El Rodeo

The food is good (typical), prices are affordable, service is fast and very friendly. There are lots of Mexican places to choose from and I honestly, can rarely tell the difference…
but we always seem to gravitate towards this restaurant!
It is nicely decorated, spacious and always clean. They are attentive to refills and additional requests. I had a #2 combo with tacos and and a beef chimichanga— yum!

Went here for dinner the other night, food was delicious! Ordered a couple fajitas plates, one was a Hawaiian and got served in a pineapple! Also the margaritas were delicious and made perfectly!

Fresh guacamole! Mmm delicious ! Super clean place ! I really appreciate the clean and neat looks. I was reading other people reviews. People are very dumb ! And unhappy.
The food tasted homemade .
My belly didn’t hurt.

Awesome Mexican food! Always made fresh and served hot. Prices are cheep for the amount of food that comes on the plate. Family favorite!

Server barely said 10 words the whole time we were there. The food was absolutely shameful! Stale stale stale. When they set the chips and salsa down you could actually smell the stale chips. Should have left then. The blended drinks we ordered didn’t have any alcohol in them. When we inquired as to why we were served virgin drinks they said we were mistaken. Yeah, ok. All the meat dishes were dry. Very dry. And over cooked. Won’t be returning

I haven’t been to El Rodeo in years, predominantly due to the fluorescent green margs and mediocre food. I happened to stop here a few weeks ago for dinner with friends because it had been a VERY long day and no one felt the need for cooking.
Low and behold, the fluorescent colored margs were gone & replaced with the typical yellow colored «lime» kind, which were a. ok! The food quality appeared to have improved too. We the large fajitas which was more than enough to feed 3 – 4 people.
El Rodeo boasts a nice patio to enjoy during the warmer months. The interior is brightly decorated and clean.
Service is ok, not stellar, but ok.
When in need of your American Mexican food fix, El Rodeo won’t disappoint.

Yikes! Let’s face it, if you are familiar with the area, you know there is no shortage of Mexican joints within a stone’s throw of each other. We decided this past Sunday to give El Rodeo a shot, despite a sub-​par experience a few years back. The main reason was because «Kids Eat Free» on Sundays. Upon arrival, we first discovered that they are one of the only Mexican restaurants without a Sunday Happy Hour, and their margarita prices are higher than most $ 6.99 for medium glass), granted, they tasted pretty strong. We were told when we ordered that even though kids eat free (free $ 4.69 kids meal with adult meal purchase), the chicken tenders kids meals were still $ 2.99. «it wasn’t our servers fault, it was the owners.» Two kids ordered root beer and we weren’t told by the server that they only had bottled IBC root beer which was also extra. Chips tasted like mass produced grocery store chips, salsa bowls were only half full and if you wanted a second dish it was extra $ and our meals were average at best. Don’t waste your time on this one, drive about 2 miles north on Pearl to Don Ramon’s where you won’t be sorry or leave angry.

They were great with food allergies and are gluten free. I was able to order off the menu and they even cleaned the grill to make sure there weren’t any dairy products on it. Our server was very nice!

Just so so. The salsa has chili powder in it, not a big fan. Had the lobster quesadilla. It was loaded with stuff, but stuff with no flavor. Bland comes to mind. Wife got the spinach enchiladas. Stuffed with stuff, but bland.
Had to stand in alone to pay before leaving like I was in a cafeteria. And don’t forget, your second basket of chips and salsa will cost ya.

Not what I would deem «authentic»… But we still enjoyed the food here. Was kind of disappointed that you had to pay for an additional bowl of chips and salsa at dinner time. But for how cheap the meal is, it isn’t necessarily them trying to con you.

