El Sol

The food is good here, and the servings are sizeable for the price. We love the thin, crispy chips and the flavorful salsa with lots of cilantro. Only eat here for slow paced meals. The service is rather slow and can be spotty. This is one of our family’s favorite spots, but I would love to see them step up the service.

Absolutely love it! The people are great and food is amazing! My «around the corner snack» place anytime!

Doesn’t look like much from the outside being in a little shopping center, but El Sol will definitely not disappoint the palette. This place get my vote for the best Mexican in Smyrna. The guacamole appetizer is insanely good and the drinks are poured right. The entrees have great flavor and the service is great. Overall a great place for some awesome drinks and real Mexican cuisine. My wife said that her skinny Margarita was one of the best she has ever had. El Sol is definitely our go to Mexican in town.

Enjoy the food and the service is good, Fajitas are tasty and the Margaritas are strong

First off, Elite’s come on…4 stars for this joint? Seriously? I don’t care how «free» something is, this restaurant is sub par on every level!
My Aunt and I decided to bypass Bella’s last night and give this place a whirl… hours later and I am still regretting not going to Bella’s.
We arrived around 7:30 and there was a decent crowd and Mexican music a blaring! We were seated promptly.
Mark was our server, a blonde rather muscly fellow with ZERO personality! He brought chips and salsa, and though it was free, the salsa was lacking in flavor with no heat at all. Chips were fresh.
I ordered 3 enchiladas one with ground beef, and two chicken. Also a side of rice and beans and a Sprite to drink.
The order arrived hot– but truly, little to no flavor. Though the tortilla’s were corn, that is about as authentic as it got. This is a VERY Americanized Mexican restaurant where the food is so far from anything you would find in the country itself… I know because I have traveled extensively in Mexico.
The ground beef enchilada was typical and tasteless, the sauces adorning the plate weren’t much to write home about either. The chicken enchilada’s were ok, but nothing spectacular. The rice was drier than dry and the beans were spread in an almost paper thin layer beside the rice– again not much flavor.
The wonders of real Mexican food are the authentic and robust flavors. I truly believe that restaurants like this should let you know that they have no intention of taking your palate on a culinary adventure… that they are just a run of the mill Mexican joint that uses colorful banners and mariachi music to make you feel as though you are getting a taste of Mexico! Just by dropping the word authentic in their advertising would help!
Didn’t even get a refill in my drink! Lots of servers standing around doing much of nothing.
Not a place that I would return to and certainly not because the chips are free!

Something is new here! Went last night and the food was perfect and the service was excellent. Newly designed menu, delicious fajitas for two and yummy cheese dip with jalapenos. We have been here many times in the past but you can tell there must be a change in management or overseeing as food, service and flow were all much improved! We will be back!

Popped in here during AWA because my friends and I were looking for something close by that served cheese dip. We’re not very hard to please when we’re on a cheese dip kick, and this place had people who specifically said the cheese dip was good. I’d say I’m a fan because the food was decent and well-​seasoned. I also love a place that gives away free chips and salsa; that in and of itself is usually enough for me to tack on one star. Don’t come here expecting anything authentic, though, because you won’t get that, but the Americanized food we got was just fine for what it was.
PROS:
–Very large portions.
–They have a lot of combos to choose from, all under (I think) $ 8.99.
–Free salsa.
–Delicious cheese dip.
–Food was seasoned well.
CONS:
–Very much Americanized Mexican.
–Music was a little loud for my taste.
–Prices were mostly $ 10 – 18 if you didn’t want a combo.
THE VERDICT:
The prices here may seem a little steep, but you get a TON of food. It’s not the worst Mexican I’ve ever had, and for around $ 12 I split a large cheese dip bowl and got a combo plate with a burrito, taco, and rice and beans. The salsa is decent, the cheese dip good, the rice and beans were seasoned well, as was the burrito. The tacos left a little to be desired, but it wasn’t bad. Service was just fine, too, with the waiter being polite and attentive when he came by the table. Salsa was eehh, but free, so I can’t complain that much.

I like this place!!! I think the food is good, the Margs are good and I think the service is great! It’s kind of small but I like that! I always get the dinner combo and change it up every time I enjoyed all that I’ve gotten! Good neighborhood spot!

Disappointing experience this evening at El Sol. This used to be one of our favorites and now we have had two disappointing visits two weeks in a row. The tables around us were left filthy although now one had been seated at them our entire visit. Rather than nice pleasant sounding Mexican music as one would expect in a Mexican restaurant they instead were playing loud glaring rock. Not conducive to a relaxing dinner out on Friday evening to unwind from a long week at work. Also the employees were seating in the booths directly next to us eating and doing work with silverware which was very loud to the point that we had difficulty hearing each other at our table. There really needs to be a heightened sense of awareness at this restaurant as to the importance of appropriate customer service.

