El Vaquero West (Lake Monticello) — Restaurant in Virginia

I really want to give this place a good review. I truly do. We used to visit this place weekly about 4 years ago. At the time it had decent service. Since then it seems they are always understaffed and there is a general lack of communication between both the wait staff and the kitchen and with the staff and their customers.

When we last visited, it was a bit chaotic on first entering. There was a large group waiting to be seated at the counter. We got in line behind them. As we waited for them to be seated several other people came in, bypassed the line, and took their own seat. There are no signs indicating wether you should seat yourself or wait to be seated. A sign would be helpful for anyone new to the restaurant.

After our seats were pointed out from across the room by a waiter and we took our seat, we asked for menus and waited about 20 more minutes before we got a different waiter to take our order. This waiter seemed to not know who had been seated where and was asking table by table if they had been served yet.

After he came by our table, we placed our order and took this opportunity to get a chip refill. Because of this, we opted for water as we were not sure if we would have another opportunity to get refills on their other drinks.

There seems to be a language barrier for certain employees which can lead to customer confusion. Signs would help with alleviating this issue (such as a seating sign). All of their menu items are numbered which also helps this issue. There isn’t a host/hostess at the front which exacerbates the seating issue as well. Checkout and payment occurs at the front which

Staffing shortage seems to be the norm. We did arrive at the end of what seemed to be the Sunday after church rush. It cleared out while we were eating and the service definitely improved. Perhaps they would benefit from extra staffing on Sunday lunch.

If you were to visit, I would plan on at least a 10 minute wait to be seated, 30 minutes before placing your order, and 15 minutes before...

We have eaten here for years. Had our share of great meals and less than great meals over those years. In fact we stopped patronizing The Cowboy for a time because they stopped seasoning their food it seemed.

Few Mexican restaurants season their beans and rice. Sure the rice "looks" seasoned, but its not really flavorful. This seems to be "authentic" because I have seen this at almost all Mexican places.

We have recently patronized this place again and the flavors seem to be back (except the rice and beans as aforementioned). The salsa is once again good and the dishes we have ordered are seasoned. We even ordered some chicken enchiladas verde to take home for dinner later and when I found out the filling had green peppers in it, I asked to substitute jalapenos because green peppers make me burp them for a couple days.

The chef or manager was brought out to be sure we understood each other. He was wearing what looked like a chefs coat. What our server could not articulate was the green peppers are already a part of the filling...it is pre-made (earlier). But he cooked down some jalapenos and made a custom order that still included the regular filling plus the jalapenos. It was good.

The language barrier can be an issue. We had a server that could barely speak any English a couple months ago and got orders wrong as a result. We tolerated it and didn't send anything back (I dont like to send anything back, I lost trust in kitchens years ago on that issue) but it would be nice if they would put their servers on Babble or something to learn English better. Meanwhile we are also trying to learn to order in Spanish, which really confuses them because I'm sure OUR accent is hard for them...

Times are a changing! This place was built on a strong work ethic and certainly a part of the community! I would always see them in the food lion when I got off of work! They have new owners and not so good as the past owners! The food was good back then! My taco supreme had plenty of beef with a very weird taste! I felt like it lake seasoning ! It had very little sour cream! The lettuce was abundant along with cheese! In the past each taco was wrapped in foil. This was displayed open , which probably made the soft shells hard and cold ! My bride enjoyed her tacos with refried beans and Mexican rice! The rice lacked flavor but beans were delicious! We did enjoy the chips , salsa and the very little amount of queso was cold ! Both felt like it was home made ! I thought the service was very lacking since we only ordered water! I felt like they continue to up sale! I just didn't like the quality and service! My bride thought it was ok! She agree it wasn't as good as the past! Only reason it is two days s the price was under $30. It is not much to choose from at lake Monticello! Ambiance is...