El Torero Mexican Dining & Cantina

Excellent food here in this old world cantina. The service is fast as you want and friendly. It's like being in Mexico the surroundings are very authentic. I had the pork chimichanga so tasty but more than I could eat. Lunch for the next day! Thank you Sarah for excellent service at the bar. See you here at this great local restaurant

We came to celebrate my birthday. We've been here before and it's exactly where I wanted to go for delicious, authentic Mexican food. The service is always fast and friendly. The drinks were well made and all of our food was delicious. The restaurant and bathrooms are and well kept. We have never been disappointed eating here. We'll be back!

I'm not sure what happened, but my second trip here was completely opposite of the first. Our food lacked the taste it had a year ago and the servers were just going through the motions, not a very welcoming environment. The best part of our meal was the chips and salsa. The chips were fresh and the salsa was excellent. Our main courses though were very bland. The shredded beef was very watery and lacked any flavor. The chicken was also very dry and flavorless.

3.5 stars. I liked this Mexican restaurant. They were busy and had to wait to be seated. Tables were available, so that means they were understaffed. Sadly, that's what we are facing now. I enjoyed my food and would eat here again if I was in the area. The staff was nice. The only thing that would make it better is if the chicken taco was deep fried w/chicken and cheese. Beans and rice were good. Beans were a little thin for me though. I will be back if I'mIn the area.

We have been driving by this place on our way to Sacramento/Truckee for years. We always say we should stop, because there are always lots of cars there. We finally did and boy are we glad we did. As we walked up people walking in said it was really good. The minute we stepped inside we were met with the most amazing aroma that made you want to start eating and by a sweet staff. We found the full bar area with fire place and all. I love ambience with my food... well we found it in that area here. Great homemade flour& corn tortillas and wonderful salsa. The fajitas were amazing! My husband loved his Chimi as well. We were lucky to have the owner come out and chat with us as well. What an amazing family owned restaurant. We will be stopping in whenever we can get by there and will tell all of my friendsDon't miss out on this lovely cantina!

The food and service are wonderful. They're working on the ambience. Highly recommend this place.

Nice to have new owners. The last time we went was 2yrs ago, and said we wouldn't go back. After seeing reviews in FB, we decided to try it again.Service was good and very attentive.Food was fresh and hot! - chips and salsa included both corn and flour chips - Enchiladas suiza- Grande chicken tostadaClean insideThey have a larger area for large parties and family friendly. We will definitely be back!

So I had been hearing a lot of people saying that you need to go back to El Torrero because there's new owners and everything's amazing. We decided to give it another try.Big mistake. First of all we come in and we're seated fairly quickly so I thought that was great. We sat there for about 20-25 minutes with waitresses walking back-and-forth before anyone decide to come take our order. After the first waitress took our order, a second waitress came to us 15 minutes later to take her order and we told her we had already been helped. We literally sat there for an hour waiting for our food that never came. I saw another table of six get served, and they had arrived after us. We were a party of two. The waitress kept coming by telling us our food was going to be out in a couple minutes. Obviously, her version of a couple minutes and our version of a couple minutes are completely different. There is no reason we should've been there for an hour and a half, and not even get food. Honestly, how long does it take to make a few tacos?We were so disappointed that we just got up and left. The place wasn't even crowded,. They need to get it together, number one make sure you know who arrives first, so you can take their order. And number two get the orders out in a timely matter. I just wasted an hour and a half of my evening, and now I'm at home cooking at 8 o'clock at night. So much for giving them a second chance.

I am so disappointed in El Torero, I had family come from as far a Colorado, Fresno, and Pebble Beach to my Dad's 93rd Birthday lunch. El Torero was told days before the size of the party (15) One young lady sat us then disappeared for a long time. There was maybe one other table with customers at that time. We did not have the table prepared for us, we were asked to "share" menu's. We had to ask several times for water (never one offer to refill our glasses), and the service, if having to ask several times for someone to take our order is even considered service, was terrible. My 89 year old mom had to wait so long for her lunch we were almost done before she even received it. The drinks were so weak I would bet anything there was no alcohol in them. My list could go on and on. I did call to let them know this was so disappointing and felt the owner was more annoyed at me for a complaint (which is why I decided to write this yelp) Had he truly felt bad or even came close to acknowledging my honest disappointment I would never even write this review. One last complaint, the food itself was not up to par, another embarrassing and disappointing experience as I had told my family how amazing they were. I guess that is past tense! The owner did tell me when I called that he was busy, so if I wanted to call back at 6:30am to talk I could do that. Not feeling the need to waste my time as he had no time to give me today.

Good food good service local and do able for a modest budget Service was good. One of my family members left their wallet and the staff put it away and kept it for them. Honest folks!