El Metate — Restaurant in Pasadena

Wanted to find some quick (non fast food) Mexican food to grab for the usual weekly lunch with the gf. Food was fresh & tasty here so happy I ended chose this place.

ITEM'S ORDERED:

Burrito Vegeteriano Chili Relleno & Cheese Enchilada (w/ rice & beans)

TASTE:

Burrito Vegeteriano is the usual bean & cheese burrito but with added lettuce & tomato. I enjoyed this very much, it was fresh, nice size, well flavored (not too salty) & worked well with the red sauce. They gave an option of wet or dry burrito, & I chose dry. These are a little more "runny" of a bean than whole so the burrito didn't hold together as much as other ones I've had.

Chili Relleno & Cheese Enchilada (w/ rice & beans) was a well made combo plate. This was listed as one of the specials. Chili Relleno was executed well & does not come off hot, but does get gradually hotter (in a nice way) as you continue to eat. The Cheese Enchilada is just as it sounds, & decent as well.

They give you complimentary chips & salsa which is always a win. Chips were good (not overl salty) & I'm pretty sure they make them fresh. Salsa had adequate seasoning but was not really hot.

SERVICE, LOCATION & PARKING:

The cashier who is also the one who brought us the food as very friendly. Much appreciated especially since it was kinda a lunch rush & she was working hard.

They are located basically at the corner of Mentor Ave & Colorado. I quickly found parking right in front & there were several other spots around as well. Quite sure they don't have a parking lot. Also, be careful since this is a one way street, going toward Colorado.

I'm very much open to coming here again. All the food was good & also, prices...

My 7 yr old Boy and I Went to the Rose Parade in a 40 ft RV Bus the night before New Year's ... made a turn to go around the block and got stuck by a barricade for parade, I couldn't back up so I parked there and noticed I was 20 ft from the parade route (Colorado Blvd.)...it was a dark street, we fell asleep woke up looked out the window and noticed we were parked across the street from this joint.. for those of you who know how hard it is to find a park at the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl this was a Double come up, my Son enjoyed our super front row seats the the Parade he went nuts with excitement so we walked back ..., to get in the Bus and Noticed this Place and went inside.....wow!!! What a cool joint a real family joint....they where really super nice and friendly...the food was really Good, and very inexpensive!!! This visit was a home run out of the Park, my son met all of the owner's grandkids there eating they painted and played out in back of the joint....we live 2 hrs. away easy But ....we will make the drive Back there to eat and hangout with this Family...trust and believe me, you can't go wrong at this place they have it ALL together..... It was a Great new...

I was looking for a nice place to have dinner with my family and I found el metate restaurant we decided to go eat there the food was good and the place looks ok not until we order food and we order molcajetes and one of them was missing chorizo so we ask the server why we are missing the chorizo in one of the molcajetes so the server let the cook know and she came to the table with attitude and saying that she did put the chorizo like we are lying so she bring the chorizo missing and keep saying that she did put chorizo on both molcajetes when we ask for the check she even mention in Spanish that we are probably going to ask for discount or not to pay the check I thought that was really rude coming from the cook(owner) when we were only looking for a place to enjoy our meal I will definitely not come back to this...