El Tapatio — Restaurant in Moab

How on earth does this place have such a good rating? I feel totally duped. We came here around 8pm on a weeknight and it was pretty empty. We deliberated between two burritos that sounded the same from the menu description, except that one came with sour cream. The waitress told us to get one over the other (can't remember the name now) as it came with veggies whereas the other didn't (weird as they were both called veggie burritos...). We took her advice and ordered it with some sour cream on the side. Along with this we got the shrimp fajitas, specifically with corn tortillas.

The veggie burrito that arrived was the most bizarre burrito I've ever seen. It had NO rice or beans in it, only hard frozen vegetables that clearly came out of a bag, a huge pile of sour cream on the plate and some mouldy avocado - as well as another bowl of the extra sour cream we ordered! They said it came with no sour cream! The shrimp fajitas were huge yet we were given only 3 tiny tortillas (NOT corn) between us, and told we had to pay extra for more.

When the original female server came to ask us whether everything was ok with our meal and I said no, she stared at me blankly before offering: "oh..." and drifting away to the other side of the restaurant. About 10 minutes later a male server came to ask us the same thing, and I repeated that we were not happy with the quality. He looked equally blank before grinning and saying "okay..." And slowly backing away from the table.

Seriously, one of the strangest and most disappointing meals and service I've ever had. Either we came on a bad night or people are being put under a spell to give the ratings they have!

When we asked for the extra sour cream to be taken off the bill, the female server tried to make us take it away with us. What are we going to do with a huge bowl of sour cream?

All in all, give this place a WIDE berth if you care about tasty and good...

The first and most important part of a truly excellent cheese enchilada is not the cheese nor the sauce. It is simply the temperature of the plate. El Tapatio's plates were eyelash curling, hospital visiting, OSHA violatingly HOT. I'll tell you what, buddy! You virtually need a second table, just to get the hell away from those roasty-toasty plates. It was glorious! The cheese was bubbling for many pleasurable minutes as I awaited the cooling of Chernobyl. I think the heat from the plates microwaved my brain, and I blacked out after taking the first bite. When I woke up, I cleaned my still hot plate. And then fried up a couple of eggs with the remaining heat. Moab is known for uranium mining, and I'm pretty sure El Tapatio is using a good sized hunk in their plate warmer.

I eat cheese enchiladas all over the country and world. And I can safely put El Tapatio into the top 10.

Hot, stringy, melty cheese, good firm corn tortilla, and tasty (albeit mild) sauce on the enchiladas. Delicious, well flavored beans and almost crispy flavorful rice. Good portions too.

Simply delicious. Just bring some burn gel and know the route to the hospital, and you'll be good to go.

Amazeballs!

Also chips were amazing, salsa was decent (fresca style), horchata was good. Service was meh when we didn't order alcohol. Prices were steep, but worth...

Out in the middle of the desert in Moab, Utah is an excellent Mexican restaurant; El Tapatio. The restaurant is in the downtown area and easy to find. Drive or walk from downtown motels. Large parking lot. Big roomy restaurant with booths and tables. Nicely decorated with Mexican art. We particularly liked the ceramic overhead lights. We were seated quickly, and drink orders were filled in minutes while very good chips and salsa were brought to the table. The hostess even checked to make sure our drink order had been taken. My wife had the chicken enchiladas suiza. Wonderfully seasoned chicken rolled in corn tortillas with an excellent creamy sauce. This came as a huge heated plate with rice and good refried beans. I ordered pork carnitas, which arrived on a hot plate with a massive pile of perfectly cooked and seasoned pork, rice, beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, and four warm tortillas. Nice to see four. These were some of the best carnitas I have eaten, and the serving was enough for two. Per my spouse, the margarita was excellent, and my Pepsi was refilled at least once. Service was ok as our waiter spent a little too much time talking with friends in the next booth, but it did not really affect our enjoyment of the meal.

Great meal. Highly...