El Portal — Restaurant in Truro Township

The service was good, and our server was quick and responsive. However, I'm sad to say that the food was not good quality. The steak fajita tasted very bland and without seasoning. The vegetables had already gone way past their prime, and was accompanied by steak that was either very old or a bad cut of beef to begin with: chewy and very strongly tasting of liver. The rice tasted like it had been sitting around for a long time and then reheated.

My gut feeling was that food is not being turned over quickly enough, so all the ingredients are aging badly by the time they are used in the dishes. The queso and chips were decent, but that was the only satisfying part of the meal.

There was a nicely maintained fenced-in patio, but the inside is very dated and a bit disheveled - the furnishings, walls, and carpet could use some love and attention for sure. We were two of four people eating at the restaurant, and there were no additional parties that came in or called for takeout while we were there. Not a promising vibe.

They could probably turn things around if they invested time and money into turning it quality food - there's really not another sit-down Mexican restaurant in the immediate vicinity. They've been in Reynoldsburg at this location for such a long time, and I do wish these guys all the best. It can't have been easy to keep business going for the past few years.

But until I read reviews showing improvement, I think I would rather spend my money at Fogoncito...

If I could rate less than a One I would! Went for lunch On Sunday the 23rd of April 2023. At 1st I thought it was closed for no one was in the parking lot no 1 were in the booths or in the restaurant except for 1 person eating lunch which turned out to be a worker. He acted as if he was doing us a favor to see us after which we were giving salsa that looked like it was way out of date we ordered drinks which took forever to get again he was too busy eating and there was no one I mean no 1 in there. He was acting as if he was inconvenienced with us being there service was beyond A visible his attitude was that of Being inconvenienced and letting you know it. We decided to leave and left our soft drinks on the counter of which we paid for the soft thanks he did not care if we stayed or went and now you know why but I could tell why no one was there. If you are interested in is use an air of inconvenience horrific service then this is the place for you! There is a reason why it was empty and I witnessed and experienced it 1st hand I'm trying to keep you from...

This is a typical Mexican restaurant. You go in, they take your drink order, you're given chips and salsa, you select from a wide selection of menu items.

A few strange things stood out to me at first. We were greeted and seated by the waitress (ok, not strange), than the owner took our drink order, followed by a third person (potentially the chef) taking our food order. Why couldn't the waitress do all this? The furniture in the place was decades old, felt like Gordon Ramsey could have appeared at any moment to do a sudden remodel of the place.

Now for the worst bits....

It took over 30 minutes to be served our food. I ordered fajitas and was never given tortillas. The pork was jerky dry, chorizo was burnt, and the steak was flavorless and potentially spoiled (had a strange buttery taste). Their rice was flavorless and a bit dry.

This was my families first and last experience at...