Lovely atmosphere, food, and service. Cozy, relaxed, intimate vibes. Perfect place for a date or girls night. The guacamole and chips are divine and their mocktails are fabulous.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Claudia Nikel
Great lunch or dinner spot. We ordered 2 appetizers for lunch (guacamole and queso) both which I recommend. The quessabirria was one of the best I have had in the lower mainland. The options for cocktails was great, more than just classic margaritas. The portion sizes were fairly big so recommend sharing mains if ordering appetizers. The service was great and they very attentive.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Taiya Dionne
Very friendly staff! Anja was a very lovely server. They were out of a couple of things my group wanted to order, but they brought out an appetizer for us on the house and got us to try one of the sauces for a dish they were out of so we could get it next time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Zarena Pash
The best of Mexico local.
Brook Hesseln
Very disappointing. When I was l last there, their take on Eggs Benedict was amazing! They were served over baked cornbread in shallow cast-iron skillets. It was magnificent!!!
This time, however, it was as if the eggs and hollandaise were plopped over two gigantic ice cream scoops of doughy cornbread batter. The poached eggs were under-done, with the whites being still clear.
The service was beyond underwhelming. We were one of 3 tables and actually had to flag the server down to place our order, even though we had been sitting with our menus closed for a solid 10 minutes!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Jonathan
The food and drinks tasted fine and the service was nice but charging $17 for 2 tacos is criminal and feels honestly kinda grimey considering the restaurant managers must know that most people need to eat 3-4 tacos to feel full.. so you’re basically making people order 2 sets of 2 tacos = $34 just for 4 tacos… in New Westminster. And also the tipping options gave me a big ick. I hate when restaurants try to confuse you by placing the 18% as the last option. If you want to receive a better tip, just offer better service, better food, better prices. Don’t do shady subtle tactics to try and swindle a higher tip %
Gabriela R
Beautiful décor and a warm, inviting atmosphere. The drinks were great, but the food was very disappointing. Fish tacos were mediocre, and the quesadilla lacked flavor — the pastor tasted frozen. The guacamole appetizer was mostly good, though one portion had under-ripe avocado. Even the lime for the tacos was so dry it had no juice. I wouldn’t recommend to anyone with how things are currently.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 3
Pedro Henrique
Wonderful atmosphere and great customer service! Kudos to our server Roberta, who was exceptional and very attentive! Tacos were delicious, but the brussels sprouts were a surprisingly beautiful choice! 😋😋😋
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Bella Chung
Had a great dinner at El Santo. The Carne Ahumada was incredibly tender and paired perfectly with the mashed potatoes. The Pan de Elote was my favorite and totally exceeded my expectations—fluffy, slightly sweet, and amazing with the jalapeño jelly. The Pastor Tacos were super flavorful too. And a special shoutout to our server Roberta, who was so warm and full of smiles. Would definitely come back !
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Camilo V. (Camilo’s Cravings)
Great ambience, great service. Food was fresh and well made, served quickly despite how busy the restaurant was. Roberta is such a great server and offered great recommendations accommodating our needs. I recommend making a reservation ahead of time.
I've long wanted to try El Santo and we were in new West for the day so finally made our way in. We checked the website to make sure they were open as we couldn't get there til 2pm. When we arrived we were told kitchen closes in 15 minutes and then it's happy hour but on their website the happy hour says 4pm and there is no mention of the kitchen closing at 2:15pm so not sure what happened there. I said that was fine, we can order as soon as they seat us. The host then said it would be a 5 min wait for a booth (even though there 2 two clean booths plus a large high top that could fit our group of 5 - and more seating in the back). I didn't ask for a booth so I said since time is limited, we don't want to wait for the booth so she said she will seat us in the back. We still waited a little bit, then got seated. The server never came and by 2:20, 20 minutes after we first arrived, 5 minutes after the kitchen closed, and not a single server even acknowledging us and seeing all the other tables still waiting for their food, we decided to leave since 1. We can't order anyway since they didn't come to us in time to take our order 2. Food wait seems extremely long. The restaurant was not full at all so I don't understand why we were ignored, especially since they were the ones who chose to seat us and give us the time restriction that they couldn't meet. From reading the other reviews, it seems service needs some big improvements. Unfortunate we never got to try it after wanting to for so long.
