El Mariachi

On Sunday, May 22, 2016, I went to El Mariachi Restaurant in Johnston, Iowa, at about 5:30 PM for a evening meal. As we drove up we noticed that the patio seats with tables were all filled with customers. When we went inside, most of the seats were filled with customers. The waiter at the door seated us and gave us a basket of chips with salsa. About 10 minutes later a different waiter came to take our drink orders and food orders. We ordered two margaritas and two combination platters for the two of us. I am a regular customer and I have eaten about half of the items on the menu over the past several years and I like most of the entrees. I prefer the #9 combination platter for $ 7.99 so I ordered that on May 22. The #9 has two ground beef items with rice and refried beans. Our drinks came right away and they were perfect regular margaritas on the rocks for $ 4.50 each. We waited for half an hour for our food orders to cook and the waiter apologized for the delay and brought more chips and salsa. He said the kitchen staff was overworked with the late afternoon Sunday crowd that night. A third waiter brought our food. The food was cold and the plates were cold. Usually the waiter comes with a big full size up to the elbow heat glove carrying the steaming plates with steaming hot food. We ate our food which was cold but looked OK and tasted OK. Then we waited another 20 minutes for our check. I finally flagged down the second waiter to ask for our check and he did bring it. We then went up to the cash register and paid without complaining. I felt stuffed. I had nothing else to eat or drink after eating the #9 combination platter. When I got home about 7 PM, I felt like I had two basketballs in my stomach. Then I got stomach cramps from 8 PM to 11 PM. Then at about 11 PM the diarrhea started and continued until 4 AM. The cramps decreased each time I went to the bathroom. The discomfort stopped by 5 AM. I was afraid to eat or drink anything until Noon of the next day when I drank some water. I think I got some minor food poisoning from eating the #9 combination platter. I am grateful that I recovered quickly after one night of discomfort. I will never go back there to eat again.

Solid Mexican place. Popular for lunch with my co-​workers. It’s busy at lunch but they are quick and efficient (doesn’t it seem like they know what you want before you even order). Prices are reasonable (especially lunch menu). This place has been around a while (an old Hardee’s).

I love this place! They are so quick during the lunch hour that you never have to worry about getting back to work in time unless you sit and chat to your friends or co-​workers too long! The beef Chimichonga’s are my favorite besides their really good Quaso dip and pico de gio. (don’t look at my spelling).

Typical mexican restaurant. The servers are always nice. The food is always prepared quickly. It is hot and fresh or as fresh as a place like this allows. Cheap eats! If you are looking for authentic or something different this is not your place.

I have eaten here probably a dozen times over the years, mostly for lunch. The lunches are usually pretty good with large portions — no complaints. I have now ordered carry out dinners three times and the first two were none too great once I got them to my house about 10 minutes from the restaurant. The chips and lettuce and such were soggy. Okay, should have learned my lesson. No more carry-​out from El Mariachi. But no. Had to do it again. So tonight I placed an order for a Taco Salad Fajita and headed right up there where my order was waiting for me. Once home I opened the plastic bag and was a little surprised to not see a container for my taco salad. Instead it was wrapped up it aluminum foil and actually looked like a large taco in shape. Uh oh. Peeled the foil open and the poor taco salad looked like someone had used it for a soccer ball. It was all beat up, the bottom of the foil was ripped in a couple of places and kind of fused to the bottom of the «Crispy» flour bowl. Not happy. Had to use a couple of spatulas to get the «salad» separated from the foil and onto a plate. By then it was just a pile of glop. So I called the restaurant and related my displeasure to Salvador who said that my call was the first time anyone had complained about receiving a taco salad in bad shape. We eventually agreed on a store credit for another taco salad, so to paraphrase Carl Spackler of Caddyshack, «I guess I got going for me».
I ate about half of that pile of uninspired glop and pitched the rest. And it did not taste that good either. Urp, where’s the Alka Seltzer? Guess I will stick with Taco Casa for my Taco/​Mexican Salad.
Too bad.

Lunch is a packed time here.
Walked in at 12:30 and lucky got an open table.
Chips and salsa made it to the table before my waiter did. I ordered the lunch margarita for 2.50. My blended drink came out on the rocks.
The chips were warm when they hit the table but stale.
I got the white cheese.
The lunch menu was good priced and food was good.
For the price I would come back.
My date had a#5 and I had the chimichanga.
She devoured hers and she frequently visits this locations.

