El Forastero Méxican Food — Restaurant in Placerville

We stopped in late (Google said it was 24 hours, but when we got there, they said they were closing in half an hour. Bad Google!) Not surprisingly, like 90% of Mexican restaurants in the greater Sacramento area, this place looks just like another Adalbertos clone. I'm not saying they were the first, but if you've ever been in one, you know exactly what I'm talking about. My friend got a burrito. I forgot to ask him, but he must have enjoyed it, as it was huge, and he inhaled it. Then my girlfriend and I split 3 street tacos and some Super Nachos (not to be confused with the even more fancy Deluxe Nachos). The tacos were wonderful. Flavorful meat, well-seasoned and cooked, and plentiful! Yummy. One star off for the nachos. Nachos are one of my favorite foods, and this was lacking. Plentiful, to be sure, so if you're just hungry, they'll be great. But you don't get to choose your meat. It comes with carne asada (to be fair, I didn't ask, but the menu said that's what it comes with, which I thought was odd). Their carne asada needs some real work. It was just like boiled beef. No flavor at all. Very bland. And not enough other flavors to offset it. The other reason I took a star off was that they have multiple salsas on their salsa bar, but not one of them I would consider fully "good". All pretty bland and mediocre, just with different heat levels. Overall, a good place, and I'd stop again if I was coming through Placerville late, when there aren't many options. Also, the people were very friendly and the service was excellent.

Final note: Hey Google! On your "What dishes do you recommend" section, why is "Oreo" a choice, but street taco (or any other...

I rarely post reviews unless the food or service is exceptional or horrible. I had never been before but a friend said I had to try it. I'm a fish taco lover so ordered 2 fish tacos. The fish was completely over cooked and resembled jerky. I couldn't believe the cook would actually expect someone to eat that. There was also so much sauce on it, maybe to camouflage the burnt fish. I am not a pickey eater but this was not even close to being edible. I thought no problem I'll ask for a few pieces of properly cooked fish. I went up to show the cashier and asked for just new fish or maybe chicken to replace the fish, she flat out told me "NO". I wasn't asking for my money back, just an edible taco. I'm not a young kid, or trouble maker looking for free food. I'm a 74 year old grandma and was very polite when I asked for new fish or chicken. Twice she just said "NO"!! FYI, she spoke perfect English and understood me. I just went back to my seat and left my entire lunch on the table. The beans and rice were nothing to brag about either. I have eaten fish tacos next door at JimBoys for years and they are always great. I will never go back to El Forestero. I will call the manager to complain about the young lady that was so rude to me, but I doubt it will do much good. Good customer service seems to be a thing...

The food is excellent with large portions. Around 7 pm we went through the drive-thru where Rosse took our order, or attempted to. We had to repeat our order 5 or 6 times in between her huffing and puffing before she understood what we were trying to order. Our food was ready fast and after handing us the food we informed her that we didn't receive the drink, she stated "you didn't pay for one" we reminder her that we did order it multiple times as did she repeat it back to us. We gave her the card back and paid for the drink we ordered and to top it off she did not give the chips we asked for, that were going to be used with the beans and cheese. She was rude and could care less if the customer was happy or needed anything else but definitely let us know we could leave now. It only take one bad employee to ruin good service or reputation. I hope the owner/manager takes the proper steps to insure that doesn't...