El Farolito

A group of four. We sat down, ordered and ate all the chips and salsa within 5 mins. Took them another 10 to bring more chips and took forever to get our drinks. I actually forgot I had ordered a drink. I inquired how much longer til I’ll get my drink. They said 10 mins. When they brought out the drinks for my other guest, they forgot mine.
Food arrived just after I finally got my drink.
Food was ok, nothing speical.
Their communication here is bad.
No refills on the drinks. At the end they did ask if we wanted a refill of water.
The bathroom is clean.
–1 star: length of time
–1 star: no drink
–1 star: bad communication

Et tu, El Faralito? Recently went to have dinner here, one of our favorites, one of the the few go-​to places for locals and visitors alike to have good affordable food in Healdsburg.
Very sad and disappointed to find that the prices are up and margaritas are no longer available by the pitcher, but are now one at a time at $ 11 a pop.
The food is good but the service and atmosphere are not enough to compete in the tourist-​price market.
I wish you well, El Faralito, but for the money, i’ll choose Bravas or Campo Fina from now on.

Pleasant space with non-​threatening mexican food for gringos. We had the Monday night special: shrimp burritos. Plenty of shrimp but missing things like onions, cilantro, and fresh tomatoes which would have improved the result. But for $ 10/​plate one cannot complain too much… Food deserves 3 stars but price and setting merits upgrade to 4 star rating.

El Farolito is the best Mexican food in town! My boyfriend and I order take-​out at least twice a week. The prawn tacos are the best I’ve ever had, made with large shrimp, spicy aioli and a cabbage slaw. The mocajete, though not my favorite, is supposedly some of the best around. Chuy the bartender is a doll, always friendly showing off some sort of trick. The only reason El Farolito isn’t getting 5 stars is because their waitstaff and take-​out service is very inconsistent. A must stop in Healdsburg!

This place is 100%! My husband and I had a hard time deciding where to eat while we were in Healdsburg; there are so many nice restaurants there! We love Mexican food and decided on El Farolito. First off, walking in is a pleasant feeling as you are enveloped in a traditional, semi-​modern/​vintage Latino atmosphere. It’s kinda funky, but beautiful … their bar is just gorgeous. «artisan»!!. We were there for lunch and the service was fast for seating and drinks, perfect with our meals and call-​backs, friendly and laughed at our jokes. The food was just as impressive as everything else. I had the fish tacos mmmmm and my husband enjoyed the fajitas with chicken. Highly recommend either. Give yourself a fun surprise and try this place out, even if you just stop for a sip, and to appreciate the surroundings!

I wandered in cranky, hungry, and tired and left satiated and happy. The food was way better than I thought it was going to be and I enjoyed the flavors. They were distinct and yummy.

stopped in yesterday and had a great meal. Everything was beautifully plated. and the food was wonderful… you raised the bar for mexican food yesterday for me !

Its the best Mexican food I’ve ever had! The Molcajete is amazing. The prawn, beef, and chicken are all very juicy and tender. The rice and beans are very very good too! You will not be disappointed!

