Guy Fieri's El Burro Borracho — Restaurant in Paradise

If I could give GUY FIERI's El Burro Borracho ZERO STARS I WOULD!! So, a friend and I went to Guy Fieri's restaurant at the Rio. What a BAD choice. We had been to this same restaurant at Harrah's in Laughlin and it was AMAZING! But apparently Vegas feels the need to change things up (in a BAD WAY). For starters the waitress came and took our order and we found ourselves waiting and waiting for our COMPLEMENTARY chips and salsa - as we had received at Guy's restaurant in Laughlin. NOPE ... nothing. So we asked the nice bus person if he could bring us some. The chips were ok but the salsa came in a small plastic cup. We found out when we got the bill they cost $3 - really for $3 you can't you serve it so it actually looks like I'm in a restaurant and not at Del Taco?. We were like WHAT? We asked the waitress what's up with that. We said, "At the Guy Fieri's in Laughlin the chips and salsa are complimentary." She said, "Well, your in Vegas now and they are not free." She also felt the need to come and show us on the menu.. like that makes it better? Now it's in writing WOW... I should have taken a picture! By the way the salsa was WAY better in Laughlin.

We shared the chicken and shrimp fajitas, which were just ok (3 shrimp and a mound of chicken are you kidding me? Again trying to make buck! I did recognize that Mr. Fieri.). We also received 2 warm tortillas that were wrapped in tin foil and had been sitting (maybe the entire day) and were so hot we couldn't get them out for a few minutes for fear of burning our fingers. When we got them out they stuck together and had to be pulled apart, which ruined them. They were also hard on the edges and chewy... ewe!! We found a way to use our ONE tortilla each, when we asked for another the waitress said, "Sure, but they are $2." We looked at each other and were like.... WHAT? I told her to bring it anyway thinking to myself - Here we go again CHA CHING! I am accustom to having at least 2 fajitas when I'm sharing with a friend. And by the way what does a tortilla cost ... .04 cents each? What a markup!

This place was a JOKE!!! They nickel and dime you to DEATH and the food and service were not worth the $58 we paid for 2 margaritas, CHIPS AND SALSA, EXTRA TORTILLAS, and fajitas.

NEVER GOING BACK TO THIS RESTAURANT.

Come on GUY FIERI you clearly make plenty of money, and you have been around long enough to know how to treat your customers right. After this experience I won't be back to your restaurant in Laughlin either! I can't support a restaurant chain that feels the need to nickel and dime people to make a profit. Especially with things that we all know cost you NOTHING! RIDICULOUS! Understand that people have many choices when in Vegas or Laughlin and you of all people should know that to get a return customer you have to treat them right, especially the first time they come, or they will NEVER come back. Very disappointed! Actually after this I don't think I will be going to any of your restaurants, and I'm not the only person according to you reviews. I really hope GUY FIERI actually reads these but...

Well I'm a Vegas local with over twenty years in this town. Yes I still like the strip from time to time and know what I'm getting into with unrealistic and massively inflated prices. That is a worse problem here given the poor food quality but more on that to come. Ok, so I went there tonight with my wife there was an event at the Rio we went to. We had been wanting to try one of Guy's restaurants for years and finally decided to take the plunge. We were extremely disappointed and now question Guy's credibility. The food was very poor and inconsistent. The best things were the trash can nachos which were nothing special at all but adequate. The second which was a surprise was a special for the event which was a Mexican chicken udon noodle soup. That was the only thing we had that took us to the gimmicky flavor town. The main course was barely edible disaster. We got the combo plate with carne asada which was not chewy but dry, flavor less and overcooked with an odd aftertastes that made it inedible. Al Pastor Taco which was overwhelmed with too much pineapple for us own good and meat not prepared correctly. My wife is Mexican and we have literally had Al Pastor tacos hundreds of times and this one was disappointing and forgettable. The chicken enchiladas also dry and flavor less with a barely noticeable verde sauce. Cheese on top was nice but barely there. The most annoying thing were the rice and beans and many faux Mexican places make this mistake is that just being an inedible after thought and that is what happened here. Beans were disgusting and rice dry and old tasting with an odd after taste as well. The tortillas they brought at first for the carne asada were actually hot and soaking wet with the tortillas gummy and disintegrated. We sent them back and got new ones but they steam them in foil and the condensation gets trapped inside the foil ruining the tortillas. Second round we opened immediately and let them air out but still not good. When you've been to a place that makes it's own tortillas daily it's truly special thing but these were disappointing and forgettable. Drinks were 25 bucks so we did not even bother and draft selection unremarkable. Plates here are 25-28+ dollars so it's not cheap you'd expect good quality for that money but no go. This is not upscale Mexican and the atmosphere added to it with a dated somewhat run down place that desperately needs stone TLC. The seats in our booth had tears and rips in them. Greeting coming in was non existent but our waiter was a sweet guy who did give us great service. I'm being hypercritical because Guy seems to be great at eating other people's food but a disaster at putting out his own. It's an overrated tourist trap. You would be much better served just going to El Gordo or literally any other place. Avoid...

I ate and drank here 4 times not because it is good, it isn't, but because of reasons beyond my control.

To start with, the service is terrible. Every time I've been there, I've had to play the "where's my waitress?" game for basic things like refills and placing my order.

The bar is slow even when the place was at low tide. Empty plates lingered on our table like bodies; they were neglected for so long. It didn't seem understaffed either, so no idea why service sucked all week long.

Far worse though is the food. Nothing has been good. Margaritas are huge but watery yet also poorly mixed. The salsa is vile to the point where I worried it was spoiled. No one I've eaten there with has touched the salsa past the first bite.

It definitely isn't just me. Our group's complimentary salsa was taken away virtually untouched every time.

Food prep is flawed. Everything seems to be overcooked badly. How the f- do you mess up corn chips? Oh and the yucca fries were, not exaggerating, tough as jerky while being over salted. Despite all that salt, they also underachieved a total lack of flavor, dipping sauce included.

Which brings me to how badly the flavors at Guy's miss the mark at every turn. Mainly, nothing has any flavor or, at least, good flavor. Those flavors that are present are mismatched.

The Al Pastor tacos for example. The pineapple should add sweetness and bit of bite to the richness of the pork. Instead it only added this unpleasant aftertaste.

The texture of the tacos was also bad. Mushy warm pork, with mushy warm pineapple, with mushy warm sauce, and with mushy warm tortillas. It was just a giant, samey mess. Flavorless mash in other words.

Guy's thing seems to be "kick it up a notch" but that's bull. Nothing is spicy. There's lots of chipotle sauces and items on the menu. I taste no chipotle anywhere. The canned peppers in adobo sauce in my pantry at home have more punch than anything I had here.

Just to remind you, I ate here out of necessity hence 4 times at this miserable place.

There was one good part to this restaurant though, saving it from a 1 star, no redeemable value at all, review. That would be the deserts.

The deserts here were awesome. I've tried them all and they were great. The flan cake was creamy and not too sweet. The best was the bread pudding with its creme anglaise. Stellar!

But man cannot live on desert alone.

In conclusion (also wow thanks for reading to the end here) this restaurant exists to milk cash from people and cares nothing about quality in any way. It probably only stays operational due to its very excellent location in the Rio.

TL;DR - Go anywhere...