El Chihuahua Restaurant — Restaurant in Millcreek

I have frequently visited this place for years. The food has never been great but its always been a fun experience and a good time. Until the other night. We had a reservation for a birthday party. We had more people then expected show up. I understand the frustration this would bring to the staff but the lady who I assume was the manager has no customer service experience or any respect for their patrons. Instead of being nice and saying we will do the best to accommodate your larger party. She flat out told us "Anyone else that joins will have to be put on the wait list and get their own table." I am sure that's what they wanted, to sit across the room for the birthday dinner. I understand if you don't have the tables or chairs. Bad customer service. They only put one server on our table as well as a table next to us. She was responsible for about 30 people. Which obviously provided us with horrible service. Everything took forever. After the server dropped off boxes she took another 20 minutes to get the checks out. Maybe for a business that has a lot of people they should invest in a good computer system instead of writing everything by hand still. I am assuming that's why it took so long for the tickets. As we sat there forever I noticed the managers sitting up front talking. On busy nights like this, they should get up and do something. Meals are large and my girlfriend and I always share. They wouldn't serve us another drink because we shared a meal. I have never had this problem in any restaurant. There excuse was that they have to sell more food then alcoholic drinks because of their liquor license. Maybe you shouldn't charge $13 a drink. Now comes the most unacceptable part of the night. I politely removed myself from the table to talk to the managers about our service. Since we were a big party they automatically put on gratuity. I have worked in this business for over 15 years. I am a very good tipper and I am happy to tip when I receive good service. I felt the service was horrible. I was not interested in giving them a tip for the service I received. Instead of listening to my concerns and apologizing for my inconvenience. The lady proceeded to argue with me about our party. She then proceeded to walk over to our table and ask how the service was. She also was telling my table how I feel like I didn't need to pay gratuity in front of my party. Instead of dealing with my concerns she decided to make a scene in front of everyone. If you choose to go here and you have a problem do not expect any sort of customer service or for them to listen to you. The managers will just get defensive and tell you they did nothing wrong. And after reading other reviews, it sounds like this happens all the time. There are plenty of average Mexican restaurants that I can...

We have visited twice. Both times, demonstrated a pretty popular place for young college students, birthday bashes, bachelorette or bachelor parties. The atmosphere is very lively and decorative. If you're celebrating an event, you see plenty of big sombreros on guests toasting the night away. They do not accept reservations so, its first come first serve basis. The standard wait is about 40 mins over the weekends. Once you're seated, you're disclosed that guests cannot spend longer than an hour and a half once seated per table. This helps turnover tables quicker.

From my observations, the popularity of this restaurant is their goblet mixed drinks with a rubber duck. You see at least 2 on each table if not more as you can see from my photo. Again, the environment is celebratory which makes you want to join in the festivities. The staff is friendly and they come to clean off tables very quick. You witness many staff members pitching in cleaning each other's tables. They have a system for turning over tables and it works!

As for the food, its not much to desired. The salsa served with chips tastes like can or bottled shrimp cocktail sauce while adding onions and tomatoes. The sodium within sauce can over power the rest of the ingredients which lead me to believe it's not freshly made.

We ordered Chile Rellenos, Enchiladas, Chili Verde and Chicken tortilla soup. Each entree is served with rice and beans. On both visits, the rice was salty and over cooked. Almost where its been left under heating lamps for a long period that hardens the rice over time. The beans were also not our favorite. We expected freshly cooked refried beans although, they tasted like Rosarita can beans. Our main entrees were okay. The sauces served over the food seemed to be canned goods that can be purchased at a store. The flavor of the food was powered by sodium and preservatives versus fresh.

Each dish averages from $10 to $20 a plate. The portions are a good size for leftovers. We choose to leave ours behind. For a good hot authentic dish, this restaurant does not make our list. The 3 stars is really for the friendliness of the staff, the environment and the organization of...

This is the absolute worst Mexican restaurant experience. Waited nearly 15 minutes for a server after being seated at 4:30pm on a Tuesday. Once we got past the many incorrect Spanish words on the menu (espiritu is alcohol spirit but they have the word for ghosts lol, and no one calls tacos dorados “California tacos”? Not to mention aperitivo is spelled wrong.)

The chips were cold, stale and the salsa… Dear lord the salsa was horrible. It is SO watery, it has celery, and an unknown variety of vegetables. It’s very sweet and zero spice. The spicy salsa was even worse! It tastes like michelada mix with way too much cumin.

The spicy cheese dip (not spicy at all) lacked flavor and was basically filled with half melted shredded cheese. The taquitos were meh, but at least edible. Nachos we’re disappointing and lacking flavor. The guacamole is very salty, runny, and needs brightness (lime - LOTS of lime).

The carne asada taco were filled with big slabs of bland, not fresh beef, and like 3 cups of cabbage each, and 1/2 cooked onions. Not to mention that they were in a 10” flour tortilla - very confusing. The rice is over cooked and dry, and the beans are mediocre (very salty).

Somehow, we got a couple entrees before our drinks and appetizers. The drinks were meh. Honestly the only reason the ducky Death Stars are popular is the alcohol content. They are like straight koolaid with so much sweetness. Also, they came with random figures (strawberry and raccoons to be specific) and not rubber ducks.

All of this doesn’t even touch on the hodge podge of brightly colored paints with off theme soft rock music and very bright dining room. The prices are insane. Like $18 for an entree, and it’s REALLY not worth it.

Nothing about the food, drinks, service, or atmosphere redeems this place. There is a story on the menu about there family history, but clearly they have lost touch with authentic service. El Chihuahua is nothing more than a sit down version of drive through Americanized Mexican food.

Nothing here is authentic, enjoyable...