Let me start by saying the food itself was very good, definitely a ⁴⁄₅ establishment. Taking the service into account, though, I feel like 2 stars is being charitable.
I came in with 5 other friends (a party of 6 so understandably large), and was told by the woman we thought was the hostess (turns out there is no host/​hostess) that «there should be a table in the back». When we talked to a waiter, he said that it would just be one minute because they needed to put two tables together to seat us. All understandable.
When things started to become confusing was when the waiter returned a minute later and said it would be fifteen minutes. How does it take fifteen minutes to put two tables together? When I asked him, he mumbled something about the tables being spread out in different places, and we decided to wait the fifteen minutes.
Twenty minutes later, my wife went to get a status on the table combination operation, and the same waiter seemed surprised to see her (even though there was no way not to notice us waiting at the front of the restaurant) and said he would «check on that».
Five minutes after that, we were told they just needed «to clean off the table» and then they could seat us.
Ten minutes after THAT, we were finally seated by a completely different waiter (in street clothes) at a single six person table. I still have no idea what became of putting the two tables together (perhaps the wait was because they were fusing them together at the molecular level?)
When we first ordered, we mentioned that we would want separate checks, and we thought we heard our waiter tell us okay (it was loud and somewhat mumbly so we may have heard wrong). Our friend said he wanted a burrito with no onions.
We all got our food at different times, including a waiter bringing something over to one of our friends and asking her to cut into it to make sure it was the right dish. The friend who ordered no onions got a burrito with meat and beans, no other fillings. Other than those hiccups, the food itself tasted very good and we were feeling better about our choice to go here.
Then we were brought one $ 80 check for all six of us, with nothing split up. After taking ten minutes to flag down a waiter and ask if we could have the check split, we were told «We can’t do separate checks, you all have to figure it out.» If they couldn’t do separate checks, why weren’t we told this when we first asked for separate checks?
It should be said, however, that the bussing staff was very on top of things and did a great job. If we could have left a tip just for them, we would have.

Stopped here on our way up to Mendocino. The previous Unilocal reviewers sold us on their food. There were a lot of great things about this place. First, the salsa was amazing! Second, we ordered the pork Super Burrito (super flavorful) & fish tacos… yum! (I recommend the grilled fish over the battered). And lastly, the service was super friendly & attentive. Customer service goes a long way in my book… so I’m sure we’ll be stopping at this place again the next time we are in town.
¹²⁄₂₆ On our way back to SF, we decided to stop in Healdsberg again for a bite. We walked around the town square and since nothing looked good, we decided to go back to where we knew the food would be yummy. My husband ordered the surf & turf burrito with mole sauce and I ordered the chicken tortilla soup with a carne asada taco. Everything on our plates was so tasty… especially the broth of the soup and the mole sauce. Soooo glad we had the opportunity to stop here again!

Hubby and I had a fantastic lunch at El Faralito in Healdsburg. This restaurant has been here for years, and after way too long since dining here, we decided to stop in for a late lunch. The service was very friendly and spot on. I ordered the Fajita salad with my choice of meat. I chose the Pork Carnitas for my salad. It was delicious. Great spices, very tender and moist. The salad came loaded with lots of fresh avocado slices, grilled red and yellow peppers, pumpkin seeds, cotilla cheese, and strips of crispy tortillas. The pork was so flavorful that I didn’t even need dressing. The combination of the chilled salad with the warm pork — yummy!
Hubby ordered the chili relleno plate and he and I both agreed it was most likely the best chili relleno we had ever tasted. Delicious sauce, seemed like it had pumpkin in it as well.
Oh, let me mention the fresh squeezed lemonade with a little touch of basil added. Best lemonade ever, not too sweet, not too bitter, just perfect!
I will definitely keep this restaurant as one of my all time favorite Mexican restaurants in Sonoma County.

Eaten here twice over the past 30 years. This place is a Healdsburg institution.
Don’t let the funky front entrance and crowded front room kitchen fool you into thinking that this is just another Mexican slop house. Be greeted and then get a table in the back room. It’s ancient yet furnished in cool artsy-​industrial chic. The room, it got soul.
Menu has the usual Mexican suspects of burritos, tacos and then a few other less typical items. There’s always a Oaxacan specialty on the menu. If you love mole’ you’ll love what they make.
Flavors of my chile relleno were smooth, supple, complex and totally delicious. With the sides of beans and rice and a handful of tortillas the meal was quite filling. Price = $ 13. A real deal for food of this elevated quality.
Full liquor license, several tequilas and fancy cocktails. Also 5 Mexican beers on tap, $ 5 per pint.
Nicest employees serve with a smile.
I’ve eaten at every Mexican joint in Healdsburg /​Windsor and north Sonoma county. This place serves about the best typical Mexican food, with the notable exception of Mateo Granados (which I rated 5 stars last year) also located in Healdsburg.

