El Porton Mexican Restaurant

What’s going on with this place? On a Friday night they’re out of mole sauce… The reason we went there. They’re one of the few Mexican restaurants that serve it. Then the next Saturday night at 7:30 we go there to eat out on the deck. The deck was half full so we were excited about enjoying the nice weather. The hostess said she couldn’t seat us outside because the servers on the left side of the restaurant handle the outside and they were short staffed. On a Saturday night? Who’s running this place? Not staffing properly and not keeping track of inventory, and not letting customers sit where they want to sit.

This place was alright. The waiter we got was more interested in a baseball game than doing his job, but that can happen anywhere.
This review will be more about the food. The prices are fair, cheaper than a lot of the food around its area but that also factors into the meal as well.
This place is very Americanized, meaning that the usual spices found in the meats and rice are replaced with cheese and fat. While some might like that the family was more interested in a flavorful meal not hamburger ontop of cornmeal that was called a tamale. Now when I say hamburger I mean hamburger, the meat wasnt seasoned at all only the bread. This continued throughout the entire meal, you want chicken? Well here is chicken overpowered with cheese sauce so you cant taste how it was cooked;wanted rice well here is instant rice with barely any flavor… ect ect.
This place is mexican for people who do not want to have full flavor. Some people are like that though. Rather have a juicy burger over a well done spicy meal, and this is the place for them but not for all.

I and my family have been faithful El Porton fans for all the 12 years we’ve lived nearby. We don’t «do» Mexican food anywhere else. Service is fast and pleasant. The food is really good — their salsa and chips are very fresh and the cheese dip w/​jalapenos is great. The refried beans and rice are delicious and homemade — my litmus test of a good Mexican place. This isn’t flashy, artsy food; it’s just good, easy comfort food in a place where it’s comfortable to sit around and visit with friends and family. I highly recommend it.

Ambiance is like a dark sports bar instead of a fresh Mexican spot, but fine. I found the pop music to be way too loud. Service was fine and friendly. The food? Boring. In 3 dishes on our table, the same plain boiled and shredded chicken was used in all 3 dishes. The chicken was moist but lacking any detectable marination of any kind. Bland! My entrée quesadilla was one tortilla folded over into a half circle and lacking in ingredients. It came with no rice or beans. Chicken tacos consisted of the lame chicken and lettuce. No flavor at all. My husband’s chilaquiles were bland and he had to douse the dish in hot sauce. The food was a disappointment.

Under staffed and hostess has no clue what she’s doing. Walked into the restaurant with 5 parties waiting by the door. At least half the tables were empty. Then it took over 2 hours to get our drinks and food. Unacceptable.

I tried this location recently and was not impressed with the service or food. It was 9 PM, so the restaurant was maybe ¹⁄₃ full. The server was nice but just not attentive. The food (enchiladas/​tacos) were decent but nothing spectacular. Very typical Tex-​Mex. I would try this location again to meet friends for drinks and appetizers but just don’t expect to be blown away.

Total update inside. Really nice with clean lines. I hardly recognized it. If you haven’t been lately, drop by and you’ll be pleasantly surprise. Same nice staff without the yucky atmosphere.

Good cheap Mexican. The waitress was attentive and friendly. Our cheese dip was fantastic and we both had $ 5 lunch specials

Came here for dinner this week and was so disappointed, we walked out before we even got our drinks. We ordered the choriqueso and there was a dead bug on top of it. We checked in front of the server, Melissa, and she even agreed when she saw the legs. She went to get her manager and came back asking if we wanted a fresh batch or just dinner. When I asked if the manager was going to come over to talk to us, she responded that she couldn’t find him. She walked away and we walked out. Extremely disappointing because I go there all the time. Never again.

This has been one of our regular places for a good 2 years now. I’m sorry I’m just now getting around to writing a review. The star rating reflects my overall feeling of this place. (It was originally 5 stars, but last summer we stopped at this absolutely fantastic Mexican place in Valdosta that spoiled us, and as much as we love El Porton, knocked it down to a 4.) However, there are varying degrees of competency with service and food presentation/​temperature here, and I have to tell you about our experience last night. It was not one of El Porton’s prouder moments.
Our party of 7 (5 adults, 2 kids) dined there last night (Thursday, June 4). Drinks came out on a weird staggered schedule, with — for some reason — my mother-in-law’s unsweet tea among the last things to arrive. We joked that it took so long because they had to kill the cow to make the tea. There were issues with our food when it came out. 2 people were lacking the «accessories» to go with their tacos, my wife’s tacos were cold and were prepared wrong, my 7-​year-​old son’s cheese on his cheeseburger was cold, as if it had just come from the fridge, and my 2-​year-​old son’s chicken tenders were cold. Luckily for me, my soup (the only thing I ever get here) was the absolute perfect temperature. Not always the case.
Being in the restaurant business myself, I understand things happen, but here’s what really bothered me. When we were finally able to flag down our waitress (Melissa) to make her aware of these problems, she said «We have a new food runner, and our bartender is even worse.» I don’t know who’s fault it was, but I wonder how Melissa’s co-​workers would feel about having been thrown under the bus like that. Surely it wasn’t the «even worse» bartender’s fault that half the food that came to the table was cold, or wrong, or missing. While I’m sure most of this was not Melissa’s fault, I didn’t appreciate her «deflecting the blame» attitude.
Regardless, this will not keep me from coming back to this place again and again. They are always there for me, and it’s become quite the nice familiar safe harbor. Every place has the occasional hiccup.

