Very solid restaurant, food was delicious and service was great, very quick turnaround which is great when you have a toddler with you. Will definitely be back. Our server Memo and their manager Justin are very attentive and have a good eye for service. read more

10/10 Daniel is the best! He is very attentive and ensures that his customers are the best!

Went in Sunday August 16, I was greeted with the warmest welcome from the hostess Karla she was very friendly walking us to our table making jokes. Isabel was our waitress and she was very fast and attentive with our orders also very funny and kind. Manager Justin was the cherry on top making sure that we were good the whole time. 10/10 would recommend read more

Great Mexican food and a neighborhood favorite! I've been to El Torito on Hawthorne in Torrance a few times, and it's one of those local spots that just gets Mexican food right. The portions are generous, the food is flavorful, and everything tastes fresh and made with care. The staff is friendly especially Ernesto. He has been there for decades and he is FAMILY! The service is quick, and the prices are reasonable for the amount of food you get. Whether you're grabbing a quick lunch or sitting down for a full meal, it's a solid choice. If you're in the Torrance area and looking for good, no-frills Mexican food, I'd definitely recommend giving El Torito a try. read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

Our family has been going to El Torito for many years, especially after El Paso Cantina closed, which was maybe 15 years ago. Not only do we come here all the time, but whenever relatives are visiting, they always want to come to El Torito.. The tortillas are freshly made and the table side guacamole is great! Tonight we were served by hostess Carla and server Isabella who are both so accommodating, especially as I was bringing my 93-year-old father with us tonight. Isabella was absolutely fantastic and so upbeat and friendly that we once again felt at home and well cared for. For many years, we would also request server Ernie as he is also really wonderful but this time we were delighted to be so pleased with Isabella. Ernie has truly served our family for decades and whenever family members from out of town come to visit they always ask for Ernie. I know this is a chain restaurant, but it always feels like a small family restaurant, cozy and friendly and familiar. And the food is great! The menu is varied so there's always something here for everyone.. This is why we keep coming back year after year. Ask for isabella or Ernie and they will treat you well read more

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Midweek, near 6pm The food is ok, the servers seemed to be down one person and the atmosphere is basic Latin/ Mexican food chain. Parking was easy. You could do worse, but maybe better too ... read more

Fantastic food as usual! Excellent service from Marilu my server and J.C. Who made the most delicious table side guacamole! Very nicely decorated and super clean! Will be back next time I'm in town. read more

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One of the best AYCE places for Mexican food. The service is amazing, every waiter we've had is always cracking jokes and keeping the mimosas truly bottomless. The place is nice as well, very family friendly and the decor and music fills me personally with nostalgia. I came with my parents for the Sunday brunch and we very much enjoyed everything. The corn tortillas are home made, the meats are all delicious and juicy, and no it's not just the champagne talking either. The only bad part is probably the price. Definitely recommend this place, just make sure to come hungry to justify that price point. read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

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The service is always great and it's my favorite place to go if there is ever a game. This place has a very casual and friendly vibe. There's usually no wait and I love going when they have their happy hour since it makes for a super affordable meal. They recently changed up their happy hour menu so it's not as appealing as before, but I would still come back in hopes that they change it back or for trying whatever they add. read more

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Isabel Ortiz!!!!!! This review is literally for her. Her energy is so amazing, the service is great, the food is delicious and the happy hour was amazing. The ambiance has been the same since I was a kid. Awesome spot totally recommend! read more

Arrived on a Saturday night around 7:15 PM. The place was basically empty. When seated a basket of tortilla chips and dish of salsa was placed on the table . No silverware on the table. We asked for water twice. He took our order for drinks. I ordered a mango margarita and my daughter (28 years old) wanted the same on the rocks. Unfortunately, she didn't bring her ID as we hadn't really planned on dining out. He refused to serve her. Ok no problem. However, my drink didn't have any alcohol at all. (I'm well over 21 years old). Told the waiter my drink was without alcohol and my daughter's drink was blended, not on the rocks! Waiter came back with a jigger of tequila. Finally got our water. We ordered the birria tacos, 3 beef tacos and a burrito. it did not have the consume dip that is supposed to come with it ( had to request from the waiter) & the whole entire taco shell fell apart. The portions were quite small and the prices have surely gone up for the amount of food on the plate. The burrito wasn't bad. Service wasn't great. Waiter never refilled our water glasses. He kept pushing dessert when we weren't even finished with our meal. Ambiance is typical of most Mexican style restaurants. Sorry, but we will not be going back to El Torito. read more

