Carnitas Queretaro

I keep searching for a good Mexican restaurant here in El Paso. I didn’t think it would be this hard to find one, being this close to the border! Carnitas Queretaro is, sadly, not that place. I went there for a private event. The service was mostly ok– that I will say. The restaurant is also fairly clean and well put-​together. There are nice tables and some TVs to watch the game. The servers were attentive, and brought the food out quickly (as well as a never-​ending stream of chips and salsa, which was nice, as it kept the hungrier people and the children at the event well-​occupied!).
However, in terms of the food, things quickly went downhill. I got the chicken enchiladas, which were surprisingly bland. Additionally, the chicken in the filling was so dry that I literally could not eat the dish without the accompaniment of several servings worth of salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. My fiancé got a steak burrito, which I had hoped would be better… perhaps the chicken was just off that day? Sadly, this was not the case. The burrito was also dry and bland, and the steak was apparently, shall we say… not from the best cuts of meat. It was distinctly not of great quality, and as such, had an oddly chewy texture. Weird.
I did not bring these issues up with the servers because they were doing their best to serve the large group of people present… and they were keeping up– but barely.
My last issue was that, when it came time for the event to wrap up and get the checks, none of the servers seemed to know how to get a customer their bill! It was like a game of hot-​potato– when asked for the check, each of them would simply defer to one of the other servers! I literally had to ask three or four different people for our bill before I found someone who could get it for me.
All in all, it was a weird and disappointing experience. I had hoped for better from a Mexican restaurant located right next to Mexico!

The food is good, the service is horrible. I’ve been to this location about 4 times and had poor service on at least 3 occasions, all the most recent. On both the 3^rd and 4^th visits I was with a large group (about 8 – 11) however we were the ONLY table in the entire restaurant and still got poor service. The food has always been slow to get to the table but at least its good. On the third visit they took about half an hour to bring out the appetizer of queso fundido and forgot to bring the second appetizer ordered. They were also slow to bring refills or enough chips and salsa.
On our last visit, last night, the waiter came to get my refill and disappeared. After about 10 minutes I told the hostess and she brought my drink. The waiter brought two bowls of chips and salsa for a long table of 11? Really??? When I asked for my ticket so I could pay it took 25 minutes because the waiter had not sorted out who got what plates and how he should sort everyone’s bill. Shouldn’t that have been something he did when he took orders or when we ordered dessert? Poor training. I’ve never not left a tip and I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t included in our bill due to the size of our party. I will NEVER go back there.

Excellent food. I had the Tacos the alambre and it was delicious. The service was a bit slow and could had been better, but the food and the portions were great. I recommend

As we where driving through el paso we noticed the sign and decided to try. This place is excellent authentic food and the staff is super friendly. We will definitely keep stopping by when we drive through Texas.

I went back for Menudo and I Loved it!

Its just average. A friend raved about it and asked us to try this place. We went during non-​rush time. They had more than normal amount of confusion. there were maybe 4 tables occupied and It took me a while to realize no one was going to serve us. I had to ask someone and they were surprised we weren’t served. Thats ok. No points off for that. The food was just average. Nothing to write home about. Just average I tell you. I had the chicken fajitas with green chile. Maybe you’d have better experience. Worth giving it a try!

I’ve been here a few times over the years, I really don’t like to go to Mexican restaurants as I can make 99% of in their menu at home, and usually better. Recently it seems like they have gone through a big menu changes ad not for the better. They removed items that are the only reason why I would go to Mexican restaurants for like the gorditas, or carnitas. In this occasion the restaurant was full for lunch but they sit us rather quickly. Took our drink orders and then that’s where it ended. Everyone else around us was getting chips and salsa, people who were sat after Us Had their orders and food taken out. It wasn’t until I was ready to leave that they finally came to our table with chips and salsa and to take our order. I was not happy. We ordered something minimal to get out quickly. I think this was my last visit ever here. I won’t be coming back again.

The food is good, especially the Guacamole. Fajitas and Flautas were also good, but not overwhelming. The sauces had a good spicy flavor.
The atmosphere is not what you would expect from a Mexican restaurant. They have tinted windows, dark light and undefinable music. This place could be a steakhouse, pizzeria or burger joint and you would get the exact same impression.
Overall, and despite the critics, a place to come back with a reasonable price level and service.

The food was good, not as authentic as I’d like but good, we left full and happy… our one issue we did not like… the service charge that my brother saw on the bill, after he bothered to look at the folded up receipt. The receipt they wanted him to sign had a spot for a tip. The itemized receipt had the charge of a 15% service charge/​tip. It was folded up inside the bill folder. If he didn’t open it we would not have seen it. We were a group of 6 adults and one child. If he had not caught this, he would be tipping 35%, as our tips are generally 20%. They do not tell you about the service charge. We have heard that sometimes it is an up charge for the restaurant and sometimes the waiter doesn’t get it. So perhaps restaurants charge a service charge and then we are expected to tip for a total of 30% above the price of the meal? We are from out of town and perhaps this a new thing here that we are not aware of. It would be nice to know this ahead of time.

