El Caporal

Favorite Mexican food in Bend!
You just can’t beat them. They are FAST, friendly, authentic and serve super quality meals.
It’s one of our very favorite places to take kids in Bend because of their promptness and casualness. Can’t beat ‘em!

Tasty food. Great margaritas.
Generous Portions. Good Mexican food for the area. Great service because we know the owners.

So really no Mexican food at a restaurant is ever amazing! Sorry everything is Americanized. But with that said we went to El Cap tonight for a co workers 30 year anniversary with our company. It was a large party 20 – 25 people. All coming at different times because of the times we get off work. Anyways our waitress was amazing!!! She remembered what we all had and even split the bill for us. We were all so impressed with her! Amazing service her service alone is going to make me more of a regular.

We gone here just today around 3:00pm to get something super quick and good food. Looking at other reviews and saw the one in Tumalo had an amazing 5 STAR rating, but since we live here in bend and close by we just wanted to give here a shot even tho it didn’t have as great rating. First off I came here with my older brother and once we walked in, no one was up at the front, my brother had to walk around the whole restaurant just to find someone who didn’t even seem to care that he had more customers. We said only two and he grabbed two menus and walked off and we just followed him, not even a come with me or follow me or something. So we went and he put the menus on the table and just walked away. We sat down and waited a min or two and came with chips, salsa and slaw. I asked for mild salsa which was fine, he went and got that, but the slaw was horrible! It had no flavor and seemed like they washed it off with water and called that slaw, horrible! Secondly when looking over the price of the menu, the Enchilada Congrejo, which is my favorite enchilada ever at El Rancho, which is an amazing Mexican restaurant is almost half the price of here! $ 18.00 bucks here for that? Really! Outrageous! So I had to get the Chile Reno Burrito, which the food was just ok, it had some good flavors but was still lacking that kinda love and POW that other restaurants have. All and all, probably never going back. I still will always go to El Rodeo and El Rancho! Those are by far the best Mexican Restaurants here in Bend Oregon!

When I lived in Bend, El Cap had locations everywhere. Then La Rosa opened followed by Hola and they slowly became less popular. I always loved their spinach enchiladas and tableside guac. Well, even after 5 years of not living in Bend, El Cap remains one of the places I «HAVE» to eat at when I visit and guess what?! Those spinach enchiladas are still awesome as is the guacamole. Sadly, there is only one location left in Bend on the East Side.

El Caporal is one of our favorite places to eat. Everything I’ve tasted over the years has been great. My favorite though is Arroz con Pollo. Piping hot and plenty on the plate. I often can have lunch the next day on the serving left on my plate. We always look forward to dining here. It makes my mouth water just writing this review.

Hostess was great. Got seated and received chips and salsa within a minute. For the next 25 minutes we waited for a server to take our order. Unbelievable…25 minutes! After taking our order the food came out pretty quick. Server never came back around to check on us. I noticed the people sitting next to us were waiting forever for the server to collect their payment. So I decided to take my credit card out and put it on the table so that when the check arrived I could just give him my credit card. Server eventually came by… never gave us the check… just took the credit card. Really? Was by far the worst service I had ever experienced. We have been here several times. Food is okay considering there really is no good Mexican food in Bend. The service is always below par. All the servers seem miserable to be working there. I have never seen any of them actually crack a smile.

I love this restaurant! I eat here with my friends and family at least a couple times a month. The food is always great and the service is even better. Even when you order food to go, they offer you water while you wait and update you on how long it will be if they are really busy. This is my favorite Tex-​Mex style restaurant in Bend.

Food was just okay but the service was terrible. Had to ask for everything from a menu to the bill and all in between.
Servers obviously don’t like their jobs, didn’t see one smile or didn’t hear one thank you.

Been here many times and even though its out of the way, well worth the drive. Service is always friendly and meals are delicious.

Prompt and friendly service, great salsa and chips, but the rest of the food fell flat. Everything was bland — the slaw (served with chips) had hardly any flavor, my taco salad shell was delicious, but the pork and iceberg lettuce, teeny bit of cheese and a half slice of tomato inside was pretty dull. Perhaps if I’d paid extra for guac, but I didn’t want the added calories of the sour cream, or the $ 2 extra in price. I lathered on some of the spicy salsa, and it improved somewhat.
Hubby had the chicken mole, and it was just «okay». No «kick» to anything, and a little bland overall. The rice on the side was pretty good (typical Mexican style fluffy rice). Tortillas looked fresh. We didn’t try the beans, but they look like the typical sloppy brown beans that most American Mexican restaurants prepare.
The place seems very popular with the «older» crowd, and if you don’t like spicy or super flavorful food, this place may be for you. Reasonably priced lunch menu.

