El Cortez Mexican Bar & Grill

I just want to cry writing this review. Molly is the owner of this delicious restaurant. She's so welcoming. She remembered me from a couple years ago.I was on the Worst Cooks in America Season 12, not only was the food delicious it's the atmosphere.I have never had anything that taste not good. I had fresh fried fish wow I mean the portion is big for 2-3 people loaded with fresh salad, avocado slices, tomato slices & fried potatoes omg I had the butter sauce put aside. There was sour cream and salsa served with both corn tortillas and flour tortillas. I have a lot of left over.Why did I cry, my husband passed in 2013 I always eat alone . No one to talk to, New Year is coming up. I felt comforted.Betsy my darling waitress was so good to me. My virgin pinacolada was blended perfectly for my taste.Molly, you have the best employees all so polite and very welcoming.I will come back again just to wish everyone a very happy New Year. 2025 is going to be better much much better

I do not like to give bad reviews but this is how it is here.We wanted to try a different mexican restaurant tonight so my husband suggested here.Big mistake. We never had mexican food that is this bad. The first table we sat down was dirty So we moved to another table. As soon as we sat down, the waitress (shorter, not the taller one) came over and asked if we were ready to order. It's our first time here so we wanted to take a look at the menu. She looked annoyed and decided that she didn't want to wait on us and had the host serving us instead. I ordered a chicken burrito without the tortilla. Basically just a burrito in a bowl, which I ordered all the times at other restaurants. Well, what I received was a bowl of 95% refried beans & 5% shredded chicken, and some cheese! That's it, no rice, nothing else.My husband ordered the two enchiladas plate, with one chicken & one ground beef. I had a spoon of rice from his plate and it was hard like it was either old or undercooked. This is a joke. How can a mexican restaurant mess up on the mexican rice? The enchiladas weren't even tasty. So bland.The only thing that was good was the young server, host turned into server. He was polite and trying hard, therefore, the 2-star review for him.Now we understand why this restaurant never had many customers. I happened to forget my phone at home today, otherwise we wouldn't have been here if we saw all the bad reviews on Yelp.Had to use hubby's phone for these photos and he doesn't even have Yelp app (or many others) on his phone.

Met our friend Julie, Violet, Roc, and Dean for lunch at El Cortez. The ambiance was positive, and our staff of servers starting with Shelsea, Fidel, Atrziry, and Molly were friendly, attentive, and professional. The chips and salsa were good, and the margaritas, Don Julio Blanco, and bloody Mary's were all good. We had fajitas, enchiladas, chile Verde, omelets, and soup. All the food was hot and tasty.Good people, service and food.Recommended

El Cortez love this places restaurant bar nice friendly employees nice food and chip and salsa I will recommend it come by for a drink or if you hungry you won't be disappointed!... thanks Cortez ....

Family owned business for at least 40 years in Laguna Niguel. The very best in homemade Mexican food from old family recipes. It doesn't get any better! Their chile releanos are to die for!

Been coming to see Molly and family since 1984. You cannot find a better plate of Mexican food ever. Gabriel is absolutely the best bartender ever. I will continue to eat at El Cortez until the day I die.

I love the food and service here. Always get my favorite one shredded beef crispy taco and one chili Relleno combo. Outstanding! The waitresses are always very sweet and attentive. Would recommend the restaurant highly

This is not my first time here. I keep getting their burritos and they never disappoint. (I always forget to mention mild salsa, because they are quite spicy!! The servers are friendly and they know their regulars here. Great for family, date night, or just a solo dinner at the bar. I got their Discovery Burrito and this thing is MASSIVE-- Look at pic!! Very tasty and full is sauce, guac, and sour cream on the side. I recommend, even if you're small like me. Will be back.. Gracias, guys!

EC is a stone's throw from my house so I finally decided to give it a try. The chile verde burrito is the best thing on the menu. Very tasty pork and the green sauce is on point. My buddy tried the carne asada burrito but it wasn't anything special. Old school bar vibe inside taking you back to the 90s restaurants. Heard they have a happy hour that I'll check out sometime.

Overpriced drinks (like a lot) unless you drink their bottom shelf well, which isn't even real agave tequila. I ordered a little better, but made it clear I didn't need top shelf or anything extravagant, and asked for some of the other tequila prices. When I got my bill, I was charged double for my drinks, because I asked for a higher grade tequila. That's not how it works, guys. Sure, there would be an upcharge, but not the full cost of the upgraded tequila. This happened on 2 different occasions. The 2nd time, I asked about my bill, they said their prices changed, but are not on the menu. I said "where are the prices, how do I know?" the guy said "they're in the register". This was shifty, they know what they're doing... and they didn't used to do this. It's unfortunate because I've been going there for a long time... but I won't be back anytime soon... until they get their "menu" figured out.