El Toro Mexican Food — Restaurant in Universal City

If you're looking for an authentic Mexican restaurant that serves fresh Mexican food that rivals the Mexican food served at the Blanco Cafe--but at a more reasonable price--then you need to take a trip down to El Toro Mexican Food, located at 809 Pat Booker Rd in Universal City, TX, about seven blocks north of Randolph AFB.

El Toro is a true taqueria. And so, it opens very early in the morning to serve breakfast tacos, but only stays open through lunch until 2:00 PM, seven days a week.

I have always taken my family to El Toro to dine inside the small restaurant. Their lunch plate combos are outstanding. Even though their plates are priced reasonably, they don't scrimp on the amount or the quality of the food.

My favorite plate is the #10 El Toro Deluxe Plate. The cheese enchiladas are great, and the meat sauce/gravy topping them is very savory. The puffy taco is very good, but be sure you eat it first, before digging into the rest of this plate, since it's prone to getting soggy over time, just from the sheer heat generated by the sizzling-hot plate itself. The carne guisada soft tacos are lean, tender, and tasty. And the flour tortillas are handmade from scratch, which I always view as being a good sign that I'm about to eat some truly authentic, San Antonio-style Mexican food. And I always substitute an order of El Toro's delicious cube-cut, seasoned Mexican-style potatoes (a.k.a. "papas") for the beans, since I'm not a big fan of refried beans.

And make sure to have a glass of fresh-brewed, unsweetened iced tea with your meal while you're there eating. They only have one size: large. But talk about yummy! My son, who tends to prefer drinking Dr. Pepper, with his meals at restaurants, always orders unsweetened iced tea at El Toro whenever we go there for lunch. And then, he inevitably asks for an iced tea to-go, before we leave El Toro. And so do I. Enough said.

My very first time eating at El Toro was in 2011, and I have been going back there ever since, whenever I get hankering for some truly authentic, San Antonio-style Mexican food. This small, unassuming restaurant is well over 10 miles away from where I currently live. But I keep going back there, because El Toro Mexican Food has never let me down in regard to the quality and taste of their food, coupled with their very reasonable...

In the area from Houston for a tournament. Found this little place on line and it had the best review of anywhere around. Food was pretty good, especially for the price. They bring salsa to the table in squeeze bottles with chips. It was also good. As I took my last bite of chicken fajitas, I noticed another table received two containers of salsa, one red and one green. I looked around and all the tables had the same except me. After my waitress walked by my table for several minutes and finally stopped I asked her why didn't she give me the green salsa. She responded that they were low on it so I had to request it. I said that was not accurate as the table seated after me in another section was brought two bottles as soon as they sat before the waitress even spoke with them. Then she again said I had to request it. I said I'm from Houston, how would I know that. Then I get deer in highlights and an insincere apology. Then she didn't even bring the check, I had to go and get it to pay. I still gave her tip. Shared my experience and the manager said come back and I will take care of you. I don't think so. Too many places in the area I can take my family and...

Of the dozen Mexican restaurants in Universal City, I found El Toro to be the least inspired. Perhaps it's because it's the only restaurant around that's not serving "Jalisco style" Mexican (and why Jalisco, a state located in the middle of Mexico, is so well-represented in San Antonio is beyond me).

I went with the Ellie Special, as well, with a cheese enchilada, chalupa, and crispy taco. Each of these is exactly what you expect - ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. The chalupa was really a tostada, the difference between the two being that the former is based upon fried masa dough (not unlike an unshaped puffy taco), whereas the latter is a fried tortilla. What I received was definitely a fried tortilla. Beans and rice were forgettable.

The only things that stood out in my mind was the tortillas, which were fresh, and the salsa was respectable. Aside from these, I don't think El Toro offered enough to make me a...