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Stopped in for a quickie bite! The service here was fantastic. Everyone we encountered was so nice and accommodating. It was so refreshing to encounter people working in the restaurant industry and just being so nice. Shoutout to ANGEL!!!! he was sooo nice and he sat us at our table! Food was delicious and drinks were top tier!! Will definitely come back!! read more

El Torito - Citrus - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

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JC is an excellent waiter. He's friendly, funny, professional and caring. Food was excellent and piping hot! We will be back! Thank you, JC! read more

Excellent service! the waitress Isabel was awesome very professional and try her best to make sure we have everything we ask for!! Great job! Thank you . read more

El Torito - Bar área with the best waiter Daniel always ready to take our order with a great attitude thank you so very much!! - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

El torito torrance is my fav!!! We love ernesto! Thank you for making us feel at home. Best way to spend my Saturday morning!! Highly recommend asking for ernesto as your server, he's very attentive and really makes you feel like family. Thank you so much, you'll be seeing us very soon!! read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

Margarita Mondays with Memo! Loved coming and experiencing the great hospitality from Memo. Definitely coming back!

Came in to El Torito for a last minute date night! We knew there was happy hour, but we didn't know about the $2.99 margaritas!! Hubby was so happy. Food 9.5/10 - Queso Dip 9.5/10 (i like my queso a little thicker) - Birria Tacos 10/10 (sooooo good! Especially for the happy hour price) - Guac 10/10 (I love me so guac, and this one was bomb!) - Carne Asada fries 10/10 - 3 margaritas 10/10 Everything was so good. We both hadn't been here for quite a few years and we were really blown away by the great food, great drinks, and great service! Our servers Memo and Brian were so attentive and really made us feel welcome. We will definitely be back for an other date night! read more

El Torito - $2.99 Margs all day on Monday! - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

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Our server JUAN CAR was awesome!! He constantly asked if he we needed anything. And kept our mimosas filled the whole time. He is the GOAT!! Greatest server of all time!! read more

We came to El Torito in Torrance on Taco Tuesday to celebrate a Birthday! We love having Taco Tuesday here. Tonight was especially great. Ashley was so helpful in surprising our birthday guy with his ice cream birthday cake. She was kind enough to keep it in the freezer until it was time and help me to set up the surprise. About the Tacos.... Always good! They have one of the best Taco Tuesdays around. You can get tacos and put your toppings how you like it. The tacos come with beans and corn bread mash...so good! This spot is always yummy food, fun music and hospitable people. read more

Second time here the food was really good, we had one of the new entrées and birria tacos. Monday is Margarita Day All Day !! , The dessert was super sweet and perfect for a sister date night !! Will be coming back read more

El Torito - Margarita Monday !!! It was delicious - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

I really want to give this place more stars but the reason why is the portions for lunch is so tiny! I have my hand out for a comparison. This fajitas is for a small child portion size who's maybe be under 6 yrs old.even for my child who is 9 yrs old is not enough food for her. The fajitas is actually pretty good tasting for a chain. The service here is very friendly and on top of it. Ambiance is casual and simple. Hopefully after they read this and maybe other people's comment they will modify to a bit bigger portion to match their prices. read more

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El Torito Torrance is a great place to enjoy a leisurely Sunday Brunch! It's AYCE with bottomless mimosas, coffee, iced tea, orange juice, and soft drinks. There's a fantastic selection of Mexican entrees, a salad station, soup station, omelette bar, dessert station, kiddie station (has small boxed cereals, milk, fries, chicken nuggets), and drinks like cucumber melon, horchata, and jamaica. The price is $36.99 for each adult and $13.50 for each child. Be aware that there is an additional 4.99% surcharge added to your bill before tax. This surcharge is generally a fee charged by the credit card companies, which the restaurant passes on to the customer. As we were celebrating a birthday, we had a party of eight people and we paid in cash. We pointed this out to our server, but he insisted that the purpose of the change was "to keep (us) from having to increase prices". It's not the server's fault, so we just shrugged it off. I do want to note that we had a party for the AYCE Sunday Brunch the week before this at the El Torito Lakewood. They removed the fee from the bill. This is a fairly small location. It's definitely not as big as the El Torito Lakewood but the selection of food is just as good. The mariachis do not perform at this location. I still think the Sunday Brunch is a pretty good deal. read more

