El Fuego Mexican Street Food — Restaurant in Orland Township

UPDATE: I stopped by again to give El Fuego a second chance. Their quesabirria and chicken tinga tacos were pretty top-notch. The tacos were flavorful with just the right amount of kick and price point. I ordered online, and the service overall was a lot quicker.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: El Fuego should absolutely be the last place you choose to stop for Mexican food, an emergency option in case they are the only ones open during the apocalypse.

I love giving new businesses in the area a fair chance, so I figured I had to find my way over here. The photos and videos I was shown by friends in the area looked incredible, with the quesabirria melt being showcased as a delicious hunk of meat, onions, and bread.

It was anything but that.

Instead, the portions were ridiculously tiny. For $20 I got an average-sized sandwich with birria, cheese, and onions, and a cob of corn with the tiniest sprinkling of Cheeto dust that they charged me an extra dollar for.

The birria was dry, yet extremely greasy (as pictured below), upsetting my stomach within 10 minutes of eating it. I had to put the other half in the fridge for later because I was unsure I’d be able to sleep after eating the whole wet fest it was.

The corn of cob (which was supposed to be their version of elote) was barely warm, with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, some unknown white mystery sauce splattered on top, and the aforementioned “Cheeto dust” for $6.

My brother got guacamole, which was fairly tasty, but they somehow ended up stiffing him on the chips, giving a measly handful to dip them in. Given that no menu items come with sides for the price they are charging, the least they could have done is give a few more chips. They cost mere cents to make.

All in all, I would recommend you steer clear of this restaurant unless you want to pay top dollar for an absolutely mediocre experience. Really the only good thing I can say about El Fuego is that they have a sauce bar where you can take as many as you want, but that is nothing unique to them.

Take your money to Speedy Burritos or Mely’s—really anywhere else—if you want a better Mexican food experience. This Mexican street food really was for...

Walked in and got a friendly smile—off to a great start! The place was nearly empty, so we had our pick of tables (a luxury in the taco world). The menu had all the favorites: tacos, burritos, quesadillas—basically a fiesta waiting to happen. We ordered taco baskets (2 tacos plus chips and salsa), and I treated myself to a Jamaica drink the size of a small aquarium. No refill needed!

The food took about 15 minutes, which was totally fine—but the tacos? Let’s just say they were more fun-sized than full-sized. There was a mix-up with my husband’s order, but the staff did offer to correct it. We decided to roll with it and hit the salsa bar… which could’ve used a little TLC. There was a rogue lime under there, possibly forming a new ecosystem.

Meanwhile, the employee was busy—on her cell phone. The dining tables still had evidence of past taco adventures, and the salsa bar looked like it had survived a small food tornado. They could’ve also labeled all the salsas. To top it off, we had to remind them we hadn’t paid because their machine was down. Honest mistake, but still, yikes.

Tacos were lukewarm, service was lukewarm… my husband’s interest in returning? Ice cold. I’m still holding out hope they get things sorted—I’d give it one more try, but probably not on a hangry day.

Update… gave them a second chance…. As soon as I walked in I spoke to the mgr Elena and explained my previous visit issues. She was apologetic and took our order of a chicken tinga dinner and 2 taco special of one chicken tinga taco and one steak taco to go. She offered a 25% discount due to our previous experience. Order was up in 10 minutes or so. Got home and it was wrong, AGAIN! I’m done with this place. The food isn’t great to begin with. Lacks flavor and the salsas lack heat. It’s...

WORSE MEXICAN FOOD IN CHICAGOLAND! This is my second time ordering food here (I tried to be fair) and it went from bad to worse. I just ordered a bowl and 3 tacos and didn’t receive the guacamole I paid extra for on any of them! I also received NO SAUCES (no salsa on anything despite requesting it). How do you miss that on FOUR items?!

The food also tastes EXTREMELY dry and isn’t flavorful. Now I have to buy guacamole at Chipotle and use my own taco sauce.

The delivery app gives you the choice of choosing more than one meat so I chose shrimp and steak and only received shrimp. The lettuce they used for the food is brown and not fresh. Very little cilantro was given. The bowl is 70% rice and whatever other topping and only a small portion of it was the shrimp. I don’t think they use steak for the steak tacos can’t tell what I’m eating looks like ground beef. It’s dry and plain tasting.

I’d think since this restaurant has Latino staff it would be authentic and delicious but I’ve had better food at Taco Bell. Chipotle offers better portions of meat AND WAAAAAAAY better tasting food. The only pro is they give generous portions of the cheap stuff like corn tortillas pico de gallo and rice.

Now I have to do a chargeback with my bank to get a refund. Too much of a hassle to drive here and complain for a refund and I don’t trust them to make it right. I waited a long time for my food just for the entire order to be full of “mistakes”. I won’t be coming back and I will be sure to tell everyone else not to waste their money here. Very disappointed. I feel sorry for anyone who dines here as their first Mexican restaurant experience because it will definitely be your last. Taco Bell runs circles around this saltless “forget” sorry excuse of...