El Chile

My husband and I showed up at 9:30 pm tonight to grab a quick meal, as we knew they were closing at 10. Neither of us had eaten since lunch and were both really hungry. Plus, we’d been wanting to try this place for a while, so we thought we’d give it a shot.
We pulled up, parked and walked to the front door. A waiter opened the door and greeted us as we walked near the entrance — which I thought was a nice touch. Then he told us that they weren’t taking any more tables and they wouldn’t be able to serve us.
My jaw literally almost hit the floor. What kind of s&*t is that?! The hours clearly state on the door that they are open until 10, and there were several tables of people eating inside. There were also a couple of people at the bar. Then the guy goes even further to tell us that he’s really sorry, but its not his decision — he just had the unfortunate duty of telling us we couldn’t come in. He finished it off with «I know it looks like there’s people eating in there, but we just aren’t going to take anymore tables.» As we left, I watched through the window as another waiter appeared and the two guys had a nice time watching us leave and probably got a pretty good kick out of what just happened.
It was like one of those scenes out of a movie where someone from the wrong side of the tracks tries to get in somewhere on the nice side of town and ends up getting totally dissed. Except we DO live in the neighborhood and enjoy frequenting local establishments.
But don’t worry, El Chile, we won’t be back. And we’ll be sure to let everyone know what kind of awesome service you have — and how much you value your customers. *eyeroll*

I was very disappointed with El Chile, especially since I had heard great things.
The burrito I ordered was completely drowning in sauce, and the sauce tasted pretty bad; I was trying to scrape it off. There was so much sauce on the plate it looked like they had tried to completely submerge the burrito. The salsa was very subpar. It just didn’t taste good. The chips weren’t any good either.
The service was just ok. It wasn’t bad but there was nothing redeeming about it.
Maybe this place just caters to different tastes than I have, but there wasn’t a single thing I liked about El Chile.

SALSA: The reviews for the salsa here are kinda split, with a majority actually liking it. I’m in the camp that thinks it sucks. Pls create another option with some flavor.
SERVICE: Service was pretty damn horrible. Slow, forgetful, and full of excuses — and that was several waiters. I’m sorry you have to climb those stairs to get to the deck. It’s good for you. You knew those stairs existed when you signed on. Learn to love the stairs.
OTHER:
Balcony is pretty cool.
Food was pretty damn good.
Drink menu is pretty great (michelada is so-​so but a good attempt).

I love the deck! Having gone here before, (1yr ago) I wasn’t pleased with the food, BUT this place has made major head-​way when it comes to Ambiance and Food/​drink recipes! My experience on a Friday afternoon has made me want to go back for more!
My choice for food was the Enfrijolada, Delicious sauce on top of the chicken enchiladas. I would order this again. I ordered the Chilango Margarita, and was very pleased. The spicy chile/​lime sugary salt around the rim added that final touch to make me say «I’ll have another». So refreshing. The food is healthy, so it is not your typical mexican food restaurant.
Secondly, this local establishment has had a face lift including new paint job on the outside. The deck is now re-​done, and it’s a superb experience to sit underneath the beautiful Oaks. As a Bouldin Creek Hoodie, I’ll be returning my new favorite joint frequently!

Dayum, Gina!
LOVED the chilango margarita and prickly pear margarita and the black bean salsa. My only problem with the salsa is that it wasn’t refilled fast enough! And they tried to take it away when our entrees came — - bring that shiz back!
My groups’ meals were the chile relleno with shredded pork (Mmm!), charlies special (shrimp, steak, and chicken fajitas), and the enfrijoladas (had to look up how to spell that one).
All of us were very pleased with how our meals turned out. The presentation and tastes were great.
I wish we could have had an option to sit upstairs on the patio? We didn’t get to see it but I want to think it looks good.
Minus ½ a star for the service… a lot of the waiters were goofing off at the bar for a while when we were ready to pay etc. And minus ½ a star for the inside temperature, it was a little too warm for my liking!

This place’s roasted salsa is one of the most glorious things my tastebuds have ever experienced. It looks pretty lackluster, but it will change your life. Rumor has it they even sell it at Whole Foods now. Oh and don’t worry, El Chile is one of those restaurants that give you free chips and salsa, no need to order and shell out extra dough for it.
The rest of the menu, at least from the different dishes I’ve tried, is excellent as well. Fresh and flavorful… and pretty affordable (especially during lunch). Puffy Tacos & Tacos de Pescado are my personal favorites. Don’t forget their margaritas — delicious and strong! Their Prickly Pear is my favorite margarita in Austin.
I noticed a lot of reviews commented on service. I’ve never had bad service, but it’s never been exceptionally good. Overall it is okay in my experience. Parking kind of stinks when it gets busy, but that seems to be the norm for Austin.

