Seitan Tacos were outstanding--kudos on the high quality vegetarian option! Free chips and salsa always a plus. One star off for some dead flies on the front window
Faith Amirikian
The food was very good. Salsa and chips, amazing. The chips were warm. We got appetizers but we had to track down waiter for plates and water. Drinks took a long time also. Very limited desert menu. Overall we enjoyed our visit.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa, Burrito
Stuart A Johnston
Love the selection of tequila and margaritas. Tacos were good but the rice and beans were terrible.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa
Adam Zurier
Gringo Mexican (good enough food though) but people were so nice, like old friends. Such is
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Cheryl Michaels
We like the location in downtown Burlington. Easy parking in a small pay lot across the street. Staff is always friendly and courteous and the food is delivered in a reasonable time. I absolutely love their mole poblano (with cheese enchiladas) and order it every time I visit. A plus is that they have well made margaritas and tasty salsa. It is the only Mexican restaurant nearby where we don't have to add hot sauce to the salsa. They also offer a selection of virgin margaritas which is a nice touch at lunch time. We have friends who are from Texas and California and we have lived in California and frequently visit Texas and Arizona. All four of us love Mexican food and think this is the most consistently good TexMex in Vermont. We'all eat there almost every time we are in the Burlington area.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa
Jeremy Hester
Came in for a nice evening after a hard day two weeks ago and again today. Two weeks ago was outstanding. Today those expectations were shattered. We ordered the same price entrees (one was different but same price) and the same amount of the same drinks. Total bill was $30 more. Our server was fantastic, thanks Abbie, however when I brought this to the attention of the server she consulted with her manager. No clue who the manager on duty was because they never came to speak with us, which is a great sign of leadership. He asked poor Abbie to tell us they had “changed the way they ring in drinks” and that the bill stood as stated in regards to drinks. That meant the three drinks totaled roughly an extra drink in upcharges that were nonexistent two weeks ago. They did take off an unasked for $10 appetizer but was apparently too prideful to do the right thing and honor that the financially same meal was now $20 more without notice. The menu didn’t change. I’ve worked in this industry at $10 mil a year restaurants and a one time acknowledgment and fix to an unexpected change and charge without notice for recurring guests goes a long way for the guest experience. $20 bucks has cost the restaurant potential hundreds in recurring revenue for me. I’ll encourage you to look into other options if you care for integrity with pricing and customer experience. This leaves a sour taste. Like an unexpected $3 up charge for a 1/4 oz of Cointreau. Hire better managers and I’d be happy to come back. This was easily avoidable.
Jamie Ormsby
Service is amazing, food’s amazing, but there is one thing they are lacking is dessert they only have a limited fried ice cream that delivers once a week. The bartender told me there was one left. They should have more then one dessert on the menu. Sad I have to go some other place to get dessert.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jennifer Huckabay
Last time I was there, the wait was awful ?. This is not normally a problem. The food was fantastic and the drinks are stiff. Great place.
Jamie
The salsa is very mid and adds almost no flavor to the actual chips. The chips themselves were kind of stale and tasted like they were old. The servers took forever and would just talk to each other instead of doing their actual job. The atmosphere is kind of okay, for the most part. There is a lot of open seating however, you might have to deal with Flys. Prices aren't the best for the food that you got, 20 dollars for a bowl of chicken beans and rice. The chicken doesn't look like chicken and the guacamole that comes with the quessidillas aren't even that good either. Big disappointment and won't be coming back.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
A W
The food here USED to be very good. Now, it seems that most of the food is bought preprepared and the kitchen is slow: even when there are only a few people seated. Please go back to more homemade style dishes. The price reflects fresh and that's what people should get.
There seemed to be confusion amongst the servers about which options were unavailable for food tonight, but overall the experience was good. The chicken was great, but the steak was definitely overcooked. Chips and salsa are great and offered as soon as you sit down! A decent place, especially given how many places are closed here on Mondays/for the Fourth.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa, Burrito
Kalani Pinter
Quaint little Mexican place! The service was slow for the amount of people that were in the restaurant. It was just my group of 7 and we still waited a while for our food. It wasn’t ridiculous amount of time though:) they were friendly and the chips and que so was a HUGE highlight:)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Aubrey P.
