El Rey Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Maplewood

El Rey is located on busy Springfield Avenue. There is street parking on side streets off Springfield Avenue or in the parking lot for Wine Barrel. We were fortunate enough to find parking in the lot.

On a Sunday evening, we were one of 6 patrons in this Mexican restaurant. The place is nicely decorated although the ceiling is quite low, allowing loud noise to permeate the entire restaurant.

There were no servers, just the man who was behind the counter working the register and taking phone orders. He came over with a bottle of tap water and menus. There was soft Spanish music and a large mural painted on one wall.

My husband ordered tacos pastor, while I ordered the chicken burrito. We didn't get any chips and salsa to start with, although the menu had several appetizers, all over $10, We opted to just have our entrees, but were surprised because all other Mexican restaurants in the area serve chips and salsa on the house.

My husband's tacos were 3 4.5 inch sized tortillas filled with steak and fixings, several pieces of cucumber and radish - no rice or beans on the side. My chicken burrito contained more rice and beans, and very little chicken and some type of sauce.

My husband thought his dish was very tasty, but small and odd that there were no rice and beans on the side. I didn't like my burrito since it was mostly rice and beans and I really couldn't taste anything else. My dish came with some chips and salsa.

We brought our wine as the restaurant is BYOB. The meal was inexpensive, at...

This is exactly what Maplewood, NJ needs- artisinal Mexican cuisine! As a travel journalist, Mexico is my favorite place on Earth and it's because of the authentic food found there. Now I don't have to take a 4 hour flight to enjoy Mexican food. The restaurant is decorated brilliantly, the owners and servers are quite friendly and the food was incredible! I had the chicken fajitas and my Partner had the shrimp tacos. It was soooooo delicious. Their chicken fajitas taste better than my own (shhhhhhh!) Oh- and we had appetizers beforehand too- shrimp ceviche and cochinitas pibil taco- very, very tasty. Their Agua Frescas were enjoyable too. I had the horchata (so creamy with rice milks and flavorful with cinnamon and vanilla) and Henry loved his agua fresca de piña. Just when we could not eat another delicious bite (the portions are what you'd expect from a Mexican restaurant- HEARTY!) the food runner stated that they have churros and tres leches cake. We couldn't eat another bite but said: please bring one of each! jajajajaja! It was so good! TIP: come as early as you can, this place...

I didn't want to cook dinner so we headed over to El Rey which never disappoints! We always get take out and never dine in until now. We ordered the chicken fajitas and the enchiladas rojas which I couldn't wait to try. The chicken fajitas are always on point with so much flavor sizzling hot. I was looking forward to tasting the enchiladas and it was fantastic! It made me feel like my abuelita was in the back cooking which warmed my soul. I'd maybe put a little less sauce but that's everyones preference on how they like their enchiladas. The beans were good and the rice was great. My Mexican mother would disagree but I hate corn in Mexican rice and was happy their yellow rice didn't have any! It had great flavor and made just right. Although we didn't order them this time, their Chicken Nachos are always great. Everything we've had from here has been wonderful and fresh. Don't forget to get an agua fresca, i'm particular...