Oof! Only went here because it was raining outside and too cold to go to a decent restaurant at Fishermans wharf. I already know El Torito is subpar Mexican food to save the least but I tried it anyways, hoping for the best. Bad decision Food came out cold, the server was pretty much nonexistent other than her walking fastly past our table. Anything needed Inhad to get up and ask for myself. Dishes weren't cleared. Just proper protocol and cleanliness not there. Myself nor my kids finished our meals read more

We picked this spot for dinner for the gorgeous views around sunset. Unfortunately, we didn't get to experience it as we had hoped. We were seated at a table in the center on the dining room but hoped we could get a window booth. Shortly after we were seated, a booth opened up so we asked our waiter if we could move there. He told us it's up to the hosts and you specifically need to request it. (We weren't asked when we checked in). I asked the hostesses and they said the same thing, but that they would move us if a booth opened up that wasn't reserved. (It didn't happen). Besides that, we did have great food and drinks. I ordered the vampiro tacos and they were delicious, and not too spicy! My boyfriend and I both ordered margarita flights and it's a great deal to try their flavors, and they're strong! We had a mud pie and flan for dessert and both were amazing. Also, the parking is $20 and not validated. We moved our car from a garage into their lot to be closer after dark and had to pay again, oops! read more

El Torito - HOME-STYLE FLAN - Mexican Near Me - Monterey, California

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Wow!! Stellar!!! Great for vegans- beans made with vegetable oil, grilled veggies! Yum! Came for a wedding party and eveyrhting was excellent! read more

Food was okay, although it took so long for it to arrive. It was the service that really ruined our experience. They gave us a water glass that had a hole in it so it started leaking over the whole table. We immediately asked for a cloth we could clean it up because so much water was spreading across our table. It took them a long time to bring us something for us to clean it and when they did, they plopped a pile of thin paper napkins in front of us. Not that we're against even cleaning it up ourselves but they wouldn't even give as a cloth towel to clean it with. Someone in our party ordered the mahi mahi fish tacos. We were told by the server they were out of mahi mahi which of course happens sometimes but what was frustrating was after waiting 45 minutes to get our food, it wasn't until it arrived for the rest of the party that the person was informed they were out of mahi mahi and did she want anything else. Not only did she have to now wait longer for her new order to arrive but our server didn't bother to give her a menu so she scrambled to remember other items she could order. These ^ are just a couple of examples of the MANY instances of terrible service. And again, even when we finally got our food, it was mediocre at best. Such as shame because it has such a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. Definitely not worth it though. read more

Service: As soon as we arrived the host sat us immediately, we had a reservation and requested a view of the water which they fulfilled. Our server Chris was very kind and attentive. He answered all our questions and was thoughtful with each answer. Food: Immediately after we sat we were brought chips and salsa along with our drinks, all very good. For our main courses we got a chicken burrito with no cheese and chicken quesadilla. Both were delicious along with the rice and beans. Ambiance: An amazing view! The reason we decided to visit was because of the location and it does not disappoint. We enjoyed the views the music and the vibes. Overall: A great restaurant to visit, the view is amazing, service is great and the food is worth the price! read more

El Torito - QUESADILLA - CHICKEN - Mexican Near Me - Monterey, California

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I had the worst experience here! When we first came in we had the hostess completely ignore us while they talked to each other . We didn't get helped out until about 10 minutes after ,as we stood in front of them no welcome or acknowledgement. They then charged us someone else's table food on top of ours . We had to get it corrected twice and they somehow charged us 3x the amount and was told we had to wait a few business days for us to receive our money back . The hostess also seemed to be in a bad mood projecting her attitude to us , Sarah whoever worked your 6/27/26 shift around 3 (hostess ) does not like you we all heard her complain about you . read more

A take away order. Great food but not what I ordered. Ordered carnitas got fajitas. Had to ask for the flour tortillas that came with it. Ordered guacamole and had to go back and ask for the chips that were supposed to come with. Very confused service - but yummy food. What to do what to do. 5 stars for taste 1 star for competence of service. read more

