Ate a 4 restaurants in lake tahoe and this one was by far the worst. I ordered two tacos one "gringo" and the other was carna asada. The 1st one was very bland the second tastes like the steak was bad. Been in the meat business all my life and it was awful. To their credit the waitress was very nice and brought me another gringo taco. Service was pretty good.
AL
We went on a Thursday night, wasn't very busy. We were attended to quickly & often checked in on us to make sure we were fine. Food was pretty good didn't take very long to get served.
GEOFFREY
Not even close to authentic Mexican. We ordered the "cadillac" margaritas, and it was a disappointment. We ordered chips and salsa, the chips were stale. The dinner was barely even OK. Not coming back.
Holly
Just don't. The food is sad, the drinks are sad, the ambience is sad, the music is sad.. plus it's all overpriced. Worst meal I have ever had and we were sick by the time we made it back to our room.
dagmar
Jane was great and we had the best service from her. Some of the best margaritas we had were last night so kudos tot he bartender as well. Food is always spot on.
Joan
We had the chicken fajitas which were very good! My Premium Margarita was just okay. Waitress was very accommodating. I questioned that the serving plate was the size of a salad plate, I was told that was all they had, really?! Atmosphere was definitely lacking.
Judy
When the 5 of us dined at El Jefes we didn't know what to expect! We were used to the last Mexican restaurant that was there! Well, our waitress Jane was just fantastic! She was really busy but handled our every need. Refilled water glasses, made great suggestions and was friendly on top of that! She was efficient and competent. We will definitely be going back!
Maria
We went as a group of 4. 2 of us ordered the crispy taco bowl with ground beef. It was inedible. First off it was cold. But the quality of the meat was so bad. There was gristle in the meat and what appeared to be a small bone fragment. The other 2 people in our party ordered tacos. They weren't great, but they were edible. Our server was very apologetic and had the taco bowls removed from our bill. We had no issues with the server, but I would never go there again. It was overpriced sub par food.
Liza
Our server was very rude and when asks for a to go cup we had to actually get a manager because she “kept forgetting it”.
Kenzi
This used to be a really nice Mexican food restaurant that we loved going to. This time was different. The food was greasy, the our waitress didn't serve our meal, and barely slowed down at our table when she asked, “how's things?”, and didn't wait for a response. We told the manager about the poor service and food, and he just said they were short staffed. I don't really care if they are short staffed, because I feel like the service and food should be off the same quality no matter what, especially when you require reservations with a credit card deposit to hold your spot. We won't be going back.
The restaurant needs some interior design work. It's in the basement of the hotel and it feels like it. They could really help by fixing that which wouldn't be hard. The food was good and reasonably priced. We had good service even though it was busy and a little understaffed.
Sally
Highly do NOT recommend. Food was okay but margaritas were horrible. We each got the house, large size for $17.99, one frozen, one regular. Well they were about 16 oz served in a plastic cup. Even that would have been okay if they were at all good. The frozen one tasted like water over shaved ice. No flavor at all. The one over the rocks was so strong I could only take two drinks. Nasty. The server was okay but because she was waiting on several tables she rushed us to order, offered no suggestions, and when I would ask a question about anything, she would give a blunt answer and made us feel like we were holding her up. The ambience was terrible too. Dark, like a dungeon. VERY disappointing considering we had never been in Lake Tahoe area. I came across it while trying to make a reservation for Wolf/Vanderpump and I figured if it was at Caesar's it would be great. DO. NOT. GO.
Bobbi
Food was good, poor choices for children, wanted a regular taco for a child, we could order an adult taco, and have all the fixing removed, and still pay adult price. Waiter was good-even though he did not introduce himself or take our order in a timely manner. (he was good because, he was the only one helping our section of about 6 tables in the restaurant, and our group was 8 people) we received all our meals, correctly and fresh as they cooked them. The bussing staff was a bit rude, slamming glasses of water on our table. The Hostess was not very polite or nice, when we tried to check in, and we were not able to be seated until the precise time of our reservation, even though our table was ready when we checked in 10 min early.
Karen
Food was great, but portions were way too big. It was freezing in the restaurant. Bring a sweater.
Cindy
El Jefe does not hold a candle to its predecessors in the same space including El Vacaro and Cabo Wabo. Food was very bland. The table side guacamole was a weird presentation. Way way to much lime over some avocados then you let the server know how much onions, tomato, jalapeño and cilantro you want mixed in to the avocado and lime. Entrees were flavorless and all served some ok beans and very dry rice. Server was nice but it seems they didn't have enough help as service was slow.
