El Portal Mexican Grill

9/11/2024: It has been quite a few years since I've visited El Portal. I haven't been to the KRV as much of late, and we often drive home down the Bakersfield side and miss this little gem. But tonight we decided to come back for dinner on our way to the 14, and have NO regrets! The restaurant is a simple, unassuming little spot in Mt. Mesa. They have a private parking lot which is convenient. From the moment you walk in the door, you're greeted by all of the servers and are made to feel right at home. Chips, salsa and ice water were brought to the table with the menus, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy their salsa! Like a cross between a salsa and pico de gallo.. flavorful, but not too spicy. They do give you hot sauce on the table if you prefer to bring the heat. I asked the server if I could have a little ground cumin to add to my salsa, and she brought it out without batting an eyelash. I love the flavor of a pinch of cumin blended into salsa, but I digress..We placed our orders and the food came out fairly quickly. My husband had the Chef's Specialty "El Trio" and I ordered a 3 Item Combo with all beans, no rice on the side. Everything was delicious! The portions are so generous, our shared to-go container was filled with what will be a lunch or two for both of us! The prices are fair and reasonable. We were charged what was shown on the menu, so I don't know what other people are complaining about. These days, ingredients are expensive. Utility costs are up. I don't think the price points were at all out of line for what we were served. I'm posting the current menu just in case others are looking at outdated menus from a few years ago. The images loaded out of order, so please forgive the out of order page number labels.If you haven't been to El Portal lately, what are you waiting for? Go, have a great meal and enjoy their friendly service and tasty eats.

I called in an order for Carnie Asada and shrimp for pick-up. Their menu said it was $17.95. I had, had this same meal several times before. Ten minutes later I pick-up my meal... The waitress said the price was $27.00. I asked about the $10.00 price increase; she told me that the price went up because of something?In short, I feel like I was stolen from, and I'll never buy anything from them again. Beware of their thieves.

El Portal is definitely a local go-to! The staff is always super friendly, the food tastes fresh, and service is fairly quick even during big rushes.

Very pricey food is okay customer service is nice $75 for three meals and a soup cmon now

We came on Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The other Mexican restaurants in Lake Isabella were closed, and our aunt that we were visiting wanted Mexican, so I looked on Yelp of course! We found El Portal and drove out from town. We were seated promptly by Elaina and served beverages. Auntie wanted enchiladas so she ordered the 2 enchiladas rice and beans. I ordered the shrimp burrito that comes wet. It was really good and I asked for extra sauce which was tasty! Hubby got the 3 item combo, taco, enchilada and chili relleno. Everything was really tasty. A Diet Pepsi was $4.95, what too much. 5 stars for the food and service. The ambiance is good but they need Mexican music playing to add. It was pricey, with tip was over $80 for the 3 of us with the beverages and tip.

We stopped here on our long way back home because it was the only restaurant that seemed decent on Yelp around that area and it was open. It's right across from Lake Isabella and kind of small in an orange building. Parking lot was packed so my first thought was, "this must mean it's good." We went inside and there were only two tables available so it was poppin. We were seated immediately and served with two batches of chips & salsa. The chips tasted fresh and the salsa was so delicious! We ate it all and they brought us more. Our food servings were huge and I had to take half my burrito home. The food was not great but not bad either. It was a good little hole in the wall and pricing was reasonable.

Came here on a Sunday afternoon and received friendly service from the two servers working. All of our food came out hot & tasted delicious. Everything was seasoned well and the portion sizes are filling. Would definitely come again and recommend.

Such good food and service. The Chile relleno rice and beans are my favorite. The waitress was very attentive bringing more chips and salsa

Good Mexican food, nice wait staff! Good view of Lake Isabella. Love the food. Good times!

Food is good but they use too much salt on all their items.i had the quesadia the chicken was great but again too much salt my husband had the wet burrito and again too much salt.