Worst experience ever following their Sunday brunch. We made reservations and were sat more than 30 mins later only to be told it was last call for the buffet and the staff was literally taking food out of our hands as we were trying to serve ourselves or rolling their eyes at us when we were asking for something, not one employee was smiling! To top it off when we were confronted by management to express our concern we were told how lucky we were to have the day off to spend with their family! I also work management at a restaurant and have had to work several holidays but was never as disrespectful and unprofessional as the management team we dealt with at the La Mesa location! To find out one of their own managers was the one that sat us! There was no communication about them closing when we were sat! As we were leaving we were told not to come back for being disrespectful to management! I said how were we the disrespectful ones when we were expressing concern. Their was no vulgar language or raising of voices on our end but there was on their end! They done have to worry about us ever coming back after an experience like that and I wouldn’t be surprised if La Mesa location closed down soon as well as all the others in San Diego.
Deanna Johnson
Went for the brunch buffet. Got there at 1pm (brunch is over at 2pm), I didn't think I'd need a reservation for it(so that's on me) we werent fully seated until 1:38pm, first they sat us in a room with echoing walls and ceiling with a group being very loud, thankfully they were nice and moved us. However by 130pm they had already pulled alot of their food with no plans to replinsh(considering it isn't over until 2pm this is ridiculous). Everyone came away with their tummies hurting about an hour or 2 later. Summary: excellent servers and waitstaff, horrible food, horrible management, and expensive for what it was, all for us to end up sick.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 5
Rose Sybrandy
Gilberto for president!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Paola Rodriguez
The tortillas were very ugly, the ceviche tasteless, the water was equally tasteless, the tamales were very bad, I couldn't even eat one? the Menudo and the meat with red and green chili was the only thing I could eat but it lacked a good tortilla, not those red ones with food coloring. and such an ugly taste that it was ruined and for him Price was not worth it, very bad experience, I expected a little more from that place. If you are authentic Mexican and you like really Mexican food, don't expect to like the food at this place!! Horrible tortillas ?!!
Food: 1
Service: 4
Lucyann Gamby
Excellent.. The food was delicious and wonderful customer service by Gilberto.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lilian Vega
I went on Sunday. There is a buffet but the food is not very good. I wouldn't go back again
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
N (Hawaiian Shirt Nick)
What a wonderful place!! This is going to be a "must-stop" on my next trips to San Diego!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kathy Kearney
Our visit started off rocky. We were seated right away but then received nothing for about 10 min. We were about to leave. But then Rebecca came on and turned it all around. She was attentive to everything!! THANK YOU.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Mexican Caesar Salad
Victor Rivera
Affordable. No big crowds.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Guacamole, Tortillas, Taco Bar
Rainbow Migraines
While the service and food has usually been fair, they unfortunately have their drawbacks: their service surcharge and rewards program.
I cannot comment on other locations in California or elsewhere, but here there is a 3.99% pre-tax surcharge for "labor costs" since it is a "local business", added to the bill. Note: El Torito is a national chain with more than sixty locations nationwide.
That said, they do follow CA SB1524 2024 (the restaurant carve out to CA SB 478 2023) and have the notice printed everywhere, but any additional charge for service is obnoxious. I just deduct that from my normal tip.
Just raise the price if you need to compensate your employees; don't shaft that onto the patron.
We used to be in their rewards program, but had to put in a CCPA request to completely remove our information. After the first time we used it, we were not able to accumulate points again.
After the fourth time of points not being added to the account, I demanded they delete the account and any correlating data. I had told them each time about the issue, but it never got the issue resolved. Not by management nor corporate.
Despite these drawbacks, it's an okay place to go on occasion.
The last of a once prominent chain of El Torito Restaurants in Southern California has become nothing more than a cantina serving sub par Mexican food.
I use to love going to this Mexican restaurant in the heart of LA Mesa, but now it's become pretty run down.
The restaurant is very old and in need of upgrading. It's my belief that it was sold during the Covid epidemic and is under new owners.
The atmosphere is less than friendly as far as a sit down style restaurant goes in my opinion.
If you are eating at the bar and watching the game I think you will have an ok time.
I ordered the taco plate that came with over cooked rice and beans.
The drinks were fine, but the bathrooms were dirty and still have the same tile from when it was originally built.