Horrible service. Once me and my partner entered, the hostess was already giving an unwelcoming attitude. They sat us in a table far way from the booths next to a window even though there were plenty of booths used by others. So, for them to sit us at a table far away from others was an odd move. Our waitress took 30-40 minutes to even take our orders and gave me the wrong drink, the utensils were dirty. Flies were everywhere. Another waitress dropped water on my partners shoes. Just overall, horrible customer service. We left because it would take so long to get our orders and other reviews said that the portion sizes were small so we will not risk it to see if it's true and waste anymore time. I have never walked out of a restaurant but this place is the first place to make me do it. Don't come here. Fast food is better then this place. read more

The best food on earth! The most excellent service on Earth I always have the best time cuz I go alone so I sit with the bartender area who is excellent and this past Easter day I got to meet the general manager Mike super nice hard worker the whole staff is amazing thank you for having me and a little extra thank you for the marshmallows with the chocolate on top ;-) that was cool love you El Torito's you're worth the drive it was two and a half hours to drive just to eat at your restaurant read more

Meh... We come to the Monterey / Pacific Grove area at least two times a year and El Torito has been a favorite place. Sadly, they've succumbed to CRS = California Restaurant Syndrome = tiny portions, huge prices and ho-hum service. We ordered Fajita Duo and it took about 40 minutes to get to the table in a nearly empty restaurant. The food was lukewarm with 4 tiny pieces of chicken and 4 tiny bits of beef and a mountain of onions and bell peppers. During the long wait, the waiter was busy with other tables but just couldn't see us I guess. I'm sad to say we are taking this one off our normal rotation when visiting. Until the CRS pandemic is over, I guess there will be many others we won't see for awhile either... read more

Happen to arrive during Sunday Brunch. The mimosa was bottomless the tritium the best I ever had. Chile Verde beyond words. And our server Cres pleasant, kind, and full of smiles. Best brunch I ever had. read more

When we checked in, the hostess was not the friendliest. Very short and it seemed like we were bothering her. We were able to be seated at a table with a view of the beach. The window seal had missing paint and was dusty. As the night went on, the restaurant became hot and the windows fogged up. There was no air flow. We also had a light above us that kept flickering. The drinks were okay. Not the best we've had. They were mostly ice. The food was not good. Lacked seasoning and flavor. We had to go to the waiter booth to ask for utensils. When we did receive some, they were obviously not clean as a fork still had rice stuck on it. This place has been a one and done. Would not recommend. I would go somewhere else. read more

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This place gets 5 stars because of the food service and good food. It's always busy here and everyone chips in to help one another. I even saw the manager Saul running around helping the staff. The food always comes out tasty and hot, thank you to the kitchen for that, appreciate it. My server was great and a BIG shout out to all the guys bussing the tables, not an easy job, but you all helped each other, good to see. Thanks, I'll be back! read more

