El Carambas

Had the burrito and enchiladas. The burrito was honestly very wholesome and tasty, good flavors that did not overwhelm or contradict. The enchiladas however was all over the place, so many cheeses, and spices. It did not have one distinct identity. I will say that if you are getting enchiladas, just order the beef one (the variety has too much going on). Chips and salsa for the table. Felt like a regular ol mexican restaurant, hard plastic plates and all.

I had high hopes, it looks authentic inside. However, the food is very bland. I think they forgot to use salt. The salsa doesn’t taste like they add vinegar or salt so it has almost no flavor. The enchilada sauce tastes like TV dinner sauce… Very disappointing for $ 10 a plate. The habanero sauce was mild at best but was watery and had almost no flavor. I was expecting at least spicy puréed habanero but I know from experience that would have been much hotter.

El Carambas is a little Mexican cantina out of the way and off the main drag of Rochester.
The pros: This is one of the more authentic Mexican restaurants you can eat at in Rochester. The cooks and cashiers are family members who own the place and will yell back and forth in Spanish to one another. Everyone who works at EC are very polite and helpful to explain anything on the menu. The food comes out quickly and steaming hot.
It is obvious that half the menu is for the generic «tex-​mex» crowd, with nachos and fajita burritos, but the other half is traditional with tripe and tortas. The restaurant offers a large salsa bar with about a dozen varieties. The seating is casual and simple, although bright and welcoming.
The cons: The prices are quite high for Mexican food, especially in an establishment that you are not waited on, but rather order and pay at the cash register. A dinner plate of a chimichanga or two enchiladas will cost you nearly $ 14.00 a piece. The dishes of chips are also quite small and you have to go up to the front to ask for more. The seating and furniture is on the older size and so while charming in its age, definitely show wear.
Based on the food and service, I do recommend EC as a primary choice for Mexican in Rochester. But, know that you are going to pay a little more than you should.

Was a regular here in the past but have only been to El Carambas once or twice this year. The food quality has gone down (somewhat) and prices have gone up (quite a bit). Minimum wage went up a lot in Minnesota last year so I suppose none of this should be surprising. El Carambas is still one of two Mexican places I would go in Rochester.

I was unimpressed with the restaurant. The manager was very pleasant and up beat but I never got to see the server only for my food. The food lacked flavor and spices that you can usually smell when you walk into an authentic mexican restaurant. I stopped by a Mexican store to pick up some cheese and sauces to add flavor to our meals. I was dissappointed.

Spectacular! A hidden gem! Mexican food (from Chiwaua) at his best! the staff is amazing. Eddy and Luis are welcoming and friendly. It looks like you are home. Food is simple, tasty, well prepared. I love the burritos, the soups, the tacos.
A must go in town! One of the best choices of Rochester!

My wife and I stopped here for Lunch today (11/​07/​2015). I had been going here since it first opened 10+ years ago when I was a nursing student at RCTC. This place was a great place to meet between classes for a couple of tacos that was reasonable for a student budget. Over those years their prices have gone up quite a lot (almost double for some items) with little, or no change in the food quality or quantity. Also, the once famous salsa bar that used to be free with your meal now has a limit of two samples of sauces, after that you pay extra. Another thing that bothered me was the prices they charge you for on the register and what’s posted on their menu are not the same. They are slightly higher, after I received my receipt I did the math and the bill was $ 1 more than what it should’ve been. I pointed it out to the manager and he apologized stating the menu was wrong and he would fix it. He didn’t. Bottom line, if you go here pay close attention to what they charge you and don’t expect the great variety of salsas without paying extra. There are other Mexican restaurants in Rochester with better food and prices. Very sad to see this happen to a place that I used to love and frequent often. Probably won’t be back…

I can’t believe people think this place is so good. You guys have obviously never had REAL AUTHENTIC mexican food. The salsa was bland. The use ground beef really? Real Mexican restaurants use steak or at least all the ones I ever went to. I guess I’ll just have to wait till I go back to sw kansas to get the real deal!

It’s easy to tell when a Mexican/​Southwest joint is authentic. This place, serving «the delicius bits of the animals» like one other reviewer put it, is the real deal.
We walked in, greeted with a smile by a charismatic cashier/​waiter who seemed to run most of the front of house ops. He was happy to make a recommendation for Chile Verde when I was between that and my usual go-​to, Chile Rellenos.
And so we waited — not long, of course, only enough to get through one of our two small chip containers and maybe ½ through our salsas (which are unlimited and availability in 10+ varieties at the salsa bar up front). My piping hot chile verde was one of the few dishes to make me sweat in a Minnesota restaurant and one of the best Mexican dishes I’ve had north of the Ohio river. Well spiced, smokey, and flavorful, it was chock full of tender pork loin.
My girlfriend got the burrito, which was admittedly bland as it had rice and beans inside (which seems to be a MN thing?), but when topped with salsa (the adobo-​style one) really came alive.
The whole meal was less than $ 25 after tip and, if we lived in Rochester, I’d definitely be back!

Like some of the other posts, we were also surprised to go back after not being there for a while to see the prices increased drastically. It seemed like about a 50% increase in general.
Food is still really good, but nobody wants to put up a $ 25−30+ bill for lunch for 2.
My wife even stopped in just for a drink and chips/​salsa and it was (I think) something like $ 16.
With cheaper taco trucks popping up in town with some really good tacos, its hard to justify coming back here too often or at all.

Overpriced for what you get. Unilocal listed this is a $ restaurant, however it is easily $$. The food was good but portions were small in comparison to the price. Food was served on disposable plates with plastic silverware. Service was excellent. I would not go back. For $$ I expect real plates, cups and silverware, more food and a better ambiance.

