El Banquete Mexican Grille

Such a great Mexican food place! Always great service and good, consistent food!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great place with good food. The food robot was fun! My grands loved it and their food.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Today I had to run to Claremore over lunch, so I took advantage of the opportunity to try El Banquete.
TLDR: Great food, nice interior, decent prices.
I hit the door right at 11:45 and was promptly seated, swapping a menu, chips and salsa for a drink order and a small queso. The menu is reasonably large, but not overly so. Plenty of options to choose from for almost anyone.
I'd already seen they had Chile Verde on the menu, so I zeroed in on that like a fat dog on a chicken leg.
Almost immediately, the queso hit the table. The salsa was out of this world good. I seriously almost ordered a pint to go, it was so good. Not hot at all, but rich with tomato flavors and subtle heat and spices. The queso was thin, and stayed workable throughout the meal, which is a huge plus for me. Flavorwise, it was slightly rich, very Monetery Jack flavored with noticeable hints of jalapeno. Great queso.
My entree hit the table quickly, while I was still face deep in queso and chips. Beatifully plated, I hoped the taste lived up to the appearance.... and it did.
While it was all good, surprisingly the rice turned out to be the unexpected star. It takes effort to make a simple rice dish standout like this. Light and fluffy, the flavor was borderline intense, for rice. It had a hearty undertone that I couldn't place, but I loved it. A lot. Nothing but rice... no corn, no peas, no nonsense, no kidding.
The Chile Verde was outstanding. Probably one of the top three I've had in the area. Not sure if they slow cooked the pork with the sauce like is proper, but if I can't tell, then I'm not gonna care. The meat was properly shredded, tender and moist, and full of both meaty and saucy flavor.
The beans were also really well done. Well colored (not gray), and with some noticable flavoring in the chile powder spectrum, I dipped chips into them until they were gone.
Overall, nothing about my experience was less than great.
My server was amenable enough, but didn't really engage in any interaction. No issues there, just a difference in styles, that didn't detract at all.
With the queso and an iced tea, the bill was just over $22, and for what I got, I came away quite satisfied.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

The service was great but the food was very sub par. Considering you can get Mexican on every corner I would opt to go somewhere else. Most things were flavorless. There wasn’t very much protein in each dish. Unimpressed.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 5

They never came back to refill our drinks

Food: 3

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa

Loved the decoration and the chicken and spinach enchiladas were delicious! Great service! Definitely coming back!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great service and even better food! Definitely the best Mexican restaurant in town

Very great local Mexican food. The staff is all so friendly.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Really good food.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

double charged, manager is for sure rude and doesn't care! nor respectful towards females !! they speak in Spanish like no body knows wth they are saying 😂, some of us do pple. yip heard u cussing us in Spanish! want amazing, authentic Mexican food and great service, go to broken Arrow or Tulsa !!! this tasted mehh

I love the bean dip and chicken tacos ❤️

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Definitely our go to place for Mexican food now days! Great prices and they have daily specials most days!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food. Fast service, friendly folks up here. Their indoor seating is spacious and plenty of it. Their outdoor patio is great when the weather works out!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food and lots of it! Worth the trip from Vinita.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Steak and Shrimp

Friendly servers and great food!