El Jimador — Restaurant in Sussex

We ordered takeout so I can’t speak on service outside of calling in and picking up. I want so badly to say it’s just okay, but my honest opinion is this is not anything remotely close to authentic Mexican. Typically we head down to the south side for Mexican, but thought we’d give this spot a shot since it’s so close. The chips we got for takeout were stale to the point that we grabbed a bag of doritos to give the salsa a shot. It’s okay, very watery with some flavor of tomato and acidity, not lime, but acidity. Chorizo tacos had light flavor, outside of the onions and cilantro we didn’t taste much of the actual sausage. However, the ground beef chimichangas were smothered in cheese sauce (wet and chewy), essentially the opposite texture of what you’d want in a chimichanga were not pleasant. They tasted and smelled of canned meat. Very dry on the inside and genuinely didn’t taste of anything other than a canned dog foodish scent. This place has potential for sure and seems to have decent reviews. After the stale chips and what we received however, I’m not keen on going back after...

We have been here numerous times in the past and it has always been good - until today. My wife ordered Fajitas and I ordered Shrimp Ench. When the food came out they neglected to bring the tortillas for the fajitas until we asked multiple times. When they brought my order out, it was not shrimp - but chicken and it looked like someone placed 2 slices of cheese on it as it was not completely melted. They took back my plate and 10 minutes later brought out my shrimp. Only this time, there were only 2 Enchiladas on the plate. Each enchilada had only 3 shrimp in it. On top of that - no beans on the plate - just rice and lettuce. When we finished, we asked for a box for my wife's remaining fajitas and asked for another packet of tortillas. The whole experience became worse when the bill came and no apologies - instead, they charged us extra for the tortillas. We want to support local business, but this overall experience has disappointed us to the point we probably will...

So conflicted, we really wanted to love this place but won't be back. First, we loved the bartender, we didn't get the premixed margaritas churning in the machine, I got a mojito and my husband, tequila sunrise. It took 45min to seat us, that's fine but we sat at the bar and never knew we could order at the bar and eat...grrr. Second, the poor servers are constantly running in circles. Like everywhere, they look understaffed and it reflected with us waiting an additional 15min to see our server for water, chips/salsa, and to take our order. Third, our food took almost an additional hour and when it FINALLY came, it was burnt to a crisp. My husband's $20 Carne asada ribeye was like shoe leather and my fish tacos where so dry I only ate one. Between drinks and food, we spent a good $100 on dinner and left frustrated. There are too many other places to dine, we won't be eating there again....sad, we need a GOOD mexican restaurant...