This is our go-​to family style Mexican restaurant. Prompt service, family owned and good food it has never disappointed. They have a patio, but it’s on the south side of the building and can be hot in the afternoon.
I really enjoy Pollo Loco or tacos carne asada. This is a great place for families or large groups. It has a huge parking lot and is ADA friendly. It gee ts busy on weekend nights, but is almost empty during the afternoon.
There are drink specials all day Saturdays $ 2.99 margaritas

This place offers quick, tame Mexican food for a cheap price. If that is what you want, go here. It’s not fabulous, and you’re not going to find a ton of difference flavors and spices.

The food was good but the service was comical. Our server struggled to get our order right… several times.

This is one of those places that gains a local following with cheap, weak margarita specials and fatty Jalisco/​TexMex food.
Very, very slow service. It took about 15 minutes between ordering drinks and queso for them to come back and take our order. It’s been about another 15 or 20 and still no queso.
Food just came out. Pretty mich exactly what I expected. Not bad. Everything was a little burnt but it was fine. Guacamole looks processed. Shrimp’s good. Frijoles are good.

Best mexican resturant in the des moines area by far. Everything is freshly made and spiced to perfection.

Everything I have ever ordered in this restaurant has been good. El Mariachi has excellent enchiladas and this is usually my first choice on the menu. My favorite is the Enchiladas Mexicanas which is four enchiladas, one beef, one cheese, one chicken and one bean. This combo has red sauce, spiced just right with a lettuce, tomato and sour cream salad garnish. The beef enchilada has a great flavor, much better than some other local places and the cheese enchiladas are the best in town. The service here has always been good. I like this place a lot. No complaints!

Once again great food. Anyone complaining about this place is probably the competition. I’ve eaten here at least 10 times in last 1 year. It’s always good!

Very much American food
.
I go have Mexican to eat Mexican and lettuce should be green not brown :/​sorry never again

This place is ok. The food comes out quick, and it is very cheap but nothing to be all that excited about. I ordered the guacamole to start with and it was way to salty but expected. Next, the main course I had was beef fajitas which I shared. The beef looked a little burnt and the pieces of beef looked like those that were left over. The veggies like peppers and onions had gotten very saggy and soft. I have been here before and had the chicken chimichanga which was a lot better. This place would also be great for kids considering it also has American dishes on the kids menu.

I went for an early lunch with my best friend who ordered a cheese enchilada. The sauce tasted like plastic! We informed our waiter that he should have the chef taste the sauce because it didn’t taste right today, His response was it’s the same as it always is. Our response was «so he enchilada sauce always tastes like plastic? «The lack of concern and the fact that he left it on our bill secured our decision to never return !
Guess I will stick to Abelardos for my Mexican cuisine and friendly service :)

Ate here twice and both time we have had great service! I recommend getting a pitcher of margarita if your sharing. There food is good and cheap:) this is not tex mex

Mmmm…
We were looking for a new habitual Mexican place. It’s basically the same menu and style as El Cerro (for people down south) or Los Tres Amigos (for people up north). So you get a big messy platter with plenty of sauce and rice and beans. I love it so much. As others have said, the price is great.
The place was packed when we went in on a Saturday night, so clearly the community agrees with us. A good spot to bring the family but also order a margarita. We got a vegetarian platter and an enchilada platter. Both were delicious (cheese enchilada was one of the best I’ve had in a while). The margarita was good – my partner thought the liquor tasted cheap, but it wasn’t an expensive margaria… so that would make sense.
We’ll be going back regularly.

Its definitely not the five star cuisine everyone is raving about, but its far from the worst. I was greeted promptly and within three minutes was seated, had a glass of iced tea, and a large basket of chips and salsa. Lunch specials run between $ 5 – 7 and most are sided with rice and beans. With that said…
The rice was rather clumpy and lacked flavor. The beans were serviceable… and the burrito tasted much like food found at other restaurants of this nature. Its definitely a step up from Taco Johns or Taco Bell (and comparable by price, which raises it in my eyes), but you have to search harder for truly authentic Mexican food. It’s only a block or two from work, so I’ll stop in again, but if you live closer to something like el rodeo, you’re just as well served going there.

Any time I pass this place during the week for lunch, it seems to be packed. We had heard it was good and needed to find a place for lunch in our driving path on a Saturday. Surprisingly, even at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday, there were quite a few people there.
The server was quick to bring us water and chips and salsa. The salsa definitely had a kick to it. I would say it was spicy. I ordered the chicken chimichanga while my husband had the California Burrito with steak. When his meal came out, it looked like a flag with the three sauce types. He did enjoy his. My chimichanga was good but was it great… no. It was just your typical Mexican fare.
The waiter became more sluggish as we were there and we were confused when the bill came as to if we paid up front or at the table. They eventually came and got it but we still didn’t know if this was the normal process.