El Chorro — Restaurant in Paradise Valley

First, I haven't been here since 2017 but when my Wife called to place a reservation they immediately said my name which felt good. It showed that they kept good records of those who visit. The place is gorgeous as it always has been but I did notice that the menu has changed drastically. There is an entirely different menu online than what is on the actual menu at the restaurant. That is a major problem because we drove out here to celebrate our anniversary and expected to select meals that was advertised on the online menu. On top of that the menu at the restaurant was, as I stated earlier, totally different from what I remember. Very few selections to choose from and the prices were ridiculously expensive. My Wife struggled to find a dish she wanted. She is a pescatarian so beef, pork and chicken weren't an option. That reduced the meal choices even more. The service... the waitress (as nearly all waitresses are, so nothing new here) was polite and nice. However, niceness could be genuine or it can be fake. I really don't care to much, except when I can see it is being faked. That wasn't the case here. The waitress was very calculating and that was what we felt. I like to come in, be seated, and then be served. Instead it felt more like she would not serve us until she could determine what the overall bill would be like. I placed an order for a starter, my wife did the same and ordered a mojito. The waitress then stated I will take your dinner orders too so that way I can have them out in order. Her body language (her hand on the chair holding up the weight of her now leaning body with one leg slightly crossed over the other at the ankle) told me that she was more wanting to see how much we would be spending and would be strategic in finding that out. I felt she was saying "you will not just be ordering the appetizers/starters and nothing else! Your going to put the money out ahead of time for me to decide how to treat you." So I placed my dinner order but my Wife was upset because there wasn't much she could choose from and it was not the menu that we seen online. Which was the reason why we came. The waitress came back with drinks but no sticky buns!!!!?? Wait a minute!!? What was that about!? Instead she pressed my wife for her dinner order. She came up with an idea of trout and scalloped potatoes for my wife. My wife accepted her recommendation. The waitress then said "ok, I will get this in and bring you guys some sticky buns" now she decides to. So, she was not going to serve us the buns unless we had ordered the starters and dinner, the both of us. Finally, the night came to an end and the check was brought. I paid the bill but my Wife wrote the tip. The tip was $10 dollars. The waitress eventually took the bill but after a minute suddenly appeared by my side hands on both of her knees and partially bent over and said "is everything alright with YOU TWO!!?..." with a confused look on her face and holding the check book with our tip we gave. I said sure. Then she left. We stayed and enjoyed the night for another half hour then left. Here is my suggestion. Gratuity is derived from the word Grace or Graciousness. Gratuity means a favor, something I freely give. Which means we give what we want! No explanation needed! The service she provided is no different from the service I get at the local taco restuarant. They take my order too and show me the menu too. Dont expect to get the tip you want. Your hired to sit people at a table and take their order period!! To smile, be polite and cordial. That's it!! I pay for that service when I pay my bill of $123.00!! Which is not cheap by the way for a meal that was really nothing more than a glorified sandwich and a stroganoff I could've made at home myself. The tip belongs to ME! It is mine until I give it to you. Even then remember that it's a tip, it's called grace. Don't get beside yourself and think that you did something more than what the cook did or the busboy. As a former busboy I always believed we did a much harder job than the...

Highly disappointing visit, especially after reading all of the glowing reviews. Last night I reserved for a special mother's day dinner, and while the venue was lovely and quaint - that was my only positive takeaway.

El Chorro was offering a fixed menu - no problem - but we arrived to find it was a carryover from the brunch menu and was not updated for dinner. At 7pm seeing Eggs Benedict on a prix fixe menu is strange, and lazy.

The staff was looking beleaguered and disorganized (likely after a busy brunch service, I get it), some tables were left un-bussed while an unnecessary amount of staff on the floor for a dinner service milled about. Not a great look.

Our server, while pleasant enough, was clearly exhausted/exasperated and offered only the most brisk of greetings. After ordering drinks, our wine chiller came to the table without the bottle anywhere in sight. After 10 minutes of awkwardly looking around the half full courtyard, the wine (which the server could not talk about in any detail) finally arrived. Barely cold. Not a great start.

The first course, however, arrived with lighting speed - leading me to believe that those dishes had been assembled and left to die under a heat lamp for some time, as opposed to cooked to order. My suspicion was confirmed when my mom's scallops were rubbery and dry, the sad attempt at a green garnish in a wilted pile on the side of the plate. Ringed with a sauce that I could have easily mistaken for ketchup. Yikes.

Mine? A bowl of soup that I would swear was straight from the carton. Reminiscent of the flash reheated fare found on a long haul flight, but not as good. Like bad banquet food.

Additionally, please teach your food runners seat numbers. We are a two person table, we shouldn't have to go through the awkward table side "OK who's got what?" auction when receiving our food.

I had seen enough by this point, and after trying to choke down the first course had decided to let the management know we were leaving.

The manager offered to make us fresh food (why the food wasn't fresh in the beginning is my question) but the damage was already done. While I was away from the table the server acknowledged to my mom that the food had been essentially sitting around a good portion of the day.

Maybe we caught this group on a bad day, maybe it was just the end of a very long mother's day service, or maybe this restaurant is resting on its laurels and doesn't realize the scope of the problems seeping into the business.

Anyhow, as somebody with many, many years of fine dining experience, beginning as a server/bartender, to then later in my career becoming an investor in fine dining (and career hospitality professional on the operations and marketing side) I am always very forgiving to small mistakes and mixups at restaurants. But last night, for what was likely going to be upwards of $350+ bill for two people, were were hugely disappointed by what we thought was going to be a memorable experience at one of Phoenix's "best" restaurants.

Added 1 star for great tasting sticky buns (served as an amuse bouche before the meal? maybe a tradition here, but also...

Unbelievable!!! Bad that is. We had a reservation for brunch at high noon on Sunday. There were three of us and it was on of those Arizona days people from around the world dream about. The setting on the Hugh open patio was breathtaking. Things started off well as we were seated immediately and asked what we would like to drink. All seemed well. Now come the nightmare. After waiting for about 20 minutes we were served our drinks. A coffee, and two Bloody Mary's only one was asked to be made from scratch because of an allergy to spicy food and drink. All was fine except for the (SPECIAL ORDER) of tomato juice, vodka and garnish. It got sent back and when the second one came it was just as bad so I asked for a can of tomato juice, shot of vodka and the glass with garnish. That took another 20 minutes. We then ordered our breakfast off the menus. Nothing special. After waiting 30 minutes we asked how Hong it would be and told it would be up soon. After waiting anothern25 minutes and watching other customers that arrived after us already eating we asked to see the manager. After another 10 minutes she unapologetically told us she would personally check on it. It arrived 5 minutes later. What a disappointment. The eggs were cold and the other order of Benedict with crab had a discussing looking tablespoon of shredded canned crab in the middle of the plate surrounded by over deep fried potato wedges and a quartered tomato. We again asked to see the manager and told her we were leaving and she reluctantly said we didn't have to pay the bill, not that we would have. All in all we waited 2 1/2 hours without food. At that time we of coarse could not find another restaurant still serving brunch and ended up at the Intercontinental for a late lunch. We have been going to El Chorro for 35 years but since the Miller's sold it years ago it has really gone down hill in customer service. So if you have the entire afternoon to kill and don't mind overpriced poorly prepared food the ambiance is stunning. I met my beautiful wife there 30 years ago but I guess it's true that all good things must come to an end. Not my wife but our memories of fun times...