El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Raleigh

From October 19, 2023 Chips and salsa was amazing. The burrito special was very good as well. Seemed like everything was fresh. My wife had the steak quesadilla and loved it. I'm not sure who the cook(s) were but they are keepers. If these cooks have been around a long time then it seems it might be hit or miss regarding food quality depending on who is cooking that day.

From August 26, 2023 2nd time back since June. The food has gotten pretty bad over the last couple of months. Chips were stale. Salsa had some heat but no flavor. Shrimp tacos were terrible. I couldn't find any shrimp and they were flavorless. Not sure what is going on, but editing my assessment.

From June 2023: Our overall experience was above average... The complimentary chips and salsa appetizer was very good and addictive 🙂 Sweet tea was very good. Shrimp tacos were very good. The Taco Salad was average. The service was very good timely and friendly. Our space was clean. The overall appearance seemed...

I started getting takeout from here when covid was rampant. They had one of the best deals for a family special (it was 19.99 at that time). Their drive thru makes it super easy to get your food when you have a car full of kids. I have never waited more than a few minutes at the drive thru. Prices have steadily increased since 1 year ago on the family special. It is now around $30 for the same thing we got a year ago. That's a big increase in one year, but does seem in line with other family deals.

The food is okay and you get a bunch of it with their family deal: 4 crunchy, 4 soft tacos, 3 enchiladas, 4 quesadillas (2 chicken/2 cheese is the standard), rice, beans, chips, salsa and questions. One thing I always notice at the drive through is their sanitation score, which was 95 when I was there last. I don't know how they got that low of a rating, but it...

for a to go order, I waited forever because unbeknownst to me they were still preparing the food for a table of 10 people. I've never been there before and just asked if they had tortilla soup. They said yes I said I'll have a tortilla soup, which I've been eating for decades and I lived in Mexico. I also ordered the chimichanga made with chicken. Both were extremely salty and the tortilla soup should be called rice soup. I don't like rice soup. If you like rice you'll love it. The other sad thing was that they didn't add any rice to my chimichanga meal. So I've never had a chimichanga meal without rice and I've never had tortilla soup with rice, so my experience was not good. I spent $30 and I asked if I could have a $10 credit towards my next meal because I couldn't eat this, but of course they said No. So...