Passing through town, and came upon this gem. Family-owned place with an excellent menu and great atmosphere. The food far exceeded my expectations- with a real delicacy in the preparation, which was clearly (visibly) prepared fresh and not at all greasy. The menu was able to accommodate unusually diverse demands of our group (a couple of vegetarians, a few terrified of spice but who appreciate flavor, one from Mexico City). They seated us last on a Saturday and made us feel welcome despite the fact that we were the last people in the restaurant. Will definitely visit again the next time I am in Utah. read more

You can tell how good a Mexican cook is by the quality of their basics. El tapatía has best beans I've had in 18 years in the USA. We ended up eating here by luck on the way back from southern Utah. What a pleasant surprise. Try their pineapple, it's like a great Mexican Alambre with the sweetness of pineapple, Amazing. read more

This restaurant was recommended by a trusted family member. We were down in the area, and decided to stop by. To be fair, we arrived about 25 minutes before it was closing time. We were greeted and seated immediately, and placed our order right away for a pineapple fajita. Here are the pros and cons: Pros the pineapple fajitas are unique and tasty. We ordered the chicken and steak fajitas, which comes in a pineapple shell with grilled pineapple, mushrooms, peppers, onions, all covered with cheese. The server brought out a small bowl of chips chips and salsa. The salsa consisted mostly of cilantro and onions. Not my favorite. The fajitas were delivered fairly quickly, but we had to wait for them to bring out the three tortillas, and the accompaniments plate. Cons: the tortillas were nothing special, and seemed extremely thin, and oily. The accompaniments plate consisted of refried beans, rice, a scoop of sour cream, and a small scoop of guacamole. There was no additional cheese or tomatoes. The service was practically nonexistent. Once our food was delivered, we were ignored. We needed additional tortillas, but the server was on her phone looking out the window most of the time that we were at the restaurant. I was able to snag her as she walked by the table, and she did bring additional tortillas upon request. The open sign was turned off 10 minutes before their closing time. So, don't expect them to be there during their stated business hours I am giving this restaurant three stars for the taste of the fajitas and the uniqueness of serving it in a pineapple shell. The salsa, service, and tortillas brings it down two stars. read more

Amazing service, Best Mexican food I've ever had! Highly recommend this place super friendly & quick staff

One of the best places to go eat in Payson! Food is amazing as well as the service, definitely worth the trip.

After a few months without going back to this place due to not being in the area, I decided a couple of weeks ago to stop by and have dinner. I can say that It's not as good as it used to be. I believe the ownership has changed and the food is not as good as it used to be. read more

Love this place. We have tried it four times now and have yet to be disappointed. The place is a little small but their service and food has been great. The pineapple fajita is my favorite and it will easily feed two. read more

Stopped in on our way to St. George and boy are we glad we did! We ordered the Pineapple Chicken Fajita to share and we still had leftovers! So very delicious!! Loved the fresh salsa with complimentary chips! The place was very clean and the service was exceptional!! read more

El Tapatio - Deliciousness!!!!! - Mexican Near Me - Payson, Utah

Best local Mexican food hands down! Expect very slow service and you may have to flag your server down if you need anything, they rarely check on you. I'm only giving 3 stars because of the service. Otherwise it would be 5! read more

Very good. Huge portions. You could easily split a meal. Taco salad was very good. The pineapple special was yummy and something new. Rice was good but just a little bit on the salty side. Friendly owner. Good service. It's a little on the expensive side compared to your typical Mexican restaurant, but the portion size and fresh quality will tell you why. read more

I went there with my family and we loved it. First off the service was excellent. Our waiter was very friendly and gave us great suggestions. The chips and salsa were delicious. Unfortunately we ate tons of them so we were full when the main course came. I had cactus carnitas it was excellent. We loved everything we ate. I highly recommend this restaurant. read more

My friend said she knew of a good Mexican place in Payson. We were on a double date and neither couple had been there before. She recommended the meat pineapple. We thought the girls would share and the boys get their own. Big mistake--they could feed three grown men! Great food! Great service! We will definitely be going back!!! read more