I crave those Chilangos. Seriously. Crave them.
They’re still delicious. And I dig the salsa a lot, too. Quesadillas are hard to mess up, so they were fine, too. They helped soak up the Chilangos.
It was nice to sit on the upstairs patio. I know! I didn’t know it was there, either! … but the service was a little lacking.

A one sentence review:
It was a perfect night for a drink on the patio, up the twisting castle like stairs, then up a rope jungle ramp, under dark trees, with a michelada, and queso flameado that proved once again how Austin beats Dallas across the board in the Tex Mex category.

Good food. Awful service. Last night, after seeing the line to get into the Auditorium Shores free Strokes show. My boyfriend and I decided that we’d rather have a drink and then sit on the Long Center lawn to listen to the show instead of waiting in line. So we marched over to El Chile. We were promptly seated and got an awesome table on the patio overlooking downtown! The restaurant was surprisingly not crowded for being in the middle of the SXSW craziness.
Also immediately a waiter came by and dropped off chips and salsa, well it was more of a Mole sauce and took our drink order. Then a minute later another waiter came by with waters and asked for our drink order. We explained that we had just put one in the other waiter. Another minute later, the second waiter comes back and takes our order. I got the chicken chalupas and my boyfriend got the cochinita pibil tacos.
Then we wait for probably about 15 to 20 minutes for our drinks. Finally we ask our waiter about them and he realizes that the first waiter who took our drink order never put the order in with the bar. So we get our drinks promptly and the waiter tells us that because of the mix up they’ve been comped which is a good thing because the Mexican Martini I ordered was the grossest Mexican Martini I’ve ever had. I give up on it and order a beer for when our food finally gets there. Our food comes and it is good. My boyfriend loves the cochinita pibil tacos and the chapulas are very good and filling. But the beer I ordered never comes. I’m getting anxious to go listen to the Strokes so we get the bill and the beer I ordered is on it!
I understand the poor waiter was probably running around all day with SXSW people, but getting our drink order wrong twice and almost getting the food order wrong (he came over to tell us they were out of tilapia when neither of us had ordered it) is ridiculous and with so many good interior Mexican places in town so we probably won’t be back.

In a city full of Tex-​Mex food, there are few that stand out. El Chile is one of those that do.
I had always been a fan of the Manor Rd location. This was my first visit to this location. The view of the city is amazing from the main dining room and it reminds me of why I love this city so much.
Warmly greeted and seated promptly, my companion and I were immediately met with warm chips and a bowl of that amazing salsa. Best I can tell, the main ingredient is crack. We managed to devour the entire bowl before we even ordered drinks. That isn’t because service is slow, it was for the above stated crack reference. The server took our drink orders and returned right way, unprompted, with more salsa. Yay for great service! I usually love their Micheladas, but mine was a little lime heavy. Eh… it happens sometimes. No biggie. For dinner I went with the enchiladas de mole roja. Sweet jebus it was frakking delicious! Tender pork topped with a rich, well balanced mole. Sweet, bitter, and spicy all in one bite. This is now one of my favorite dishes at El Chile. Sides of fluffy herbed rice and black beans compliment perfectly.
I look forward to returning and exploring more of the menu.

I’ve been a huge fan of the food at El Chile on Manor for a long time, but last night, my boyfriend and I went to this location for the first time, and I don’t think we’ll ever go back again.
Apparently, since they close at 9 PM on weekdays, you can’t order drinks after 9 PM. This seems pretty early to me, but it wouldn’t have been a real problem except for the fact that our server didn’t inform us of last call. I ordered a second margarita and was told that the bar was closed. When we complained about not receiving a last call, the manager came to our table and spoke to us in an extremely condescending and rude manner. We simply asked that the policy be explained to us, and and he treated us like children.
Even the tastiest of food isn’t worth this kind of treatment. From now on, I’ll stick to the El Chile on Manor.

