El Gringo Redondo

Terrible customer service… I ordered the Pollo Negro Salad… this chicken was so dry and old! I called and complained and was advised to call the 877 number where I might be comped my next meal… how about to keep this raggedy meal and the next ones too. Will NOT waste my money here again.

MSG, me thinks.
The chips and salsa here are fantastic! I can’t get enough of the salsa and sometimes think I could just sit and eat that.
We ordered the Burrito Carne Asada and a Classic Chicken Taco. I love the chicken taco. It bursts with flavor! The options for a shell are flour, hard corn or soft corn. I always order mine with two soft corn tortillas. The tacos come wrapped, but I find this so unnecessary and cumbersome. I’m going to eat it right now — at this table — in your restaurant — so, I don’t need it wrapped. :)
The Burrito Carne Asada didn’t get such rave reviews. There was A LOT of rice in it and the beef (was more like steak strips) lacked flavor.
After the meal, we both started to feel the effects of MSG. I would bet they use it for flavor (maybe they forget to use it on the Burrito). I’m almost certain it’s in the chicken and the salsa.
Too bad, because I really love this place, but I can’t eat MSG and feel good.

Really solid local restaurant, I’m a frequent for the Soup and Zacatecas Salad. Prices are more than fair for what seems like a «healthier» or «fresher» choice of Mexican cuisine in the South Bay. The Waitresses are very friendly but often times I feel they are longing to be anywhere but work… Best Salsa in town!

I’ve been going here for years and am proud to have it in my neighborhood. Best mexican food in the south bay. They’re staff are always friendly and happy, which tells me the owner is doing a good job. We love coming here!

I like to bring my daughter here every so often. The food and service is always good. I love the salsa! Nice local vibe.

I always get the veggie burrito and it was always great. Their salsa is awesome and they give you plenty.
Here’s the problem… VEGANS BEWARE!
It seems like they serve the veggie burrito with refried beans by default, but I was told after having several of those, that only the black beans are vegan but I don’t know what makes their refried beans non-​vegan. To make it vegan, I always ordered it with black beans, no cheese and no sour cream and I prefer it dry instead of with the sauce on top. What’s left is the tortilla, rice, black beans, lettuce, tomato and guacamole. To be safe, I usually emphasized by requesting that it be made vegan just in case.
Anyway, I went there last night and followed the usual routine. When the waitress understood that I wanted it vegan, she told me the rice was made with chicken stock. I understand that some places put butter or animal stock in their rice so that’s not too surprising, but I wondered how long I’d been getting non-​vegan rice thinking it was vegan. I asked her about the beans and she said both the refried beans and black beans were both vegan which contradicted previous information I’d received. Finally, she told me they put MILK in their guacamole. Seriously?! Why would anyone put milk in guacamole! Eliminating rice and guacamole was just too much so I excused myself and left.
I’m grateful that someone finally told me the truth, but it would have been nice to see these hidden ingredients in the menu in the first place. Also, the staff seems confused or uninformed by the ingredients so having it on the menu would eliminate these problems.
I’ve been coming here for a long time and I’ve always liked this place which is why I struggle with giving them only a 2 star review instead of the 5 stars I would like to have given them. I would only consider returning if they could be more vegan friendly and also clearly specify ingredients in their menu. I will really miss their salsa.

Certainly not gourmet food, but my family’s «go to» when no one wants to cook dinner. I’m a pescatarian, so many of the dishes my family loves, I can’t eat. I typically get the Ensalada Del Mar with manderine orange dressing. You can get a full or half size which is about 3 – 4 oz of fish and 6−7oz fish respectively with more «salad» in the full. You can get shrimp or mahi and spiced blanco or blackened. I usually get the mahi blackened. I find they over cook the mahi, not hard to do since it cooks so quickly. If I ask for it «extra moist» and emphasize the «extra moist» is the most important part of my order, it usually comes out better. Depending on when you go, the cooks range from awesome to ok.
You can get many meals in a «skinny» version with all the high calorie «extras» left off. It used to order the extras to be left off and it’s made ordering MUCH quicker for me to have the «skinny» option. They do seem to be in tune with their clientele’s taste.
The portions are generous. If you’re hungry, don’t eat too many chips, unless you want to bring food home. The service is outstanding. The food is good. I’ve brought «out of towners» who wanted Mexican and they have always been very happy with the food! For «everyday» meals, it’s a great choice for the rotation. For special occasions, I’d go elsewhere.
Oh and Tuesday is Taco Tuesday, of course (is there a mexican restaurant that doesn’t have that!) Taco’s are ½ price if you buy a drink. I love the shrimp tacos with corn tortillas. The tortillas are super fresh and tasty. I suspect they don’t make their own, but they’re good.

Guac is the worst! … I mean if I can even call it that, it’s just smashed up avocado. No onion, tomato, cilantro, or salt. And it’s over $ 6 for a small portion. I was pretty bummed because I was actually very hungry. I also ordered a fish taco which was the size of a burrito and I mean who minds extra big food but I couldn’t even eat the taco it was so big ! It all got destroyed and I used a fork to eat it and it was mainly stuffed with lettuce. The fried fish itself was really good you just need to add some lime, fish sauce, and salt. Their salsa is very spicy for me but still good in my opinion. I decided to eat here because I read good reviews on here but I was sadly disappointed.

Just left and, let me say, everything was perfect! My family was served by the lovely Rio. She did an excellent job explaining the different options and telling us about the different locations. She was also very sweet and attentive to us! I can’t wait to come back soon! Thank you Rio and El Gringo for a yummy meal!

LOVE the Pollo Negri Soft Taco! The chicken is moist and flavorful. The perfect size for lunch. The service is prompt and courteous. Sat outside under an umbrella. best way to escape the office for lunch enjoying the fresh and healthy food, Definitely recommend!

