El Zarape — Restaurant in Nogales

I've eaten some bad things in my time but El Zarape in is a new low. The service? A perfect mirror of the food: slow, indifferent, and nasty. The chips are stale, the salsa tasted like a rancid watery equivalent of tomato soup. Awful smelly tap water. The huevos rancheros were an overcooked mess accompanied with ultra small portion of diced tomatoes and canned beans. The tortillas were as tough as a pair of old work boots. The star of the show was the bistek ranchero. The meat, smelled old and rancid. I dared to try and piece of meat and confirmed the foul taste that would make a hyena gag. I complained to the waitress and have to say the only spicy thing I got during the meal was her attitude. If you are in Nogales and looking for authentic Mexican food, this place will keep coming up but avoid it. I dont understand why it has more than 3 stars. There are countless other better restaurants and taquerias across the border that are that deserve your...

Being close to Mexico, I was craving some authentic Mexican food, and this place definitely sufficed. I ordered the chicken gorditas, which came with a lot of pleasant surprises. For one, I was given a potato and cheese soup before my meal came out, which was very delicious and hearty. My food came out very quickly, before I was even able to finish the soup! My meal was well portioned with beans rice, as well as lettuce and other goodies with the gorditas. Overall, it was a very good, authentic meal at a reasonable price (including tip, I barely spent $10)

I went again, this time getting a bean burrito with rice. Again, I encountered good service and got a very satisfying meal for a very good price. The beans were a bit mushy, but other than that, everything was very good with the salsa and burrito being...

Ok now, I don't live in Nogales any longer but I visit periodically. It makes no sense to me, when I am there, not to have anything to eat but Mexican food. The home style El Zarape does a great job -- perhaps magical -- from their very modest kitchen. The moment you walk in, you're struck with the blend of all the aromas from their menu. There are times that parking is an issue. There is one thing about this place that I cannot understand: I can't believe that every time I visit, truly every time, there are flies in the dining area. Customers appear to have become immune/blind to this. Am I missing something? Are flies something to be expected? Is this too complex an issue to control? Sorry, you get only one star from me because of this. Otherwise, you'd...