MMM...MMM...NASTY!
I have decided that this blog will also include restaurant reviews. I love food (maybe a bit too much) and so it makes sense that I make my repastic discoveries known.
First off, El Toro Mexican Restaurant. Located at 400 Adams St, Rochester, Pa.
I went there this past Sunday, after seeing Corpse Bride (the movie only lasts an hour and wasn't worth the $5.50) , because a Mexican Restaurant in Beaver County is VERY rare. Mexican food is one cuisine for which I hunger constantly. There are terrific places in the Mid-West where I used to live and got very used to eating quality tex-mex. Got there around 6PM and the place wasn't crowded at all. Maybe 2/3rds of the tables had patrons.
They seated me quickly and pleasantly, but I didn't like the table cuz' it was against the wall and offered no view of anything. So I asked to be moved to a table I liked that offered a view of the kitchen and had a little foot traffic. I never like to feel as if I'm stuck in some forgotten corner of the restaurant jut because I'm eating alone.
The place looks terrific with nice authentic decorations and a real Latin atmosphere replete with Mexican music. All employees are obviously Latin so I had high hopes for what was to come.
First the chips and salsa. The chips are like ones you get at any other Mexican restaurant. The salsa however is unlike any other. It was mostly water with a few chunks of tomato, onion and cilantro. Not exactly a great start.
The menu has all the classics, the finer beef, pork & chicken dishes along with everyone's favorites: enchiladas, tacos, tostados and fajitas, and even fried ice-cream.
I ordered the Super Enchilada with shredded beef which comes with rice and refried beans. (I figured I would try the common, poor man's dish first, and if they got that right, then I would come back and order the more expensive dishes).
Within 5 minutes (microwaved no doubt) the platter was in front of me, and I was immediately struck by two things: Rosie was right, the portions were meager, and everything looked really thin. To explain, the beans were more like a cheap prison bean soup, and the sauce over the enchilada was more like red water than a sauce or a gravy. And the taste of this goopy mess was as thin as the consistency.
Within 3 minutes I had consumed my $7.25 meal and had the check in hand. I always find it interesting that the cashiers at the worst restaurants never ask you how you enjoyed your meal. Maybe they instictively know your answer, or worse, just don't care. Some bad places count on one-visit customers only and last 2 or 3 years at most when the bad word-of-mouth finallly catches up to them. El-Toro just might be one of those places.
I won't be back, cuz I don't think that there's anything to go back to.
Can't someone PLEASE open a Carlos O'Kelly's here in Pittsburgh?!!
2PM Addendum:
I've talked to 3 other people since this post who have been to El Toro and each give a resounding YUCK to this sham of a restaurant. Dave, my buddy at the Post Office, has been there 3 times, just to give them a fair shake, and said that he just can't stand the food, and has no intention to go back.
First off, El Toro Mexican Restaurant. Located at 400 Adams St, Rochester, Pa.
I went there this past Sunday, after seeing Corpse Bride (the movie only lasts an hour and wasn't worth the $5.50) , because a Mexican Restaurant in Beaver County is VERY rare. Mexican food is one cuisine for which I hunger constantly. There are terrific places in the Mid-West where I used to live and got very used to eating quality tex-mex. Got there around 6PM and the place wasn't crowded at all. Maybe 2/3rds of the tables had patrons.
They seated me quickly and pleasantly, but I didn't like the table cuz' it was against the wall and offered no view of anything. So I asked to be moved to a table I liked that offered a view of the kitchen and had a little foot traffic. I never like to feel as if I'm stuck in some forgotten corner of the restaurant jut because I'm eating alone.
The place looks terrific with nice authentic decorations and a real Latin atmosphere replete with Mexican music. All employees are obviously Latin so I had high hopes for what was to come.
First the chips and salsa. The chips are like ones you get at any other Mexican restaurant. The salsa however is unlike any other. It was mostly water with a few chunks of tomato, onion and cilantro. Not exactly a great start.
The menu has all the classics, the finer beef, pork & chicken dishes along with everyone's favorites: enchiladas, tacos, tostados and fajitas, and even fried ice-cream.
I ordered the Super Enchilada with shredded beef which comes with rice and refried beans. (I figured I would try the common, poor man's dish first, and if they got that right, then I would come back and order the more expensive dishes).
Within 5 minutes (microwaved no doubt) the platter was in front of me, and I was immediately struck by two things: Rosie was right, the portions were meager, and everything looked really thin. To explain, the beans were more like a cheap prison bean soup, and the sauce over the enchilada was more like red water than a sauce or a gravy. And the taste of this goopy mess was as thin as the consistency.
Within 3 minutes I had consumed my $7.25 meal and had the check in hand. I always find it interesting that the cashiers at the worst restaurants never ask you how you enjoyed your meal. Maybe they instictively know your answer, or worse, just don't care. Some bad places count on one-visit customers only and last 2 or 3 years at most when the bad word-of-mouth finallly catches up to them. El-Toro just might be one of those places.
I won't be back, cuz I don't think that there's anything to go back to.
Can't someone PLEASE open a Carlos O'Kelly's here in Pittsburgh?!!
2PM Addendum:
I've talked to 3 other people since this post who have been to El Toro and each give a resounding YUCK to this sham of a restaurant. Dave, my buddy at the Post Office, has been there 3 times, just to give them a fair shake, and said that he just can't stand the food, and has no intention to go back.
posted by BRIAN at 10:00 AM
2 Comments:
Nice review... well articulated!
I love texmex too, and would have probably tried them out, but you've saved me the trouble (and the $20 I would have spent for two).
Thanks, Poncho!
You're welcome, Jorge. And thanks for the complimentos. I've heard from a reliable source that The Fajita Grill in Shadyside is the real stuff. I'm planning a trip soon.
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