El Canelo — Restaurant in Town of Hamburg

I lived in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas for a number of years, literally minutes from the border. I experienced true Mexican cuisine. My wife, originally from Buffalo, lived in Brownsville for 20+ years. She KNOWS Mexican cuisine. In case you need further proof, read on. After we relocated back to WNY as caregivers for her parents, my wife started competing in home cooking contests at the EC Fair. After winning the Placek contest in 2007, she appeared on the Martha Stewart show. Being of Polish heritage, she already excelled in traditional Polish cooking, but what about Mexican?

After she was selected as the Buffalo News Cook of the Month for her Polish cooking, she instead prepared chicken enchiladas verde with the salsa made from her own crop of tomatillos. The food editor was blown away and has remained in contact with her ever since.

So when we say Mexican food is authentic, you can believe it. There are precious few authentic Mexican restaurants in this area. El Canelo is one of them. How can you tell? Here's a hint: The name of the place doesn't include the word "Mighty."

Another hint is the refried beans. If they're very creamy and taste like fresh beans, they are. If they look and taste like recycled refried beans from a can, they are and don't eat there if you're interested in authentic Mexican.

It's really...

It saddens me to even write this review, but I had the worst experience with the server today, she had red / magenta moneys pieces in her hair. When I first got there, she RUSHED to get drinks, then took 10 minutes to come back and take our order, then when actually taking it, she didn’t write it down (as a server it isn’t needed especially if you aren’t busy) but for my food I ordered no peppers and onions on my burrito (and confirmed with the people I was with in case i didn’t say it but I definitely did) then told the server my burrito had them and she said “so are you gonna eat it or did you need me to remake it” I told her I wanted it remade because I’m not gonna eat it, then proceeds to just bring me a shell with carnitas (I got the burrito de carnitas which should have had tomatoes). We got done eating and then waited 10 minutes for our server to come bring us boxes whilst she was on her phone texting, talking to her coworkers and then they were throwing rags at each other, then once we got the boxes it took her another 10 minutes to just give us the check when there was 2 other tables in our section. As a server / working in the food industry for almost a decade and also never having an issue when going there, that was a one of the most terrible experiences I have had in a restaurant and I don’t plan...

I don't know where these people are eating that are giving 5 star reviews, but I guess they don't get out much. My friend ordered 3 soft shell beef tacos, and was told they did not come with tomatoes. What taco doesn't come with tomatoes? I mean really? I ordered a tamale as a side, and what I got was a log of steamed masa with some kind of sauce with crumbled mystery meat. I'm sorry, but a tamale is supposed to have the meat inside with masa on the outside all steamed in a nice little package. I guess the sauce was to hide the fact there was "no" filling, just a hunk of masa or maybe that's the lazy version of a tamale. The restaurant was busy that day, but the waitress was unfriendly and seemed to be put out when we asked her anything. She gave us short, curt answers as if to say "don't bother me." Needless to say, we won't be returning. And to all you 5 star voters, you need to get out more and try a different Mexican restaurant with good Mexican food served with a smile. Heck, Mighty was even...