El Salto Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Valparaiso

I was pretty excited to experience a New Mexican restaurant, as lately I’ve been doing so much of a pizza haul. Sometimes I just need a big Margarita, so that’s what I did. Well, of course I got food as well!

This Mexican spot is located in a little plaza-type area. There was plenty of parking. My girlfriend and I went inside and waited a moment to get seated. It was pretty quick. They seated us at a booth. The restaurant is clean and kept up with. Our waitress came to our table rather fast. I ordered a diet soda and we got a 50oz Traditional Lime Margarita On The Rocks.

The diet soda was in a decent sized cup and it was very refreshing. The Margarita was huge! It was served in a very large glass-type serving cup. It was a smooth drink. The salt around the rim topped things off nicely and geez, this thing got my vision furry. Make sure you share this one with a partner, because I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had it all to myself. The drink was $22.00, but they didn’t cheap out on alcohol or quality!

We ordered a Small 8oz Guacamole Dip for an Appetizer and I got the Burrito El Salto for my meal. They brought us chips and salsa to start with. I doused them in salt and pepper. The chips were great quality and the salsa was a very nice blend of chunky meets blended. It had a nice spice to it that aroused as I went on. These were an awesome start to show us their food!

The Guacamole was crafted nicely and served in a sufficient holder. It was enjoyable to say the least. I recommend it.

Our food came out really fast. I was surprised. It seemed like we ordered and waited about four minutes. The burrito was a pleasant size and filled with grilled chicken, steak, bacon, beans, sour cream, guacamole, and cheese. It was topped with tomatillo sauce and cheese sauce. It also came with lettuce, tomatoes, and an avocado slice. To rate the dish as a whole, I’d give it around a three out of five stars. I’d say it was too heavy on the beans, which took away from other flavors periodically. I wish it came with rice, but it did not. It was $16.00, so it wasn’t the cheapest. The lettuce and tomatoes were nice to have on the side and were good. I didn’t try the avocado slice. I’d also say that it would have been better if only one sauce was present on the top of the burrito opposed to two.

The service was really fast here. We were helped by multiple people. Our waitress was very friendly. Everyone worked as a superstar team.

Overall, I enjoyed everything on a higher spectrum. I would definitely make changes to my burrito next time or order something different. This place has superior quality, so I would definitely have no issues or worries ordering a different dish. If you’ve had some bad Mexican food in your life lately and want the real deal, look no further. Try out El Salto and be prepared for a night you won’t forget. You might forget it if you take down a 50oz Margarita....

I used to love this place. I've been to the Schererville and Munster locations several times before I moved to Valpo so I was excited they had a location here. I ate in a few times but have mostly been doing carry out as of late as it is easy to grab on my way home. But each time I've been more and more disappointed. A few times stuff has been missing from my order. I call and they are quick to fix, with another trip to pick up the missed items. But once I got home and it was the completely wrong meal but I was too hungry and tired to care to call or go back to get it fixed. Most recently was last night when I decided I'd get it for my birthday dinner. Again few missing items and required another trip there to fix. Very disappointing each time. And the quality hasn't been so good as of late either. My meal and my parents last night was sub par and not very flavorful, dad got the steak tacos and he said it was very dry, mom got mixed fajitas and there wasn't really any veggies. And another note... don't offer a rewards program if it's not going to actually be kept track of. They were transitioning between programs and about 4 of my visits were not added. I called a few times and spoke to Jose (I think he's the manager) as all the employees say he is the only one that knows the program, and even took a few of my old receipts (about $120 worth!!) I had to be added and handed them to him directly when I picked up another order, assured they would all be added to the new program. Called the next week and was told he still had to do it. Well it's been probably 2 months now and still not added, I stopped calling to ask. But as much as I had been going (almost weekly), it would have been nice to use some rewards on a small queso or a few bucks off my next meal. I think I'll take another break for a while and hopefully when its nicer to eat outside again, I'll give them another try. They still do have some of the best...

Was in town to visit family and they took us to this restaurant for dinner. Before going we saw on the website that they had several vegetarian combinations shown. I also called beforehand to confirm the refried beans did not contain lard and was told they did not, only vegetable oil. At the restaurant I asked the waitress to confirm that there was no lard in the beans to be sure and she said that the beans were made with lard and she also advised that the vegetarian combos were no longer offered when I inquired about them, even though they are shown on the website menu. She later came back and said that the beans did not have lard, but at that point I no longer was confident in what I was being told. I asked several other questions about the menu and the waitess acted very annoyed and was very condending with her answers to the point I didn't feel comfortable asking anything further because of how she was speaking to me. She was perfectly friendly to everyone else in my party except myself. She also acted put out when I asked for additional sour cream for my meal. I had ordered my child's burritos with no sauce / plain, but when they came out they had sauce on them. I mentioned this to the waitress and she just looked at me like I was stupid. At that point I just said I would scrape it off so to not cause any not issues. The margaritas were not very good and had no flavor. I ended ordering a veggie quesidilla and it tasted ok. It's sad how rude waitstaff can ruin an entire dining experience, regardless of how good the food might be. It's not that hard to be kind but unfortunately our waitress doesn't share that view point. The waiter working the patio was nicer to us on our way in and out than she was our entire time there. The menu has no indication or marking of what is or is not vegetarian. I would not return due to the...