My girly and I stopped in for lunch today, not having been here before. Had to drive around the block to find a parking space, yet, walking inside, there were only three tables sat. The sign on the podium read ‘Please Wait To Be Seated’, so we did. And we waited. And we waited some more. There were waitstaff to be seen… but none of them cared to say anything to us until about 10 minutes in when one finally told us to seat ourselves.
We’d grabbed menus for ourselves while waiting to be seated, so we pretty much knew what we wanted. We asked for a couple of iced teas, hoping they had them as the only drinks listed were alcohol. Tea was brought, orders taken, chips and sauce delivered.
First disappointment. The mole sauce wasn’t very good… it wasn’t awful, just sort of… ‘yawn’. Then when I go to wash it down with tea, turns out the tea was some flowery herb tea. Either state that in the menu, or have your staff tell people when they order. If I’d wanted ‘herb’ tea, I would have asked for ‘herb’ tea.
Then the food arrived. Being my first time here, I’d ordered the relleno. I like my relleno’s battered, and seeing this one baked instead had me kinda worried. I was wonderful! The pepper was a bit mild, but the pork anchiote stuffing was amazingly good, and tons of it. The beans and rice were mediocre, but mixed in with the red sauce over the relleno made it all taste wonderful! My sweetie got chicken enchiladas verde, which i got a taste of, and they were excellent as well.
The food we ate (outside the chips and salsa) should warrant at least a 4, but the service at this place warrants a 1. Ignored for 10 minutes when we first arrived despite no real business in the place. No heads up about the tea being herbal, and despite stopping by a couple of times to check on ‘how we were doing’, I couldn’t get a weak flowery tea refill until my sweetie pretty much demanded refills, and by that time we were pretty much done eating.
Then, to add insult to injury, when we went to leave, we had to wait until the beer delivery truck moved so we could leave — it having blocked us in.
Loved the food… but I don’t think I’ll be back.

On a previous visit I ordered the puffy tacos and was disappointed; more of a tostada rather than «puffy» and not much meat in the filling. But I have now discovered the perfect thing to order for lunch, the «Charlie’s lunch special» ($ 7.95). You get two cheese enchiladas with the black bean salsa on top, and a «side» of beef or chicken fajitas with all the fixings including tortillas, sautéed peppers and onions. It also comes with guacamole, rice and beans. My co-​worker was envious when my plate arrived.

I’m puzzled as I read all the reviews. Serveral friends have apparently been here with less than stellar remarks. Yet, still some rant and rave like this is the best Mexican food joint in the world.
I would say I am closer to the latter, plus I thought the salsa was freaking fantastic!
Anyways, my buddy Eric owed me and our friend Drew dinner after helping him move into his new condo just down the street. After much deliberation and setting our souls on Mexican our first 3 stops ended in dissapointment. TnT — 1 hour wait, Polvos — 1 hour wait, Corazon — 30 minute wait… Geez, the food gods were not smiling on our hungry souls this night.
Anyways, we drive right by the old El Chilito and notice a change in sign and empty parking lot. For us, these are both good things. I wasn’t the biggest fan of El Chilito. Not that it wasnt good. But, I am more of a Tacodeli or Torchy’s kind of guy.
There we are chillin inside. One of only 4 or 5 tables downstairs at 9:15. After being promptly sat, our server stopped by, explaining the specials and the new coconut margarita. We tried it. Not too shabby. Kinda tasted a little like those jelly belly popcorn jelly beans. In the good way.
Between the chalups, puffy tacos and enfrijoladas
(two chicken enchiladas topped with black-​bean
purée, pico de gallo, queso fresco, and crema) we were all perfectly satisfied.
On Drew’s recommendation we all tried a puffy taco and all thought they were out of this world.
So all in all. I’m a big fan. Its not Tex-​Mex like Chuy’s, Santa Rita Cantina or Trudy’s. If you like upscale, interior mexican cuisine, this place is definately for you.
No Hipsters.

So the first time I was here was during halftime at Roller Derby (oh so conveniently located) and we decided to make another trip yesterday while out bike riding. Both times it was fairly empty (even during happy hour!) which is odd to me. The apps I’ve tried are pretty tasty (have never ordered food) and during happy hour they are half off — very generous in my opinion — and the drinks are fab. I am specifically referring to the Chilango — the spicy orange infused marg I fell in love with the first time I visited an El Chile. It’s a frozen margarita that has been kicked up a notch with orange (liquor? juice? peel? all of the above? who knows) and what is similar to Lowrys seasoned salt. That salty/​spicy mixture is on the rim and also swirled into the drink so every so often you get a tiny nibble of orange peel or chile. Excellent. Plus they are big. And strong. Just how I like it.
This location is way more interesting than the Far West one. The dining room is more cozy here, dimmer, still colorful, with fun art and a nice bar. Then there is a staircase that is seemingly «built into» the rock wall that leads to an upstairs patio. The patio is colorful as well with trees, painted wood and little colored lights. It’s somewhat enclosed but you can still see out to Barton Springs Rd. We had it all to ourselves and had a wonderful afternoon sipping at our spicys.

