El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Urbandale

Here's the deal. This place used to be THE PLACE to go to back in the day. I remember coming here as a kid, waiting for an hour to get a seat, finally hearing your last name on the speakers outside because you were waiting to get in.. and everyone always saying "LETS GO TO EL RODEO FOR OUR BIRTHDAY!" -They used to sing to you, and have fun with you. Plus, the food was AMAZING!

Sadly, this isn't the case anymore. My mom had her birthday party here. -luckily, there wasn't a wait (because the restaurant was almost empty) and when we got sat down, it took our waitress 10 minutes to get our drinks, I'll admit, it was a party. However, thats over one minute per drink, and half of us ordered water. We then waited for the waitress to come back (in that time we opened my mom's presents) and waited. And waited. Finally, she came back, took our order, and we got to wait some more. -about the average time for the food to come out for our size party, which is why I gave one star, The food came out on time I'd say. However, the food wasn't as good as some of the other local places. The other star was for the memories of when I was a kid. Hoping that maybe management will shape up and make all the people who work there, not act like they are about to commit suicide.

So yeah, service was dreadful, the food was sub par, I mean, it used to be amazing. But it wasn't as good as the other local Mexican restaurants.

If you're wanting me to tell you to go here, you're not going to get that. Go somewhere else. Seriously. This place used to be great. But not...

To say this place is mediocre would be giving it too much credit! First of all our waiter could barely understand English. When we ordered a chicken quesadilla (that was listed at $4) he did not inform us of the other option a grilled chicken quesadilla that was over two dollars more. He put in a "grilled chicken quesadilla" as our order. Which was NOT what we wanted nor did we order it. Second, the atmosphere was horrid; torn carpets, dirty tables and rushed service. Lastly the food: There were many things wrong here, the first thing ordered was a chicken quesadilla. It was by far the most disappointing. The shell was not even toasted, the chicken was barley warm and it was not cut at all. Next, we both ordered a chimichanga (at any other Mexican restaurant I have ever been to the chimichanga is as big as the plate) when our order got to our table our plate consisted of a four inch long by one inch wide 'chimichanga'. The order also came with rice, beans and lettuce. The plate was 1/3 lettuce. To say the proportions were a huge disappointment is an understatement! The worst part of it is that the food was SO bland! No flavor, no spice, NOTHING! I could see what I was eating but there was nothing to remotely suggest it was a Mexican dish. The food itself was beyond the worst I have ever had at any restaurant. This is no Mexican restaurant! Sadly we payed for this horridly disappointing meal. We even had to pay for the surcharge on the 'grilled chicken quesadilla' that we...

Extremely Disappointed – Used to Be My Favorite Spot

I’ve been coming to El Rodro since they first opened, but sadly, things have really gone downhill. Today’s visit was the final straw. I placed a simple to-go order and still had a terrible experience.

First off, the meat smelled like dog food—no exaggeration. It looked off-color and nothing like it used to. It was honestly scary to eat. The rest of the food was just as bad—looked and tasted awful. To make things worse, I was charged extra for something I wasn’t told about, and they forgot my drink.

When I tried to call and speak to a manager, they hung up on me multiple times—I hadn’t even said what I was calling about yet. Finally, I called from a different number and they picked up. The woman I spoke to passed me to a man who wasn’t a manager and told me to “call back when a manager is in.” Seriously?

The customer service was unacceptable, and I’m so disappointed because this used to be one of my go-to places. I don’t know what’s changed behind the scenes, but unless they turn things around, I won’t be coming back.

Lunch order placed 10/4...