Believe the reviews!! This food was downright disgusting..... we were desperate for food, ignored any reviews and found out that this Costco/BJs bulk food was crap. First, the salsa was ok, bottled and not made in house , so we thought - hmmm ok we might have a chance here . Then enchiladas came out and they were not corn but flour ( still fine!) and my cheese one was still the shredded cheese not melted whatsoever and the sauce gross. My other chicken mole one was worse- cubed chicken with horrible mole, definitely not edible! Worse though was my refried beans- absolutely NO salt, no nothing. I took a bite and almost gagged. Rice was hard and not good. The burrito, as my guest said was if she bought a frozen burrito at a corner store and it was bad ! We didn't go in expecting much and it sure lived up to that. I almost ( and have never done this!) told the staff because it was the WORST food I have ever had sadly. Please don't go here, it's really gross and not being picky or anything.
Daniel Hartz
So we’ve been going to El Gato since the opened and previously have been a place we’d strongly recommend.This may be anecdotal but last night we ate there again (at the Church St. location), for the first time in a long time. Our experience was not great.Timeline:6:25: we arrive and are promptly seated, given waters, chips, and salsa: awesome, so good. “Your server will be right with you.”6:45: chips and salsa gone.6:55: “Your server is busy but I will get your food in.” Food ordered.7:35: Food arrives. Some of it, burned. My wife ordered a pork burrito and it was cubed charred bits of pork; a far cry from our previous experiences at El Gato.They gave us $10 off for the burned pork.Overall, the service just seemed overloaded and uncoordinated. It used to be a well-oiled machine with good food. Some of the food was just fine, but really just not what we previously would have expected from El Gato.I know the food service industry is having a hard time right now, but for how many bodies they had on staff, it seemed poorly managed.I’ve worked in food service before and know the challenges, but there were a lot of people with El Gato shirts on not doing much besides waters/chips/clearing plates.This seems like a kitchen and management issue, but I won’t be going back any time soon which is really disappointing. It was a favorite for a long time.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Chicken Mole Enchiladas
Keith Brumbaugh
It was ok. I'm originally from Texas, this did not fill my Tex Mex itch but the service was good.An important warning for all, It's not the fault of the restaurant, but I got a stupid parking ticket on a Sunday evening. Sunday parking is supposedly free, but Be warned that if you eat dinner past 7 pm on Sunday the parking cops will give you a ticket.
Seitan Tacos were outstanding--kudos on the high quality vegetarian option! Free chips and salsa always a plus. One star off for some dead flies on the front window
The food was very good. Salsa and chips, amazing. The chips were warm. We got appetizers but we had to track down waiter for plates and water. Drinks took a long time also. Very limited desert menu. Overall we enjoyed our visit.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa, Burrito
Love the selection of tequila and margaritas. Tacos were good but the rice and beans were terrible.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa
Gringo Mexican (good enough food though) but people were so nice, like old friends. Such is
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
We like the location in downtown Burlington. Easy parking in a small pay lot across the street. Staff is always friendly and courteous and the food is delivered in a reasonable time. I absolutely love their mole poblano (with cheese enchiladas) and order it every time I visit. A plus is that they have well made margaritas and tasty salsa. It is the only Mexican restaurant nearby where we don't have to add hot sauce to the salsa. They also offer a selection of virgin margaritas which is a nice touch at lunch time. We have friends who are from Texas and California and we have lived in California and frequently visit Texas and Arizona. All four of us love Mexican food and think this is the most consistently good TexMex in Vermont. We'all eat there almost every time we are in the Burlington area.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa
Came in for a nice evening after a hard day two weeks ago and again today. Two weeks ago was outstanding. Today those expectations were shattered. We ordered the same price entrees (one was different but same price) and the same amount of the same drinks. Total bill was $30 more. Our server was fantastic, thanks Abbie, however when I brought this to the attention of the server she consulted with her manager. No clue who the manager on duty was because they never came to speak with us, which is a great sign of leadership. He asked poor Abbie to tell us they had “changed the way they ring in drinks” and that the bill stood as stated in regards to drinks. That meant the three drinks totaled roughly an extra drink in upcharges that were nonexistent two weeks ago. They did take off an unasked for $10 appetizer but was apparently too prideful to do the right thing and honor that the financially same meal was now $20 more without notice. The menu didn’t change. I’ve worked in this industry at $10 mil a year restaurants and a one time acknowledgment and fix to an unexpected change and charge without notice for recurring guests goes a long way for the guest experience. $20 bucks has cost the restaurant potential hundreds in recurring revenue for me. I’ll encourage you to look into other options if you care for integrity with pricing and customer experience. This leaves a sour taste. Like an unexpected $3 up charge for a 1/4 oz of Cointreau. Hire better managers and I’d be happy to come back. This was easily avoidable.
