Came to El Cascabel as a family member of the owner recommended it being close to Grinnell (we'd been in Marshalltown and were looking for Mexican here) and were excited at how close it is! The location is pretty cool - outside is very pretty to walk by and see and inside, and outside really, you see the trains go by directly next to it! That in itself already gave a cool ambiance. They played great music upon walking - Spanish station perhaps, but we loved it and as soon as we walked in were greeted with big smiles. It's a pretty big restaurant with a lot of room! An extensive menu also, we ended up with enchiladas, cheese crisp, and a chicken dish. They brought out some chips and salsa ahead of our meal, for the table, and that was lovely. Chips were warm but didn't seem super fresh although were still great. The salsa was quite mild but wouldn't expect different in the heartland. The service was wonderful and our server was attentive. As for the flavor of enchiladas - very good. Cheesy and delicious. The chicken was good, but being so close to Mexico coming from southern AZ we have pretty authentic close to native flavors. The seasoning was ok and the rice and beans that it came with were also alright. We were largely impressed with the service and structure more than anything. I was really happy with the michelada - such a staple for my meals when having Mexican so it was perfect!! We enjoyed overall and recommend. We may have to try others to have a better fair ranking of Mexican in Grinnell. But it's worth a try! read more

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Great food friendly experience, let me just say I liked the guys that take care of the place

Great food, great service. Cool historical place. They need to add some decent wine choices, not just Sutter Home.

From the warm welcome at the door to the best bacon wrapped shrimp and basic margaritas - what a place! There are at least 10 more items on the menu I want to try but alas this my last night in town. Kinda glad it was the only game in town on a Monday. You can bet if I ever find myself back in Grinnell i will head back to the El Cascabel! Keep up the great work and great food! read more

El Cascabel - Mexican Near Me - Grinnell, Iowa

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If you are in Grinnell and love history, this is the place to go. It's where Grinnell was founded in the 1850's where two train tracks cross. The restaurant is in the repurposed train depot. As for the food, the usual Mexican menu. The enchilada we had was very good as were the street tacos. Our meal started with warm fresh tortilla chips. The service was friendly and accommodating. read more

Just had a very enjoyable time at El Cascabel. Christopher took care of us and couldn't have been nicer. The menu is pretty extensive with a number of seafood dishes in addition to the classics. The birra mexicana and the chili relleno stood out. I could use a bit more spice/heat and will ask for some additional hot sauce next time. Already planning our next visit. Bonus was a train going by as we were leaving. read more

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We were greeted when we came through the door and this service has been exceptional. We weren't that hungry so we decided to split a shrimp fajita, and it was marvelous. read more

They did not have a spicy flavorful salsa. Some restaurants have a variety to offer. Mild. Medium. Hot and hotter. This place only had one. Their salsa and chips were ok. I personally love spicy flavorful salsas. My husband as well. The star for me was the birria meat. The meat itself was full of flavor. I was not a fan of the cheese they used in the quesadilla. Tasted like kraft singles. I would have preferred the traditional cheese. Also disappointing to see they do not make their tortillas fresh. Flour nor corn. I'm from SoCal and it's been extremely hard to find a flavorful spot in Iowa. The waiter said they needed to cater to the demographic which won't eat spicy things but it kind of ruins it for the rest of us who can handle the heat. We might go back, we might not. read more

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As my first visit to El Cascabel, I was excited to try out a new Mexican restaurant. This is the 4th (!) Mexican place in Grinnell - a lot of Mexican places for a town of 10,000. But El Cascabel has one big advantage - it is located in the old railroad depot, which was restored many years ago and is an impressive place to eat. However, their cuisine failed to live up to the environment, in my opinion. As a Texan, I have opinions about Mexican food - one of which is to start with the enchiladas. If a place can't do well with those, it probably won't do well with other staples. I ordered the 5 enchilada dish Enchilada Rancheras - basically a sampler of 5 different types. The enchiladas were...well, bland. Not much flavor, definitely no heat, and neither Tex-Mex nor authentically Mexican. My dining companions had similar reactions to their meals - ok, but not great. They ordered a seafood quesadilla, Pollo Loco, and street tacos. OF the 3, the tacos got the most points for flavor. I will be back - but with lowered expectations. I hope they up their game! read more

El Cascabel - Page 1 of menu - Mexican Near Me - Grinnell, Iowa

I downloaded yelp just to write this review. I never write reviews. If I could I would give negative stars for stress caused by this situation. We got there and waited for 30+ mins, and no one waited on us. We got chips but no drinks, no waiter, no water, etc. Every other table was getting refills and food. I finally stood and flagged down a waiter and he took the order, but still no water. The table behind me that was seated after us got water, drinks and food. I went to see the staff who were standing around doing nothing. This was irritating to say the least. I asked about water and one woman said she was making our drinks. And the other two ran away. Still no water. Seriously? I finally got up a third time and went and got water for everyone at the table but myself. If nothing else beyond horrible service, it is a health violation. The woman brought 3 drinks slammed them on the table and was leaving. I had to ask which drink was which. At that point I was done. She accused me of yelling. Yeah. No. If she wanted to hear yelling. I could have obliged. No one knew who our waiter was. The woman didn't know where the manager was. They were really busy with only 7 tables. Yeah right. The manager should leave one adult person at the restaurant if he goes away. Ridiculous. We left. I was done. Terrible service. Terrible experience. Won't go back. My guests will be letting students at Grinnell college know. read more

We went with a party of 15 people. Our orders were taken correctly and we all had a great time . The waiter did a fantastic job . We all had plenty to drink . Many of the people took the to go box because they didn't want to leave their delicious food . read more

We love this place!! We come all the time, great prices, great service and great atmosphere. Our kids love the train when it passes as dinner time. read more

Stopped by Grinnell, Iowa for the night. Found this restaurant. Loved the location!! Had the Enchiladas Vallarta (Shrimp), YUM!! Finished with Soillas, WOW Factor!! Amazing Mexican food. Highly recommend. read more

El Cascabel - Flan and Sopapillas - Mexican Near Me - Grinnell, Iowa

Very respectable, authentic Mexican in the middle of Iowa (relative to very good Bay Area standards). Great service, nice interior.