Chips? Good. Nachos? Bomb. Water glasses? Oddly appealing and cute (albeit tiny!)
We came here for National Nacho Day (November 6 for future reference) and proceeded to eat our body weight in chips, nachos and chimichangas. My body was not prepared for the amount of cheese and gloriness that was presented to me, but I wonderfully suffered through it and have no regrets.
This is not the place to go if you’re trying to cut back on cheese, fried food or fat, but it’s so good. Each chip of my nacho platter had a near perfect amount of nacho goodness, leaving me to just inhale my half of the entrée within minutes.
Can’t say if I will be back anytime soon because I am still recovering, but I would recommend it to anyone in Healdsburg — especially after a day of wine tasting !

My first time here and the first thing is how friendly and nice the staff is. Then the next thing was how amazing my pomegranate margarita was. Including real pomegranates in the drink was a fantastic touch and the drink was amazing. Probably the best margarita I’ve ever had.
Next was our food. In one word, whoa! I had a super burrito with steak and it was fantastic. The wife’s was a bit different. She had the enchiladas with green sauce. The green sauce was… AMAZING!!!. The best green sauce I’ve ever tasted and the wife felt the same.
Great service, drink and food.

Better than most Mexican restaurants in Sonoma County, with a good selection of choices that do not contain «taco» or «burrito.» Slightly more expensive than traditional «taquerias,» this is not a place to eat standing up. A nice selection of tequilas in their bar takes this place further beyond other Mexican restaurant options. The dim, cool space always feels comfortable and intimate, and the service, though not exceptional, over-​delivers considering the venue. My latest discovery — fajita salad (yum!).

There is no shortage of Mexican food in Healdsburg, but El Farolito is my favorite of the choices. They have most of the standard fair (though unfortunately missing some of the more authentic items like Lengua), along with the foodie options (like sundried tomato tortillas). Their Molcajete is also GREAT!
My biggest complaint about Farolito (and this is an issue at many taquerias) is they are very inconsistent in how they build their burritos. How difficult is it to wrap a burrito so that all of the sour cream/​avocado/​etc isn’t at the very bottom? Spread that stuff out! Your ingredients are tasty, so let me get a bit in every bite. Isn’t that standard for a burrito?
Also, when ordering to-​go they will frequently forget things, so make sure you double check.
Okay, enough venting. These issues are pretty common at taquerias, and aren’t bad enough to keep me from eating here. So all-​in-​all, a big thumbs up!

Delicious food
Great service. Extensive food and tequila, mescaline menu. Go here. You’ll love it.

We came with a Big Group (about 20 people). Considering our group size, service was super fast. Waitress attending to us was nice and the young man looking over us made sure we always had chips, salsa, and water. If you like spicy, ask for the Hotter Salsa.
Overall, the food was Great. Dishes presented nicely and meats were cooked just right.

The margaritas are still good. On this visit we ordered some nachos, and they arrived as expected, tasted great, and did not last long.
This will continue to be a spot to consider when we’ve ‘wined’ out a bit.
For the persnickety, the service was a bit rough on our recent visit. We were there around 3:30, and we sat at the bar. There was no bartender, and so they had a variety of folks jump in and take care of us. We were fine, but some might be bothered by this.

I met with a few coworkers of mine here for lunch. I found nearby street parking so carpooling would be good. There were a lot of people here for lunch but there were still plenty of tables. We sat towards the back of the restaurant.
The menu had a lot of choices which made it more difficult to decide what to order. I looked on Unilocal to see what was good and decided on the Molcajete ($ 16.95). Burritos sounded good but I wanted to try something different.
It took awhile for the food to come out but maybe it was because of my order. All of our food came at the same time and mine was in a hot stone bowl which was probably why it took a little bit longer. The Molcajete was good and spicy. It was also hot temperature-​wise so eating it was painful only because I was in a hurry to make a meeting which meant I had a limited time to eat. If you don’t mind a little spicy steak, chicken, and prawn then order the Molcajete. The staff was friendly and came by to check on us a few times.
I thought this restaurant was good for some Mexican food.