El Torito - A birthday dessert - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

I had the street tacos, again, probably for the fifth time. I love the ingredients and the provided salsa. The blend makes for great flavor. For the appetizer we had the "fresh tableside guacamole." Not our first time ordering this item but it not prepared at our table. Frankly we enjoy the show and it was a bit disappointing for it to be brought of the kitchen in a bowl. But it will tasted goof, although a bit on the warm side. The waiter asked if we wanted more chips since there were only a few on the plate. The place was busy and the chips didn't come to our table for over 5 minutes. Not a big deal. We felt a bit rushed as the main courses were brought out by the server well before we finished the appraiser. That's why I dropped a star considering the waiters and servers are usually very attentive. Hopefully next time will be better. Parking till good in their big parking lot. It's a nice location read more

El Torito - Create your own. - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

It's been years since I've visited El Torito and so when I saw they were part of dineLA this year I knew it was time for another visit. I have fond memories of visiting El Torito with my parents during their Sunday brunch. For this dineLA, I got to experience dineLA in different way - for dinner! Their dineLA dinner offering is $35 for a 3 course dinner. The first course was the appetizer. I chose to get their Crispy Flautas, while my friend chose to get their Tortilla Soup. The Crispy Flautas appetizer consisted of four grilled chicken and cheese flautas topped with cotija cheese and crema fresca. It was served with jalapeño jelly and red pepper dip. Though this dish was called "Crispy Flautas," I did feel that the "crispy" was by name only. It was not as crisp as I would have liked. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this appetizer. It was packed with ingredients and flavors. The dipping sauces were good but not necessarily needed because the flautas with the crema fresca were already rich and tasty. The only thing lacking was the crispness. I tried a bit of my friend's Chicken Tortilla Soup and enjoyed the warm broth with chunks of chicken, avocado and tortilla strips. This was a good, light starter. For our main courses, we opted to get the Fajitas Duo with grilled chicken and skirt steak and the Carne Asada and Shrimp plate. When the Fajitas Duo came, I was surprised that it wasn't served sizzling. I'm used to having restaurants serve fajitas sizzling and smoking hot (the kind of sizzling where your clothes end up smelling like food at the end of the meal). The fajita dish was warm but definitely not sizzling. It was a little bit of a bummer but the most disappointing thing was the meat was dry. I felt both the chicken and skirt steak lacked juiciness. The side guacamole (which they initially forgot to give), definitely helped with this. The grilled vegetables also gave it a bit more flavor. I would honestly pass on fajitas next time. My friend's Carne Asada and Shrimp seemed to be the better entree. Even though this plate also consisted skirt steak, the steak for this dish was more tender and flavorful. It perhaps could be the pico de gallo that it came with. The third course was dessert. I got the Deep Fried Ice Cream and my friend got the Flan. The Deep Fried Ice Cream was a winner! I loved the crisp outer shell and the vanilla ice cream that was topped with cinnamon sugar coating. This dessert was delightful and delicious! The flan was also really enjoyable. The rich vanilla custard was smooth and sweet. I can without a doubt say dessert was the best course because of this flan and the ice cream. Overall it was nice to be back at El Torrito after so many years. dineLA definitely gave a nice opportunity to try out a variety of their offerings. I did feel like there were a few misses but nothing too bad. (The fajitas were too dry for me. I also noticed their chips were not that crisp). Nevertheless there were also some memorable and tasty dishes. (Don't skip on the dessert). For $35, I definitely left happy and full. read more