Service was very slow. The food was very good and fair priced. I am usually very easy going when it comes to service but here it was just bad. I loved the food and the server was very nice. Just expect to be here a while between being seated and someone asking for your order.

We just found this place and really enjoy it! The El Sol dip is AMAZING! It’s cheese dip with grilled steak, chicken and shrimp in it. We always add jalapeños too. The chips are crunchy and perfectly salted. It is definitely a must-​try when you go!

The customer service here is great. The drinks are ok but I come here for one specific entrée «Chicken Chipotle» add shrimp. So delicious. It consists of chicken, shrimp, Spanish rice, a ranchero sauce, avocado, and plantains!!! They season the chicken well and the shrimp it’s soo good. It’s a lot of food I try to eat it all but I end up taking a to go box.

I ordered their house salad and I got a bed of lettuce. Not any kind of lettuce though. I’m talking about the lettuce that is on tacos. This unimpressive salad can be yours with a pack of dressing for only $ 4.50. For $ 3 more, you can get chicken added. So the plate had more chicken than small taco lettuce, which shouldn’t be a bad thing, except the chicken isn’t that good to start with.
So where are we? We have an $ 8 house salad that’s barely edible.
My team mates on this team lunch didn’t seem to dislike their food as much, so my advice would be to avoid the salad.

Continues to be one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. You must try the Texas margarita.

Terrible. I went without a refill for 15 minutes, the server was unfriendly, and the chips were stale. I tried to order dessert and the server told me the kitchen was closed because the restaurant was already closed. Will NEVER be back.

Good food, service, & margaritas! Very nice, relaxed, chill servers. That’s something I appreciate. Just happened to stop by here while I was quite a ways from my home. I’ll stop back by if I get the chance.

a HIDDEN GEM TUCK ALONG SYMRNA! They also have the AMAZING CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP and good food… the restaurant is not so big but, I paid for the food… I will recommend and keep on coming back!

I felt compelled to write a review after a friend and I went last night based on the recent stellar reviews. Wow, were we disappointed.
The ambiance was typical of Mexican restaurants, with the cute outdoor patio feel with colorful banners. And, the place did seem clean. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives ended last night. The service was incredibly slow, which could have been due to a large birthday party taking place, however, more than once staff member was often seen just standing around.
I always like to stick with a house margarita as a base to judge the beverage menu. I’m not even sure it contained tequila and was basically a couple shots of margarita mix on top of a glass completely filled with ice. Definitely not worth the $ 6 price tag.
The food in general was very bland. Nothing seemed to be salted or had any spice to it. The cheese dip was a very small portion, watery, and tasted like it was out of a can. The chips were nice and crispy, but definitely needed a little salt. The salsa was bland but had nice chunks of tomato in it.
For dinner, I ordered the chilaquiles, which were ok because they were covered in cheese. The Mexican rice tasted like oily white rice — no flavor at all. My friend ordered the shredded beef burrito, and the beef unfortunately was flavorless, greasy, and fatty. Combine that with the $ 3 up-​charge that came with the shredded beef order (after being told it was $ 1.50) and that really capped off the evening.
The value for the food was definitely poor. There are many sub-​par Mexican restaurants you would be better of frequenting with a lower price tag.

My family goes to this Mexican restaurant all the time, so naturally when I’m in town I’m along for the ride. I came here once again tonight (a Friday night) and it was pretty crowded with families and adults alike. My dad and I ended up squeezing in at the bar rather than waiting for a table – he comes here often that the bartender knows how he likes his chicken-bowl-thing-that’s-not-really-on-the-menu.
I got the veggie fajitas per usual. Unlike other most meat fajita dishes, these aren’t served on a sizzling skillet, but just on the plate. Portions are good, like any Mexican restaurant, especially considering the price.
We also got the guacamole, which I’d say is high side of average for the south (I categorically don’t trust Mexican north of New York City). Salsa has a good flavor, but isn’t really spicy.
I haven’t gotten their drinks but I’ve seen some novel (and large!!) things passing by, if that’s what you’re into.
Overall, a good neighborhood Mexican place… service is always good, store itself is a little on the small side, so weekends can easily induce a wait.

Friendly service (our waiter reminded me of Keanu Reeves). All of the food was well presented, but bland, including the salsa, which was not spicy. We went on a Sat. evening and my friend had the steak quesadilla and I had the chicken derretido. Fresh food, but no flavor. On the plus side, the cheese dip was a very generous portion, also not spicy despite the jalapenos. The house margarita was sweet and weak, but the skinny margarita was good.