Like a page ripped right out of the standard Ameri-​Mex restaurant playbook, El Rodeo has all of the usuals:
–Bustling, slightly overdressed servers flitting from table to table, filling waters, dropping off baskets of chips and their accompanying salsa.
–Paper flags and a giant, inflatable Corona bottle suspended from the ceiling to add to the festive atmosphere.
–Glass-​topped, carved wood tables painted in maniacally bright day-​glo colors depicting suns, moons and toucans
–Life-​size cardboard stand-​up of The Most Interesting Man in the World ready to greet you upon entering. As it was the holiday season, it was nice to see him wearing a Santa’s cap on the eve of our visit.
–A menu way longer than any menu should be that’s filled with foods created with essentially 5 ingredients — meat, cheese, beans, rice and tortillas
–Ethnic music peppered with ah-ha’s and rolled R’s turned up just slightly louder than it should be to serve as a constant sonic reminder that you’re about to eat Mexican food
–Lights hung above the booths that dangle right in front of your face with the brightness of a miniature red giant star.
There are several El Rodeo’s across the Northeast Ohio region and every one that I’ve been to is essentially the same. It’s like they’ve managed to formulate and execute the McDonald’s of Mexican restaurants. Same food, same décor, same atmosphere, same service. Uncanny, really.
The food is exactly what you’d expect, too. It’s the sort of watered-​down, Americanized Mexican-​themed cuisine that most of us have come to expect. It’s tasty (the chicken and beef in my meal was on the dry side), served in pretty large fatty American-​sized portions and makes its way to your table in relatively short order. I hate this phrase, but sometimes even I can’t find a better one to replace it:
«It is what it is»
Mexican-​themed restaurants in this country are sorta like Chinese restaurants. In most cases, you know exactly what you’re in for before you even set your ass in a booth.
Just a heads up, here your first basket of chips is complimentary, but subsequent baskets will cost you $ 0.99. They didn’t tell us but it’s spelled out in the menu. Tricky, tricky.
You have no idea how thankful I was not to see or hear a mariachi band anywhere in the restaurant. I have a hard time believing that even the Mexicans like mariachi music.

This place is fabulous. The restaurant dining room is great, with all the paintings and decorations! I had a vegetarian dish, and tasted great.

First, very disappointed in the fact that they charge you for a chip refill! What kind of Mexican restaurant charges for a chip refill, that is insane to me! Second, I ordered the steak fajitas. The steak was very chewy and the very bland along with the veggies, I ended up barely eating any of it and didn’t take a to-​go box. Third, the margaritas are very delicious but very expensively, even for a pitcher. All in all, everything on the menu is much to expensive, the food is bland and I want free amounts of endless chips and salsa! Next time I want Mexican, I’ll make the trip to Cozumel in Brunswick!

We nick name this place the «Mexican Mc Donalds». Once you go inside you’ll see exactly what we mean. LoL.
The food is a bit bland and not really what I expected. This is my second time there in 3 years and the food is still unchanged since then. The prices seem to be on par with any other Mexican type restaurant in this area but I did not think it was worth it. There are better Mexican places to eat at that have better food.
The waitress was very nice and she made our visit much more pleasant than the food did.

The worst I’ve ever had. I ordered shrimp fajitas… They all had the black crap in them. No big deal, I mean, I like cleaning my own shrimp. Not! The onions and peppers were cooked a long time ago. No sizzling pan. Just bad! Overlooked. Yuck.

Really nice restaurant. Friendly staff and service. They take you order quickly and food comes out right away. The décor is nice. Similar to the other locations. Lots of selections and reasonable.

Today was the best quesadilla I have had in any Mexican restaurant ever. Today the chicken was so tender. The queso cheese was perfect with warm chips. I haven’t been here in so long I forgot how good the food was. Would highly recommend plus there’s an outdoor patio if the weather ever gets nice.

Pretty good actually… Although I thought the salsa was served too cold. Had it been room temperature it would have been better. I got the standard bean burrito, cheese enchilada and rice and beans. I would say this place is better than Cozumel and on par with Si Señor. Lunch service at the bar was fast.

Warm chips and delicious salsa. Husband and I both has the Carnitas a la Mexicana and it was spicy and tasty. We will be back. Restaurant is clean and festive! Feels like a party!

$ 2 Coronas on Friday!
Service has been great the two times I’ve been here. Very attentive and friendly.
As for the food… that’s another story. I ordered the Special Dinner which contains:
Beef Enchilada — Bland, all beef. The wrap had a funny texture to it.
Chicken Tamal — Dry, bland.
Bean Chalupa — Decent due to all the toppings on it, but still bland.
Cheese Chile Relleno — Surprisingly DELICIOUS.
Hard Beef Taco — Bland!
Rice — Bland!
Fried Beans — Can’t really do this wrong.
So yeah, I think you can see a recurring theme here. I’ll probably go again for the $ 2 coronas and try something completely different than the «special» dinner, but yeah. Everything tasted very «meh».