Friendly, nice service. Bland food. If you like your Mexican food heavily Americanized. and, of course, taste is subjective… you will really like this place. Going back to La Villa.

Really enjoyed the food and outstanding service. First time here and will return. Ordered take out, food was carefully packaged for a short ride home to Torrance. No complaints.

I placed a to-​go order. The portion sizes are plentiful. The time from order to pick up was quick. The ladies who assisted me were helpful. My chimichanga had good flavor, they are hard to find, so I always order it here. However, I ordered pork for the first time it was a little dry, I will stick with chicken from now on. The chicken has never disappointed. I would have given more stars if my guacamole had not been brown.

Was getting over a cold and heard from a friend that El Gringo has a restorative soup made with chicken and rice. I had never dined at El Gringo so this was a good opportunity.
It was almost full capacity inside the restaurant at noon. Good sign! There seemd to be only one server and she was hustling around taking care of all the tables. Gave me a chance to look over the choices. There it was! Xochitl (soul-​chee)! Chicken & rice with fresh chopped tomato, cilantro, and slices of avocado. Cup or a bowl? Only a small diff in price, so lets go for a bowl!
The soup arrived and it looked delicious! Upon first taste, the broth was very mild. Maybe it was my remaining illness impairing my tastebuds but i was hoping for a bit more flavor. Also felt it needed a bit of salt.
I will try El Gringo again to compare the soup with my first try and probably try other items. I also love supporting independent restaurants for their tenacity to stay alive in increasingly corporate cookie-​cutter America.

No lunch menu, really? This place is only for dinner. The chips and salsa were decent. That’s all I ate before I left for a place that wants to make it easy to get lunch. Everything is a la carte or a pricey dinner. What’s the draw to come here for lunch, none.

How does this place have only 3 stars?! Its blasphemy.
I’d like to begin by praising the chips. Hot, salty, and served with a delicious salsa that, while to spicy for some, really hit the spot for me.
We ordered the carnitas burrito and chicken enchiladas with red sauce instead of the menu listed green sauce.
I’m sure there is a pretty general expectation on how enchiladas should taste, in a good, homey way. Well, these pretty much nailed it. Loaded with dark meat (you are given a choice of white meat with no veggies mixed in or dark meat) mixed with bell peppers and onions, these came drenched in a delicious sauce and served with such delicious pinto beans. I’m usually not really a pinto bean kind of gal, but these were exceptional. Who knows what was in them, but I can tell you, they were delicious.
My friend got the carnitas burrito in which, the carnitas had been smashed on the griddle and charred to perfection to reveal crispy edges on each bite which maintained crispiness once wrapped up into the burrito.
Overall, I woke up wanting this the next day, which seldom happens with Mexican food for me.
I googled «El Gringo Downtown LA» only to be greeted with a lack of results and the page navigating me back to the south bay.
I’ll definitely be back!

At the end of the day paid $ 11 + tax + tip (almost $ 14) for 2 chicken tacos re-​fried beans and rice, house chips & salsa. No drink.
It’s a bit much for lunch, in my opinion.
An under $ 10 lunch menu would be great.
This is LA after all, with great Mex food everywhere, especially tacos, plenty of which are around $ 2, some of which make in house fresh tortillas… by hand.
Considering the previous Mex restaurant, the ol’school Miguel’s burrito house (So. Bay peeps should recall) it was all about very reasonable prices.
Service, food, parking, cleanliness has always been above average.

Stopped by with my husband to grab a quick meal before returning home from work. The host/​server was extremely nice and on it. If this was based on their service I would have given them 5 stars on that alone however I’m rating this on the food.
We already knew that the food was going to okay, Mexican American usually means sour cream on the side, tostada bowls and wet burritos. I hardly ever come across a Mexican American restaurant that’s extremely good. What surprised me was how greasy the food was and how they were trying to pass shredded beef as carne asada. Any type of Mexican food is only ever good based on their meat alone and theirs wasn’t up to par.

I was searching for lunch options near by and finally decided to give El Gringo a try.
I went for their soup and salad combo with the pollo negro salad and the Xcholti: «Soul-​Chee» soup which they claim is their most popular item. The serving sizes were very generous considering it was a half salad and «cup» of soup. The cup of soup was a huge bowl, a meal on it’s own! I thought the salad was very tasty, their spicy ranch dressing really made the salad. The soup was a little bland, I added a couple spoonfuls of their salsa and that made all the difference. By the way, their salsa is pretty tasty. My husband and I couldn’t stop eating it! Careful not to fill up on chips and salsa before your meal comes!
They also offer a «skinny» menu with Low-​Calorie, Low-​Carb, and Low–
Dairy options.
The service was fast and friendly, and they have a few seats outside too.

After having visited both the El Gringo in Hermosa, and the one on PCH in Manhattan Beach, was stopped in for a quick dinner before a movie…
— Note we were not terrible hungry.
— The staff was very attentive, quick with refills, and chips and salsa.
— I had the Pollo Negro salad, and used the salsa as dressing. I found the chicken this time around was rather bland, but it was a serviceable salad, and was filling. My lady had a taco salad in the tostada bowl and she liked it but it was way overfilled with refried beans top to bottom, she mentioned that it should have been more proteins, less beans.
— The chips were fresh, warm and crispy, and I do like the El Gringo salsa… it is spicy, but not irritating, with a good kick of cilantro and citrus note (always seems very fresh and not too watery).
Being close to this location I think we’ll be doing our Mex take-​out here more than likely, so I guess I will get used to the nuances… no real complaints, just looking forward to a bit more flavor next time!
ENJOY!