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My mom and I decided we wanted Mexican food while we were out shopping so we chose El Torito on Hawthorne Blvd in Torrance. The restaurant was clean and we were immediately greeted with friendly, fast service. Once seated our waiter came to greet us. He was very nice and attentive. He always gave us updates on when our food would be ready and even asked us if we had any food allergies as we were ordering. I got a small bowl of chicken tortilla soup. The avocado had several dark areas like it had been sitting out too long. Our waiter immediately apologized and brought me a fresh cup with perfect slices of avocado. My mom ordered a chicken taco and chicken enchilada with rice and beans. I ordered the lemon rosemary chicken fajitas with rice and beans. Our food was hot, fresh and seasoned well. Of course I ate too many chips with that delicious and a little spicy salsa and had to take my food home. My mom too! The next day we both warmed up our food and it was delicious. I even shared my fajitas with my husband who also said everything tasted good. I totally forgot to take pics of our meals!!! read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

Ernesto is the best! We love el Torito for the best mommy brunch ever. He is very responsive to our bottomless mimosas. Food is good. Service is good. We are happy ! We love El Torito read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

Great customer service to our waiter Juan Carlos. Love coming here for brunch. The food is yummy.

Wow! Have not been here for about 10 years, because it sucked! My friend invited me for happy hour drinks and I was amazed at how much food has changed! Amazing happy hour food and drinks. Highly recommend! Bartenders are amazing and highly attentive. Diego is a really good bartender and makes the best drinks. read more

So many choices! We made a reservation for 7 for Sunday brunch, this is the second time visiting and first time during brunch, area is very clean and organized, personnel friendly, the restaurant has a welcome vibe, prices are fair considering there are dozens of choices, food is fresh and has a homemade taste. Will definitely be back read more

El Torito - Menudo - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

You can improve service. The hostess came off short. The server was not friendly. This is my first time at this location and I doubt if I will ever e back. read more

Juan Carlos or "JC" was incredibly transparent in sharing with me the Happy Hour options vs regular menu at the bar. My server Danny was also very attentive and his service was excellent. The bar ambiance was very relaxing and I was able to get some work done while I ate. Will definitely come back and recommend. read more

El Torito - Street corn $4 Raspberry sage lemon drop $10 - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

El Torito is a Torrance staple. Been coming here for years. The staff, service, and food are consistently on point. Love the new menu additions, especially the new fire shrimp cocktail. Ambiance is festive and the servers are always so happy to see you. read more

Always a excellent choice. I used to frequent this location before making it out to Chargers Games at Sofi. Reasonably priced brunch with all you can drink mimosas. You can never go wrong by dining here. Service is on point and their dining area is clean, comfy and welcoming. Be back again soon. read more

Danny at the bar is the best! He's the reason I come to this location always the nicest and amazing drinks!!

Our most favorite brunch spot! Service is always so great. Today JC was our waiter and he was so attentive and friendly! It's my son's choice for brunch and celebrating any milestones. Today was his special brunch for hitting his first wood bat home run! Thank you JC for making it a wonderful afternoon read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

Quick to get our order and food was good as always. All topped off with our great server Isabella Ortiz made me feel at home.

We had an awful meal on 12/22/25 with slow service. The food tasted like salt was the only seasoning left in the kitchen and had it not been so expensive, we would have left without eating. Our server kept disappearing for quite a while and the other was too busy rolling napkins to help in any way. read more

El Torito - All salty and not good. - Mexican Near Me - Torrance, California

The food here is amazing. The manager and my server were fantastic. The ambiance is perfect not too loud but not quiet. The table side guac was amazing. I loved my server Memo and the manager Justin was very polite and welcoming. read more

It has been years since I visited El Torito. My family and I used to go weekly, so coming back felt like a mix of nostalgia, a family reunion, and a reminder that I still order some of the same things without even pretending to be adventurous. My sister is in town for the week, and my cousins were available to meet, so we picked the perfect spot to catch up and relive a little of those old family dinner memories. At some point, our family apparently decided the restaurant was called El Totoro, which honestly sounds like a magical place where the guacamole never runs out and the margaritas are always strong. Our server, J.C., provided great service and was very responsive throughout our visit, which made the whole experience even better. Between the food, the laughs, and the easygoing atmosphere, this visit felt like exactly what we were hoping for. I would definitely recommend this restaurant. read more

Isabel went above and beyond! Great service!! Would definitely eat here again! Get the margaritas!