I love proper tacos. Lengua, chicharones, chorizo…
This is the only restaurant I’ve found in Rochester that serves the delicious bits of the animals, and that deserves 5 stars on its own.
Ordered; episole, civiche, lengua taco, chicharones taco, chorizo taco, cactus taco, tripa taco and buche taco. Everything was spot on! Served with lime, no nasty yellow cheese, just as it should be.

Great place to eat good Mexican! Chips and salsa are awesome… Very warm and friendly environment!

Best Mexican food I’ve had it n a long time! Got the recommendation to eat here from a friend, and I will definitely be back again soon!
Menu had lots of options, there was a great salsa bar, and the service was superb!
Menu– so many authentic dishes, it was so hard to choose! I had the Mexican tacos, one was Al Pastor (Mexican BBQ pork– my new favorite!!), one was Carnitas (chopped pork– also amazing!), and one was pork rind in green chili sauce, can’t remember the exact name, (this option was also good, not my favorite of the three, but flavor was great and would still order it again!)
Salsa Bar– the salsa bar had so many options, I tried a few, but my favorites were the Burn Salsa (spicy and super delicious) and the Salsa Verde (green salsa, pretty mild with fresh flavor)!
Service– the service here was just as great as the food! We were greeted warmly upon entering the establishment, staff was happy to have us there, food got to our table quickly, and after we had finished our meal, our group was just hanging out, talking, and the manager (I’m assuming manager, but am sad I didn’t catch his name) brought us the most delicious dessert I’ve ever had, it was dessert nachos pretty much, crispy sweet triangles with rosettes of ice cream and whip cream, and a drizzle of chocolate and caramel syrup– superb!
Absolutely everything about this place was wonderful, I can’t say enough good things and will be back as soon as possible!

OK… Update time. Sorry, but there’s been some changes at El Carambas that, I feel, are not for the better. First, the prices went up. I always thought things were a little pricey but I was OK with it because I figured the cost went toward the salsa bar that was basically free. But now plate prices went up AND you are only allowed TWO cups for your choice of salsa and have to pay 65 cents each additional cup. Rip-​off! My plate was just under ten bucks for rice & beans (dirt cheap), an enchilada about the size of a Twinkie and a half filled hard shell taco. Not happy. Second, hey changed their chips. They now taste like they came out of a bag and they didn’t pick a very good brand. They seem to taste like a healthier version that are, I don’t know, gluten free or low fat or something that i don’t find particularly enjoyable. Sorry El Carambas, you had your reign at the top but now you may only see me once or twice a year to see if things have improved.

Great Tacos. The chips and salsa are their selling points. Hot, fresh, and fried up at the store.
Lower rating because unlike most reviews, we did not think the prices were cheep. For a place that only had 1 – 2 waitresses and serves everything on paper plates with really cheap cutlery (two of my forks broke), we felt that El Carambas was overpriced. Our meal was $ 45 with tip and we normally pay about half that for similar meals at many Tex-​Mex restaurants across the states (in MX the same meal would have probably been $ 10).
The service was hectic. One of the waitresses was attentive and professional. We felt that the other waitress didn’t want to be there. The second waitress didn’t take drink orders, forgot to bring chips that we asked for twice, and basically threw our orders at us and ran away.
We’ll probably go back if we crave Mexican food, but we’ll keep looking for another establishment in Rochester to fill that niche too.

Been coming here for years and have always enjoyed myself. Eddie — the owner — knows us, and so does Luis, the manager. We have always been happy with the service, the casual atmosphere, and the food. However, the last time we went we discovered the HUGE increase in prices. My regular order which was $ 7.99 is now $ 11.99. Our lunch bill came to over $ 30 for two people. They’re simply charging too much money for counter service and food served on styrofoam plates with plastic utensils. What used to be our favorite once-​a-​week Mexican place will no longer be for us.

They have really excellent service, the guacamole is amazing, tastes fresh. They use pap2 plates however and some of the food burnt into it. Otherwise the taquitos were yummy and the horchata was great as well.

El Carambas was surprisingly good! Of course it is not the same kind of Mexican food that you get in the Southwestern states but the food was fresh, unique and tasty!
I got a nice, big burrito stuffed full of asada, beans and rice. El Carambas also has a nice salsa bar with a wide and varied selection.
The service is friendly and eager to please. The atmosphere is fun, especially with the Mexican wrestling masks and boots that are on display when you come through the front door. Nice place!

Best Mexican in Rochester… period. I would highly consider writing a request that it be featured on Diners, Drive-​ins and Dives.
I am not sure why the favorite in this town is Fiesta or why people are still going to Carlos O’Kelly’s (GROSS!). I would assume the appeal of these places is the quantity over quality effect that attract many Rochesterites.
First off, the complementary chips they give you here taste exactly like the ones found in Mexico! They’re thick cut and are clearly deep fried corn tortillas which they should be, none of this thin over salted crap the other restaurants give you. These go very well with the wonderful salsa bar. My favorite being the «burnt» salsa. It’s great getting to try different all the various types.
There were many menu items to choose from, half the menu was in Spanish and didn’t offer an English translation, but I love it when restaurants do this because it shows the authenticity. I played it safe and ordered the fish tacos. It came three tacos with a side of rice and beans. Our entire table agreed that you could tell the beans were made in house and not dumped out of a can. They were not overly salted and had a fresher taste. The fish tacos were also delicious, well seasoned and not over cooked.
The staff were more than friendly and made sure that we were happy with our food.
There were a few quirks to this place like the food being served on Styrofoam and having plastic utensils, but then again, who cares, as long as the food is good I’ll keep coming back.
All in all, this is now my go to Mexican place in Rochester.