Taqueria El Manhattan — Restaurant in South Carolina

The perfect Mexican restaurant for me is pretty hard to find. I would like it to be about 5 – 10 minutes from my house, so about walking distance. One thing that I have to have at a Mexican restaurant is the perfect salsa. The perfect salsa should have no too many chunks and shouldn't be too spicy. I like my salsa pretty acidic, so I'll make sure to put that on the list. The other thing that should set this Mexican restaurant apart from the others is that it should have bottomless chips for no extra charge. My typical order at a Mexican restaurant is a cheese or bean enchilada with a side of beans and rice (preferably refried beans and Spanish rice). The price limit for me is about 8-10 dollars for one meal.

The first restaurant I decided to go to was a small restaurant about a mile away from the movie theater Redstone 20. I didn't want to go to a chain restaurant/franchise so this was a good option for me. When we walked inside, the place was a little rickety, but we ventured on. I am vegetarian and my parents are vegan, so we were hoping that there would be some good options. When we looked on the menu we were beyond impressed. In fact, they did offer vegan and vegetarian options! I ordered a cheese quesadilla with a side of beans and rice that came with the meal. The food was very good though it could have been a little more flavorful. The bottomless chips and salsa was pretty good, but instead of the chips being cut into ¼ s they were cut into ½ s. That made it a bit harder to scoop the salsa up, but it was still pretty good. Overall, I would say this restaurant is a good place for anyone who likes authentic...

Let me start off by saying we have supported this establishment since they opened. Now, it’s disappointing to see what it is today. My wife placed a togo order and they told her 30 mins because they were busy. I went to pick up our order a little after 5 and the place completely empty without a single customer. All employees were sitting at the bar on their phones. Our order was once again wrong. It’s not rarely, but more often than not that this happens here. Got home just to realize they forgot several items and charged us $4.25 for a sauce we didn’t ask for. She asked for the red salsa that comes with the chips. When I called them back to tell them of the missing items, she said, “ok, are you coming back to get it?” Apparently I have to. No apology or anything. Got in to get my items just now and the server who placed my order argued with me about what was missing and didn’t want to refund me for the salsa we didn’t order and I brought back. The other girl later told her in Spanish to just give me cash and she would worry about it later to stop arguing with me. Little they know I also spoke Spanish after I told them. I work in the industry myself and can understand mistakes and human error, but this is consistent for them and maybe a reason why their business has dropped. Staff seems uninterested to be there or care and to pay $50 for 3 meals is not worth the hassle. Like many said before, I rather take my business to Margaritas. I’m always for supporting local and other restaurants despite the current economic challenges for everyone, but if they don’t care, than it’s best to support other...

Ok, let me honestly tell you what I wish I had known before going to this place, despite the extra generous reviews I had read. The most important thing, the food is pretty bad. Surely it is edible if you are very hungry, but it is still bad. Carne asada (steak) was poor quality, lots of hard parts and over spiced/salty. Chicken was bland and chewy. The fried beans tasted canned. YUCK. Huge Margarita... no alcohol, if any, tasted like all mixer. Secondly, the staff are not experienced at all. There seems to be no management. They will bring you the wrong order several times in a row, and nobody seems to worry too much. I could not believe it. I saw the other tables around us getting frustrated as well. I felt bad for the kids serving, but nobody seemed to be in charge or care about anything. It was like everyone’s first week of work ever. They even brought us the check without even asking for it when we still had most of the food on our plate which, of course, we could not finish by far. By the time we left, around 8pm on a weekend, the place was completely empty. How can this business operate and still be profitable is what I wonder... At...