Today is my birthday! My son lives in LA & couldn't be with us to celebrate, so he made us a reservation at El Torito & covered the whole thing as a birthday gift for me/us. When he made the reservation (for 5pm) he told them it was my birthday & requested a table by the window & all the silliness that usually goes along with birthdays at El Torito (servers singing, etc). They agreed. Well... We arrived at the restaurant and our table wasn't ready. Ok. We waited for about ten minutes, then were escorted to a window table in the bar with soccer games on TV etc (they didn't ask us if that environment was ok, but whatever). Our table had nothing on it. No silverware, no napkins. Nothing. A server showed up after a bit of a wait. Took a drink order. Awesome. Chips & salsa. Great. Still no napkins or anything but ok. She takes our food order. We wanted to start with Table-Side guacamole It's fun. The server makes it right there, etc... it's my birthday! Let's do it. We order our entrees as well. Hubby & I both order Mexican Caesar salads to start. We sat for quite a while. Finally, a different server comes by with trays of food... it's not ours... it's the table next to us... but this random server takes a bowl of guacamole off their tray and just puts it on our table. No words. Nothing. Just a bowl of guac. It was so odd. Ummm, ok... but... where's the "Table-Side" part?? We started eating it with our sad, broken chips, lol. Our server's walking by, so I ask her if they don't do table-side anymore. She says she thought we wanted Happy Hour guacamole umm, no. But ok. Then... our meals arrive. Random server again. I immediately looked at my husband, and I knew we were thinking the exact same thing. No Mexican Caesar salads I told the random server that we were supposed to have salads, & he said he'd tell our server. Awesome. She came out with salads. Now we have a table crammed with plates of food. One problem. Still no silverware or napkins. We ask a different server for forks etc... she obliged, but kind of acted like she was doing us a favor, lol. No apology or anything... it was just weird. Whatever. Ok We have a lot of food now. It was all pretty good Lots of leftovers... yum! Steak in the fajitas was a little chewy, but other than that it was yummy. Ok... time for dessert or a song or... anything. A completely different server popped by and mumbled something about dessert & walked away. We all just kinda looked at each other like "What's going on?" Lol Then our original server shows up with the check. She didn't ask if we wanted dessert or coffee... nothing. No birthday song. No birthday flan I know I'm not 6, lol, but it was supposed to be silly & fun like my son requested when he made the reservation The whole place appeared to be very unorganized with poorly trained serving staff. Food was great (besides the chewy steak), but the service was a big disappointment. read more

If you're coming for happy hour, you need to know prices only apply if you order the hh menu items while sitting at the bar and it's mon- fri 3pm-9pm. And yes, you can see the ocean from the bar seats. We ordered the salmon tacos, chicken sopes, steak tacos and several margaritas. The prices are so gentle on the wallet we came twice in 3 nights. One day we parked in the parking lot and they validated it inside after paying for our bill. We also took the bus down there one night and took a Lyft back. Either is quick and convenient, but after a few margaritas the 1st time I knew better than to need to drive the 2nd time They have spicier salsa if what the chips come with isn't hot enough. read more

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We're back here again and it's still just as amazing. Their drinks are delicious. The waitress recommended a coconut margarita and now I am obsessed. There are mahi-mahi tacos were my favorite. read more

Food was good! Service not so good, cold coffee, cold food and server didn't bring refills.

Best service by Jessica! Bus boy was friendly and helpful too. My shrimp enchilada meal was delicious. Overall, great environment

Food was outstanding. Wait was average, however the server was great! Jordyn was consistent with refills, check ups and super polite. Definitely will dine in again. read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Monterey, California

Our first experience here was great! Maria C. was fantastic! A Team for sure! We went here for a birthday during the sunday buffet brunch and she turned my free bday entree into a free buffet instead. read more

Took 15 minute to get water. Ordered chicken/steak fajitas. Chicken was totally dry and not even sure what the steak was. Took another 30 minutes. Showed with no tortillas. 10 minutes later they told us they were out of tortillas. read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Monterey, California

food was over priced extremely small portions and the burrito is horrible it had about 9 pieces of meat. servers were good but except for one of the busboys which was rude. after we got our food which took extremely long to take we tried cutting the meat and it was extremely tough and one came under cooked so we asked the rude busboy to cook it more and then he cooked everything extremely and the chicken came out burnt with a the burnt line which they didn't even take off to cook it longer. ambiance wasn't good. do not get the horchata when it came out it had so much cinnamon in it and they didn't even strain it my well. i this restaurant looks good in the photos but it is horrible some of the menu items online aren't even in the restaurant. don't recommend payed 150$ for the worst food i've ever had. DO NOT COME read more

DECRIMINATION! As a w Person who has been working in HR RELATIONS FOR OVER 10 years I'm aware of how employees should not be recrimination against customers for language barriers. I am a proud Native American woman who comes teary with her family to celebrate not one by two birthdays (drove 2hours to Come to this location) anyway both my sons birthdays were celebrated there last night. I asked my waitress if I could please get a co trainer to take the rest of the "consume" home from the birria tacos and the waitress she was with laughed at me and looked at her maybe because I said it wrong. Wish I could of got her name but I was in shock of the treatment she was a younger lady with big lashes. My waitress was nice but not this person . My children looked at me and my husband like they didn't u destined why she laughed at me . Thanks for the birthday memory. We were a party of 6 by the way. read more