The Mexican food here is in my opinion the best in the Payson area. We will be returning again soon for the carne asada tacos lunch special. The staff was also very friendly and the restaurant also had a very family friendly atmosphere. read more

Soooo good!! Tastes authentic and so yummy! Ask for the Seafood (optional) "Pineapple Fajitas special"-amazing! So impressed with the service, they were so accommodating and nice! Oh and if you like cheese crisps those were amazing as well, we ended up getting another to go! And easy 5 stars for me! read more

El Tapatio - Pineapple Fajitas special! Seafood style :) so worth the price! - Mexican Near Me - Payson, Utah

Amazing food!! Great customer service. Clean! We appreciate local businesses who work this hard and value their customers. Great Job El Tapatio! Keep up the good work. read more

The service is a little slow but our pineapple fajitas were delicious! My husband and I shared it and had plenty of leftovers to take home.

Yummy. Yummy. An hour from home and we found on Yelp while travelling. I think we'll drive back just for the food. read more

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We love El Tapatio! My family eats there at least once a week. The service is great! We have tried everything from ceviche to pork carnitas to pineapple fajitas, everything is delicious! read more

Great place!! Small atmosphere but amazing food! The fajitas have some spice on them that just makes them over the top and even the next day as leftovers they are still amazing! Highly recommend the place the service was good also!! read more

Pretty authentic Mexican food. Finally a place in Payson we feel we could come regularly!

The pineapple fajita was amazing and plenty for two people with lots of left overs to take home. The combination of savory and sweet in this dish was quite a treat. Friendly staff read more

El Tapatio - Mexican Near Me - Payson, Utah

Bland, bland, bland. Don't order tacos or carne asada. Dry and no taste. Service was excellent, that's why two stars. They need to develop some sauces. read more

My family had lunch, this past Saturday 02/10/18 at El Tapatio for the first time. This was an incidental find and what a treasure it is! The food was delightful and the service amazing! Three of us ordered different items from the menu and everything was DELICIOUS! At one point, my daughter was picking cilantro off of her burrito (not a fan of cilantro) and the waiter asked her if "anything was wrong, that he wanted her to have a good meal". He was quick to notice and respond, we were very impressed with his willingness to remake the burrito. We live in Salt Lake City and will drive to Payson to visit El Tapatio again! We highly recommend visiting this restaurant. Trish Whitaker read more

Always excellent food and friendly service. Friends drive down to payson just to eat here. Grilled pineapple wonderful

Pleasantly impressed, we love trying smaller Mexican Food places and wanted to try someplace local. Right down town, clean, service was great and the food had some great flavor. I had the Chile Verde plate and my wife had a beef chimi. We will be coming back. read more

Loved it! The world needs more completely authentic dishes that give us the flavors of the world. Great place/food/service all around.

I ate here last night in a group of four. We arrived at about 7:30 and waited about 15 mins to be seated which was fine except for the fact that they have no waiting are. After we were seated and ordered it took about an hour to get our food as we watched in hunger as all the people around got their food even the ones who had arrived after us. Finally our waiter brought over my food and set it in front me and left, he then came back five mins later telling me it wasn't mine and at that point he took my plate of food and gave it to another table (major health code violation) after waiting a half hour we finally got chips and salsa (the chips were stale) after another half hour we got our food which was so so tasting to say the least. Overall, this was not a great experience the one shinning thing was one of the little helpers who would come by and make sure everything was ok. I don't recommend this place. read more

It's a tiny little restaurant on the old one way part of main street. The food is prepared Guadalahara style. But that doesn't do it justice. You have to get a pineapple fajita. Seriously. It's the best thing EVER. Half a pineapple scooped out and grilled. Insides are mixed in with veggies, mushrooms, meat, and queso and grilled. All of it is stuffed back into the pineapple and served with tortillas. I love it with shrimp. read more

The food was delicious! I wasn't too excited about another Mexican restaurant, but was so very pleasantly surprised. The food was a little slow in coming to out table, but well worth the wait. It's our new favorite place to eat! read more