TBT El Gallo — Restaurant in Richmond

I'm so disappointed!! I hate when I have high hope's for food that reviewer's hype up, and my experience significantly differs! My friend and I were starving, after leaving the 2nd Street festival. (food line"s were insane) I suggested El Gallo, since I'm a taco "aficionado" and the IG photos looked good. The place is located in the old Naked Onion, some of the best food I have had. I thought that was a good sign. When we arrived they were busy, but not too bad, until we placed our order. It appeared that they immediately became overwhelmed! I ordered 5 different taco's, I wanted to try them and share with my son. I ordered the big papi chulo, where is Dori, aloha fluffy, chicken tinga tu madre and the birria taco. My friend ordered three tacos similar to my order. The only changes I made to my order was no pineapple on the aloha and extra cilantro. I didn't think my request was outrageous, apparently it was, lol. I have never been to a food truck, restaurant or anywhere that it takes over an hour to make taco's ( even specialty taco's). We watched and waited as others ate and were served. Also, they are not responsible for the outdoors seating ( I didn't quite understand that). It was taking so long for our food, that I ended up going back in to get updates. (They have a wack ordering system) Finally, I get my food and if I hadn't been so hungry, ( my sugar drops) I would have asked for my money back! I have had some bad taco's in my life, but these were hands down the worse! Primarily, either they got my order wrong, or all the protein tasted dried out, overcooked and bland. When they noticed that they were running low, they should have stopped taking orders to make sure the ones that they already had were completed accordingly! These are not Five dollar taco's! The meat was over cooked, they ran out of cilantro (Mexican place really???) I hate when that happens) and not only were the shells half empty, heavily camouflaged with garnish, They got the entire order wrong!! My friends order was completed in 2 hours, after numerous requests and she choked on her's! We couldn't figure out what taco was what! The alleged pork belly in one of my taco's was just 1 small bland hard strange shaped cut of meat. My son ate what he could and discarded what he couldn't chew, or think he could digest (which was almost everything.) I bit into what I thought was the birria taco, because I was about to pass out and almost damaged my dental work. They piled a bunch of garnish sans cilantro, on the tacos to camouflage the lack of protein, oy vay! My friend threw all of her food away! The place had gotten busier and out of control, they were running out of ingredients it wasn't worth it to complain. This is a small place that is not accustomed to handling heavy traffic. Chef's and cooks, as a famous Chef Gordon Ramsay always says, "When cooking always taste your food!" When I eat any food especially ethnic food, IT MUST BE SEASONED!!! Also, don't overcook your protein, and label your containers with the order details!! Be prepared for larger crowds! Anyways, we won't be returning, I need...

Had very high expectations because all the good reviews and yummy looking pictures but sadly was disappointed. Good: The guy taking orders was phenomenal! Very friendly, very helpful, and just had a well rounded attitude. Complimentary salsas was very good. The corn tortillas were spot on. I usually prefer flower tortillas but I was pleasantly surprised with these corn tortillas. Bad: No chicken option. The steak was not shredded but cubbed and was extremely chewy. I don’t know if it was a low grade cut of meat, had never been marinated, or if it was just over cooked but non of the 4 people in my group were satisfied. Ugly: Usually you can’t go to wrong with street style tacos. The reason I say this is because usually they are pretty cheap. If you didn’t like one, well you didn’t lose out on much. That was not the case here!!! We paid upwards off $85 after tip for four (4) people. We all got the lunch special, each a drink (lemonade/ coke), and 2 side items (total/ not each) for the group to try (street corn/ some kind of dipping taco). To really drive the jalapeño in the heart we (4 ppl) went to a Mexican restaurant a few days later in the same area and only spent $55. Were we got waited on, chips and salsa out the ears and food that was not chewy. Overall I will not be returning to El Gallo to many other places to try after having a sub...

This place is BUSY! I tried this place as it is close to where Iive. You must go on the web and place your order if you want you food early in the evening. These spots fill up quickly. Walk-Ups are served in the order they come, and when time exists to make their food. The food here is VERY different from any other place on this side of the river. It was not what I had expected, but it was still very good. They really allow you to customize your food, they offer so many different additions or subtractions if you want. I will keep returning to figure out what I want on my food!! The beans on the burritos were to much for me. And my friend did not like all the cilantro. The staff is very nice, and the owner has always been there and is really NICE:))) I sincerely wish them well, they are a fantastic adition ot the Fan restaurant scene. 4/23/21 3rd time here, I am working my way through the menu! The toasted corn tortillas are fantastic! Nice a crispy crunchy. This time i had Papi and Carne Asada and they were excellent. I had them put peppers and cilantro on the side. And they were perfect for me as they were, I ate them! They had just enough heat to them this way, they...