Unfortunately, we won't be returning. Our visit started off poorly when we found a hair in our basket of chips. The waitress was courteous and promptly brought us a new batch, which we appreciated. However, several other cleanliness issues followed. The busser cleaned our table with the same rag he had just used on the bench seating. We were seated in a booth by the window, and the windowsill was covered in crumbs and dirt. The menu was also sticky and visibly dirty. To make matters worse, our party of three was automatically charged gratuity, along with an additional surcharge that I assume was for using a credit card. The final concern was seeing a waiter carrying a rag tucked into the back of his pants, possibly inside his waistband, which did not appear sanitary. Overall, the restaurant seemed to have significant cleanliness and hygiene issues. I believe the establishment would benefit from a thorough deep cleaning and additional staff training on sanitation practices. read more

The view when you walk in is impressive, and the menu offers a nice variety. They also have a buffet option available before 2 PM. Service was just okay, and some of the dishes could have been cleaner. Thankfully, I had great company, which helped make up for the low points. I ordered the taco salad--it was delicious! I also tried the banana dessert, which was good, though it would've been even better if it had been warmed a bit more. Overall, it was a cool and enjoyable experience. read more

Positives: margaritas are really good, got a nice window seat, strawberry ice cream cake is good, hot wing strips are good and salsa is good! Negative: nachos chips tasted stale, the banana cheese cake chimichanga has good flavor but when she finally got around to bringing it was cold. The flautas were not good and the quesadillas weren't good either. Only one out of the four was good. All in all I was not impressed. read more

Service was very slow. We waited over 1.5 hours for food and my food order was incorrect! The food was not authentic tasting. More wait staff is needed! read more

The quesadillas were ok, but I really wish they had more seasoning! I had to ask for more sauce to give it more flavor. Even though I paid a bit more for a different meat option, I expected it to be more flavorful but it ended up being lacking. The servers were very nice and I appreciated the complimentary chips and salsa, which I enjoyed more than the actual meal. The ocean view was nice but the parking itself was confusing. It was blocked off on one side, so my friend and I just ended up parking somewhere else. read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Monterey, California

This is the worst food I ever had. I was there with my family and we paid around 80 dollars for the food to go into the trash. We ate a few bites and couldn't continue eating because it was so disgusting. I rarely say that about food and never have I left a whole uneaten plate but it was just so terribly bad. read more

My grandma loves this place so we took her here while passing through. Personally, I was neither impressed or disappointed. It's fine. The good: - Views - Server was very nice - They validate parking and you can linger a bit The meh: - Slowwwww without a reservation. But that's normal for the area. - Prices are standard for the area. - Food was also just okay. It's not especially good or especially bad. It's basically what you'd get at any mid-tier Mexican place but for a few dollars more in tourist upcharge. The not so good: - OMG. please update the upstairs bathrooms. maybe it's just because I am short so I see the world at a slightly lower angle than everyone else or something, but as I opened the door to the bathroom I fully made eye contact with someone in the center stall of the womens' room. The gap between the stall wall and door is WAY TOO BIG if I walk in and get an eyeful of someone pooping. Lmao. Jump scare of the century and also nasty. - They seem understaffed. The hostess was so overwhelmed she just sort of stopped answering questions and froze up. read more

Been to other El Torito in other cities before although not my first choice they haven't been bad. This place, however, exceeds the level of disappointment by having rock bottom performance. We arrived for dinner at 7;30 PM and the place was not crowded, no hostess at podium for about five minutes. Finely she arrived and seated us. A short wait at the table before waiter Leonardo shows up to take our drink order. He leaves, ten minutes latter he passes by and repeats our drink order to confirm. Another ten to fifteen minutes pass and we flagged him down asking about the drinks. He leaves and shortly latter a person arrives. A few minutes later Leonardo returns to take our order and explains the drinks were late because the person that was to deliver them went on break and they were just sitting there. So we gave him the order of two combo plates one a cheese enchilada and tamale there a taco and chili relleno. The enchilada that arrived was not cheese but chicken, the relleno was over salted. To put a cap on this "lovely" evening we never got our check from Leonardo. We had to ask someone passing by to get it read more

Needs a new management, he is rude and inconsiderate. Gives people attitude for no reason.