We have been coming to this restaurant for 20+ years. The new décor is nice, staff is friendly, and food is good,
But lunch portion is REALLY small. The taco salad is in a really small shell and there is probably only a cup of food,‘lettuce, chicken and tomato with sour cream. I won’t come here and order this again. Very disappointed.

I love Mexican food and this place doesn’t disappoint. The chips and salsa are fabulous especially paired with their frozen Margarita! I’ve had a variety of items from their menu but I really like their chicken soup. It has fresh chunks of white meat chicken, rice, onions, cilantro and avocado. My kids love their variety of Jarrito authentic Mexican drinks. I would recommend that they invest in some remodeling though.

Over the past 10 years I have gotten the impression that El Porton is a very popular Mexican restaurant in Alpharetta. It was a favorite of a friends family while I was growing up and is a current favorite of my boyfriend’s mother.
I had the shrimp ceviche — it was fresh and light. I also enjoyed the cheese dip with chorizo. My boyfriend had the fajitas — I personally thought they were a bit dry. Nonetheless, I had a good experience overall.

Awesome family neighborhood restaurant. I have been coming here for years with my friends on dollar taco night on Thursdays and the staff that has been around for a while is AWESOME. Valentin and the managers are great. Some servers… not so much but if you get a seasoned server, you’re in luck. IF they do screw something up, they are usually very quick to get your order fixed. Either way, the food is awesome. The $ 1.25 tacos on Thursdays can’t be beat and the Margaronas are always cold.

Here’s the deal, if you don’t like the atmosphere and you think that the place looks outdated, just order your food to go. I have not eaten inside for years but I still love to place a take out order. I love and only eat the chimichangas with rice and beans. They are very good. Obviously, this is not authentic Mexican food, it is American-​Mexican designed to appeal to our taste buds. So, if you go in with the expectation that you are having an authentic Mexican meal, you will be sorely disappointed. I have tried other food selections in the past but have found them to be over-​sauced, over– seasoned or too salty. Find what you like and stick with it.

I been here several times and this place is okay…
The menu is exactly like every other Mexican restaurant out there. You have your tacos, quesadillas and enchiladas ect… Nothing new, however the food is pretty good, but not great.
The décor is pretty nice and they have a full bar with a few medium sized TVs.
The staff is usually good, no real complaints there. Overall, it’s a decent place but nothing exciting about it.

I drive by this place often and many times the parking lot is overflowing. I don’t get it. The food here is not great. Everything I’ve ever ordered has just been a disaster. I’ve been here several times since the bf likes it but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m good with chips and salsa.
It seems everything I order, whether nachos, burritos, soup, whatever, has a layer of grease on it. What’s not super greasy is absolutely swimming in red sauce.
The interior is dated and painful to look at. They are in desperate need of a remodel.
This is not my go-​to for Mexican, it is my run-​in-​the-​other-​direction.

3 stars only because the server was not on point.
Visited this location yesterday for lunch with 3 cohorts. I liked the tortilla chips were hot when brought to our table. Salsa & queso were perfect.
I ordered lunch portion of Burrito del Marino, which was filled with grilled tilapia & shrimp. both were cooked to the right tenderness & flakiness. it was right amount and filled me up.
I really considered ordering another to go to have for dinner. I had to talk myself out of doing that.
I will go back again just for the food. Pricing was reasonable.

El Porton isn’t bad by any means and it isn’t holy crap this stuff is good either. It’s standard Mexican food, the way we Americans have tailored it to be. It comes out quickly, hot and served with a side of rice and beans. You can get grilled chicken 20 different ways, that all look and taste the same… insert beef as well. The cheese dip is… well cheese dip. The chips are corn chips and they come out warm or sometimes they come out stale. Margaritas are decent tasting, but not on the strong side in the least.
I’ve never had a bad meal here, the service is hit or miss, sometimes your server will be attentive and keep your drinks full, not mess up your order and check in on you but not hover… AND sometimes you have to offer a reward to another server to hunt and capture yours, your order is wrong and once delivered you’re well on your way to dying of dehydration.
The décor: Is dated and rough around the edges, I haven’t sat in a booth and not had springs jabbing me in the ass… I like that sorta of thing, but come on now… at least buy me dinner first or ply me with Margaritas… what can I say it’s the simple things.
I digress.
Check the place out, you will walk away full and not stretched in the wallet. Don’t come here expecting to be «wow’d» by the culinary fusion of diverse cultures delivered on a plate. Come here when you don’t want to cook, your hungry and tired of Alpharetta traffic. Come here when you want just plain ol’ decent Mexican food, that doesn’t suck.

I came here to try a «Margarona»; I ordered mine frozen. I have seen pictures and wanted to try one. It was good, nothing spectacular besides a Corona beer bottle tipped inside a large margarita glass. Overall it was a good combination.
I also had the carnitas sopès, they were $ 3.99 for the pair. There are other tapas available also. The sopès looked smaller in the pictures, they were good and worth the price.