El Mezcal Restaurant — Restaurant in Memphis

This place is horrible! The 1st time I came, it was fine...I’m sitting here as we speak to tell y’all abt this horrible experience! I am a very picky eater, so I make sure to ask very detailed questions before placing my order...I asked abt the tortilla soup...she told me I could get it without vegetables and only have the meat, cheese & tortilla chips...I get the soup and there’s onions & avocados in it...something I specifically said I didn’t want and she specifically told me I could get it without...then I ordered 3 tacos and told her I only wanted chicken and cheese only...I get my tacos and it’s cold, the cheese is not melted and there’s onions AND green peppers in it! Then my sister ordered a strawberry margarita that tasted like pure water! She literally took 1 sip and got the waitress immediately bc she wanted a different drink...my drink was fine and she wanted what I had...the waitress says ok, but then the manager comes and says he can take the food off the ticket but not the drink! And asks her if she still wants the other drink she just placed an order for...meaning she’s would be charged for 2 drinks! Horrible customer service & I will never come here again! And I will be reporting them to the Better...

The parking was plentiful, and the lot was clean.

The front entrance was easy to navigate, and it was not hard to open doors.

Chips and salsa came, and we ate some chips with the salsa because we were hungry. The chips were semi-chewy, not crunchy, a sign of being stale. The salsa was straight out of a jar and perhaps had been on the shelf too long? We hated it.

I checked the restroom. Clean; well done!

Our order was brought in maybe 5 minutes, no bad. Everything tasted bland and old, or maybe freezer-burnt. How many times do you think you should be checked on after your order is delivered to your table? 1 - 5 times during the course of your meal? Or zero, zip, nada....etc. We got the old goose egg! Oh, they did manage to find someone to bring the bill. You do have to pay as you leave as the staff had no time to take your card at the table.

The staff was not that busy. The restaurant was half-filled with patrons, so I am not sure why common and courteous service was lacking.

This is a place of mediocrity and poorly crafted food. We came, we half ate, we will...

To be honest, I lived in Texas for a few years and my hopes for Memphis Mexican restaurants were not high. However, I’m pregnant and I was craving authentic Mexican food really bad. I looked at photos of every Mexican restaurant in Memphis to try to find the one that looked like the most authentic atmosphere and I landed on El Mezcal. We showed up on Saturday night at 7pm and were seated immediately. The second we were seated, they already brought us chips and salsa and were asking for our drink orders. We unfortunately didn’t catch our server’s name, but it was her first day and she was absolutely on top of it. We ordered nachos with chicken, Burritos Azteca, and Fajitas. I don’t remember the type of fajitas, but it had chicken, shrimp, steak, and cactus on it. All the food was absolutely phenomenal, large portions, and by far worth the cost, which was only right under $60. I cannot recommend this restaurant enough, definitely the best experience I ever could have hoped...