El Cerro Grande Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Wilmington

UPDATE: I was given an opportunity to give El Cerro a second chance. We went back for a late lunch. Salsa was better this time with more flavor and wasn’t watery. They had a limited time specials page of enchiladas and I got the Del Mar. I was impressed with how much better these enchiladas were from the last. Much more flavor and covered in a tasty mix of sauce and cheese. Boyfriend had the burrito Cancun and it was also good! The food came out quickly but service was again a little slow in terms of getting our chips and salsa and also waiting awhile for the check at the end. Overall El Cerro has redeemed itself but I can’t say I won’t still be looking around for another place to try and find something as great as what I’m used to.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I can't say I've ever had "bad" mexican food until eating here. I love mexican and have been to many excellent places and some average places but this was truly bad. I had the enchiladas supremas which was essentially 4 cold flour tortillas covered with canned red enchilada sauce: one with just cheese, one with plain refried beans, one with ground beef that tastes like packet taco sauce, and the same was true for the chicken one. It was topped with sour cream and soggy chopped tomatoes which in my opinion should have been pico de gallo. There was no authentic mexican flavor present, felt very much like an american pass off, I could have cooked it better myself. After one bite of each I did not continue. My boyfriend had the la grande chimichanga which was actually edible but still quite bad and lacking any mexican flavor. A chimichanga, by definition, is a fried burrito and there was nothing fried about this, soggy would be a better description. On a positive note it did have a hardy serving of pulled pork inside. Service was slow and salsa was also tasteless. Had a shot of 1800 tequila which was $8 and listed as patron on my receipt, when I asked the waiter he said the 1800 was the same price as the patron. In what world is patron the same price as 1800? I have recently moved to the area and am shocked this was recommended by...

Our food took a really long time to come to the table. We ordered chrioqueso dip and it came out in a half full bowl with a film on top from sitting for so long. When our meals finally arrived, they were Luke warm and my daughter's food had pico all over it, after she asked for no pico. The server said he would correct it, but he brought her plate back with the pico picked off because her tortillas were soggy from the tomato juice and her refried beans still had the pico liquid in them that had dripped from the tacos. It was obvious they removed the pico and added more cabbage, they didn't replace anything. Her food was returned room temperature with the soggy tortillas. She was so disappointed. My food - a pork burrito - came out Luke warm and it was more fatty than meat. We ordered grilled jalapeños as a side, we never got those. I pulled solid chunks of unrendered fat out. It was so unappetitizing. The rice was also flavorless. My beer remained empty my entire meal. I was never asked if I need another one. We were all very disappointed. My son is leaving for boot Camp and we wanted a day at the beach and a nice meal for him & his wife before he departs. My daughter almost cried. I felt terrible that we chose this place to celebrate. It ruined our night, to be honest. I would never recommend this place to anyone. Service was awful, food was mediocre at best and served Luke warm after a ridiculous wait time. They didn't even try to fix my daughter's food. 4 out of 5 of us work in restaurants, we get it. This was inexcusable. If you replace tacos, at least put it in a fresh tortilla. I regret this experience and we will not return. I hope they learn something from this review and at least serve their future patrons warmfood that comes out prepared correctly. This is the bare minimum you would expect at...

Over all dinner was great. The atmosphere was pleasant, the food was delicious, and our server Camila was very nice.

The issue came when we went to check out. We didn't know if we were supposed to take our check to the register or if our server would come take the payment from us.

After a few minutes we took our ticket to the register and were treated so rudely by Belen that we won't likely be back any time soon.

When we approached Belen looked directly at us, face completely deadpan. I attempted to hand her my debit card and ticket, and asked if this is where we pay. She ignored me and turned to a woman on her left to look at a powder compact the other woman had taken out of a makeup bag.

Our server approached and offered to take our ticket, just as I say to Belen and the other woman, "it's horrible customer service to look at someone like they're stupid, when they're trying to pay for dinner, but you're too busy looking at makeup to help them."

Granted, I didn't need to say anything, but I was embarrassed by being treated with indifference like I should have known better than to try and pay my check at the register.

Belen then says, "you can't just hand us something you have to say something", to which I replied, "I asked you if this is where we check out." She then stated snarkily, "well your server is here, so she can answer you."

I turned to our server and asked if she could help us and she nodded and started the process of checking us out.

I just shook my head and paid the bill, making sure to tip Camila 25%, so she would know I had no issues with her.

As we were leaving, I told Belen she was rude and she replied in a sarcastic sing song tone, "have a...