El Torito — Restaurant in Pasadena

Rewind back to the pandemic. My wife and I had our anniversary dinner there, and it was fantastic. They went to great measures to keep us safe, the multiple wait staff were attentive and polite, and the food was hot and delicious. Fast forward to last night, Thursday, February 8th, 2024. Table of 4, no alcohol, and a $128 bill, pre-tax, pre-tip, for one of the worst meals of our lives. First off, the restaurant was pretty empty, but we're shoehorned in to a small space where drunks are yelling over each other, there's a dozen unparented, screaming kids in an adjacent room, and there's one waiter who comes by every half hour. We order the tableside guacamole, and it was tasteless. They used the 2 smallest avocados you've ever seen, so the 4 of us all got about 2 chip's worth of the tasteless guacamole. The waiter comes, pen in hand, to take our order. When we said we needed a minute he looked visibly frustrated. After we did order our plates it took 60 minutes to get our cold plates! The table beside us was offered free soup, as an apology for the ridiculous wait time. We were not offered any apology, just cold food. My son's birria tacos were 90% fat, so most went in the trash. My hard shell taco was so oil-soaked that it was like trying to eat soup. My son was also given pinto beans instead of the advertised black beans. My refried beans would be bested by most prisons. The corn cake, one of my guilty pleasures, was delicious, but what used to be an ice-cream scoop's worth was barely 1 bite's worth, and was smooshed into the beans and rice. Lastly, we ordered 2 desserts. Most places serve their fried ice cream warm, melty, and delicious. You can tell theirs was made days ago and placed on a shelf in the freezer, waiting for a sucker like me. I doubt it was ever deep fried; just rolled in a coating. It sucked. They brought my son the wrong dessert. They did take it away and bring him the correct one, but there was no apology. The 4 of us all agreed that this is the last time we go to El Toritos. The waiter, who did try to be polite, was obviously overworked in an understaffed, profit-over-satisfaction leadership environment. Service should NEVER be that bad on a Thursday. No manager came to check on us. No staff ever asked how our meal was. There was literally not one thing positive to say about our $150 dinner. Again, that's without any alcohol, and only 1 of us ordered soda. 2 mistakes on a table of 4? Unacceptable. It makes me sad, really. In 2020 they really did work hard to make us happy, and last night's visit was a reward for that good will earned. It's 2024 now and every single aspect of the Pasadena El Torito has diminished. ...

I've been to many El Torito locations over the years, and never had problems with service or food. This location however has some of the worst service I've ever experienced in any restaurant! Because the food is so good and location is convienient even though I had experienced issues with service before (long wait times to be seated, long wait for food, rude waitors and hostess staff, restrooms filthy etc.) I kept returning hoping to have a better experience, but unfortunately my visit this week will absolutely be the last! Dined with my sister visiting from out of town and our two kids. We waited nearly an hour for our food! When the food finally came it was delivered by a food runner who didn't warn me my son's plate was hot, good thing I touched it first or my son would have got burned. He also didn't stay long enough for us to mention we had no silverware to eat with and for some reason my food was not served,not sure why I only ordered a salad. I sat for about 10 minutes wondering what happened to my food and watching my son eat his rice with his fingers. Finally got up to look for someone who could help,but no staff at all to be found! Finally the waitress brought my food with no apology or explanation and hadn't even noticed the lack of silverware so brought some right away when I asked. After we finished eating she asked if we wanted boxes which we did, but then she disappeared again for another 20 minutes. At this point we had been there nearly two hours, I just wanted the bill so we could leave. I went to the front and the hostess was cleaning the floor, I asked her for the manager but she said he was busy. I asked her to go get him, she came a seconds later only to tell me he was busy, and we had to wait a few minutes. I waited another minute and then we basically just decided to leave as no one even ever brought the bill and I was so disgusted at that point. It's really so sad the service here is so horrible because the food was really good, but it's just not worth dealing with all the trouble to get the food, there are many other better options in the area so I'm giving in the towel on...

We have been customers at this particular El Torito since it opened at this location. We have never had such a miserable time at a meal, especially a Sunday brunch. From the moment we walked in with our guests at 12:25 for a 12:30 Open Table reservation and were told it would be a 35 minute wait, things went from bad to worse.

Don't get me wrong, the food was delicious - at least the food that was out and available on the buffet. Unfortunately, many items were empty for much of the time we were there.

We have eaten at the brunch many times, so had recommended to our friends that we meet at this restaurant for a great meal and a good time to talk and catch up with one another. Almost as soon as we were seated, the mariachis started playing in the room we were in, and they were there in that room for over an hour. Almost 70 minutes (yes, we checked our watches). The noise level was between 85 and 90 dB the whole time (looking it up, anything over 85 dB for sustained periods can cause hearing damage. Not sure where we will go with this...) Needless to say, it was almost impossible to have any kind of conversation with one another without shouting.

The manager didn't seem to care that her guests were being inconvenienced. At least two tables of people left shortly after the mariachis arrived and it was clear they weren't leaving. At least one party came into the room and refused to be seated there because of the noise level. Talking with the manager got us the response that the musicians would stay in that room as long as people requested them to be there. Back and forth, over and over, between two tables.

I felt sorry for the server who couldn't get to his customers and who clearly wasn't going to get good tips because of the terrible service and overwhelming noise. I understand there is new management/ownership at this restaurant. Hopefully it will be short-lived and will be replaced by owners/managers who care about the reputation of El Torito as a great...