El Grito Taqueria — Restaurant in Seattle

I had quite a bad experience here recently. I have eaten here twice and the first time I ate, I did not have any complaints. So I am adding the average of my reviews here.

The second time I went with a group of six around 7:30PM on a Tuesday. As we sat down our served asked us if we wanted "chips and salsa" and we said yes. We then ordered 16 tacos for taco Tuesday and a few other items. The service was good at first, the waitress kept checking in as we took our time to decide the order. We got chips with some guac and other dips served to us. However, after we got the food, we realized the tacos were extremely dry (with the exception of the shrimp one) and tasteless. They were very chewy and bad. After we were served our food, the waitress also did not check in with us for rest of the meal. The restaurant is setup so that there are 2 major rooms, we were eating in one and the 2 servers in the restaurant at the time did not leave the other room. We waited for a very long time before we got up and called them from the other room. This was extremely frustrating given the already bad food. Finally, we decided we would tip less to indicate our displeasure but when the waitress got the bill, she mentioned 20% is already included due to large party of 6. I was quite annoyed by this as I had already had a bad experience and I checked the fine print of the online menu and did not find this rule written anywhere. We were also charged $14 for the "chips and salsa" and the line item of the bill was "Guacamole" which we felt was misleading and frankly dishonest.

To be fair, we are a non-confrontal group and did not raise our issues about the food or tip to the staff, but it was definitely an off putting experience I...

I actually had a few things from here First, I ordered the quesabirria tacos. However, these was some of the worst food I've ever had in a restaurant. The outside of the tacos were fine, and the broth was pretty bad and flavorless, but this didn't compare to how inedible the beef was inside. It was dry, chewy, astoundingly overcooked, and practically unfit for human consumption. I could tell something was off after taking the first bite. After finishing half of my first taco, and truly giving it a fair shot, I was completely done. These tacos were just non-consumable. I waited around 10-15 minutes for the waitress to walk by and informed her that the beef was quite bad. I essentially never send things back - I don't think I have in over a year - but this was just that bad

To her credit, she said she would take it back and asked if I wanted to order something else. I picked the huevos rancheros, adding the chicken tinga, because I didn't really trust them to cook any kind of beef or pork.

This dish was significantly better than the previous one. It came out super colorful, with different kinds of green, red, and white sauces washed over the top. The feta cheese was also a nice addition On the inside, this consisted of eggs, along with chicken tinga that I chose as an add-on. The base was these fried tortillas For the most part, this was pretty good. The tortillas were fried pretty well, and the chicken and egg made a pretty good combination together. The sauces also added a good amount of flavor

For the price, the huevos rancheros specifically is a pretty good amount of food

Overall, the quesabirria tacos gets a 1/10, and the huevos rancheros gets an 8/10, for an...

My family and I were visiting Seattle and had a long day hitting the sights. It got late but we needed to feed the kids. El Grito was advertised to be open til 10pm so we walked 6 blocks to get there with enough time to order and eat. We got there at 9:14pm and the greeter told us to take a seat. We asked him if there was any outdoor seating available and he said he would go check. A minute later, a lady comes out and tells us that they aren’t seating any more customers ……..even though they had 45 min til closing time. We had three kids aged 4-11 with us. She stated she can take a “to go” order if we hurry up and order. I googled alternatives and found the restaurant Cactus a block away was also advertised to be open til 10pm. We reluctantly left El Grito and tried our luck with Cactus. BEST DECISION EVER. They greeted us with a smile, seated us and took the kids order right away. The menu looked so good and our waiter Reece was so friendly, we ended up ordering half the menu. Everything…….and I mean everything…..was delicious. We were never rushed…..and we noticed how lively the place was. We ended up finishing desserts a little after they closed but we never felt rushed. We weren’t even the last customers to leave. Overall, it was fantastic. If you’re looking for great Mexican cuisine in Seattle and run into El Grito in your Google search, go to it right away, then walk 2 blocks away from it and go to Cactus…….the best and friendliest restaurant there. I still can’t believe that lady at El Grito showed no emotion at all as she looked at my hungry family at 9:14pm, 45 min before they close) and stated we couldn’t be seated. I sincerely hope she finds joy in her...