El Portal Restaurant

Service was terrible. Came in for lunch and the place had 20 – 30 people in one group and the poor service staff were rapped up waiting on them. Took 45 minutes to get a watered down ice tea, with no ice. Finally got up and walked out. Seemed like the large group was waiting to protest some event at the Convention Center.

OK, it’s been awhile, but I have a happy memory of a green enchilada special. My co-​worker insisted we had to go there. Nobody spoke Anglais, so it had to be good, and it was. While it didn’t equal the old Restaurant Mexico in Tempe, it was a good time, and the old building was comforting. This is important in a city that doesn’t tolerate anything old.

Its amazing how people are led to believe that this place serves delicious Mexican food. I would like to know WHAT they are ordering. Been there once and never went back again thanks to their awful long lingering wait staff that took forever to bring us drinks and food along with the low quality of the food. The chicken enchiladas I ordered were disgusting to say the least, chicken was black and gross, and they were covered in a mountain of what seemmed to be green ooze that was trying to be salsa verde with nacho cheese. Never been back.

Not an entirely bad place but the food here is kind of bland. Not my first choice for Mexican food.

WOW!!! I love this place!!! I work downtown and every chance I get I head to this tasty place… I love the service and love the carne asada. I would love it if they would stay open for dinner.
I will continue to let my friends and family know this is a must!!!

A visiting friend and I gave breakfast here a try before heading to Sedona back in April ’08. The salsa was very good. My friend said that the chips were awesome. I had a breakfast burrito (eggs and ground beef) that wasn’t very memorable, while she had something similar with chorizo wrapped in a soft corn tortilla and smothered with a sweet red sauce. She didn’t like it very much.
I liked the wooden furniture that reminded me of the furniture found in every home back in the Philippines– dark, heavy, and many are engraved. I thought the Native American theme was a little-​off, but she found it charming.
Service was very slow– we sat waiting for more than ten minutes before someone came out of the kitchen to greet us. Lunch menu items are rather inexpensive, so I may visit again sometime in the next few years…

Stopped in with some friends after a hike around South Mountain. We came in for a nice breakfast/​lunch on a Sunday, around noon.
I ordered the Chilaquiles based on Mary Rose Wilcox’s suggestion (I love chilaquiles and have had too many experiences with lackluster versions to not ask). My co-​eaters ordered a plate of flautas, chiles rellenos, huevos rancheros, and a bean and cheese burrito.
The food came out fast (the restaurant was nearly empty) and it was excellent! The flour tortilla was thick and light and delicious. The chilaquiles were a little different from what I expected, but they were still quite delicious. The beans were excellent (Mexican restaurants must have fabulous beans, it’s the litmus test).
The whole experience was lovely. In fact, the only minus I have of the whole experience was a series of typos on the menu. But hey, the food was delicious!

What can I say about El Portal, its so great. The restaurant is owned and run by local poltico Mary Rose Wilcox, her husband Earl, and their family. While only open for breakfast and lunch, its well worth the trip downtown. The restaurant is actually an old mexican church, remodeled with all hispanic labor from the area, and is a quaint dining experience. The machaca and egg burrito or plate is so good, with fresh jalopenos and seasoned beef. The chorizo is spicy, but you wont be regretting eating it later on in the day. Try ordering the bacon, well done. Its so crispy, its life changing. For lunch, their are a number of traditional sonoran style dishes that you cant go wrong with. Try the chilaquiles, they are the best, and something you will only find around here. The staff is small, so you have to be patient, and not be looking to dine and leave quickly. Early Sunday mornings are so fun, the restaurant is low key, lots of families coming in after church and enjoying each others company. Overall, this is one of my special spots here in Phoenix, and I take everyone I know from out of town here!!!

Such a waste. Great little cozy Mexican restaurant for a business lunch that somehow forgot 1) how to make Mexican food and 2) how to cater to larger groups on their lunch break.
You will fall in love with its quaint, wooden interior and carafes of salsa, but the love affair will start to wain once you realize how shoddy and unorganized the service is. It’s one of those serve tables by committee places where no one will claim responsibility of any table that’s out there. As such, you will go through long stretches without key elements for eating your meal and either be ignored or treated rudely when you ask for help.
But the real deal-​breaker for me in my one (and probably final) trip here was the food. I got a «Carne Asada Taco» platter, which turned out to be a loose definition for what I got. There was a stack of four tiny, over-​saturated tortillas with some carne asada on it. No guacamole, no pico, or anything else. Just some carne asada and lettuce on sticky, wet tortillas. Also came with almost tasteless beans and rice on the side.
The carne asada itself was really good and some members of my party had slightly better entrees, including the ones who got carne asada burritos which were loaded with guac and such, but we all agreed it wasn’t worth the price compared to a trip to Tradiciones, La Tolteca, or even Canasta.
Then we got presented with a bill that included an auto-​gratuity of almost 30%. We brought it up to the woman who was running the joint for the most part and took our orders and told her to sort that out. She apologizied and said, «Oh, she can put on whatever gratuity she wants.»
Say what? Who is «she»? You are the only one running the register and taking orders. And how can any server just come up with a gratuity of 30%? Needless to say this place is trying to shakedown large business parties and should be avoided as much as possible.

Co-​worker: We’re going to El Portal for lunch.
Me: Que es el portal?
Co-​worker: Oh right. I always forget your not from here.
So the review from Pierre is totally on-​point. I went to El Portal with my co-​workers who are all very involved in the state politics/​worker scene. And sure enough while we were there a ton of staffers, court officials, reporters, etc would walk in and out. I don’t know if I’d qualify it as a celebrity spot. And likely most wouldn’t return if it was. But definitely is a really good spot tucked back just south of downtown.
I had the chicken tostados which were fantastic. The service is lacking at best. But I was there around 12:30 and it was really packed. The servers were super nice… just too busy to be really attentive.
There’s also a huge painting of MLK and an enlarged Cesar Chavez stamp on the walls. I don’t know that they have a stealth interior design person… but hey, who doesn’t love a little awkwardly placed (but obviously beloved) Cesar and MLK?!

Without trying to name-​drop, I happened to be chatting with a justice of the Arizona Supreme Court at some legal-​social event recently, and he recommended that I try this restaurant as it was a long-​time favorite of his. Who am I to dare ignore a personal recommendation from our state’s highest court? So I went, and as we were eating I spotted yet ANOTHER Supreme Court justice walk in with who I guess was his wife. It turns out, apparently, that El Portal has long been the favorite of many appellate judges in Arizona. I’m frankly embarassed I never knew about it before, because it’s one of the closest Mexican restaurants to where I live.
Setting my celebrity-​stricken bias aside, this is a cool little Mexican dive with a nice, welcoming, cozy atmosphere inside. If you’re a staunch Republican, you might cringe as you walk in because it appears that this is an unofficial headquarters for the Democratic Party of Arizona. There’s a huge Hillary Clinton campaign sign inside, along with a projection of Mayor Gordon’s campaign website on one of the walls, oddly enough, plus other political/​Democratic signage.
The food was good, and I liked the salsa which had quite a kick to it.
From everything I can tell, El Portal clearly qualifies as a genuine Phoenix institution.