El Allende

Lunch buffet was good and fresh quite a few options salsa and guacamole were good and the service was decent.

I hate to give a bad review but I felt badly gouged and deceived after dining here with a friend this evening.
Admittedly, we both drink a lot of fluids. He had lemonade (three refills) and I had iced tea (two refills). We were charged full price for seven drinks for which the waitress had asked «Can I bring you another tea?» All the while she knew we were getting the golden ramrod.
I should have known something was up… At the end of the meal, the pleasant young waitress said «Your bill is at the front on your way out.» That seemed odd and I wondered if she was hiding something! I tipped (which I do no matter what) Then I got the shocking bill…
For two of us the total was $ 44 with about $ 17 being drinks! Since I didn’t know the magnitude of the whopping check, the waitress didn’t get a full 15%. Oh well. It’s on her.
I will say the food is delicious and the service was great. Sadly, I will never eat here again come «heck or high water.» I don’t like feeling like I got gouged on my meal and beverages… no matter how tasty the food was.
The moral of the story is drink water… unless they charge you for that too!

Ms T and I have spent a considerable number of nights back in Muscatine lately and finally had a chance to eat at a few of the local restaurants that we had not been able to try before. I had three meals at El Allende was pleasantly surprised to find another good place for above average Mexican. Muscatine has at least four credible Mexican restaurants; El Olmito, El Allende, Las Lomas and Guadalajara. I have tried them all and rank them in the order given, but all are OK. I have not tried Restaurant Izalco.
We ate lunch here one time and dinner one time. For Lunch I passed on the buffet although the place was crowded with people making good on the opportunity to overeat. I asked for huevos con chorizo with fresh chiles jalapenos and the server knew exactly what I wanted. She delivered an excellent plate with good soft white corn tortillas. This was a very well prepared lunch. She seemed pleased that I would order the chiles in the eggs and ask for corn tortillas.
For dinner, I was joined by Mr G who had helped me with a project earlier in the day. I was paying him with food and beer. This time I noticed chilaquiles on the menu and ordered what turned out to be some of the best I have had in a while.
I have driven by this place dozens of times. The building is not very inviting. I kind of pictured a dark bar sort of place, not sure why. It is really a nice clean, family run place. I had not been the building since the Peking was housed here many, many years ago. I really developed a good feeling about El Allende. I don’t think I would participate in the buffet. What I ordered from the menu was too good and I was not impressed with the buffet. Business appears to be good, there were a lot of people at lunch and dinner seemed busy as well. When we lived in Muscatine we frequented El Zarape until Paul and Gloria sold it and then we were regulars at Imelda’s. Both are long gone but we had a lot of good meals there with our kids. If I lived here again, I would be pretty happy with the selection of Mexican food and would try to rotate through El Allende, Las Lomas, Guadalajara and probably Izalco (Need to try it). I would reserve a special place on my lunch schedule to get tacos at El Olmito. I hope Muscatine appreciates these places. I’m going with four stars and am looking forward to coming back.