Nermo H
I don’t normally leave bad reviews, but this place absolutely deserves it. Our experience here was nothing short of a nightmare. We had one of the worst dining experiences ever at El Santo restaurant. We waited over an hour and a half just to get our appetizers and main dishes. The waiters seemed completely uninterested and brushed us off every time we tried to ask about our order.
When the food finally arrived, it was lukewarm at best and definitely not worth the wait. The flavors were disappointing, nothing tasted fresh or well-prepared. To make things worse, the owner was incredibly rude, dismissive and completely unprofessional when we politely tried to share our concerns. It’s honestly shocking that a business treats paying customers this way. This was an awful experience from start to finish!! It really left a bad taste in my mouth — literally and figuratively. We won’t be coming back, and I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know to avoid this place. There are plenty of Mexican restaurants that actually respect their customers and know how to serve decent food — this one is an embarrassment to the industry.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Harjot Kaur Dhaliwal
The restaurant looks really nice, but the customer service was terrible. We came during happy hour, which we didn’t realize only includes drinks and chips. When I asked for a menu, the staff just said they didn’t have it until happy hour was over — no explanation, no suggestion, nothing helpful.
With no other options, we ordered chips and three salsas. They came out in less than a minute, which felt odd — the salsas were very cold, like straight from the fridge, and the chips were so hard they were difficult to chew.
We also ordered tacos (2 for $17). They were decent — nothing special, but definitely better than the chips and salsa.
Nobody checked on us or asked how things were. Overall, the place looks good, but the service and food quality were disappointing.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Chris Allen
Sat there for 15 minutes and no one even offered me water so I just got up and left
Service: 1
Shar D
It's a cute little spot and they have a great happy hour. What really made my visit was our server. Her name is Roberta, and she went above and beyond to make sure we had the best time possible. I went there on a tuesday for the 1st time ever with my daughter in law for her birthday and she made sure our night was special. When she found out it was my daughter in law's birthday. She offered her a complimentary dessert. I had such a great time that I returned on Friday with my husband and Roberta was working. She was not our server, but she remembered me & went out of her way to greet us. She even stopped by our table to check in. I would go there again just because of that but the food was delicious. the margarita flight was so good, well balanced for sure and it was a really cool vibe.
Lovely atmosphere, food, and service. Cozy, relaxed, intimate vibes. Perfect place for a date or girls night. The guacamole and chips are divine and their mocktails are fabulous.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great lunch or dinner spot. We ordered 2 appetizers for lunch (guacamole and queso) both which I recommend. The quessabirria was one of the best I have had in the lower mainland. The options for cocktails was great, more than just classic margaritas. The portion sizes were fairly big so recommend sharing mains if ordering appetizers. The service was great and they very attentive.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Very friendly staff! Anja was a very lovely server. They were out of a couple of things my group wanted to order, but they brought out an appetizer for us on the house and got us to try one of the sauces for a dish they were out of so we could get it next time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The best of Mexico local.
Very disappointing. When I was l last there, their take on Eggs Benedict was amazing! They were served over baked cornbread in shallow cast-iron skillets. It was magnificent!!!
This time, however, it was as if the eggs and hollandaise were plopped over two gigantic ice cream scoops of doughy cornbread batter. The poached eggs were under-done, with the whites being still clear.
The service was beyond underwhelming. We were one of 3 tables and actually had to flag the server down to place our order, even though we had been sitting with our menus closed for a solid 10 minutes!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
The food and drinks tasted fine and the service was nice but charging $17 for 2 tacos is criminal and feels honestly kinda grimey considering the restaurant managers must know that most people need to eat 3-4 tacos to feel full.. so you’re basically making people order 2 sets of 2 tacos = $34 just for 4 tacos… in New Westminster. And also the tipping options gave me a big ick. I hate when restaurants try to confuse you by placing the 18% as the last option. If you want to receive a better tip, just offer better service, better food, better prices. Don’t do shady subtle tactics to try and swindle a higher tip %
Beautiful décor and a warm, inviting atmosphere. The drinks were great, but the food was very disappointing. Fish tacos were mediocre, and the quesadilla lacked flavor — the pastor tasted frozen. The guacamole appetizer was mostly good, though one portion had under-ripe avocado. Even the lime for the tacos was so dry it had no juice. I wouldn’t recommend to anyone with how things are currently.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 3
Wonderful atmosphere and great customer service! Kudos to our server Roberta, who was exceptional and very attentive! Tacos were delicious, but the brussels sprouts were a surprisingly beautiful choice! 😋😋😋
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Had a great dinner at El Santo.
