El Toro Bravo

I love Toro Bravo. I’d say Martins, La Escondida, and Los Novillos are the only New Mexican food places I’d say outpace this place. Great food and service.

The food was delicious! The waitstaff, prompt, accommodating, wonderful. The building itself felt like it might collapse on us, though. That was really the only bad thing, the building is apparently old enough to be exempt from any possible building or fire code in New Mexico. If it is still standing and I’m ever in Roswell again, I would go back for sure.

Avoid at all costs. If you are a tourist, turn around and walk north on Main Street to better options: Martin’s Capitol Café is a nice walk. Further north are Peppers and Big D’s. You can do better.

Nothing authentic about this. Seriously one of the worst meals I have ever eaten, ever. I only ate ½ and left, felt sick for most of the day.
The green cheese enchiladas rancheras, the sauce was missing and only two specs of green chile were found. The beans were burnt, the rice was overcooked and everything felt greasy/​heavy.

Everything is edible but reminds me of high school cafeteria food. Definitely not recommended. Definitely not authentic.

Authentic Mexican food in New Mexico. The Alien novelty shop suggested and it really hit the spot. And it is true, everyone in Roswell looks like an Alien. Just jokes, but if you are in town and want Mex food stop here.

We came here for an early lunch after the alien museum. My hubby, two kids 8 & 6 and myself. We were looking over the menu. Not sure what to get. Combos were about $ 7-​$ 9 each. The waitress recommended the buffet. $ 6.99/adult and $ 4.99/kid. Cheaper than menu. So we did buffet. It was yummy. The sopaipillas were fresh and made here. The meat dishes were very well seasoned. Very impressed, and even our picky girls loved it!

I wandered into this place and was in the mood for some soup. I asked the waitress what was good as far as soup and she recommended the Green Chile Stew; it was FANTASTIC!
Big chucks of tender pork with lots of fresh green chili’s along with what tasted like homemade tortillas that were super fresh. The service was very nice and the ambiance was old school which I really like. I will be back for the Green Chili Stew for sure. I give this place a BIG THUMBS UP. My entire bill with a fresh Iced Tea was under 10 bucks, wow.

If this is authentic Mexican food, then they need to go back to Mexico and learn how to cook again.
I stopped here after visiting the UFO museum, on the advice of the person in working the gift shop. I ordered off the menu, getting the two enchilada meal with the red sauce. In the meantime, I tried the «salsa» which looked more like a thick tomato paste and literally clung to the chips. Not a good flavor, just spicy. When my enchiladas came out, (I ordered the chicken), the plate was extremely hot to the touch, as if it had just come out of the microwave. The dish also included a small beef taco, which seemed out of place being so small. I decided to try the taco first and got a mouth full of grease. The enchiladas looked good, so I cut into one and took a bite. The chicken tasted a little off, the consistency and the flavor. So I cut off another piece and took a look at the «insides». The chicken looked like it had either come from a can, or at the very least, was a composite of several parts of the chicken. I decided not to take another bite for fear of getting sick. All in all, my advice would be to avoid this place if you happen to find yourself in Roswell and visiting the UFO museum.
Note: There is a Subway up the street in the opposite direction!

Nothing bad to say about the place. The food was good and came within 15 minutes of ordering. It is much better than the Mexican food back at home but it wasn’t the best I have ever had either. The wait staff was nice and attentive.

Tried this place on a whim. Strolling through downtown, Alien Zone, UFO museum, etc. having a great day with family.
We thoroughly enjoyed the food and atmosphere. Buffet was not available, since it’s Saturday so all ordered off the menu. Everyone tried something different: shrimp soup, stuffed quesadilla, chile rellenos, tacos, quesadilla, kids chicken strips, and taco salad.
All food came as ordered with the exception of the quesadillas which were supposed to have meat and didn’t. The chips and salsa were great. All food on the spicy side, which we all enjoy.
This restaurant is not very Paleo friendly, everything comes with rice or is served on tortillas. Hubby had the chile rellenos and I has the shrimp soup-​both delightfully Paleo dishes, so it worked out!

When I ordered it took only a few minutes to get back it was good and reasonable priced. There also was only a few people eating. Had a combination plate and it was good. The buffet was done when I came so I ordered off the menu.

We were hesitant to try he place after reading the other reviews. Most of the complaints were about the buffet and it’s true: it looks pretty bad. However we ordered tacos de barbacoa and carne asada and they were better than expected. I would give it a solid 3 stars.

