El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Walla Walla

I need to preface this review with the fact that I’m a Texan and know what Mexican food is supposed to taste like.

I thought I’d give this place a whirl even though I am so far north. We’ll start off with the great and work our way down from there. The atmosphere and staff were phenomenal. It’s a beautiful place and we served quickly.

We started off with some queso blanco and it was decent. The plate was piping hot which kept the tortilla chips and queso nice and warm. The chips were fresh and crunchy. The salsa had to have been homemade. It was excellent and although I’m guessing no two salsas would be same, the quality definitely would be.

The pollo en mole came with rice and refried beans. The best part was the mole and chicken. The mole had a nice flavor with a hint of sweet. I’m guessing that may have been a fruit or chocolate additive. It wasn’t typically deep, rich, or complex as a solid mole. It feels like they may have only used guajillo chiles or a substitute. A good mole will have you wanting. This mole will at the very least leave you satisfied. The rice and beans had zero seasoning. They were both very underwhelming. However they do have salt at the table which I guess would work.

I tried the poblano, taco, tostada, enchilada plate all with ground beef. We’ll go from best to worst here too. The best was the poblano. It tasted like it was fresh and it was heavily covered in cheese. Again, no seasoning but because the poblano was fresh as well as the cheese, it was passable. The salsa roja on the enchilada seemed to be store bought. A good guajillo sauce takes no time at all at very few ingredients but it didn’t taste like this place took the time to make their own. Then we had the taco which was another store bought shell and stuffed with fresh vegetables and the slightly seasoned beef. The tostada was basically the same as the taco but in tostada form. The beef on this plate was a tad seasoned but nothing to write home about. It also had to have been frozen at some point. I thought these people had cows around this place. Would it have been so hard to run out back and chop one up??

Finally, the desserts. The flan was flavorful but it felt prepackaged. The fried ice cream was definitely prepackaged and the breading had a sandy feel to it. The ice cream itself was smooth but had no flavor. If you’re unawares, a good vanilla ice cream enhances the flavors of everything else you eat. By itself, it should have delicate flowery notes. But this thing??… the best part was the canned whipped cream.

So what’s the verdict? If you’ve never had Mexican food before, after you’ve eaten here… you still haven’t. But you will be full and satiated. This is not a place to avoid but also not something to actively seek out. If you want an okay meal that’ll fill you up, this is your spot. If you like bland food then you’ll definitely...

Our family has actually been here several times since moving to Walla Walla, and it is one of our favorite places to go. We each have our favorite dish here, but sometimes we try different things and they may be hit or miss. We like the chips as they are the thinner, crispy type, and we like the two salsas they give - hubby loves the regular salsa that has a little more cumin, and I love the cabbage salsa that has a little extra tang. Our young son is a tamale aficionado and that is all he ever wants. The ones here are not necessarily his favorite because they have more meat than he would like, but that is usually what most people would appreciate about a good tamale. To me, personally, these tamales are my favorite and sometimes I go in wanting something else, but wind up getting the tamales because I love them so much. The masa is not the fluffy type, which I appreciate - they are deliciously tender and I can taste the lard. To me, that's how they should be. I will keep coming for those. The chile relleno is not a battered pepper, but is more like a chile omelette with cheese inside. It's good, but not an authentic style. The fajitas are okay, but not our favorite as they are light on the meat and don't come out sizzling. Hubby's favorite are the enchiladas. He says they are very good and have lots of meat and he loves the cheese on top. The shrimp cocktail (coctel de cameron) is different to me (but apparently it's a thing in the area) in that it has small AND medium size shrimp. It is offered warm or cold, and the sauce it comes in requires a lot of doctoring to make it flavorful. The chile Colorado is mild and is not as flavorful as I'm used to. The shrimp with garlic (camarones al mojo de ajo) is okay, but again not as spectacular as would be expected, especially for the price. Many of the dishes are "American safe" and could use some gusto. They offer three types of beans - refried, charro and black - which is very nice. I enjoy the gravy and chile sauce they put on many of the dishes. The service people hustle, and for the most part have been great, but in this area with all the wine tourism, some of the service people in many businesses can come across as pretentious. There is a person here who seems particularly so, and once, when refilling our drinks, filled my husband's glass fully, but brought mine filled only halfway. It was odd. I'm always very polite and friendly with him (and the others, as I appreciate their hard work), but oftentimes he doesn't reciprocate, and I am left wondering what to think. Anyway, we do really like El Sombrero and it continues to be on our regular rotation. The place is clean and beautiful, and the owner is very friendly, floating around chit-chatting and asking how patrons are enjoying their experiences, which I really...

Dirty plate! Food was Mid, to be honest! Stop at this location as a convenient place to wait out of the hot Eastern Washington sun. Initially, I went in on Saturday to use the restroom and decided to sit at the bar and have a drink. The bar area was unattended. After 3-4 employees walked in and out of the kitchen without acknowledging me, or letting me know that someone would be with me, five minutes later, the person I assume was the bartender came and greeted me with a basket of chips and two different kinds of salsa. I sat there and had a shot of El Jimador tequila that cost me about $10.89 and I left. Their restroom was clean. The atmosphere is very chill. The second date I returned as a convenient place to wait for my date. Initially, I was going to sit at the bar again, but I wasn’t really impressed with service the day before so I have the young lady sit me in a booth where I could charge my phone and hang out for about an hour or so. The waitress greeted me with the same basket of chips and two sauces, and I requested refried beans. After she walked away, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted so after two or three times of her coming by, I decided on the two chicken enchiladas with rice and beans for $12.99. Food presentation was just OK. After taking one bite of my enchilada, I realized My plate was dirty! I understand these are family owned restaurants and I didn’t want to be that “kind of person“ that sits and eats and find something to complain about so I could have the item removed from my bill. My plate had dried parsley to it, and as you can see, the meal did not have parsley on top. Instead of making a stink about it high let the meal sit there and after being there for 30 to 40 minutes I was offered a box and I didn’t want to waste or throw the food away in front of them because I understand how hard it is to own and operate a business. I believe I paid about $26 for the enchilada and the shot of tequila I had and I left. Unfortunately, these kinds of details must be paid attention to. Instantly, when I seen the dried food stuck to the plate, I realized why my husband does not like to eat out. I’ve had food poisoning and I was sick for five days this year and I don’t ever want to repeat that. The food was just OK to me. The atmosphere is chill if you need a place to get out of the heat, but my plate was dirty, and that ruined my appetite. So, to the person or persons that on the restaurant, please require your staff to make sure the dishes are clean. This is a health hazard, and a lot of people cannot afford to be sick. Highly unimpressed. Maybe it was just a one time lack of care but this...