EL Cerrito Mexican Restaurant & Grill — Restaurant in New Port Richey

I have read through all of these reviews before finally deciding it was my turn to post. If you would’ve asked me to review this restaurant one year ago, I probably would’ve given it a five star rating. I disagree with the comments about the food being bland. I think the food is absolutely delicious across-the-board! Their margaritas are also fantastic.

The reason for my low rating is related to staff and policy. I read someone’s review a few minutes ago that said the staff seems to linger at the front door and they act like this is an after school gig. I think that’s an accurate description. There are one or two female servers who are nice enough but the last four times I’ve been there I’ve been disappointed with the poor customer service and just a general sense of apathy towards satisfaction.

The last half a dozen times that I’ve been there (yes, I do go often because I enjoy the food so much), they’ve started this new policy where you only get a very limited number of complementary bowls of salsa and chips. I don’t love this practice, but I do understand the purpose of it. The most restaurants I frequent don’t charge for those things when you’re dine in, I have been to a few restaurants where they charge for extras. So to be fair, that is not my complaint. My major issue is that they limit the number of chips you get regardless of how many tips you purchase. For example, I love to go in and order chips and salsa plus guacamole plus bean dip plus queso dip. Would you believe that the staff insist that we do not get complementary chips along with each of those dips that I paid for separately?! How would you expect me to eat any of those dips if they don’t come with chips?! Despite my best efforts and my repeated questions the staff, I have no logical answer for that policy. It simply makes no sense.

On top of that, the practice of how you provide complementary chips and salsa makes no sense to me either. I’ve gone in as a single patron and gotten a complementary side of chips and salsa. I’ve gone back in with a second person and we get the same single side of chips and salsa. I’ve gone back in with a total of four people, and we still get just a single complementary side of chips and salsa. Where’s the logic in that practice? So if each of those four people go in individually and sit separately, they each get a complementary side of chips and salsa (total of 4). But if those same 4 people sit together, they only get one side to share?! Makes no sense at all!

Management/ownership: If you plan to stay in business and be a long-term partner in this community, I highly suggest you not only revisit these practices, but take a look at your staff and how they treat...

I visited this restaurant with a friend for lunch on March 5, 2024. On first appearance, I was impressed—the décor of the place screamed authentic Mexican joint, with high-backed, carved wood booths, appropriate artwork, and even the waitstaff who were all Spanish speaking and knowledgeable with the menu. Unfortunately, that is where the authenticity ended.

My friend and I have been waiting to come here for a while, and it being taco Tuesday, we were pumped for tacos and margaritas. Of the latter, we ordered one each—her and mango variety, and me a traditional. Instant disappointment. Hers was cloyingly sweet, and didn’t taste remotely like any true margarita I’ve ever had, fruit-based or otherwise. Mine was so watered down I could barely taste the lime or tequila in it. Oh, and each of them came in a stemless tumbler. About the most anticlimactic presentation you can have with a margarita aside from a Solo cup. Undeterred, my friend insisted on ordering a different one. Bzzzz, try again. Except we didn’t. Water it was.

For food we ordered the ground beef tacos (Tuesday lunch price of $2.99/ea.), a shrimp taco (not part of the special) and the beef enchiladas. Shrimp taco was tasty and well-seasoned. The portions on the beef tacos and enchiladas were good, but there was zero seasoning with any of the beef offerings. Unforgivable, in my book, especially with an “authentic” Mexican restaurant. We had to scoop the provided salsa onto them just to have a hint of flavor at all. Also, the enchiladas contained a surprisingly bland sauce that even a baby could handle heat-wise.

Lastly, the service—vapid and largely absent once our food was delivered. Our waitress seemed unable or unwilling to smile even once, offered my friend zero suggestions when asked which drink was the best (now I see why) and seemed to enter the witness protection program after our food was ordered. Strangely, a different waitress stopped by our table several times when ours went AWOL. Things happen, I get it. People use the restroom or have other issues that develop. But overall, the service was lacking no matter who was waiting on us, something that just added to the bad experience.

In all, I can’t in good conscience recommend this restaurant to anyone, at any time of day or night, or at any point of hunger or want of human interaction with waitstaff. Not to be melodramatic, but it was that much of a disappointment, especially since we usually go to other Tex Mex staples around town that consistently have great food and great margaritas. The salt in our wound was the $55 tab, which I paid with gritted teeth. Staple joint...

So we all know that everyone has different tastes, but when my neighbor told us twice how great this new Mexican restaurant was we had to try it. It wasn't busy when we got there. We waited about 10 minutes before anyone came to the table. Chips and salsa were brought out. The salsa was pretty tasteless, very watery. Basically just blended up tomatoes. The club soda I ordered was a short little bottle (warm and unopened) and a glass of ice. My husband had a beer.

Our waitress came over - very grumpy, non-English speaking. She did not understand any of the questions we were asking about some of the menu items. She just stared at us, then walked away when someone else came over and we began asking the new person. Not much luck there either. We were told that the Mexican rice on the menu was a Spanish rice. HUH?? I asked what kind of sauce came on the enchilada ... green chili? Red? No, just sauce. So I ordered the combo 2 chicken enchiladas with "Spanish" rice and refried beans. My husband ordered beef hard tacos. Good thing we asked what came on them . . . Meat & Cheese! Oh, unless you want to order the supreme (not on the menu) then you can have lettuce, tomato, sour cream (Isn't that what comes on a normal taco??).

The food came to the table in 5 minutes. She warned me that the plate was very hot. Yes, it was, but the food was cold. Hmm . . . isn't that a sign a microwave is in use - Hot plate - cold food?? The food looked like a sloppy mess! Rice was plain white rice with some yellow color on it - no flavor. Enchilada was very salty and the edges were hard and chewy. I asked for some sour cream just to get some relief from the salt. The waitress came over and I asked her if this food was frozen and reheated. She said oh no, we make it fresh to order. I said that's impossible for it to come out in 5 minutes if it's made from scratch. She said well I can fix it for you - I'll microwave it. I said I don't want it microwaved and I know this is not fresh. She said I'll make it for you - I'll microwave it. I did not finish the meal. When the bill came, she said she took my meal off of it. That was a nice thing to do because if I decide to leave my home, to go out to eat a meal that is prepared for me, I fully expect to pay for that service. But in this case, she did the right thing and I appreciated it.

It's too bad that the owner or manager doesn't take the time to train his employees, as well as teach them to communicate in the language of this country to his customers. So because of the bad service, very poor food quality we would not...