El Parral Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

El Parral is a restaurant brand that I have patronized since the early 2000s. The location in Martinsville is by far the best I will go out of my way to visit this one.

If there could be a better Mexican restaurant among traditional fare, I cannot imagine it.

I live far enough away that I cannot come that often but when I get the opportunity, I do and after almost 20 years of coming here, it is only got better and more consistent.

They just do everything right.

Drinks are on point, service is on point, even the host staff is on point.

And there has never been a dish brought to anyone in our parties that had anything but rave reviews.

The portion sizes are huge, and it's not just filler, if you get ACP you get more P than A, and plenty of queso.

They just seem to balance everything perfectly, the salsa has spice to it but not so hot and that allows for almost anyone to eat it.

The traditional sauces like mole and ranchero are perfectly balanced and superbly made.

Finally, one of the hallmarks of Mexican food in America is a quality cheese dip that is thin enough to be a liquid but sticks to the chip and has at least a faint taste and color of jalapeno.

They hit this out of the park.

If you're ever passing through Martinsville do yourself a favor and stop here you will...

My wife little boy and I wanted to go here to eat for my fathers day. We get there the lady set us down at a booth. They were.a little busy but people leaving all the time. The waiter took our order. So we waited for.about an hour the waiter never told us hes sorry its taking so long. But little earlier i noticed he was leaned up against the wall and looked at us with a smerk on his face. Me.and my son went to the bathroom come back i asked my wife they still haven't come with food? She said no. But a young white man and a older man. Had set down at a table 45 minutes after we was there my waiter was bringing there food. I told my waiter we were gonna leave so he went into the kitchen come back out and says nothin. We were done wrong and i told other people of this . We were the only black people as far as i could see. I got home and called the manager he said its fathers day im sorry but instead got nasty with me and hung up. Ill never or we want ever go back there again. This is not my 1st problem there. That time we stayed away about 2 yrs. But this time its forever. No one treats us with disrespect .Ill give them a 2nd chance and then thats it!!! El parrell is closed down as far as im...

Called ahead by 2 days wanting to make reservations for 16 people. Told we don't take them. Just show up and we will find you a table. Due to that fact half of our party was seated in a different part of the restaurant. Again, when they ask for the party of .... We don't do reservations. When we did get seated drink orders were taken, and the bar was behind. Our cutlery for most was dirty. The waiter took food orders ....... Waited 45 minutes and 4 orders didn't get made, and 1/2 of the orders were cold. We had to ask every time a refill was needed. I would suggest they start taking reservations. That way the wait staff, chefs and their peers aren't caught off guard. The front of house staff needs retraining in serving technique. The chefs need to have better time management . They and sous chefs should be working together to make sure orders or out together and food is hot. Front of house staff do not need to take plates that aren't theirs, so they can serve their quest first. All of the above and more could have been avoided if reservations were taken, because extra wait staff, etc. could have been scheduled and not overwhelmed. As Fridays are a busy night for...