The boyfriend and I had lunch here the other day.
First impression, it seemed really small.
Second impression, the salsa was lacking in flavor. My boyfriend thought it had a good fire-​roasted sabor… me, I thought it was simply bland. Give me something I can taste!
Other than that, I really enjoyed my Queso Enchiladas. They’re tex-​mex with a heaping helping of chili con carne. This is how I like my enchiladas, slightly Americanized. After all, I grew up eating «homemade enchiladas» that featured Wolf Brand Chili and Velveeta cheese. Don’t knock it, it’s processed foods-​a-​liscious!
Since I’m «with child» I didn’t get to sample the margaritas, but my boyfriend complimented them to our waiter.
A good experience. I’ll be back for lunch due to those enchiladas and it’s close proximity to work. However, I don’ t think this place will ever be a «dinner» spot for me… it will remain permanently «lunch» territory.

I have been to the El Chile on Manor, and thought it was so-​so… really crowded and difficult to find comfortable seating for the season. Last night I went to El Chile on Barton Springs for the first time with about 6 family members in tow and we were worried that since we had broken our «reservation» there would be no way we’d be getting seated in a timely fashion. Wrong. There was no one there! I was sort of happy and sort of sad for them.
The food’s ok… I adore their roasted salsa. So good! Drinks are strong and delicious and the service was good. I would come back to this location to try it out on their patio.

Okay, so I will have to revisit this place soon. A few weeks back I went to El Chile during the halftime break for the Roller Derby.
We walked across the street and made our way into the restaurant.
After waiting about 5 minutes to be seated in an almost empty restaurant, our waiter brought us over and sat us down. We let him know that we were at halftime and we needed him to put a little rush on the order but that we were going to get some nachos and a margarita. The nachos were pretty good, but the margarita was AMAZING. The marg was also pretty strong — I was tired, but it packed some punch.
The restaurant has a lot of neat art on the walls. I really loved the multi level design. We were sat downstairs, but there is an upstairs patio area that is really nice. The neatest part of the restaurant is the rock wall in the back. It looks like the restaurant was built into the side of a mountain. It was fake, but still looked awesome.
Anyways, I’ll be back at some point to have one of those margs and have a real meal.

I’m super confused about all this switching from El Chilito to El Chili and vice versa. Don’t get me wrong, offering free margaritas is a great way to soften the blow, but still, very confusing.
I was very happy to see that the Barton Springs location changed to El Chili. It was very apparent, because now there is more than a single car in the parking lot.
My boyfriend and I went there last night to check it out, because… well, we were quite curious about El Chili, because we thought El Chilito was so awful. And we love Tex Mex that is close to where we live. It’s the simple things.
Overall, I give El Chili a giant meh. The dark, mole salsa was meh. Not really any flavor, same goes for the chips. His chicken mole dish was not very good. Covered in way too much mole that tasted too much of chocolate. **I know mole sauce has chocolate, but this was over the top.
My shrimp tacos were just ok. I think the price has A LOT to do with it. Tacos were definitely not worth over $ 11. If they were priced at say, $ 7, I might come back. If I want to pay for pricier Tex Mex, I’ll go to Vivo’s or Matt’s El Rancho – not here.
The reason I did not give it two stars was because of the nice waitress (it’s not her fault the food isn’t very good) and the free margaritas, which by the way, were pretty good.

I was disappointed the last time I went to the new location of El Chile. Despite the issue of not knowing if it was El Chilito or El Chile, I was bothered that it took 25 minutes to sit our party of THREE. I was irked when I walked into El Chile and no one was there to greet us or even mention that there was a waiting list. I had a couple walk after us and got seated even after I brought it up to the host!
I am a patient person but watching my food sit on top of the kitchen counter for at least 10 minutes, as it got colder, really pushed me overboard. I did not want my pork tacos semi warm & black beans cold.
The rest of my party luckily enjoyed their dinner but there was never an apology or appreciation given for having us wait and be patient for the waiters to get there tails moving even as the cooks started trying to get their attention to come take the food out!
I had a great experience the first time I went to this location thus bringing me back out at dinner time with more friends. Prices at lunch time are MUCH more cheaper than dinner time. Lunch plates range between $ 5-​$ 7 at the most and dinner $ 10 – 19 a plate (same selections from lunch with a few more to choose from).
I will try it again soon but only at lunch and only if I am in the mood to wait awhile for cold food.