El Mezcal — Restaurant in Little Rock

JANUARY 7 UPDATE: Star reduction. Still just not that great of a quality. Love the location which is why it gets 2 stars, but I'm really disappointed in the quality of the food and of the drinks. I think the salsa has improved a tad, but on some of the occasions I've been recently I will still get partially stale chips. I'm primarily disappointed that a restaurant so mediocre is in such a great location. The location (having previously housed the Afterthought) deserves a really great restaurant and can also double as a bar. El Mezcal just isn't cutting it and I will still mostly choose to go out of the neighborhood.

TL/DR: will get a new rating in about a month - service was bad, food was par with other mexican restaurants (i.e., la hacienda, riviera maya), margarita was pretty good. Chips and salsa not very good. It was essentially opening weekend - i think they opened last Sunday but this was the first Thursday they were open. The waitstaff was scrambling, which I attribute to it just being recently open, so I'll update my review later once I go back and they've had time to settle in. But one star down for that - our drinks took about 15 minutes to come back to the table, we never received water until we were almost finished with our meal (despite requesting it first thing). Additionally our food sat there for quite some time before being brought to our table (it was warm, but not hot).

The quality of the food was nothing spectacular. I ordered the Fajitas Mezcal and they were as good as any other fajitas which means they were great! But not exceptional for Little Rock. I did, however, really like the flour tortillas - they were warm and tasty. I'll try the corn tortillas next time. When I came for lunch on Tuesday I got the Burrito Especial and it was pretty good. With ground beef. I liked it. Just as good as anywhere else, not exceptional.

The margarita was good. We ordered a pitcher for two of us. :) They were effective. :) They were a little on the sweet side for my taste, but I thought the margarita salt was good - the grains are small and a good degree of salty. They complimented the sugar and tequila pretty well.

The reason it loses another star is because of the chips and salsa. Each time the chips we were served were on the stale side. I don't know if the chips are made in house or not, but both times our chips were not good. And the salsa is subpar for Little Rock. The flavor just isn't there. I added some salt to the salsa and chips and it helped a little but it just wasn't tasty. It tasted fresh, but not flavorful like other salsas around like Cotija's (some of the best salsa you can get around here that you don't have to pay for). Yes, this takes away a whole star - salsa is that important. I'm a salsa guy, not a cheese dip guy, and the cheese dip is better than the salsa. In my opinion that's an ISSUE.

The takeaway: go here! It's a great location - I can walk from my house and drink margaritas and beer and walk back! I anticipate the kinks will be worked out in a couple weeks and I'll update. I just don't think it's better than anywhere else - I wouldn't change my normal routine for the quality of the place unless they make some major readjustments to service and food quality - I WILL however change my routine because I can walk there. I'll be back.

Also - if you read this El Mezcal - you guys should get a mariachi band how fun...

Update: Dined in and enjoyed the food selection + drinks

i hope to update this review but my first experience was very disheartening. Use caution if ordering online for takeout from here. I ordered online from Google, received confirmations both via email/text but immediately it seemed glitchy as I received the “your order is complete” message very shortly upon placing it. I called to ask if my order went through okay, the phone got passed around a few times and I don’t think those on the other end knew what I was asking about. We went to pick up the food at the time originally inscribed and the wait staff had no record of my order, despite me having a receipt via email + confirmation texts. Defeated, I left and filed a complaint with the online system (seems to be doordash) claiming the order was never received by them. Please correct your online ordering program. It’s 2022, online ordering shouldn’t feel...

Has it ever happened to you when you’re STARRRVING and you eat something/somewhere and it completely sucked?? Well, the complete opposite of that happened here. I was so hungry and I had never been here so I was scared the food wasn’t going to be all that, but boy was I wrong! Not only was it everything I imagined, they even had my favorite tequila(s)!!

I ordered The Mezcalito which comes with carnage asada, a piece of chicken breast, and topped with chorizo and cheese with beans and rice in the side. It tasted like something my mom would make at home and I LOVE her cooking!

Not to mention the service was wonderful as well. Everyone was friendly and well mannered. If you’re iffy about coming here, STOP doubting yourself and just give it a try. I’m definitely bringing my friends and family when they come visit. Thank you all for a...