a Mexican food snob, if there is such a thing, having grown up in LA where hispanics seem to outnumber us gringos (PC???) and Mexican restaurants outnumber McDonalds. As usual, I stick with the basics the first time I visit a restaurant to see if they can get them right before moving on to more complex dishes.

We ordered the small guacamole ($3.79) and the highly touted white cheese dip (queso blanco - small - $3.79). The guacamole was very good, made with fresh avocado and NO TOMATO, well seasoned and a fair portion for the prices. The queso blanco was also scrummy as advertised, warm and well seasoned, but not too hot as my wife does not like her food too spicy. I had the 27 ounce margarita (on the rocks - $4.99) which was good, strong, and very reasonably priced, and my wife had the horchata, a Mexican rice-base drink which was a bit watery for our taste.

My wife ordered the vegetarian special #1, a cheese quesadilla and cheese and onion enchilada (with queso blanco instead of red sauce - she hates tomatoes - $7.49), coming with retired beans. It is difficult to screw-up a quesadilla and El Mezcal was no exception. The enchilada was good, but the beans rather bland, missing that fatty taste traditional refried beans emanate hence the name "refried".

I decided to forego the rice and beans and get down to brass tacks, ordering the beef tacos ($3.99) and cheese and onion enchiladas ($5.79) ala carte. The tacos came in prefab shells, normally a dead giveaway for bad food, but they were actually pretty good. The ground beef was well seasoned, the shells not too soft, not too crispy, holding up well to the punishment my teeth inflicted, with a little lettuce and plenty of white cheese. Their menu mentions "juicy tomato", but there were none in my tacos, my only complaint other than the prefab shells. I saved some guacamole for my tacos and added their salsa which was pretty good, making up for the lack of tomatoes.

The cheese and onion enchiladas were tasty, but so tough (yes, tough) that I could not cut them with a fork and my knife even had difficulty at times. I like burnt, crispy cookies and brownies, so I actually enjoyed the crunchiness. It was obvious that they had been either broiled or microwaved too long BEFORE adding the enchilada sauce, which was actually very good. My only other recommendations would be to flash fry the tortillas before filling them, adding the sauce and some white cheese on top before putting them under the broiler to melt. There was also about 50% too much sauce, a waste of money considering the fact that I left much of it on my plate.

El Mezcal was a nice surprise after the ho-hum experience we had at the Iowa Street location. The decor is colorful and reminiscent of old Mexico complete with a small fountain and the service attentive, friendly, and fast. Not my favorite Mexican restaurant in Lawrence, but we will return from time to time for the cheap, abundant margaritas if nothing else.

CombatCritic Gives El Mezcal 7 Out of 10 Bombs ......

The food here is subpar but fine, but the Managment and service is appalling. I ate here once with my husband and we had a moderate experience. The food was fine, our waitress was very sweet, but my unfortunately husband lost his wedding ring in the booth while paying our bill. (I made his ring by hand with the help of a jeweler but unfortunately it’s too big) Anyway we got home and realized what had happened, so we called El Mezcal and the man who I spoke to on the phone was very dismissive and told me that he had moved all the booths, swept and mopped and did not find it. I was certain it was there because we had searched everywhere, so we called again the next day. I spoke with the same man and he was somehow even more dismissive and rude. So my husband and I went back to the restaurant. After standing around for a few minutes waiting to ask someone for permission to search the booth, we spoke to same man from the phone twice before who I believe is the manager. He was wearing a blue polo and was genuinely the rudest person I have ever encountered at a restaurant. He acted incredibly put out and annoyed that we would come back and “bother him” over something that to us is incredibly valuable. He said we could look for the ring, but again said he has swept, mopped, and moved all the furniture so we would be wasting our time. My husband found the ring in literally less than 10 seconds. If any furniture had moved at all the ring would’ve been found immediately. At this point I was incredibly frustrated. I have worked in the food industry for many years, and I nor any employer I’ve ever worked for would be so dismissive about a paying customer losing something in their store. I showed the manager the ring and he told me that he’s not responsible for anything a customer loses in the store. I told him that I agree with him and he’s not responsible, my husband lost it not him, but he IS responsible for the way he treats people. He just kept restating that he’s not responsible and quite literally walked away without bothering to let me finish my sentence. I was trying to explain to him that what he’d done wrong was telling a blatant lie about thoroughly cleaning and being so dismissive, rude, and hateful to another person. I will never ever give my money to this establishment ever again, and if you want to be treated like a human being you should take your business literally...

4-Years later and it's worse than before!!! I ordered the Burrito Patron that includes steak, chicken and shrimp. When I got home and opened the container it looked like a large burrito with a white runny substance pooled in the corner. I cut it open and there were 4-5 black beans, a tiny bit of chicken and a tiny bit of beef, NO Shrimp!!! My partner had the Nachos Supreme and was so bad, she had to pick out the chips because they were so oily. I tried a chip, and it jumped off of my tongue and almost made me sick.

I called the restaurant and spoke with someone and they said yes, the Burrito Patron comes with shrimp.... So I told him not in my order. He said he would replace it and to come back in 10-15 mins. So I did... And, when I got home and opened the container, more runny white sauce!!! I cut the burrito open and there were 3 shrimp.

When I went into the restaurant there were a young lady and her daughter, who evidently had asked to have a new seat somewhere else because of not being clean.

The guy I spoke to working at the restaurant didn't want to listen to me and shrugged and said that he just got there.... That's what I got for a 20% tip....

Moral of the story... someone needs to call the health inspector.... I'm not so sure that I want to eat what they are putting out....!!!! After trying a few bites, I said, 'Nope, not worth getting sick over, and dumped it in the trash!!!' So...