El Tapatio

10/25/09

Terrible. Awful.

by susaneh at Citysearch

Because we live in the area, we thought we'd try El Tapatio. I didn't want to stuff myself, so I ordered the beef taco and enchilada from the ala carte selection. The enchilada was, I think, one step up from opening my cat's canned food and dining on that. The sauce was not awful, just the flavor of the beef itself. I don't want to really think about why it was so inedible, for I've had far superior meals at Taco Bell, and that isn't saying much. I was hungry, but I couldn't take more than two bites of either the taco or burrito. My husband's burrito tasted like the restaurant had just poured a can of store-bought gravy over the meat, wrapped in in a tortilla, and called it a burrito. For a restaurant that says it's food is fresh, I couldn't taste that. I tasted can, can, can, and bad cans at that. I can say without hesitation that this was the worst Mexican food I have ever had. My advice: stay away.

• Cons: Terrible food

07/06/09

Not the best by far.

by lkwddan at Citysearch

We tried the El Tapatio on So. Wadsworth. We heard the raves about the original on W. Alameda so when this one opened it was on our must try list.

The atmosphere is fairly nice and the service as I said, proved to be outstanding from the start. The restaurant did not yet have a license so we could not start with cocktails, which may have helped the blandness of the food.

I was surprised by the charge for additional baskets of chips with salsa. While the chips themselves are very good, and the salsa also enjoyable for most of our party (I have an aversion to cilantro so didn't enjoy it much) but the additional charge for more is just one indication of what we perceived to be overpriced food.

The cheese enchilada plate was standard fare. An option of green chile may have kicked it up. The taco salad, also very urban. I will admit that I wish there had been more salad greens, which I guess is not what many want.

The combination plate was reported as again boring with the exception of the Chicken Burrito which not only was enjoyed by that party member, caused a sweat to break out.

The final member of our party had fajitas. No real report there, but he didn't leave any on the plate, so I will assume the dish was good.

I will probably try them again. If I find it better the next time around, I will readily share. There have been just too many positive posts on too many sites for this to be the norm for this restaurant.

As it stands now, I'd much rather eat at Santiagos or the Moose Hill Cantina.

• Pros: Outstanding service
• Cons: Mostly boring, get it anywhere food.

06/24/09

Best Wait Staff in all of Denver!

by 303angie at Citysearch

The food is just like when I was in Guadalajara. It would be nice if they got a big screen TV and showed soccer matches though. Tacos al Carbon, Enchiladas Mole... anything on the Platillos Mexicanos menu is fantastico!

• Pros: Great food, great wait staff, and mariachi
• Cons: South location not as good as the Alameda location