EL Sarape

Great place to eat if you’ve never eaten real Mexican in your entire life. Very bland food.

Delicious food that was beautiful in its presentation. Sounds crazy i know! We eat alot of Mexican and its just ok cheap nothing to exciting. They have a new menu according to the waitress, she was also fantastic.

When they’re on, they’re on, but when they’re not, you know…
Trip #1). Greeted and seated quickly. Served fresh, hot chips and cool, average salsa.
Foods served were typical, Americanized Mexican. On-​par with expectations, and above average for cleanliness, so drew me back.
Trip #2). Seated, served room temperature, over-​cooked basket of chips. Same average salsa, and foods served were hot and on par with trip #1. Drew me back.
Trip #3.) Inconvenienced a bit to have to seat us, chips and salsa were not over-​cooked, but not hot. Burrito served without any beans or rice, and was lukewarm. Other plate had beans and rice and all of it was cold. Chicken soup was so salty, it would have been like consuming sea water.
I realize that beans and rice type items are made in large batches, but I always cringe when they are served cold. Makes me wonder how long and at what temp these items are in the back, becoming a health hazard.
We opted to leave, without consuming any of it, beyond the chips and salsa.
I’m not stumped. Other places are dirtier, and more consistent. Maybe I’ll wait and try again.

El Sarape is our local «go to» restaurant for Mexican fare. Good prices and great food every time.

As a local who has traveled extensively and eaten at many similar restaurants in many cities, I can say that the out-​of-​towners should just stay out of town and keep they’re opinions to themselves! This is great food, the staff is friendly, and the salsa is exceptional. When the salsa is good, everything is good.

Average food for the area. Have been a few times. The fajitas are ok. Margaritas very weak. Friendly staff. Nothing great about it.

I visited El Sarape for the first time over this past weekend and was extremely happy wtih my meal. As with most Mexican restaurants, we were greeted at our table with a bowl of hot tortilla chips and a dish of salsa, both of which were excellent. The restaurant was rather crowded at dinner time on a Saturday night, but despite that, our service was fast. Our order was taken within 10 minutes of the time we sat down with the menus. We rejected our first opportunity to order so we could have a few more minutes to browse the menu. When the waiter returned, I ordered their Arroz con Pollo. Our meal arrived at our table in approximately 10 minutes. This was, by far, the best Arroz con Pollo I have had anywhere around here. The plate was more than I could eat, and I can eat plenty! Our drinks were kept full and the manager even stopped by the table to ask us how our meal was. I let him know how impressed I was with the food. I’m looking forward to visiting El Sarape many more times!

Your meal should not peak at the salsa, really. This is no more than standard fare, and even a large menu didn’t help here. Maybe, its me but enchillita and chili rellenos is a very safe pick on most menus. We are using ground beef, sauce, cheese, and pepper … what could go wrong? Well, I was part of a large party and the winner was steak… not flank steak.
I am really an optismist so they had $ 1 Dos Equis and margaritas!!!
The rice was bland and maybe heat lamped, the beans needed some kind of fat (cheese, bacon drippings, dear God anything).
OK stay in Hickory or go to Hardee’s if you are near this place.

– Extensive menu. Apparently, from reading the other reviews, they are hit or miss.
– Professional, black and white clad servers are always circling unobtrusively. The wait staff impressed me as being courteous and friendly.
– I’ve read the so-​so reviews from Unilocalers, but the restaurant parking lot has been SLAMMED during both lunch and dinner services for months on end. You will do well to find a parking spot during peak dining hours.
– Hickory residents will not frequent or support a totally lame restaurant, so it makes me wonder about the mixed reviews.
– We’ve got a lot of Hispanic restaurants in our area, some of which are NOT Americanized, so the local taste buds are reasonably well educated. Hickory has a high Hispanic, Vietnamese, and Romanian population. I have found these people to be extremely nice and a welcome addition to our community.
– I liked my initial visit to El Serape, but I was not blown away. I can’t remember what I ate, which is an indication of run of the mill fare. A good meal… I remember for months or years.
PS: In fact, it is now over two years since I wrote this review, and I have yet to return, and I could walk to the restaurant from home.
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