el CARBÓN Mexican Eatery — Restaurant in Scottsdale

Restaurant week, great opportunity for my friend and I to try a new place for MX food. I made Opentable Saturday 6:15 dinner reservations for 2. Upon arrival, we saw a nice patio seating area, when entering, the atmosphere was pleasant. The place was occupied with several small tables and booths. No hostess, it just starting to get busy as they were getting a party of 12 settled in which the hostess was helping. Finally we were seated. Stephanie our server introduced herself, very nice. She gave us some time to decide on our drinks. As I notice she was the only server taking orders. We got her attention as I wanted to put our order for cocktails and food in before the table of 12 did. We ordered off the "restaurant week" menu plus margaritas. We were given chips, salsa and a bean dip. The margaritas were excellent. We ordered another round, by now our guacamole appetizer came. I noticed a table of 5 came in followed by another table of 8. By this time Stephanie was all over the place. Our dishes were not being cleared by the young men working there. My friend's sides came for his fajitas, then waited for some time before his beef fajitas were delivered. In the meantime I'm putting our empty margarita glasses, guacamole bowl and extra plates on the empty table next to our because no on is clearing dishes. My friend did not want to start until my chicken fajitas came. We waited and waited and saw the table of 12 were getting food along with people getting take out. It got to the point I hailed down the hostess to please check on my chicken fajitas. Finally my sides and dish were delivered. I even notice that the table next to us with 2 women were thoroughly getting annoyed for the lack of attention. We ate and at this time, I requested boxes to take my leftovers home and that we were ready for desert. At this point Stephanie is really running around servicing the 12 and 8 table. My friend and I waited and waited literally 20 mi. until I flagged down Stephanie and told her I wanted our desserts to go and our bill. We got the bill but again had to wait and 15 minutes for the desserts. The women next to us we complaining to us about the lack of service.

On the up side, the guacamole was very good, chunks of avocado and a nice touch warming up the chips. Salsa could have been spicier, and I did ask for their hottest sauce they had on the side and that was excellent. Margaritas were excellent. Both chicken and beef chicken fajitas plus all the sides were excellent. Our take home desserts were just thrown into boxes at this point, 4 churros no ice cream. The brownie in the box with a container of ice cream. Though my friend did say the brownie was really good.

So what started out as a very enjoyable dinner that we were looking forward to, ended up leaving me extreme annoyed at the lack of service. I have my doubts to revisit just for that reason.

Atmosphere: nice, simple, indoor and patio seating. Service: poor (lack of servers)....

Absolutely delicious with great vibes and an extensive tequila selection!

Our experience at El Carbon started with a warm welcome from the hostess. Although our reservation was originally for 8 guests, they graciously accommodated a 9th by adding an extra seat without hesitation.

We were promptly served warm chips, refried beans, and salsa—an appreciated touch as we were hungry. A few of us ordered the Restaurant Week 3-course meal, which included generous portions and bold flavors - and, at $33, it was a no-brainer. The Queso Dip with Chorizo was the best we’ve ever had, and the Elote appetizer was so good we ordered it twice! We were already so full after the appetizers, we could hardly finish our entrees. Everything we ordered was packed with so much flavor and absolutely delicious—so we happily took home the leftovers.

The only slight letdown was the churros dessert. While it was nice to end the meal on a sweet note, the texture wasn’t quite what we were expecting. Given how amazing everything else was—from the drinks to the apps and entrees—we had high hopes, and the churros just fell a little short this time. Still, it didn’t take away from an otherwise fantastic meal.

Our server, Stephanie, was kind and attentive, contributing to an amazing and delicious dining experience at El Carbon.

We’d 100% come back to eat here again in...

We eat here at least 2 to 3 times a month. Last night we went there at 7:00 PM. 3/4 of the restaurant had all of the chairs upside down sitting on top of the tables. The bartender/waiter said we are slow so that’s the way it is. He was disengaging and somewhat pompous. I ordered the Carne Asada burrito which I order every single time, and I received all of the leftover burnt ends, there was nothing tasty or juicy about the steak inside my burrito. I felt like I was inside a cafeteria in a college dorm. We love this restaurant, but we found the experience to be very disappointing. We actually heard the bartender greet a customer with only saying - kitchen is going to code in 30 minutes. Nothing welcoming about that!

I feel the owner of this establishment should know this is how his bartender/waiters are treating their customers. If this is how it is going to be this summer, I will not be returning. We are good customers and find this to be very unacceptable and disappointing. I am not posting this review for people not to try out this restaurant, as it is a wonderful restaurant with delicious food! I just want the owners to know that this is how their employees are treating customers and presenting...