El Sabor — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I recently placed a phone order for pickup at this local Mexican restaurant on a Sunday around 1 PM. I ordered a chimichanga and referenced the daily lunch specials listed on their website. The woman who answered (she also bartends and handles to-go orders) told me they don’t offer lunch specials on Sundays. When I pointed out that their website says “daily,” she paused and said she would “go ahead and put it in” as a lunch special. Whether the website is outdated or she was misinformed, I’m not sure—but that was the first red flag.

We then discussed the details of the chimichanga—I even confirmed it came with cheese on top. I also asked for a side of salsa. I was told it would be ready in 20 minutes. When I asked the total, it seemed oddly high—over $15—even though the lunch special is $9.99. I figured it could be clarified in person.

When I arrived for pickup, I asked about the price. She told me I had ordered a “surf and turf burrito.” I was completely confused—we clearly had a detailed conversation about my meal, and that was never mentioned. She admitted to entering the order incorrectly and spent a few minutes trying to fix it in the system. Eventually, she gave me a corrected total.

Here’s where the experience really went downhill:

The mix-up delayed my order by an extra 15 minutes—which was frustrating but understandable if handled properly. Despite acknowledging it was her mistake, she still wanted to charge me $2.25 for a tiny 2oz side of salsa. There was no apology, no effort to make things right, no acknowledgment of the inconvenience.

I told her I wasn’t expecting a free meal—I just expected decent customer service. When a business makes a mistake, you’d think they’d try to offer something small as a goodwill gesture, especially something as simple as a side of salsa. But instead, I was met with apathy and what felt like nickel-and-diming over every little thing.

This place has gotten out of control with pricing on add-ons, and clearly they prioritize the transaction over the customer. I’m officially done spending my money at restaurants that don’t value their customers or...

Definitely awesome food served here! There are quite a few vegan options, and a plethora of vegetarian options as well (but you'll be happy as a meat-eater too, so it's great for nearly any diet). The prices are on the high end, but the quality of the food is excellent. I ordered the Baja Burrito (protein choice of carnitas, with yuca fries and sweet plantains as sides) which was a Plato Fuerto, a tres leches, and a Pineapple Jarritos soda.

I loved the burrito. There were so numerous delicious sauces served with it (3). I especially liked the slightly sweeter and creamy orange/red sauce, and it went perfectly with the yuca fries. The white sauce is very creamy and almost queso like, but still delicious. The bright red sauce is a bit spicier and more tomatoey. The burrito size is medium, so bit pricey at $16. Still. I think it's worth it. There is a fair amount of meat inside, and the carnitas were delicious and perfectly cooked. Great balance of cheese, rice, beans, and other stuffings. Not many vegetables inside, though.

The tres leches was very tasty as well. A bit on the smaller side, and somewhat expensive too. It has a nice topping of whipped cream on top, and there is an adequate amount of moistness and it's overall a nice cake.

The sides were simply delicious. The yuca fries were similar to French fries, but a bit more chalky in texture. They were paired well with numerous of the sauces, especially the orange one. The sweet plantains were also very good. I especially enjoyed the smaller more well looked pieces, as they tended to be sweeter. Not the best plantains I've had in Pittsburgh, but still great.

The Jarritos soda is unique and refreshing. They are offered at most Mexican places, and the price is reasonable. It's made with real cane sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. These bottles require a bottle opener, though.

All in all, I definitely recommend this place if you would like some high quality Mexican food in Pittsburgh. It is a fantastic place to visit if you are vegan or vegetarian (they even have a vegan pineapple coconut cake). A bit on the expensive side,...

We took our son, who was visiting from the Southwest, to El Sabor. There were just 3 of us. Upon entering, we were seated right away. There were several empty tables to choose from. We all noticed the noise level. It was LOUD in there. You could barely carry on a conversation. We thought about leaving because the noise was uncomfortably loud. It is definitely not somewhere you want to go to talk. We ordered the nacho appetizer and drinks. The margarita was awful. It tasted like margarita mix, and nothing else. We ordered our meals and had to wait for 90 minutes! After a while, our waiter came over and apologized and said they were busy. They didn't seem that busy. Lots of tables had been cleared off and new guests were seated and still we had no food. The waiter came out with a tiny bowl of chips and salsa and said it was on the house. (Big deal.) One of our orders was tacos. And two of us ordered chimichungas. So our order wasn't anything out of the ordinary. We still waited. Finally our meals came out. The food was delicious. People that came in an hour after us were served their meals right after we got ours. So what gives El Sabor? Something really got messed up with our order. I would give them a grade of a D. I wouldn't mind the long wait too much since we were visiting with my son and SHOULD HAVE been able to relax and talk, but it was so noisy and loud in there, you had to shout to one another across the table to converse. It was just torture to our ears. And the wait for our food was unreasonably long. And when you see people who came in an hour after you did get their food right after you got yours, you know something must have gone wrong with your order. We were comped a tiny bowl of chips and salsa AFTER an appetizer of nachos. Really? I don't think we will go back. The food was good, but they should have handled the...