El Torito — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Revised review:

Now that I've tried this place a handful of times, I'm lowering my rating to 2/5 stars. My husband and I have only sat at the bar and the service has been hit or miss. There seems to be only one person working the tables in the bar area and when they're busy the service is pretty slow. The server is definitely running around and working hard but be prepared to wait for drinks and your check. It's also very hot in the restaurant. Not sure if the ac needs to be set at a lower temp or if it just can't keep up with the hot days.

For food, the fajitas have been good the couple of times we've had them. The beans were sooo good the first time but I guess that was just a fluke. Since then, they have either been too watery, under seasoned and/or undercooked. For drinks, I've had the margarita flight a few times. The first time it was really good but the other times have been lacking in alcohol and inconsistent in preparation. For example, one of them had sugar on the rim and the next time it's salt.

There is another El Torito not far from this one. We will try that one next and hope for the best...

Old review:

My husband and I went on a Saturday at 6pm and sat in the bar section in a somewhat private spot. It was a nice spot by the window. We were happy to see they have happy hour from 3-9 everyday.

After we were seated, it took a while before our waiter greeted us. When he finally did he seemed very overwhelmed but nice. We ended up ordering their mini tacos, water and a beer to start. We waited a long time for anything to come. At one point he looked over at our table like he just remembered we were there then shortly after he brought us chips. We were nearly done with our chips before our drinks came then our tacos finally came. After he delivered our order he left in a hurry and we were not able to order anything else. He never checked in on us and we were already there for over 30mins at this point. We finished our tacos and waited for a bit longer until we looked around and saw people closer to the bar already receiving drinks and food after having only been there less than 10mins.

We made the decision to move to the bar in order to be served. The bartender there helped us right away. He said the waiter was there by himself, which was obvious because he was running around like a mad man. Maybe the tall bald guy who was wandering around aimlessly should have stepped in and helped.

We ended up ordering a Margarita flight and the steak and shrimp plate. High praise to the pinto beans, some of the best I've ever had. The steak had a good flavor but was nearly impossible to chew. We spit most of it out. Everything else on the plate was good.

We will probably return and only sit at the bar. I may edit my review after another visit if the...

El Torito

I am very conflicted about this review for a few reasons. So let me start with the appearance. It has been a while since I walked through the doors of this El Torito. It looks amazing, most definitely an upgrade. As for their food, here is where some of my conflict enters in.

My food was good, it had a great flavor. I ordered the macho combo and luckily for me our waiter messed up on my order. I asked for black beans but it came out with pinto beans. Since our server Evaristo was elusive (aka, not attentive), I decided just to eat them rather than complain and wait. I know you’re wondering why I said luckily my order was wrong. My wife ordered the Sizzling Chicken Enchiladas. Her dinner came with a side of pinto beans de la olla, which she replaced with black beans. I tasted her enchiladas and her black beans (which were not de la olla). I am not sure that any salt came near those beans or her enchiladas. There was a consistency to the lack of flavor within the layers of her food. The chicken inside wasn’t seasoned, the sauce didn’t have a definitive flavor, and those were the blandest black beans I have ever tasted. Essentially, her entree was very disappointing.

My wife took the time to join the rewards program for the free table side guacamole. It took a while once we ordered it for it to arrive. The table side guacamole is meant to be a show, a production. However the result was anything but. Our server was distracted and we became convinced that’s how we ended up with guacamole without the flavor of lime or salt.

My mother-in-law ordered a strawberry lemonade. Our waiter brought her a regular lemonade before she reminded him that it was supposed to be strawberry. He brought her the correct one immediately.

All in all, I think our server needs to work more closely with the support staff so that when and if he is busy, his service...

Update: We decided to go back and give El Torrito another try. It’s been about 1 year. So, we visited the buffet and ate a variety of foods. Everything was fresh, clean, and delicious. Staff did a great keeping the buffet fill with food. There was plenty available. Also, desserts were also delicious. More importantly, our wonderful server, Sherie, visited our table frequently, was polite, and always served with a smile. We will be back soon!

So it’s been about 2 years since I visited this El Torito due to cleanliness concerns. I decided enough time had passed and it was time for another go at it. There’s an “A” on the wall from the health inspector, so that was a positive sign. The cleanliness, however, is still a little subpar for such a main stream business and commercial restaurant. The greeter was sorta nice but not really friendly. The restaurant was fairly empty but we were told the wait time was 30 minutes. We were seated ahead of time in about 15-20 minutes, so the wait time was fine. Our waiter was rude from the start, rough around the edges, and needs real customer service training. Now about the food. The plate I ordered was $17.99. The food was delicious until I chewed on something hard. I felt that had I bit down harder I would have chipped a tooth. As much as I would like to frequent this establishment, I will be skipping El Torito for the foreseeable future, again.

Hi Daniel, thanks for the quick reply and reaching out. I think the best way for businesses to improve is to have customers drop in and share exactly how their experience went (for other customers and) so management has direct feedback to work with. Then it’s up to management to consider those customer experiences and make any appropriate adjustments if needed. Hopefully my feedback helps and maybe I’ll stop in sooner rather than later and give El Torito another...