El Sur Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Tucson

Meh. Came here only because my in-laws frequent this place.

The service is top-notch for a restaurant of this caliber, but as a foodie and a Mexican cuisine aficionado, the food falls flat for me (everything we had anyway). It's just average because home cooked meals by someone's grandma or mom at home are easily way better.

Also, I asked for corn tortillas for my tacos... They gave me flour. The chicharon in the tacos is actual hard chicharron, not the soft one with green sauce. You're going to be chewing A LOT. Later that evening, the food didn't make me sick, it just really didn't sit well with my entire party.

This place wouldn't even be on my radar as a choice for Mexican, but again, I came here because my in-laws are regulars, but that's about it.

Any curiosity I had, is definitely gone.

Food 2- stars Service 5 stars Atmosphere - 2 stars

PS- I know what Carnitas are. I wanted soft chicharron, with salsa Verde (tomatillo) like I've had many times before. This was my first time ordering chicharron in a Mexican restaurant, where it comes out like Carnitas, except with tasty fat on it.

In Miami, I'd expect chicharron like the one I received from this restaurant, because of Cuban influence. I know it can be made several ways. The fried, dry, tough nuggets just doesn't do it for me. The Carne asada was lacking flavor to where it just tasted like just "meat." My whole family makes better tasting Carne asada. How can you mess up that flavor? Salt, pepper, a little of the mear with a little fat left in it for added flavor, maybe add some beer over it to finish, and done. The Carne asada here...I didn't even finish my second one of the 3 that II ordered because it was...

Came here on a Saturday for dinner with a couple of friends, first time for all of us. We were visiting from out of town, followed the prior good reviews and wanted to support a local restaurant. We were immediately sat at a table. It wasn’t overly busy or crowded. Two of us had chimichangas that came completely bare/dry, lacked any of the usual toppings/garnish such as melted cheese, guacamole, sour cream, etc.. When you order a chimichanga you don’t expect just a plain fried burrito..and no, the server did not ask if anything was wanted to be added. The chicken filling of one of the chimis was moist but flavorless. The other chimi had beef which was seasoned well but the overall bareness left much to be desired. Another one of us received cold beans, lukewarm rice and the most dry carne asada tacos I’ve ever seen which consisted of a single, paper thin corn tortilla and overcooked meat. They were cold as well. Garnish was a side of shredded lettuce and diced tomato. Not a wedge of lime in sight. Chips were served with both a hot and mild salsa. Both tasted really flavorful and fresh. We had to drown our food in it to make our food easier to go down. Like another reviewer mentioned, we, too, had three different people come to our table sometimes asking the same questions, albeit they were all very pleasant and helped to mitigate our unimpressive food experience. However, the food was why we came. We really wanted to love this place and were hoping to make it our go-to whenever we visit Tucson. Unfortunately, this isn’t it and our meal experience left us rather confused by the prior...

I've eaten at this restaurant for over 20 years. There were times I ate there 3 times a week! The food was always great, service was good and the prices were amazing. Unfortunately, the last time we were there, the food and service were abysmal. My green corn tamales were very undercooked. The masa hadn't been steamed enough, it was like oatmeal, not solid and formed. I talked with the waitresses supervisor. He said he was the owner's son. After saying I had been coming to the restaurant for many years, I showed him the tamales and said the masa needed to be cooked longer. Normally, the owner would have immediately apologized, maybe offer a free guacomole, and gladly had the dish recooked. He finally said the tamales would be redone. After 10 minutes or so, the 2 tamales were brought out- no presentation, no pico- only 2 unwrapped tamales on a plate. This time, only part of the inside wasn't cooked enough. I was extremely disappointed. I've eaten at many Mexican eateries, all over the US and through Mexico, as far as Oaxaca- and El Sur had always been in the top tier of very good, tasty places to eat. They were always well worth eating at. After this experience, I don't know if I even want to go back to see if this was a one time mistake. I'd welcome a chance to talk with the owner, she had great customer service, a great place to eat, and knew her customers. We'll see, I'll keep an eye on my review. Susan

Old review. Good food, very reasonable priced, and great service! We eat there at least once a week. I'm very sensitive to MSG and I...