The Carne Ahumada was incredibly tender and paired perfectly with the mashed potatoes.
The Pan de Elote was my favorite and totally exceeded my expectations—fluffy, slightly sweet, and amazing with the jalapeño jelly. The Pastor Tacos were super flavorful too. And a special shoutout to our server Roberta, who was so warm and full of smiles. Would definitely come back !
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great ambience, great service.
Food was fresh and well made, served quickly despite how busy the restaurant was. Roberta is such a great server and offered great recommendations accommodating our needs. I recommend making a reservation ahead of time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
I've long wanted to try El Santo and we were in new West for the day so finally made our way in. We checked the website to make sure they were open as we couldn't get there til 2pm.
When we arrived we were told kitchen closes in 15 minutes and then it's happy hour but on their website the happy hour says 4pm and there is no mention of the kitchen closing at 2:15pm so not sure what happened there. I said that was fine, we can order as soon as they seat us. The host then said it would be a 5 min wait for a booth (even though there 2 two clean booths plus a large high top that could fit our group of 5 - and more seating in the back). I didn't ask for a booth so I said since time is limited, we don't want to wait for the booth so she said she will seat us in the back. We still waited a little bit, then got seated. The server never came and by 2:20, 20 minutes after we first arrived, 5 minutes after the kitchen closed, and not a single server even acknowledging us and seeing all the other tables still waiting for their food, we decided to leave since 1. We can't order anyway since they didn't come to us in time to take our order 2. Food wait seems extremely long. The restaurant was not full at all so I don't understand why we were ignored, especially since they were the ones who chose to seat us and give us the time restriction that they couldn't meet. From reading the other reviews, it seems service needs some big improvements. Unfortunate we never got to try it after wanting to for so long.
I don’t normally leave bad reviews, but this place absolutely deserves it. Our experience here was nothing short of a nightmare. We had one of the worst dining experiences ever at El Santo restaurant. We waited over an hour and a half just to get our appetizers and main dishes. The waiters seemed completely uninterested and brushed us off every time we tried to ask about our order.
When the food finally arrived, it was lukewarm at best and definitely not worth the wait. The flavors were disappointing, nothing tasted fresh or well-prepared. To make things worse, the owner was incredibly rude, dismissive and completely unprofessional when we politely tried to share our concerns.
It’s honestly shocking that a business treats paying customers this way.
This was an awful experience from start to finish!! It really left a bad taste in my mouth — literally and figuratively. We won’t be coming back, and I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know to avoid this place. There are plenty of Mexican restaurants that actually respect their customers and know how to serve decent food — this one is an embarrassment to the industry.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
The restaurant looks really nice, but the customer service was terrible. We came during happy hour, which we didn’t realize only includes drinks and chips. When I asked for a menu, the staff just said they didn’t have it until happy hour was over — no explanation, no suggestion, nothing helpful.
With no other options, we ordered chips and three salsas. They came out in less than a minute, which felt odd — the salsas were very cold, like straight from the fridge, and the chips were so hard they were difficult to chew.
We also ordered tacos (2 for $17). They were decent — nothing special, but definitely better than the chips and salsa.
Nobody checked on us or asked how things were. Overall, the place looks good, but the service and food quality were disappointing.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Sat there for 15 minutes and no one even offered me water so I just got up and left
Service: 1
It's a cute little spot and they have a great happy hour. What really made my visit was our server. Her name is Roberta, and she went above and beyond to make sure we had the best time possible. I went there on a tuesday for the 1st time ever with my daughter in law for her birthday and she made sure our night was special. When she found out it was my daughter in law's birthday. She offered her a complimentary dessert. I had such a great time that I returned on Friday with my husband and Roberta was working. She was not our server, but she remembered me & went out of her way to greet us. She even stopped by our table to check in. I would go there again just because of that but the food was delicious. the margarita flight was so good, well balanced for sure and it was a really cool vibe.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
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