El Maguey Mexican Restaurant

The food here is regularly pretty good. We really enjoy the cheese dip. Margaritas aren’t great, but you get what you pay for. Service can be hit or miss, but it’s your run of the mill Mexican place. Salsa is good too.

Yesterday I sat at the bar with my significant other and had our meals. We had been there many times before and SAT in our regular spot. While I was waiting to pay the bill I looked over at the plate that I just finished eating off of and so little antenna moving around from the inside of the piece of food I had just got done eating off of after moving the food I found a cockroach. I went to the hostess and requested to speak to the manager and showed the manager the cockroach that I had captured in a napkin I did not pay for my meal. And I will not ever eat there again this is very disappointing for I had been a regular customer for many years never been have i been so disgusted in my life!!!

Just not good. My taco salad had less lettuce than my husband’s burrito which was hamburger meat in a flour tortilla rolled more like an enchilada and canned red sauce on it. The chips and cheese dip weren’t even good. Chimichangas on South Grand is soooooo much better! Taco Bell has better flavor.

Great staff, great food, great management and amazing drinks! Coronarita is where it’s at!

Bad food. Terrible service. Bad margaritas, even.
If you see me walking into this restaurant, please tackle me.

This is my go-​to Mexican restaurant so I felt compelled to write a review. As past reviewers have said, it is your typical casual Mexican dining establishment. If you want something special, go elsewhere. But if you’re like me — live in SoCo and want to get your marg and chips & salsa fix, this place is for you! Their lunch specials and happy hour deals are awesome. I can get a tasty meal (chimichangas…mmm) and a generous marg for under $ 20 easily. I can’t speak for anyone else’s experience, but the servers are always great to me. The food always comes fast and hot. Someone is always refilling the salsa, so I can’t complain!

Love the atmosphere. Love the prices and the Cadillac Margarita is tops. Have done girls Happy Hours there. Have taken my 2 year old as well who loves the chips & salsa. Keeps him busy while waiting for the food. Great fajitas; great queso dip. Huge portions. Expect to take home leftovers.

I love this place. The food is good, they’re always friendly and nice to my kids, which isn’t always easy! Husband likes the poblanos. Kids like beans and rice.

Not a stellar night; beginning with a rude hostess, then we were seated in a corner and they either forgot we were there or they were seriously short on wait staff. They forgot part of one of our dinners, then said they removed it from the bill. It was not removed from the bill. Seriously disappointing. We won’t be back!

It’s been a while since we’ve been here, so this is my impression.
1 Star for service — we had drinks, chips and salsa very quickly. Our food was also served very quickly.
1 Star for prices — even with drinks, we averaged about $ 15 per person — very reasonable.
1 Star for food quantity — you certainly get a lot BUT — The food itself could be better — especially the fajitas. Many of us had steak fajitas and while the meat was flavorful, it was also a bit tough and cooked into a bit of a mush with some vegetables — not very appetizing and certainly one of the worst I have ever had. Not inedible, but needs some work.

Stopped in on a Saturday afternoon while in the area and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. To say the service was lacking would have been an understatement, we were seated by the back and had a clear view of the kitchen so we watched as the wait staff and cooks stood around and played on their phones in plain sight. The place was nearly empty, perhaps 2 – 3 other tables, and we had to wait forever to even have our water return to take or order, the same problem when we were ready to leave, our waiter was nowhere to be found.
The food was average, nothing you would write home or brag about. I personally left feeling a bit disappointed with my lunch selection.

This is the worst «Mexican» food I’ve ever had. No flavor, unappealing plate display, and disappointing. Based on other reviews, I was super excited to try it. I sent my fish tacos back. Over cooked nuggets of tilapia topped with a cold shredded cheese and wrapped in foil. Really? Never again.

I like this place, I know it’s a small chain (does anyone know how many there are?) but the SoCo location hits the spot. Good beer specials every now and again and like every good Mexican joint, they hand you a decent plate of food. So I’ll be back and treat this as my neighborhood go-​to.

I’ve been coming here for years and I loved this place. Note past tense there.
I went recently and I was seriously disappointed. The restaurant had changed from pay at a register to pay at the table which is definitely nice. The food, however, had changed as well and was not good. I always order the same few menu items, my favorite being the chicken nachos. My sister loves the nachos supreme and ordered that. As for my nachos, there was hardly any cheese on it, the chicken was dry, and they had added diced peppers to the dish which I did not know since it was not on the menu. Even some of the chips were burnt. As for my sister’s nachos, her nachos supreme didn’t even look like nachos when they were brought out. There was a lot of lettuce and a sliced tomato on top. That dish never used to be topped like that and she put it all to the side. Her nachos had a lot less cheese as well and the beef was dry. She couldn’t finish her half order because it didn’t sit well on her stomach. The waiter was also not the best, I’m not sure if they were under staffed (the place wasn’t busy) or if he wasn’t a good waiter, but it was frustrating. He would come to our table to serve the drinks and food and would leave right after, not even asking if we needed anything else. He came to the table twice and didn’t ask if we were ready to order and he would walk away before we could say we would like to order. When we went to pay, we went up front like we did before, but realized there was no one there and asked a busser by our table. The busser said we could sit down and asked us «is your waiter that guy with the scruff?» and when we responded yes, she rolled her eyes and said she’d go get him. That didn’t inspire much confidence in me.
To be honest, I won’t come back for quite some time.

This El Maguey was very disappointing last time I went. Chips were greasy, food was sub par. very disappointed since Mexican food is my favorite and I’m usually not picky. Server was very friendly but that will only go so far if the food is awful. Will not be back.

Had lunch there today. We had quick service and the food is always good. The frozen piña colada, awesome! Prices are good also. Good place to eat when you need quick, delicious food.

El Maguey is my go-​to place for Mexican! I almost exclusively get the fajita quesadilla with steak. It is drool worthy. I have tried many other items on the menu and would also recommend the mushroom quesadilla and fajita nachos. I’ll usually add a top shelf margarita and I’m a happy camper.
The servers are generally friendly and the food delivery is always fast.

Best Maguey hands down! Service is excellent every time!
Food is consistent and fresh every time.
Salsa Verde is an addiction.
Love the people and atmosphere.

El Maguey is awesome! They have different drink specials every night, quick service, and good atmosphere. Definitely worth checking out!
Also free cell coupon:

I came here on a recommendation with a friend whom had eaten here before and told me that they had liked the place. So, being me and loving to try some place that I have never eaten before I said yes. I was not disappointed in the least. We came in on a Friday and it was busy but we were seated quickly and the waitress let us know the specials. My friend ended up with a LARGE margarita (he said it was strong!). The service was great for such a busy night, and I appreciated her telling us what was on the menu and what came with it. I ended up with the Pollo a la parrilla, which was huge and hearty with just the right spice and kick that i do like along with some of the rice (it didn’t come with the entrée) which was good as well!
The price and the ambivalence were great, I’ll come back when I need a little fix of Mexican food!