Worst experience ever following their Sunday brunch. We made reservations and were sat more than 30 mins later only to be told it was last call for the buffet and the staff was literally taking food out of our hands as we were trying to serve ourselves or rolling their eyes at us when we were asking for something, not one employee was smiling! To top it off when we were confronted by management to express our concern we were told how lucky we were to have the day off to spend with their family! I also work management at a restaurant and have had to work several holidays but was never as disrespectful and unprofessional as the management team we dealt with at the La Mesa location! To find out one of their own managers was the one that sat us! There was no communication about them closing when we were sat! As we were leaving we were told not to come back for being disrespectful to management! I said how were we the disrespectful ones when we were expressing concern. Their was no vulgar language or raising of voices on our end but there was on their end! They done have to worry about us ever coming back after an experience like that and I wouldn’t be surprised if La Mesa location closed down soon as well as all the others in San Diego.
Went for the brunch buffet. Got there at 1pm (brunch is over at 2pm), I didn't think I'd need a reservation for it(so that's on me) we werent fully seated until 1:38pm, first they sat us in a room with echoing walls and ceiling with a group being very loud, thankfully they were nice and moved us. However by 130pm they had already pulled alot of their food with no plans to replinsh(considering it isn't over until 2pm this is ridiculous). Everyone came away with their tummies hurting about an hour or 2 later.
Summary: excellent servers and waitstaff, horrible food, horrible management, and expensive for what it was, all for us to end up sick.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 5
Gilberto for president!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The tortillas were very ugly, the ceviche tasteless, the water was equally tasteless, the tamales were very bad, I couldn't even eat one? the Menudo and the meat with red and green chili was the only thing I could eat but it lacked a good tortilla, not those red ones with food coloring. and such an ugly taste that it was ruined and for him
Price was not worth it, very bad experience, I expected a little more from that place. If you are authentic Mexican and you like really Mexican food, don't expect to like the food at this place!! Horrible tortillas ?!!
Food: 1
Service: 4
Excellent.. The food was delicious and wonderful customer service by Gilberto.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I went on Sunday. There is a buffet but the food is not very good. I wouldn't go back again
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
What a wonderful place!! This is going to be a "must-stop" on my next trips to San Diego!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Our visit started off rocky. We were seated right away but then received nothing for about 10 min. We were about to leave. But then Rebecca came on and turned it all around. She was attentive to everything!! THANK YOU.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Mexican Caesar Salad
Affordable. No big crowds.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Guacamole, Tortillas, Taco Bar
While the service and food has usually been fair, they unfortunately have their drawbacks: their service surcharge and rewards program.
I cannot comment on other locations in California or elsewhere, but here there is a 3.99% pre-tax surcharge for "labor costs" since it is a "local business", added to the bill. Note: El Torito is a national chain with more than sixty locations nationwide.
That said, they do follow CA SB1524 2024 (the restaurant carve out to CA SB 478 2023) and have the notice printed everywhere, but any additional charge for service is obnoxious. I just deduct that from my normal tip.
Just raise the price if you need to compensate your employees; don't shaft that onto the patron.
We used to be in their rewards program, but had to put in a CCPA request to completely remove our information. After the first time we used it, we were not able to accumulate points again.
After the fourth time of points not being added to the account, I demanded they delete the account and any correlating data. I had told them each time about the issue, but it never got the issue resolved. Not by management nor corporate.
Despite these drawbacks, it's an okay place to go on occasion.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Guacamole
Restaurantji Recommends
Great steak burrito and very good margaritas
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The last of a once prominent chain of El Torito Restaurants in Southern California has become nothing more than a cantina serving sub par Mexican food.
I use to love going to this Mexican restaurant in the heart of LA Mesa, but now it's become pretty run down.
The restaurant is very old and in need of upgrading. It's my belief that it was sold during the Covid epidemic and is under new owners.
The atmosphere is less than friendly as far as a sit down style restaurant goes in my opinion.
If you are eating at the bar and watching the game I think you will have an ok time.
I ordered the taco plate that came with over cooked rice and beans.
The drinks were fine, but the bathrooms were dirty and still have the same tile from when it was originally built.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 2
Bartender was amazing
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
It was just alright nothing to write home about.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
Still affordable, Happy hour every day.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Grande Fiesta Platter
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