Ate a 4 restaurants in lake tahoe and this one was by far the worst. I ordered two tacos one "gringo" and the other was carna asada. The 1st one was very bland the second tastes like the steak was bad. Been in the meat business all my life and it was awful. To their credit the waitress was very nice and brought me another gringo taco. Service was pretty good.
We went on a Thursday night, wasn't very busy. We were attended to quickly & often checked in on us to make sure we were fine. Food was pretty good didn't take very long to get served.
Not even close to authentic Mexican. We ordered the "cadillac" margaritas, and it was a disappointment. We ordered chips and salsa, the chips were stale. The dinner was barely even OK. Not coming back.
Just don't. The food is sad, the drinks are sad, the ambience is sad, the music is sad.. plus it's all overpriced. Worst meal I have ever had and we were sick by the time we made it back to our room.
Jane was great and we had the best service from her. Some of the best margaritas we had were last night so kudos tot he bartender as well. Food is always spot on.
We had the chicken fajitas which were very good! My Premium Margarita was just okay. Waitress was very accommodating. I questioned that the serving plate was the size of a salad plate, I was told that was all they had, really?! Atmosphere was definitely lacking.
When the 5 of us dined at El Jefes we didn't know what to expect! We were used to the last Mexican restaurant that was there! Well, our waitress Jane was just fantastic! She was really busy but handled our every need. Refilled water glasses, made great suggestions and was friendly on top of that! She was efficient and competent. We will definitely be going back!
We went as a group of 4. 2 of us ordered the crispy taco bowl with ground beef. It was inedible. First off it was cold. But the quality of the meat was so bad. There was gristle in the meat and what appeared to be a small bone fragment. The other 2 people in our party ordered tacos. They weren't great, but they were edible. Our server was very apologetic and had the taco bowls removed from our bill. We had no issues with the server, but I would never go there again. It was overpriced sub par food.
Our server was very rude and when asks for a to go cup we had to actually get a manager because she “kept forgetting it”.
This used to be a really nice Mexican food restaurant that we loved going to. This time was different. The food was greasy, the our waitress didn't serve our meal, and barely slowed down at our table when she asked, “how's things?”, and didn't wait for a response. We told the manager about the poor service and food, and he just said they were short staffed. I don't really care if they are short staffed, because I feel like the service and food should be off the same quality no matter what, especially when you require reservations with a credit card deposit to hold your spot. We won't be going back.
Restaurantji Recommends
The restaurant needs some interior design work. It's in the basement of the hotel and it feels like it. They could really help by fixing that which wouldn't be hard. The food was good and reasonably priced. We had good service even though it was busy and a little understaffed.
Highly do NOT recommend. Food was okay but margaritas were horrible. We each got the house, large size for $17.99, one frozen, one regular. Well they were about 16 oz served in a plastic cup. Even that would have been okay if they were at all good. The frozen one tasted like water over shaved ice. No flavor at all. The one over the rocks was so strong I could only take two drinks. Nasty. The server was okay but because she was waiting on several tables she rushed us to order, offered no suggestions, and when I would ask a question about anything, she would give a blunt answer and made us feel like we were holding her up. The ambience was terrible too. Dark, like a dungeon. VERY disappointing considering we had never been in Lake Tahoe area. I came across it while trying to make a reservation for Wolf/Vanderpump and I figured if it was at Caesar's it would be great. DO. NOT. GO.
Food was good, poor choices for children, wanted a regular taco for a child, we could order an adult taco, and have all the fixing removed, and still pay adult price. Waiter was good-even though he did not introduce himself or take our order in a timely manner. (he was good because, he was the only one helping our section of about 6 tables in the restaurant, and our group was 8 people) we received all our meals, correctly and fresh as they cooked them. The bussing staff was a bit rude, slamming glasses of water on our table. The Hostess was not very polite or nice, when we tried to check in, and we were not able to be seated until the precise time of our reservation, even though our table was ready when we checked in 10 min early.
Food was great, but portions were way too big. It was freezing in the restaurant. Bring a sweater.
El Jefe does not hold a candle to its predecessors in the same space including El Vacaro and Cabo Wabo. Food was very bland. The table side guacamole was a weird presentation. Way way to much lime over some avocados then you let the server know how much onions, tomato, jalapeño and cilantro you want mixed in to the avocado and lime. Entrees were flavorless and all served some ok beans and very dry rice. Server was nice but it seems they didn't have enough help as service was slow.
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