El Nopal Tapatio — Restaurant in Searcy

This is the most bipolar restaurant I know of. I visited five times over the course of the past year. Last was over a month ago.

Two of those visits were great. Three were problematic. Let me just focus on the last.

Sat down and ordered. I got my tea but no chips and salsa. Well, the chips and salsa came at the same time my meal did. I was impressed with the speed at which they prepared the meal. Then I saw why it was so fast: They didn't bother to cook it.

It was fajitas. Those should be seared well with a bit of char on the meat and the veggies caramelized. No. This meat was cooked just to the point of turning gray. It was chewy because it was under cooked. The vegetables were cold and crunchy. Crunchy is good in a salad. Not good in fajitas. Nor was the stem of the tomato that was included in the mess.

The beans and rice were lukewarm. That is not only unappetizing. It is a health hazard. Those should be served hot!

The final insult? The foil wrapped tortillas were plopped right down into the beans. Think about that. Someone handles that foil with bare hands, then drops their germs in your food. Disgusting.

Nice folks run this restaurant. They were a great success because the food used to be fantastic. But that success made someone there ambivalent about quality control.

I thought I'd talk to the manager. Well, I saw him and the owner both standing by the kitchen. That actually increased my anger. They were standing right there the whole time that slop-bucket of a meal was prepared. But they didn't glance at the plate on the way out. And apparently they had not checked the temperature of the beans and rice. I was too worked up to talk. I paid for the meal and left for good.

I hope they...

Ate here for the first time Saturday morning. Very few people inside, so there was no wait. We were seated immediately and had drinks, with chips and salsa in under 5 minutes. I ordered the breakfast fajitas, and they let me sub ham for the sausage, which was great. My wife ordered the small sampler. The portion size was ridiculous! I had enough food for 2 meals, which was wonderful. My wife ate all of her meal with the exception of the pancakes. We both left happy and full. Definitely worth trying it if you are out and about town...

Scored 3 for Nacho Supremeo, 3 for burrito supreme with sour cream, 5 for Steak burrito supreme w/ no sour cream. Total score 3.5. The steak burrito was is excellent, and scored 5. The nacho supreme only scored 3 because they were soggy. The burrito supreme with sour cream scored 3 because the meal was cold. We live less than 5 minutes from the restaurant and I think they could have done much better with a pickup, food order. Especially when I told them that I would be scoring them. 12/31/22 about 8 pm....