El Mexiquense Grill, Saratoga Springs — Restaurant in Saratoga Springs

All my life I have loved spicy food, but as the years have come and gone, so too has my stomach’s ability to handle certain amounts of heat. So working hard to adjust my eating habits to accommodate my slowing metabolism, I occasionally forget my prerogative and overload myself on hotness when presented with something I’m excited about, and my visit to El Mexiquense was one such experience.

I ordered 2 al pastor tacos and 2 carne asada tacos, and when these delights were brought to my table, I made my way to the salsas, as one does. Unfortunately, I was famished, and what should have been a moment’s hesitation to consider the spice level of the salsas at a restaurant I’ve never visited was a rush to load up my tacos with my favorite combination at any other authentic taqueria: a good 2 Tbsp of verde salsa and about 1 Tbsp of roja per taco. My jubilant waltz back to the table was overshadowed by the devastation of what would occur next.

Ripping into my pastor tacos, I was greeted by a cornucopia of flavors, followed immediately by a veritable slap in the face of heat. “Okay, it’s spicer than I originally expected,” I thought, “but I’ll power through.” I’m here to tell you: I DID NOT.

Each bite that followed was a combination of succulent bliss which preceded another measure of fire, amounting into something I quickly grew to fear. In a foolhardy attempt to combat the quickly amounting heat, I began guzzling the abnormally thick-and-delicious horchata, thus sealing my fate.

At the end of my meal, I could hardly move due to some miserable combination of a food coma and capsaicin-induced lassitude. I immediately understood what it would feel like to have consumed an entire bag of concrete mixture, as my innards began churning in on themselves. I began to fret for what was occurring in my gut, undoubtedly no less than some demonic ritual opening the portal to hell. We departed to Walmart, where I immediately had to run to the restroom when what occurred is unspeakable, except only to say that I’m fairly certain I left a portion of my soul behind, in exchange for what haunted me for the following 15 hours.

So, in short, the tacos are fantastic, the horchata is delicious, and if you are one to chase heat, temper your curiosity and play it safe. You can always add more, but I would save anyone what I experienced due to my own error....

All I can say is for a first time impression this was absolutely horrible!! Our delivery driver sat at the restaurant for AN HOUR!!! There was one table of people inside the restaurant and that was it!!! She said they didn’t even have a care at all and were moving at a snails pace with making the order. Then part of our order was refunded just because, no explanation at all! Still haven’t received that refund. So the food our kiddos waited for for almost 2 hours, they didn’t get. Then we get the food and you can tell that it was microwaved in the styrofoam container. Probably because it sat there for an hour and they had to reheat it. The beans were burnt to the sides of the styrofoam, tortillas for the enchiladas were crispy on the ends touching the styrofoam. They mixed up the tortillas, they mixed up the chicken platter, EVERYTHING I MEAN EVERYTHING WAS REHEATED IN THE STYROFOAM!!! Half the food was wrong!!As the owner or manager I would be absolutely ashamed if this is the food that my customers received!!! Especially for a first time experience. Our driver told us next time don’t go to this location, go to the Lehi one!! We spent OVER $100 and they didn’t give a damn at all!! For a big group order like that wouldn’t you want to make sure to take the time or care at all that the food was good?? And that your customers were happy and didn’t have to wait almost 2 hours for their food?? We will never order again, and make sure to let EVERYONE KNOW NOT TO GO TO THIS RESTAURANT !!! It wasn’t packed on a Saturday night so I guess that should have been our clue that it...

Never again! We love the Lehi location. but Saratoga was horrible. Order- chips and salsa, himichanga, rolled tacos, flan, fried ice cream, flan. Food was dry. 5 rolled tacos served with a tsp of guacamole? Seriously? Flan was overcooked and dry, possibly old. Resembled more of a dry cottage cheese with a crust on the bottom Fried ice cream was the worst I have ever had. Tasted and looked like it b was rolled in stale corn flakes. More chewy than crispy. Was served in a fried bowl, that slid all over the place making it hard to eat, on a large plate. Covered it with a ton of whip cream. You couldnt even see the fried ice cream. I.think they were trying to hide the corn flakes.They should never serve it again. Chips and salsa were probably the best part, except we paid at the counter and we're given a large serving bowl of chips and an empty plastic cup. The salsa is free and apparently the chips are too. Other customers just walked up and grabbed a bag of chips and salsa cups are near the self serve salsa. So I basically paid 5.99 for a big bowl of cold chips that I had to go ask gor so we would have it before or food. I usually love El Mexiquense, but if this had been my first experience I world never eat at another location. We recently moved and this location was closer. We will not be returning to this location. Lehi is worth the extra few...