El Jacal Restaurante Mexicano — Restaurant in Sweetwater

Actually a 3.9 rating. Before I give my review, I need to point out that I was raised in Southern California and spent the last twenty years living in Arizona. The building itself is a bit unassuming. Just a large, tin sided place. You pass through what I would call a mud room, then into the main area. There are the usual trappings expected in a Mexican restaurant, pictures of the Mexican countryside, Sombreros and, of course, the small flag banners promoting some south of the border beer. The dining area was clean and the staff neat and polite. The menu is well laid out with good pictures of some dishes. The prices are reasonable. You get the obligatory basket of chips and a bowl of salsa. I think you can also get a cheese dip for an extra charge (?). Here is one of the differences from what I am accustomed to. In addition to the salsa you also get bean dip at no charge (my wife loves that stuff). The wait time for the food was acceptable and arrived with the hot plate which is another staple of this type of establishment. Even with the hot plate the beans were a bit cool. We have dined there a few times before and this was unusual. The portions are sized well enough, although a bit smaller than you would find in the southwest. Also it seemed more bland than what I'm used to. Maybe they had to cool down the spices for these Southerners :). Over all not a bad place, go ahead and it a try, I know...

We used to be regulars because the food & service is good and you’d get decent amounts for the price but I don’t think we will be back anymore from our last 2 experiences. Last month I ordered the shrimp fajitas & received 6 pieces of shrimp & about 3 full tomatoes & very undercooked vegetables for full price I only ate the shrimp as the vegetables were still raw and inedible. A few weeks ago my husband ordered fajita el jacel which wasn’t that great the little meat he had on the plate tasted old and very undercooked raw crunchy vegetables but when we went to check out I noticed they charged us for the salad plate which was usually included in the price so it was the price for the fajitas + $5.99 for a plate of rice, guacamole ,& pico which we’ve never had to pay for that before it would be nice to be included on the menu. Needless to say it’s not as good as it used to be. Hopefully you guys will revert to the quality food you...

It has apparently changed management AGAIN. They no longer offer the Mac and cheese that is just about the only thing my 3 year old really looks forward to when we would go there. They’ve cut the size of their Superman Margarita in half and the flavor isn’t as good so I can only assume they’ve changed the alcohol they are using to make it. The chicken tenders are now little nuggets and, while they’re ok, they are near as good as the tenders were and are much smaller. Overall, it’s ok. It’s nothing to complain about if you don’t have the original restaurant to compare it to but nothing to write home about either. The price has gone up and the quality has gone down so, where they used to be our go to Mexican restaurant due to the value and the quality compared to others, they won’t be any longer. The only thing that improved was the service. The waitress was attentive and...