El Pastor Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Madison

Ordered take-out through the Yelp app to test it out, and when I went to pick up (about 15 minutes later), there was slight confusion with the host about not seeing an order in their system, but it turned out it was already complete. Someone brought it out to me right away with no more fuss. Fast service.

I ordered an enchilada verde (cheese), and extra corn tortillas. The enchiladas were a generous portion, about what I would have expected for the price (whole order with tip was $15). The beans were good. The rice was just fine (though not very hot), and the enchiladas themselves were also fine. The sauce was also "fine", and a good level of spice (medium), though I would have liked the whole dish overall to be a little less dry. There was shredded iceburg lettuce on the side which was nice to include for some crunch. There was also a thickly sliced large tomato piece with the "salad", but I didn't end up using/trying it as it didn't look particularly great or fresh. Extra tortillas were ok also.

I may go back to try the recommended avocado chimichanga (sounds good!), or I may try another place in town. It wasn't bad at all, I just didn't have anything this time that was all...

Unless your idea of Mexican/TexMex food is Taco Bell, you will LOVE El Pastor! I lived in Texas for 6 years and the two culinary things I miss most are the authentic Mexican food, and excellent Mojitos. Rl Pastor checks both boxes. The Chile Relleno was warm, spicy, and flavorful; the pork in the taco was flavored to perfection; and the tamale was just as I remembered it from Texas. I'm not a rice a beans girl, but those were both delicious too! Try the Salsa Arbol- so delicious!!!! Our daughter said her taco salad was "sooooooo good!" And my hubby ate his entire Bistec de Mexicano (even rice and beans and he doesn't like those usually!) We finished our meals with Flan: and even my hubby who does not like Flan, said it was really good and went back for more than one bite! Onto the Mojitos-the Classic was better than any Mojito I've had outside of 1 single restaurant in Texas. The Mango was also delicious, and my hubby agreed! Service was timely and friendly, and very professional! We will definitely be back - I unequivocally recommend El Pastor if you want some legit...

I've ordered two things with El Pastor and both times been sorely disappointed.

The food is expensive, especially for what you pay. Both times, the number of ingredients used was minimal. When the menu says it's loaded with lettuce, tomato, beans, and cheese, you would expect to not have to peel back the upper bun to verify there are any ingredients at all inside the sandwich.

In addition, you don't get what you necessarily ask for. The second time, I paid extra for avocado and asked for beans on the side - no avocados were present on the sandwich and the beans were wholly missing. When I followed up, they said it was too much trouble to do that, so they didn't include it at all (and didn't let me find out until after the food arrived). sure, they delivered the beans when I insisted that I didn't get what I paid for, so at least they are willing to give in to persistence.

I will never order from them again. I don't think it's even worth half of what...