My Trip to El Toro Bravo or How I Learned I Was a Food Snob Part 2
After an exciting trip to the International UFO Museum, my family had worked up quite the appetitie and we decided to try this place because it was located just next door. We were being adventurous and, from the outside, this place looked legit.
Apparently there is a buffet option here, but we opted out of that and instead ordered from the menu. We all got different enchilada dishes and that is where things get interesting. My Dad ordered enchiladas rancheras, a dish that is specifically labeled with «no substitutions.» Fair enough — I believe it’s cheese enchiladas with green chile sauce and served with sour cream and guacamole. My little sister orders a different enchilada platter. As we’re waiting for our food, the waitress comes out and asks my Dad what kind of enchiladas he wants — meat or cheese. «I think it’s supposed to be cheese.» «What kind of sauce do you want?» «I think it comes with green chile sauce.» The waitress explains that she’s new, so we think nothing of it.
When the food comes out, though, the guacamole and sour cream is on my little sister’s plate, not my Dad’s. I understand the waitress being confused, but the cook also doesn’t know the dish? They gave my little sister my Dad’s order, except with red chile sauce, and they gave my Dad just regular cheese enchiladas with green chile sauce. Effectively, they just mixed things up, which didn’t bother my parents or my little sister, but I wasn’t so impressed.
The food itself was just okay. The salsa wasn’t very good and I passed on it, which is weird because if you know me, you know I love chips and salsa. I’ll eat it even if the salsa isn’t very good because that’s how much I love chips and salsa, but their salsa was bland and wasn’t worth the calories. My enchiladas were pretty unremarkable, meaning that I barely remember anything about them. The only thing I really enjoyed was the red chile sauce — it was spicy and so, so good. I would have taken some home if I had a way to keep it refrigerated for the long drive back to Austin.
Service was fine and the meal hit the spot, it just wasn’t anything to write home about. How I learned I was a food snob, though, is when my parents started talking about how many stars they would rate the place. «I would give it four stars. It was pretty good!» My first thought was, «Man, now I feel like a critical asshole because the whole time we’ve been here, I’ve thought this place was a solid two stars.»
Oh, well. Maybe I’ll encourage my parents to get on Unilocal so they can give this place the stars they think it deserves. If nothing else, this was a good lesson in how everyone experiences the same event differently.

PROS
1. Friendly and attentive service
2. Conveniently located within a few hundred feet of the UFO Museum
3. The chips and salsa were quite tasty.
CONS
1. They were out of ingredients to make a margarita. They were out of regular-​sized bottles of Corona; in their defense, they gave us two Coronitas for the price of a regular Corona.
2. There is almost nothing vegetarian on the menu. If you’re vegan, just forget it. We scraped by with the cheese enchiladas, which were edible but not great. I didn’t ask, but I’m almost positive that the beans and rice are cooked with animal fat (AKA LARD). I took one small bite of the rice and it was very rich and oily.

Do not eat here. Lauren P’s review was exactly right about the queso. It HAS TO BE canned. When we ordered the queso it came out room temp. I know people want to head over here after hitting the UFO museum but don’t. Get in your car and drive half a mile in any direction of one of Roswell’s other places to eat.
OR, BETTER YET, walk a block west to Big D’s Downtown Dive.

Poor service. Flavorless food.
Was here on Sunday January 15^th 2012(MLK weekend)
Was passing through to see the Alien & UFO stuff in Roswell.
We were going to go to Big D’s Downtown Dive to eat ( Unilocal gives it good reviews), but we were there on a Sunday afternoon and we found it was closed, so we wound up here because it was only a block away.
This place looks like a bar with drink specials from the outside, but inside it’s just a big dingy open restaurant with tables in the middle and booths along the wall.
Sign says Authentic Mexican food and they have 20 bottled beers lined up over the cooking area, but they only have 6 of them in stock, and those aren’t very cold.
I’m from California and am used to good Mexican food. Thought I’d find great Mexican food in New Mexico, but I didn’t find any here!
Looked at the buffet, and what was there looked old and all dried out, so I didn’t risk it.(I was here after 1pm)
Being in New Mexico I thought the salsa they brought to the table would be hot or at least spicy, but it was more like ketchup.
I’m not into real hot stuff, but some flavor is expected.
I should’ve taken the hint and left then.
Ordered the Chili Verde burrito and asked to have green sauce poured on top of it. When I got it, I found no green chili flavor in the burrito, and nothing that looked like green sauce poured on top of it.
The sauce was more like this milky looking white stuff with no flavor to it.
There were only 4 tables with people at them when I was here and we got slow service by 3 different women who looked like they were afraid to look at the table much less ask how things were, or if you wanted another beer or needed a napkin or something.
Each piece of silverware came wrapped in it’s own piece of paper towel. Strange.
Was glad to get out of here.
It’s the closest restaurant to the UFO gift shops, but honestly, do yourself a favor and find yourself another place to eat.
I wouldn’t eat here again on a bet.

If I could give this place zero stars, I would. My mom and I ate here after visiting the UFO museum and was told this was the best place for Mexican food. The sign says it’s authentic so we thought we’d try it out. First we started with chips and queso. DISGUSTING. This was not queso! It was the nacho cheese sauce you get at a ball park or movie theatre that comes out of a can. I had a burrito and my mom had the stuffed sopaipilla. Mine was ok but the stuffed sopaipilla made me want to barf right there when I tasted it. The manager came over to ask how everything was and when we told her it wasn’t great or authentic she simply walked away. Would not recommend this place to anyone, especially my fellow Texans who know what real mexican food should taste like.

Ew. In a town with about a gajillion mexican joints, this could be one of the worst. You know when you go get cheap Mexi food and the pictures up on the menu look all wrong? Like the color is somehow… Off? Well, this is what the actual FOOD looked like. The beans were grey. The rice was light like dirty dishwater. It was edible, but not good and SUPER unappealing. Will not go back. Try Martin’s Capitol café right around the corner.

Best lunch buffet in town.
The décor is lacking, though.
But the service is pretty good.