El Centenario — Restaurant in Waynesville

The first time I ate here was at dinner about a week ago with my wife. It was very busy. The situation at the door is awkward. The cash register is immediately on the right, just inside the door. There's a booth immediately on the left, just inside the door. There was a line of people trying to pay at the register when we walked in, nowhere to hang out if you're waiting for a table, way too jammed up at the door.

Someone came to seat us right away, but he was obviously a little frazzled trying to figure out where to put us. I told him we didn't mind waiting if he needed some time. He told us no, he would seat us right away, and he brought us to a VERY dirty booth. We asked a staff member to help us get the booth cleaned up. He wiped the table and seats with a wet cloth, then gestured for us to sit on the wet seats. The booth was super uncomfortable, hard seats, way too close together. My wife and I are not large people, but we spent the entire meal pushing the table back and forth at each other.

The building used to be a Burger King. It seems like all the original industrial lights are still installed. It is very bright inside the restaurant. The music was way too loud. Our booth was situated in a corner, immediately adjacent to the kitchen entrance. There was another table VERY close. Staff members had to squeeze between our booth and the adjacent table to get in and out of the kitchen. So our whole meal was in this tiny wet booth in a loud, bright room, with busy staff constantly rushing past.

A very nice server brought us chips and salsa right away. The chips were alright, but the salsa was just zesty tomato sauce.

We ordered a sampler appetizer, and shared fajitas with a side plate of rice. The sampler was plain. THE FAJITAS WERE AMAZING!!!! The rice was cold. The beans were terrible. I asked for water several times and never got it. I asked for napkins several times and never got them. We each had one drink. This all came to about $60, which is fine for the food and drinks we ordered, but we did not have a $60 experience.

I feel like most of the negativity with this meal was because we dined in, and I understand everything isn't always 100% great every time, so I decided to try again. This time I ordered take out for lunch. When I went inside to pick up the meal, the music was even louder than it was the first time. It isn't a speaker setup for general ambiance. It's just a radio at the register turned up really loud. Everyone inside was yelling their conversations at each other, which just made it even louder.

I got fajitas for myself, and I got a chicken taco salad for my coworker. The salsa was even more plain today than it was the first time, and the chips were super greasy this time. My fajitas were excellent again, but the rice and beans were cold, and the beans were terrible again. My coworker says her taco salad shell tasted like it was fried in dirty old grease. She got 3 bites into her meal, then threw it...

Delicious Mexican food! Upon arrival, my husband and I were kindly greeted, seated at a clean booth, and brought warm chips and medium salsa. Both my husband and I ordered the lunch quesadillas fajitas with steak. The food was wonderful; the meat and veggies were grilled perfectly, it had great flavor, I recommend this dish. Although I ordered the lunch (smaller) quesadillas fajitas, I only ate half; the portion for me was enough for two meals. Both the server and the other front of house employee kept checking on us, providing great service. The food was prepared pretty quickly, great for those driving through (it is close to the 44), and convenient for locals. Initially, I was apprehensive about eating here because there are gas pumps in front of the restaurant and a gas station store in the same building next door. Goodness, I was proven wrong. We returned a second time, and I ordered a chimicanga. The chimicanga was good, but the quesadillas fajitas was excellent. Five stars to El Centenrio for food, service, and...

The Waynesville/St Roberts has a new Mexican restaurant that can compete with the old school ones in town. The food is top notch. I ordered the taquitos plate that came with guacamole, rice and beans plus a small salad. The Taquitos were perfectly cooked, crunchy but not hard and the meat was very tasty. My wife had the Chili Colorado with rice and beans. The chili was so tasty with a savory but not too spicy red chili. The only thing that was disappointing was the small amount of rice and beans that came with the meals. Especially with the chili meal we’re use to having enough rice with every bite of the chili. But we’re definitely going back. They also have a liquor license so can’t wait to try a margarita! Parking can also be a challenge when they’re busy. FYI there is the drive-through so you can park on that side of...