El Torito Country Cooking — Restaurant in Pasadena

I recently looked up the word comfort food in the dictionary and saw (El Torito Country Cooking) as the definition, it was late in the afternoon and my tummy was sending me signals to send down some food, so I began looking to see what was near me, I was tired of the same ol' stuff that's around my neighborhood, fast foods, Mexican food, burgers, I was craving something good, comforting, different, as I was looking through the list of places near me I came across this quaint, welcoming, cozy place, as I walked in I was greeted by the owner, polite, nice and friendly as the Texas state motto, believing it was Wednesday my mouth was already watering for roast beef, one of their daily specials, I was reminded that it was Thursday so I began to look at the day's specials and came across the turkey and dressing dinner, something I've been craving for some time since I missed last years Thanksgiving dinner because of work, it wasn't long before he came out with my meal, hot, fresh, and the savory aromas rising out of the bag, I went and parked under a tree to enjoy my meal, as I opened the container I got a whiff as if I was standing in my grandma's kitchen as a kid during the holidays, the turkey was moist and savory as the stuffing was something out of this world, accompanied by 3 sides of your choice and some of the best cornbread coming out of Texas that could rival any cornbread from any southern state, they offer many down to earth home cookin dishes, including, roast beef, country fried steak and gravy, a meatloaf that Bobby Flay would envy, and many other dishes to choose from, they open at 8 am till 9 pm and also offer country style breakfast including freshly made biscuits and gravy, cornbread, eggs cooked any way you like or an omelet that makes IHOP look bad, when I saw they also serve grits I knew I had to come for breakfast, now that I've had my dinner it's time for a nap cause that's what comfort food does to a person especially when it's this good, I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for something different yet old fashion cooking, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, cash or...

I'm giving my review on the meal I had, I ordered what would be the equivalent to the "grand slam special" at Denny's. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage. Well I can honestly say that compared to Dennys or IHOP this was worse. I don't hold those two places to high standards either but at least it's edible there. The pancakes are huge here yes, but there is no flavor to them, just dry and bland. The eggs don't taste like real eggs, they taste like box poured nothing. The sausage is bulk pre-cooked from amazon and the bacon is thin and tasteless. It's bacon! come on! The value is not that great as this plate was $10, double than most places. However everything else was priced very well so that's a plus considering the small menu. Perhaps it was an off day, perhaps it was just that meal. I'll give them another chance and report back my findings. It appears to be a mom and pop operation literally run by two people so kudos. I'm all for local small business so I hope the next time it's better. It would be a far stretch to compare them to Kelly's Country Cooking, but with a name like El Torito, I don't know if they are trying to be that. I imagined they would have had a spanish menu with mexican food like migas, nopales, frijoles, you know, the good stuff. Seems the owners went a different direction with that despite the name and location. The place itself is still fairly new, so I can tell they are still getting situated. It's a fair size and you can eat comfortably in there. I don't know if I saw any high chairs for kids, and keep in mind around school zone time that street is super busy with the school right across the street. Overall, good prices, good service, just avoid...

This was our first time visiting El Torito. Do not let the name of the restaurant detour you from Poppin in. I thought, Hispanic name, but country cookin? Say what? I had the grilled chicken sandwich with carrots instead of fries. The carrots were cooked very well. Not too soft, not top firm. Personally, I feel they were just right. They are cooked without spice. I added a bit of pepper and a pinch of salt. The chicken sandwich was legit amazing. It was simple. A thin slice of chicken breast; which is what I prefer in comparison to a thick slice. The chicken was juicy, and flavored well in my opinion. The tomato was ripe, and the lettuce was crisp. The BF had the country breakfast plate. He rates the overall breakfast at an 8 1/2 out of ten. He prefers crispy hash browns and crisp bacon. I'm sure if you ask for crispy they we will make it that way. The flavor was on point. He said the pancakes were ok. Nothing fancy. Again he prefers crispy foods. He would have liked for them to be a little more crispy on the edges. We will most definitely come back to try...