El Paso Mexican Restaurant Mezcal & Tequila Bar — Restaurant in New York

Nice Resturant, nice ambience and music. It was taco Tuesday when we went and it had regular tacos for $3 each, achicken, carnitas and so on, minimum two of the same tacos per order, but it usually comes in an order of 3 of the same tacos.

So if you order chicken it has to be at least an order of 2 chicken tacos, you weren’t allowed to mix and match. I don’t understand the point of this, what if I order a taco and don’t like it, I’ll have another two or one of the same taco that I didn’t like and have to eat, other wise throw it away along with my money.

Thankfully I ordered the Birria tacos in an order of 3, at $6 a taco, at that price I should be able to mix and match my order, the other meats amongst that price point were asado and shrimp, which I would have loved to have tried, but wasn’t able to because of the silly rule.

If I’m being charged individually for a single taco, why should I be forced to put in an order of 3, minimum 2 of the same tacos. I usually cry when I have to pay $5 for a taco, but I paid $6 and couldn’t mix and match my order on taco Tuesday.

Thankfully at first bite the Birria tacos were juicy, flavorful, small, but filled with meat. It also had cheese in it which made it better. I traded my taco for an asada taco with my friend and didn’t really enjoy the asada taco, it was ok at best, it had a cooked on a gas grill flavor.

The red sauce was ok, was told it was spicy and it wasn’t, but thankfully the green sauce that wasn’t suppose to be spicy had some kick to it.

It also came with a small little shot of the beef brew it’s cooked in where I was able to dip the tacos. It had a nice chile de árbol in there which gave it some kick.

The food was great but the policy of minimum 3-2 tacos an order of the same taco is silly if I’m paying for each taco individually. Like for specialty tacos like birria and shrimp, I understand that an order of 3 should come at a fixed price. But this wasn’t the case lol.

I feel like I should have paid $15 instead of $18, but they were pretty good and flavorful, not every Resturant gets the Birria taco recipe right, but they make them pretty good here...

MY FIRST TIME EVER WRITING A REVIEW for any restaurant, if I could rate -5 then I would! We had ordered delivery from this place before and it was remarkable! My friends and I were excited to attend for their happy hour. Never expected it to turn out like this. After sitting at the bar during happy hour, we were greeted and the bartender immediately took our drink orders, we ordered food, and mind you (YOU CANNOT ORDER AT THE RESTAURANT WHAT YOU ORDER FOR DELIVERY BECAUSE THE DELIVERY KITCHEN IS IN THE BASEMENT AND APPARENTLY IT'S TOO INCONVENIENT TO BRING FOOD UP IF A CUSTOMER IS REQUESTING IT). All was fine, we ordered something else, and continued ordering a second round of drinks. Our friend arrives with her younger niece and of course we agree to close out and move to a table since she cannot sit at the bar as a minor. Our tab comes and margaritas that were supposed to be $5 for happy hour CAME OUT TO $11 because we asked for mango!!!!! Meaning $6 upcharge for syrup!!! CRAZY!!! I told the bartender did he not think that that should have been communicated to us, and he replied with "well you didn't ask" I'M SORRY BUT IT IS OBVIOUS PEOPLE COME FOR HAPPY HOUR AND COMMON SENSE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE WOULD TELL YOU TO LET YOUR CUSTOMERS KNOW!!!!!! It was obvious he knew exactly what he was doing. The manager was also standing there when this conversation happened and had nothing to say. Coming from a bartender and working in the hospitality industry i thought this was a joke!!!!! Not to mention when we moved to the table he continued to look at me from behind the bar with a vicious look! If this is your place of employment, and if you're willing to stare a customer down then obviously this establishment and this staff carries no morals nor values. This entire place was a joke, our service at the table was also terrible as they hardly attended to us and we had to ask for someone to come take our order. WE WILL NEVER BE ORDERING from or ATTENDING this restaurant again. The fact that I am from Texas and this place is called El Paso is an insult as they don't represent southern...

I was first introduced to El Paso by a friend in 2009/2010, at their Lexington Ave location -- because I had been griping to this friend that NYC had no decent quality Mexican food. See, I had just moved to NYC from California, where I'd spent my entire life up to that point, and I was spoiled when it came to authentic Mexican food. The Mexican restaurants I had visited so far in NYC (up to that point) were really just trash -- lots of fried things, no color in the food, the flavor seems to come from the grease and cheese or an overuse of jalapenos or red chilis (and why were some of these other restaurants using CHEDDAR cheese?!?!?). But this friend had also grown up in California but had been in New York several years longer, and decided to drag me to El Paso on a Sunday.

I immediately fell in love. The mole sauce won me over immediately - I could smother everything they make in that. The tamales are the right balance of soft corn meal on the outside, and meat filling on the inside. The ceviche I remember having at different times was always perfectly balanced with the lime/citrus and "pulpo"/octopus.

I've been going to this location, closer to the hospital on 5th Avenue, because it's closer to my work, for the last 5 years, and it's just as excellent as the old spot BUT the ambiance here, I think, is even more in tune with the small restaurants you would see in Condesa or La Roma in Mexico City, or in places like Oaxaca.

It's a shame that their Lexington location is closed, but that area is quickly developing and I would imagine that the landlords increased the rents to an unsustainable level. Hopefully their business is doing well, and I look forward to coming...