El Paso Tacos & Tequila — Restaurant in Spartanburg

Disclaimer: I did come here during Cinco de Mayo, so your mileage may vary during normal times.

I added a star for the food—the kitchen staff is excellent and their presentation was phenomenal for how busy they were. I worked in a kitchen during many rush hours and I still remember the sweat pouring down my face to this day.

The overall negative review is for the insane waiting and service. We arrived at 5:30 and we were told an hour and a half. Cool, I’ve waited longer and it’s Cinco de Mayo. I went to grab a drink at the bar—35 minutes. Four people behind the bar, 35 minute wait. We get our table after two hours, that’s fine. At this point my watch is warning me that I’ve been in a setting registering above 90 decibels. The place has zero insulation, so during peak hours the noise just echoes off the walls. My ears hurt.

After sitting down, we wait 40 minutes to order. The kitchen is quick and we get our food around 7:40. Our waitress doesn’t come back until 8:30. We finally manage to flag her down and get our checks. We leave at 8:45.

I think there are some operational inefficiencies that could be addressed to improve El Paso. First, change your PoS system. I’m watching your waiters and waitresses fumble with this clunky, slow system and taking paper notes. They should be able to punch orders digitally at the table and have the bill ready as soon as possible. There was a moment where I turned around and six of the wait staff is hovering around the tablets fumbling through the menus.

Second, the staff needs to rotate and take on responsibilities to help ease the burden of other staff members. The bar is one example, but the poor bus boy is on his own clearing tables with zero help. Where’s his team?

Third, add a bell to your tables for customers to ring if they need service. Don’t worry, it’s temporary. It’ll encourage the wait staff to periodically check in on their tables. Once your see an improvement in check in times, remove the bell. It’s not a punishment, it’s just a training exercise.

I hope to try El Paso again, but next time I’m hoping to see some operational changes that help the staff deal with heavy influxes...

My new favorite place! My wife and I ate here on their first official Opening Night, and everything was top notch. First they bring you chips and salsa, and this might have been the best chips and salsa I've ever had. There was a second "dip" in addition to the red salsa, a black bean dip, that was to die for.

Then we ordered a pitcher of Margaritas. Very good price on the pitcher. We got the Passion-fruit Margarita, as recommended by our server, Judy. Speaking of whom, was a total delight. A very genuine and warm person. She knew the menu and was able to recommend several entrees. I got her favorite, Enchiladas Al Carbon, with cheese sauce. It was fantastic. My wife had the Burrito Loco, and loved it.

We met 2 of the owners, who were kind enough to fill us in on a bit of the history of the restaurant, and their current operations. It is a family-owned concept from Texas, with several locations in FL, GA, TX, and now SC.

The menu is comprehensive, but not overwhelming. It's nice not to have to flip thru 10 pages every time you go out for Mexican. The decor throughout the restaurant was beautiful, purposeful and well thought out. It provided a great, fun, vibrant atmosphere. It added a lot to the overall experience.

We plan on being back again, and again, and again. As I mentioned in the beginning: our new...

Though Many employees standing at counter to greet us when we came in, it didn't help the service. We waited a long time for our order to be taken. Like I mentioned there were meant employees but it was a slow Tues night not a lot of customers. However, we got a server who was also the bartender. After taking our drink order it took 15 min to get our waters and much longer of course for my tequila-pineapple juice. Every time she passed the bar she stopped and was talking, not working, with a man at the bar. The food took another 25 minutes and looked nothing like the pictures or good Mexican food we've had elsewhere (definitely way below Bronco's,Papa's&Beer, or Chuy's). Food was like nuked food, the red sauce tasted like sweet ketchup, flautas were oily soggy corn shells that seemed rewarmed and not fresh. Plating was sparse on aluminum pans with paper. The pictures on the menu are very deceiving. Being the bartender, was the excuse at the end of our night for taking a long time to get our check (it seems she didn't notice everything took long due to her chatting at the bar) when I sent my children (1 is 20 yo) to our vehicle while I stood and waited for our check. The cost of food was akin to other forementioned restaurants but food price should have been half based on food quality. I will...