Cafe El Tapatio — Restaurant in Maine Township

The two stars are for the food and the cute ambiance. The three stars I didn’t give are because of our server. I came here for a dinner and she was the only server working the whole restaurant. Overall she was good about checking up on us and our food came pretty quick too. When I ordered a drink she said I look too young and that I have to show my ID. I said I didn’t have it because I just got a temp ID but I had a picture of it on my phone as well as my old DL which I could have shown her (in which I was already over 21). She said no sorry that won’t work. (All of this was totally fine with me and I smiled and said okay and ordered a Diet Coke). When she came back with my Diet Coke she apologized again saying “soooo sorry, sorry honey you really do look sooo young like 16 or 17” she was saying this in a belittling tone and kept going on and on as if it was funny. It was not funny to me, it was embarrassing. I’m 26 years old and I didn’t appreciate her going on about it. It’s just a drink, I didn’t care but the fact that she kept it as a running joke like I was a child and making fun of the situation ruined the dinner for me.

Update 3/8/23: finally decided to try this place again after about 2 years and it has been great. Therefore I am taking my previous 2 star rating to 4 stars now. That woman Jasmine is gone and the current servers and managers are all very kind and always check up on us (sometimes a little too much). It’s always very busy so it does get loud since it’s a tiny restaurant. But the food is really...

My wife and I had dinner at this Glenview restaurant on a chilly night. The restaurant is modest in size, located in a strip mall with ample parking. The decor is plain and unremarkable except for some Spanish murals on one wall. The furnishings are simple, almost spartan: mainly wooden tables and chairs for seating 4, along with several booths. IMHO the ambient temperature could have been a bit higher for comfort's sake. The sound level was somewhat high due to background music and a TV at the bar. But the food and service were excellent. An ample portion of chips and salsa (caliente!) was delivered upon seating. Apparently, the manager was our server, and he did a fine job in advising choices on the menu as well as rendering service.

We chose the Caldo de Pollo ($14.95) as a soup-starter, and it was delicious. The portion easily served the two of us; it contained a half-chicken poached in a broth with vegetables (photo 1). Fried rice and tortillas came with it. For entrees, my wife ordered the Costillas de res en Tomatillo: boneless beef short ribs with roasted potatoes and tomatillos ($24.95, photo 2). I ordered a Chimichanga filled with ground beef ($16.95, photo 3) along with a red sangria ($10.00, very good!). Both entrees came with refried beans, brown rice, and tortillas. The food was tasty and appropriately seasoned.

Prices seem slightly above what I would consider "reasonable;" a "transaction" fee of 3.5% is added if a credit...

Me and my family were exploring the small town and figured to try a new restaurant so we decided on coming here. Finding the place and parking was a breeze, the ambiance of the restaurant was very nice. I loved the decorations, and the seating next to the windows.

The service was nice, and attentive. We didn't have any problems with the waiters and waitresses.

But the downfall of this place was the food. Let's start with the chips & salsa. The chips were good, the salsa actually had a kick to it! I was pleasantly surprised. Though if you can't handle spice, I'd stay away from it. Now onto the guacamole, it was bland and had no taste to it. The presentation was pretty but that was about it.

For one entree, we had the carne asada tacos. Though I'd mostly call them cilantro tacos. There was barely any meat on the tacos, and plus the tacos were very small. The price for the portion size definitely isn't worth it. You get a little bit of rice and some beans. The rice is rice, nothing special. The beans were pretty good, I enjoyed how smooth they were.

Moving onto the other entree which was the chicken chimichanga. It was decent, it wasn't bad but if I did ever return I'd try to go for something else. Maybe I was expecting something more.

Overall, I'd go somewhere else. Especially for the price range for the level of food and...