El Sarape Mexican Cuisine and Tequila Bar — Restaurant in Whitpain Township

El Sarape is one of my top restaurants i eat at. I came with two of my cousins who have been here plenty of times as well. The service as always was fantastic! Our server Hosea was very attentive and very nice. The food is typically on point, but there were a few items that weren't. The rice that is served with the bacon wrapped crab stuffed shrimp had no flavor at all and the rice was sticky. That's not usual for the particular dish. The corn chowder soup had the same great flavor, but the soup was very cold. You didn't even have to cool it off first before you ate it. The guacamole is usually a must have, but today it was no good. The only thing you can taste was the overkill of peppers. The reason for the 4 star of the atmosphere, is I noticed they removed some of the decor. It was very plane looking without the decor. My male cousine reported he even noticed in the men's room, the artwork is no longer there. It seems as though they switched management and they wanted the decor taken down. I'm not sure what the reasoning of not having it decorated, but it was noticbly plane looking. And lastly the music. Oh boy, I felt like it was a little too showtoonish, (not a word, I know) I felt like maybe a casino would play that music or on a cruise ship. It was not catchy or authentic to the restaurant. Yes, it was in the Latin family, it just isn't the vibe I'm used to. Yes, I would still recommend the place, but it's giving me the vibe of it may potentially start...

This is a review of El Sarape's customer service, not the food. My husband and I stopped in for lunch on our way to work nearby on a Friday afternoon at 250pm. I have dietary restrictions so I had checked out their lunch menu ahead of time and even called to inquire about some ingredients. We were seated right away as the restaurant was empty, save for one table. As I looked over the menu I wasn't seeing anything I had called about listed, but I noticed we were given the dinner menu. Again, it was 250p when we arrived. I went over to the bartender, whom had seated us and asked if lunch was over. He said, lunch ends at 3p, but they stop giving the menu out at 245p. It's 255p at this point. I told him that I had planned to order from the lunch menu and he asked what it is I wanted; a veggie burrito. He said no, there's no burrito on the dinner menu. I said in that case I would have to leave because there was nothing I could eat on the dinner menu and he just said, ok...so we left. In this climate when many restaurants are struggling to keep their doors open, is it wise to let customers walk out of the door because of arbitrary and inflexible policies? After all, it was STILL lunchtime!!! What was going to happen if they made a burrito at 255p instead of 245p? I just found it all irresponsible, rude and very bad customer service. El Sarape had the opportunity to gain a customer, but instead they lost one...over 5 minutes...

I am so upset with the experience my family had at El Sarape this past weekend. For YEARS, El Sarape has been a neighborhood favorite for folks in Blue Bell, Whitpain and Worcester Township. I've been to El Sarape multiple times over the past 15 years, and this was likely my last visit. I'm posting this review publicly, so I can be contacted.

On a Friday afternoon I made a reservation through Yelp for my parents and I. We got dressed up and excited to go, exhausted from a long work week. We know that El Sarape is known for their great cuisine. We were seated immediately as we arrived, but no one even stopped by to say hello for 30 minutes. The restaurant was not busy, and a group of staff were huddled by the host bar up front, standing idle. We made eye contact multiple times, and attempted to flag down a server, to no avail. Finally, after a half hour, a server came over and said verbatim "I see that you all are looking at me, but I'm not your server. You can can complain to whoever, what do you want from the menu." At that point, my mother was visibly upset and told the staff member that we had been waiting for 30 minutes, and that his condescending attitude was the final straw. I did not appreciate the rude tone we were addressed with by that particular server, it made us feel like were helpless customers, and not valued patrons.

Thanks, but no...