Delicious street tacos. Great serving size 4 tacos for $13.00 on special. It has much improved since first opening.

Great value .. food, service, food quality. Had the tacos and burritos . The chips.and salsa was the bomb. Best chips I've evernhad

Best Mexican food I've ever had in Iowa. Great feel to the restaurant with wonderful staff. Food was quick to come out with great quality. I will be a frequent guest. read more

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My favorite restaurant in Grinnell. We visited twice while dropping our son off at the college. Coming from Arizona, we eat a lot of quality Mexican food. Ask for the hot salsa, it's flavorful with a great kick. The original salsa has great flavor without being spicy, which isn't easy to achieve. Try the guacamole Mexicana, it's fresh and delicious. Grill items are most authentic and the exceptional service made us want to return for a second visit. The location in an old railroad depot at the intersection of two train lines is super fun. Highly recommended. read more

Tried this Grinnell mexican last week giving it some time to work out the kinks and figure out their flow. The building itself carries historical value for residents of Grinnell and in surrounding towns but other than that it was somewhat of a fail. Our waiter was very courteous, took our order promptly and made sure we had enough to drink continously and checked back in a timely manner. I ordered the Camarones a la Diabla because the sauce in a dish like that is the key and impressed I was not. The La Diabla sauce itself didn't carry enough thickness, the shrimp were okay size, mushrooms were not included at all which are standard usually along with the lack of flavor in their rice. Mexican Deviled Shrimp not even close:( Will give them awhile and will revisit but not rushing there by any means. read more

Great dinner! We've been visiting our son at Grinnell College over the past four years. This is the best meal we've had in town! We ordered the stuffed poblano chili, fish tacos and el grande burrito. All were delicious. The servers were attentive and the atmosphere was inviting in the old train depot. We will try to go again this weekend before our kid graduates. read more

This restaurant has fantastic service and a great atmosphere along with a large menu with lots of options. They have a great hot salsa if you request it - the regular one is flavorful but mild. I would recommend items from the grill as some of the traditional menu items are toned down a bit. I had the Pollo Yucatan once and the Birria Tacos another time. Both were fantastic. The guacamole Mexicano was also very fresh and excellent. Best restaurant in Grinnell. read more

The street tacos were amazing. The limes tasted so fresh and delicious. I could tell the quality of it.

Tortilla soup was fire. Best Mexican food in Grinnell!! Def check it out for brunch, lunch or dinner. Friendly service is the cherry on top.

I am so embarrassed to have taken a guest here. We were a group of 9, one of which was a guest of ours from Finland who has a love of rail travel. We thought it would be interesting for him to see the unique building that this restaurant is in (being an old railroad depot), and despite my previous first hand knowledge that the food here is not that great, we took the chance and figured that we could make due with the food for the interesting historical building (and hopes that we would catch a train passing by). I should have listened to my inner voice telling me NO). First, and most importantly, our foreign guest's meal was so simple yet was so poorly and inexcusably executed. He ordered the mixed fajita, simple enough. He was brought the sizzling hot plate of fajita mix and the sides that go with it, we asked if he had the tortillas coming, to which they said, "yes, they are working on making them". Waited, waited, asked again. "Yes, they are making them" when asked again. Like, making them from scratch? Did they have to pound the corn meal and form it in a ball and cook it? I would imagine corn tortillas are readily available in a Mexican restaurant, but he was literally almost done eating the plain fajita mixture by the time the tortillas showed up. Seems like a pretty simple thing...tortillas are kind of a VERY BASIC element of Fajitas. The biggest problem though was that I had ordered the Camarones Momia. I have been to this restaurant 4 times now and ordered the same thing. The first time it was AMAZING. The second and third times, not so great, this time DISGUSTING. BURNED to a crisp and DRY. When the waiter asked if everything was ok, I mentioned that I was not thrilled with how overcooked my meal was, and numerous others at the table agreed. He looked at me with a dumbfounded look and questioned me, several times and could hardly believe that I was telling him that the food was not acceptable, despite it VERY CLEARLY being burned to a crisp. After some back and forth that the meal was not acceptable, he took my plate and said that they would remake it. Kind of standard procedure. Nope. They brought my very same plate back with the shrimp replaced (same sides and dips), and the shrimp was LITERALLY FROZEN. COLD. UNCOOKED. FROZEN SHRIMP with slightly warm bacon wrapped around it. I handed it to my mother, who passed it to my father, who passed it back to me and we all agreed, it was COLD. When the owner came over to ask how it was, I handed her the frozen shrimp and told her to feel it. She could clearly tell that it was frozen, and she acted like *I* was being ridiculous. She basically told me that that was what I asked for...that my 2 choices were burned or what was on my plate. She said that she would take it back, but that the only way I was getting it back was burned again, because apparently they have 2 choices...CHARRED or RAW. She was SO UNPROFESSIONAL. I pointed it out to her that we were a group of 9, and that not one single one of us would be back. She said "That's fine!" We must not be the only ones that have had a poor experience there, because the place was nearly empty, as it was the last 3 times. Seriously Bad. Go to Casa Margaritas or Los Girasoles where they have great food and no nasty attitudes. read more