El Cholo Restaurant — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Took 10 min to find parking & had to park far away in a neighborhood. We put our name on the list at 6:45, They said 25-30 min wait. We waited about 35-40. They seated us upstairs where they said we’d be greeted by a host, we were not, we stood upstairs confused & waited another several minutes before a host came to seat us. Our server initially came right over & we placed a drink order & asked for waters & said we needed more time to order food. We didn’t get any water for an additional half hr & it was only because as she dropped off our margaritas I had to call her back to our table & say can we please get water & can we please order because she had not been to our table for a whole half hour. We waited forever for our food, mind you people who came in after us & had the same amount of people in their group were being helped before us.. We did not walk out the door until 8:33… We eat quickly too so our long experience here wasn’t due to us taking forever to eat & there was only 2 of us with simple orders. I ordered enchiladas & it doesn’t say if it comes with rice & beans & it doesn’t mention that those beans are covered in pico & I do not like pico & I couldn’t ask the server because she wouldn’t give us the time so I couldn’t even eat the beans. They took so much time at the beginning getting my contact info & said they’d text when our table was ready only to have the hosts not send texts & would call people’s names & not loud at all in this very loud restaraunt & no one in the waiting area could hear them. I had been so excited to try this place & I was so disappointed & will not be coming back nor will I recommend anyone...

This place is an extreme let down. The food is the farthest thing from authentic Mexican food. Everything we ordered lacked flavor! Let me start off with the atmosphere, downstairs is stunning! When you walk in there are tons of photos of celebrities that ate there, amazing old school photos on the walls, beautiful colors all around, you head upstairs to the dining area and it's decent looking very open. We get to our table and we order the table side guac to start off with. This guac was wack! She didn't put any salt, and didn't use any limes either! We were shocked! HUGE chunks of avocado and do not get me started on the molcajete! It was PLASTIC!!! My husband order the seafood fajitas, the most bland, underwhelming seafood we have ever had! I ordered the chile relleno, this was drenched in what tasted like store bought salsa, the Chile itself tasted like pure oil (not oily texture tho). My son got the beef taquitos, he couldn't even bite into it because of how hard and over cooked it was. We also got the CHORIZO QUESO this is not on the menu but this dish was FANTASTIC! The fact that the most simple dish was so delicious is mind blowing! Also to add to it the side of beans were just mush. The tortillas were so undercooked we couldn't eat them. The complimentary pecan maple bites at the end were actually quite nice. My husband is from Mexico he was so shocked by this experience. We would not recommend. Nor do we ever plan on going back there. We will however try the original El cholo restaurant...

It was tough to give 4 stars here because I’ve been to the LA location and loved it….but ultimately it did not hit the 5 star mark.

Food: Chips and Salsa: hard 5 star here. Strong. Salsa is the perfect mix of sweet/tangy/salt. The chips were also excellent. Ate so many of them.

Queso: this was 4 stars. The chorizo was very greasy. The cheese was good when it was hot but as it cooled down it became a bit rubbery.

Enchiladas Suiza: 4 star entree here. As far as Mexican food goes, these were good but nothing out of the ordinary. The chicken was kind of pasty….not as shredded as you would want.

Mole Chicken Enchiladas: 5 stars. Mole is not for everyone but they were very tasty. It is a chocolate mole. Heavy dish for sure. I only ate one. Beans and rice were a nice compliment.

Service: 5 stars. I wish I remembered our serves name. She was very attentive and nice. Made some great suggestions.

Atmosphere: Also 5 stars. We sat upstairs. Cool vibe here with a lot of interesting decor. A little loud when it gets crowded but that is to be expected on a Friday night.

Parking: Not a lot of parking. Tow away zones. Plan ahead if you have reservations anytime after 6pm.

It’s ultimately about the food. As much as I wanted to adore this place….I can’t justify 5 stars. Especially for the price. $100 for two people with no...