Service is amazing, food’s amazing, but there is one thing they are lacking is dessert they only have a limited fried ice cream that delivers once a week. The bartender told me there was one left. They should have more then one dessert on the menu. Sad I have to go some other place to get dessert.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Last time I was there, the wait was awful ?. This is not normally a problem. The food was fantastic and the drinks are stiff. Great place.
The salsa is very mid and adds almost no flavor to the actual chips. The chips themselves were kind of stale and tasted like they were old. The servers took forever and would just talk to each other instead of doing their actual job. The atmosphere is kind of okay, for the most part. There is a lot of open seating however, you might have to deal with Flys. Prices aren't the best for the food that you got, 20 dollars for a bowl of chicken beans and rice. The chicken doesn't look like chicken and the guacamole that comes with the quessidillas aren't even that good either. Big disappointment and won't be coming back.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
The food here USED to be very good. Now, it seems that most of the food is bought preprepared and the kitchen is slow: even when there are only a few people seated. Please go back to more homemade style dishes. The price reflects fresh and that's what people should get.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
There seemed to be confusion amongst the servers about which options were unavailable for food tonight, but overall the experience was good. The chicken was great, but the steak was definitely overcooked. Chips and salsa are great and offered as soon as you sit down! A decent place, especially given how many places are closed here on Mondays/for the Fourth.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa, Burrito
Quaint little Mexican place! The service was slow for the amount of people that were in the restaurant. It was just my group of 7 and we still waited a while for our food. It wasn’t ridiculous amount of time though:) they were friendly and the chips and que so was a HUGE highlight:)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Believe the reviews!! This food was downright disgusting..... we were desperate for food, ignored any reviews and found out that this Costco/BJs bulk food was crap. First, the salsa was ok, bottled and not made in house , so we thought - hmmm ok we might have a chance here . Then enchiladas came out and they were not corn but flour ( still fine!) and my cheese one was still the shredded cheese not melted whatsoever and the sauce gross. My other chicken mole one was worse- cubed chicken with horrible mole, definitely not edible! Worse though was my refried beans- absolutely NO salt, no nothing. I took a bite and almost gagged. Rice was hard and not good. The burrito, as my guest said was if she bought a frozen burrito at a corner store and it was bad ! We didn't go in expecting much and it sure lived up to that. I almost ( and have never done this!) told the staff because it was the WORST food I have ever had sadly. Please don't go here, it's really gross and not being picky or anything.
So we’ve been going to El Gato since the opened and previously have been a place we’d strongly recommend.This may be anecdotal but last night we ate there again (at the Church St. location), for the first time in a long time. Our experience was not great.Timeline:6:25: we arrive and are promptly seated, given waters, chips, and salsa: awesome, so good. “Your server will be right with you.”6:45: chips and salsa gone.6:55: “Your server is busy but I will get your food in.” Food ordered.7:35: Food arrives. Some of it, burned. My wife ordered a pork burrito and it was cubed charred bits of pork; a far cry from our previous experiences at El Gato.They gave us $10 off for the burned pork.Overall, the service just seemed overloaded and uncoordinated. It used to be a well-oiled machine with good food. Some of the food was just fine, but really just not what we previously would have expected from El Gato.I know the food service industry is having a hard time right now, but for how many bodies they had on staff, it seemed poorly managed.I’ve worked in food service before and know the challenges, but there were a lot of people with El Gato shirts on not doing much besides waters/chips/clearing plates.This seems like a kitchen and management issue, but I won’t be going back any time soon which is really disappointing. It was a favorite for a long time.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Chicken Mole Enchiladas
It was ok. I'm originally from Texas, this did not fill my Tex Mex itch but the service was good.An important warning for all, It's not the fault of the restaurant, but I got a stupid parking ticket on a Sunday evening. Sunday parking is supposedly free, but Be warned that if you eat dinner past 7 pm on Sunday the parking cops will give you a ticket.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 4