El Loro — Restaurant in New Hope

I've been dining at El Loro in Crystal since it opened probably around 5 years ago. I've also dined several times at El Toro in Robbinsdale, it's sister restaurant. Both restaurants used to be so good with fresh, delicious Mexican food made with quality ingredients. Unfortunately, things have degraded over time. Portions have gotten smaller, things aren't so fresh anymore, and the past 3-4 times I ate at El Toro, I got sick. But that's a different restaurant . . . .

I ate at El Loro on a Sunday night. Besides lacking service, we got a partially uncooked shrimp on our parillada platter (it was grey on the tail, which all good cooks know is an egregious error). Can we say foodborne illness? I also got a softshell taco melt in which the cheese was not melted at all. I could still see the individual shreds. The tomato I got was mealy and the guacamole was dry/brown in spots. The white dipping sauce for the chips looked kind of old, since it was kind of congealed on the top. There was also water on the sides, which made it look like it had separated.

Like I said, the portions have gotten smaller over time. The parillada, which is $25, used to be huge! So much food! It has definitely reduced in size, which is disappointing considering how much it costs. That coupled with the lack of freshness in the ingredients really disappointed me.

Even if these problems hadn't happened, there was still icing left to be put on the cake! I had a coupon for $5 a $25 or more order. When I went to the register, it took the man a while to ring it up. I was wondering what the problem was. When I got the receipt to sign, it was almost $2 more than it should have been with the coupon discount. I asked him about this. He told me that the deduction he put in was really $3.50 because the restaurant gets taxed for all of the receipts, even coupons. He also said that it costs him $500 every few months to print the coupons and advertise them. I am sorry, but a $5 coupon is a $5 coupon. I was really irritated! That tax money and the expense of printing coupons is the restaurant's expense, not the customer's. There are so many people who don't notice this bait and switch. I can't believe someone would do this to their customers, most of which are probably loyal (not anymore!). This whole affair was just wrong and unethical in my eyes. I know it's just $1.50, but it's just wrong! (Also, don't ignore the added taxes on YOUR bill because of the lesser coupon deduction.)

A "bad" economy should not be a scapegoat for deceiving customers and lowering the quality of food and service. El Loro and El Toro have gone from being my favorite restaurants to my least favorite as of right now. I can't say I will ever be back to either one again, and that is unfortunate. RIP good authentic mexican food in the...

After sitting on this for a week I decided to put this review up because I am still so disappointed in what happened at El Loro on Saturday August 9th. My husband, niece and nephew arrived around 6:00 to have dinner. We have been to several El Loro locations before and decided to go to the New Hope location since the Brooklyn Park once semi recently closed. We sat down and noticed there were two large parties dining and were warned they were busy but we didnt mind and got seated.

The waiter took a bit to get drink orders which was fine- he was super busy and we weren’t in a rush. A short while later he took our food orders:

One large queso for the table One kids mac and cheese with fries One cheese quesadilla One chicken alambre One order of chicken street tacos and a side of rice/beans.

The waiter confirmed and read back all of this.. the food takes a while to come out but again we had time and there large parties of people.

The time is now 6:40 and we dont have food. 6:55 food comes but we’re missing the street tacos, but have the rice and beans. I ask about the tacos and the waiter seemed confused. I reiterated what I was missing and he said he would get it.

Ten minutes later (705) a different waiter notices my husband isn’t eating because hes waiting for me to get my meal. We ask for the second time for me to get my food. 715 I get my tacos from the second waiter who asked us if everything was okay. When he brings my meal, my husband asks for the bill and a couple boxes.

Then our orignal waiter comes with the bill. Its between $70-$75. Great. Heres out card.

At the same time the waiter grabs the card for one of the large parties next to us. We get our receipt back with a charge of SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS ($700.00)!!!!! They charged us for the large party next to us. A mistake of course, but a large one.. and right after forgetting a meal, twice.

My husband immediately says “hey this is very wrong” to a third waitress and her jaw drops. She motions to our original waiter and we tell him and he immediately fixes it. Great.

However nobody apologizes to us. No sorries for forgetting my meal (twice), though WAY over charging us. No meal comps no offer to make it right.. just an ask for our card back so they could run it again… i was very uncomfortable but reluctantly did it so my family could get out of there.

To say El Loro disappointed us is a huge understatement and I don’t know how to feel...

My husband and I have been coming here for years since it's his favorite restaurant. I used to have to beg him to go somewhere else for date night but for the last several weeks especially, maybe even several months, the service has really declined. The restaurant has always been kind of a "no-frills" place: usually no wait, good food, some drink specials and quick, friendly service. The last few weeks, especially with a particular server, the service and offerings have been pretty bad. The salsa and white sauce bowls are half-filled and you run out before your chips are half gone and aren't brought more unless asked, I also think they might water down their salsa because it never tastes the same and is frequently watery.

I'm not sure if they're planning on moving or remodeling, but they've been stuffing patrons one on top of the other in the same section when the rest of the restaurant is completely open. We are therefore able to see that folks who've arrived up to 10 minutes after us are getting their food prior to us even though we each order the same thing every time and rarely open a menu. Our server was checking on other tables much more frequently and offering more drinks without stopping by our table and we're unaware of any mishandlings with this particular person and as a rule of thumb are pretty good tippers.

This used to be our go-to choice for good, fairly priced food where we were treated pretty well and now it's a rarity that the service is so-so. The drinks have also lost some potency, especially on...