Service went well and food was good. We took our 2 young children and they liked the chips and lemonade and looking out the window to the ocean view. It's convenient if your looking for a place to eat near the aquarium. The parking is validated for only 2 hrs and afterwards we were told 10 each hour so we parked free on the street. read more

El Torito is one of those locations that I find myself constantly coming back to for the environment. The food, while good, isn't exceptional; You can probably find yourself enjoying atleast something on the menu. With that being said, the view, location, and staff make El Torito the perfect place to "hang out". There's a great ocean view, you can walk around cannery row or just enjoy the beach, and the staff are always friendly no matter what day I find myself in here. Aliana specifically is a great conversationalist and curious person which makes it easy to spark a conversation whether solo or with a group. In short, if you're not sure what to do, find some time to walk into here and try it out--don't be shy and give yourself the time of day to meet one of the El Torito staff. Grab a beer while you're at it. Cheers! read more

We absolutely loved the brunch, the service, the atmosphere. We enjoyed all of the food. It was really delicious I want to give it a 5 star. But despite eating the fantastic Sunday buffet, we got diarrhea for two days. The pain in our bellies started within a few hours of leaving. It ruined our whole trip to Monterey. We tried calling the restaurant and left two messages with the manager that we were sick, and they never returned our call. That was disappointing to us. We really like it but probably won't risk coming back. I think it's very poor customer service to not return my 2 messages about getting sick. And not even bothering to respond back on yelp. Appears the manager only responds when you leave good feedback. No one apparently cares that we were ill for two days and trip was ruined by being in the bathroom the whole time. read more

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We had lunch today at El Torito. The staff was friendly and offered free chips and salsa when were were seated. We ordered the chicken quesadilla, the rolled taco special, and the carnitas street tacos. All three were very good quality and ample portions. Good prices for such a location. Our server, Isabel, was particularly friendly, had recommendations, and served our food flawlessly. The views were stunning. 10 million dollar views. If you don't come for the food, come for the view. I will come back for both:-) thanks, El Torito! read more

El Torito - The view from our table. - Mexican Near Me - Monterey, California

The food was amazing and so filling. So good! Our server Daniel was so friendly and the service was quick. The view from our table looking out to the water was beautI fil. We will definitely come again! read more

Debbie is 5 stars! Tonight as a party of 2 as we waited for a table Deborah A. passed us several times greating and smiling at us as she husseled and worked her tables, we were then lucky enough to be seated in her section. We were there for dinner but she turned it in to a "Night Out." She shared some history of the restaurant with us which we loved and helpped with realistic recommendation on our selections. Since today is Sat of the 4th of July weekend it was busy but once we were seated everything moved quickly. Debbie and team did a great job and we greatly appreciate it. We try hard to give fair reviews with good and poor service, but this time Debbie was exceptional and her service has not gone unnoticed. We will come back again looking for her. read more

Great food, service was good Maria was attentive When they say bottomless mimosas they mean bottomless mimosas read more

I have never spoken to a manager after a meal before, but I needed to this time. The 2 stars are for the bus boys who helped us out so much when our waitress disappeared for 15 minutes at a time. Didn't get water for 45 minutes. Had to wave down a busboy and got water quickly. The waitress showed up 15 min later and left 4 more glasses, so now there's 10 glasses for 4 people. 2 meals were wrong. Ordered mahi mahi tacos and shrimp showed up. Ordered no rice and extra beans, but all rice was served. It tasted like the house margaritas had less alcohol than the Costco jugs. The salsa dishes are about 1/2 deep, so we had to wave over busboys several times for refills while we waited an hour for the food. The food was very tasty when it was finally served. And finally, we had to head back in to have our parking ticket validated a 2nd time, since the machine tried to get us to pay an additional $10. read more