I wouldn’t eat here if they gave me the food for free.
It had been a long day of moving into the new house. Didn’t feel like cooking. We were going to Home Depot for a final run on bath items and decided to stop here.
We should’ve known this place was no good when the parking lot was pretty much empty. First, I was sticker shocked at the prices: $ 2.50 for soda, $ 2.75 for horchata, $ 10 for taco plates and get this, $ 3 lettuce and tomato. The chips came in a chipped bowl, does that really matter in the bigger picture? Probably not but to me, that’s a lack of care and attention to detail.
The salsa was bland and tasted like ketchup. But the amazing thing was, it actually ADDED flavor to the main dishes! The $ 3 for lettuce and tomato was because it was considered a side dish. Really? Wife asked for sour cream on the side and what came out had a milky consistency and came out at room temperature.
The taco’s themselves weren’t too bad but they had no flavor.
In all, to feed 3 people the bill came to $ 44 and it was the most disappointing $ 44 I have ever spent in my life. I gave the kid $ 7 because it wasn’t his fault the food sucked. No refills were offered after the chips were depleted, though.
To summarize: don’t eat here if you value your money. The food just plain sucks and it’s expensive.

Carnitas is a great restaurant. Their service is excellent and the food is delicious. I often go there for lunch meetings with clients and co-​workers and we are seated promptly, our orders are taken quickly and the food arrives surprisingly fast.
The food is somewhat standard El Paso Mexican food, and I kind of suspect that some of the food may be prepared ahead of time, but that doesn’t seem to affect the taste or the quality. It’s also hard to complain about getting food as quickly as we usually do. Appetizers come out almost as fast as the drinks do and food is often out before we are done with the appetizers. On top of this the wait staff are always friendly, attentive, but not intrusive so eating there is very pleasant.
This restaurant is one large dining room so it can get a bit noisy when it’s full (and this often happens around lunch time), but the atmosphere is nice, the dining room is always clean and tidy, and the tables/​chairs are comfortable and not too crowded. In short, this is a great restaurant that I never hesitate to suggest when I’m looking for a place to eat in the area.

Horrible! We chose to eat here on a Saturday night because the reviews were good. I don’t know what happened, but our experience was terrible. The service was very poor. We had to flag down the server anytime we needed a refill even though there was only three tables occupied in the restaurant. They got one of our orders completely wrong, and all four of us agreed that the food was very bland. The worst thing however, was that they brought us rotten salsa! You could smell it on the table from where we were seated, and when we brought it to the attention of the server he took it away, but didn’t replace it, or try to make it right. I don’t normally write reviews, and I feel a little bad writing such a bad one, but I had to share this. There is a lot of GREAT Mexican food in El Paso, but you won’t find it here.

I like this place a lot. Been here a few times. Tonight, I had the Carne Asada grilled tacos. Really flavorful with cooked onions and baked potato. Wife had a pork adovado that seemed rather fatty but with excellent sauce. I love the pico de gallo and the red sauce for chips. Homemade tortillas ! As stated, this is not Tex-​Mex although they have combination plates. You go here for the variety of meats cooked in the traditional Mexican style.

Local El Paso authentic mexican food. Not tex-​mex, this place is legit. The lamb barbacoa taco was fantastic. Moist and full of flavor.
Their corn tortillas are homemade and one of the best I’ve ever tasted. They were so good I could eat the tortilla alone. The queretaro plate is their specialty and was also delicious. Very satisfying meal overall.

I come here for the authenticity of Mexican food. It’s one of the few places that I know will be consistent with food and service.
I really enjoy the green enchiladas and tacos de buche.
I would like to see an improvement on their chips and salsas. It seems like the chips can be stale sometimes.

I’ve been to this location before and never has it been so bad. I ordered the red cheese enchilada plate and my husband ordered the lamb barbocoa burrito. The corn tortillas in the enchiladas were dried out, tough, and breaking apart even though they were smothered in red sauce (sauce tasted like it had been kept a long time, it had a tainted taste), and there was only cheese in the very middle, so I was eating mainly corn tortilla. It wasn’t warm at all. I thought I was eating yesterday’s leftovers and I may have been. The flour tortilla of the burrito was hard all over the edges and the entire burrito was not warm.
Everything tasted old and cold.
My husband stopped eating it after a few bites. I got a little sick when I got home, but not as bad as my husband. I think if they just were careful to only use what they made that day and keep things heated, this would have never happened. Usually we will try again even if we had a bad experience, but since we got sick we will not be going back.

WTF! What happened to your salsas? Who pissed off the chef. Your salsa is what kept me coming back but who kept the tomatoes out of the Chile De Arbol, seriously. I want to taste my food.

Came here for lunch with co-​workers. Very nice staff, fairly quick service. Chorizo con queso was tasty. I like pozole, and theirs didn’t disappoint. Would’ve liked it a little spicier, but that’s me. Colleagues had tacos and burritos… all seemed satisfied.
Will come back the next time I’m in El Paso.

Decent Mexican food. They serve pozole all week, which is what keeps me coming back.

Upon arrival the server immediately seated us. The was quiet due to only a handful of customers. The server was frank with us regarding some of the food and drink. Not to say it was bad but it helped in what we chose to order.
The food came out in a timely manner and was good. It wasn’t the best I’ve had but was average. The only negative point is that the server took a while to refill our drinks.
I would come back.