I enjoyed my dinner here, but nothing stood out as special. Service was very prompt. Food was hot, but flavorless. I’m a huge fan of Mexican rice and this didn’t do it for me. I’m sure ill be back but I won’t go out of my way to eat here.

Average Americanized Mexican fare. Midstream flavors, nothing really stands out but nothing was bad. Totally a place I’d come back to for a sit-​down burrito or such.
Our service was very nice. Beverage-​refill gal was on top of it, got our plates cleared and watched in case we needed anything.
It’s the angry menu that got to me most. Cover starts off with something like «First basket of chips and salsa free, other’s $ 1.50.» Seriously, how many people eat Mexican restaurants out of house and home with chips? Then the top of every section let’s you know «No Substitutions». Really, you feel guilty asking for one little change before you’ve even had a chance to ask! Restaurants are, I’m sorry, the service industry. Now I’m not saying we have the right to go in and get peeved when a Mexican joint won’t make us a Spring Roll, but lighten up a little Mr. Menu.
Honestly, the request for one chicken & one cheese enchilada came with a super-​big PLEASE! and a slight cringe (’cause Mr. Menu seemed pretty set on punishment). But thankfully they didn’t even blink. Maybe the menu had a bad day, maybe they’re really not that cranky.
More chips and salsa please! ;-)

I’ve been coming to this place since I moved to Bend and it’s still as good as ever.

We sat at the bar, chips, salsa and water were brought immediately. Chips and salsa were very good.
The bartender, despite us being the only ones at the bar, obviously does not do food orders. He was more interested in watching soccer and griping at the staff. But our waiter was on it. My husband and I both order things that were not on the menu, an the waiter did not seem to care. Which made me think that either he really did not care, or that this was fine.
It was fine. The food was delivered hot (temperature hot), exactly as we ordered it and it was really tasty. Although we were at the bar, he refilled our drinks and took care of our needs. Price was good for food and drinks.
We would definitely go back.

Lots of things to like about El Caporal. We visited there tonight and again found very friendly staff. We were seated quickly and even though it was a busy night we received good service. Lots of things to like on the menu and good beer including some local microbrews. Large portions and we like to order the #11 Three Chicken Enchilada’s and have enough for lunch the next day. We also like their burritos and fajitas.

Great Dessert! We had the Flan and it was perfect. I love Flan and I don’t have it very often.

Arrived at 2pm. Hostess in middle of empty dining room talking on phone. She walks to us grabs two menus and walks away no eye contact and did not speak to us. We followed just because we felt we should. She continued with an obvious personal conversation. She set the menus on the table and walked away still without acknowledging us.
The salsa and cabbage was very good. The rest of the food a definite two star. Waitress a two and half star. Hostess 0 stars. Being new to Bend I am still searching for my favorite Mexican restaurant..

2.5 Stars
It’s mediocre Mexican food but you may have a hard time finding something better here in Bend.
My ground beef burrito came with a side of rice and beans and then a huge slopping of melted cheese, tomato, sour cream and guac on top. After adding in some hot salsa, it wasn’t too bad. Texturally, the whole plate was mushy.
The moms and her friend eat here a lot, one always gets the enchilada and the other gets shredded chicken wrapped in tortillas and then fried.
At the end, along with your bill they bring out a piece of super fried tortilla chip topped with whipped cream and strawberry sauce. For something so simple and plain, it was the best part of the meal!
Friendly helpful service and food came out fast.

Affectionately referred to as El Cap East by locals, this place can be a challenge to find if you aren’t familiar with the area. See my previous review.
It’s been a few years since I wrote a review, but our frequency in dining here hasn’t changed. Averaging several visits a month, our group of friends goes back and forth between here and El Rancho Grande up at Cascade Village Mall.
Same can be said for both places (and El Rodeo) that the food is all similar in price, quality, quantity and selection. The service is always friendly and attentive.
This is Mexican in Bend. Read my tirade about people bashing our local establishments in my review for El Rodeo. No need to repeat it here.
I’m not going to say this, or any of the other places in Bend are THE BEST because they aren’t.
Service and food can be hit or miss but most times is spot on. This is a good, solid four star Mexican place in Bend. As the rating says, «Yay! I’m a fan.»