El Toro Bravo

As I entered the unassuming and modest foyer, I wondered if I had walked into the wrong place. I turned the corner and was greeted by a bar full of ruffians and regulars. A surprisingly full bar for a weekday lunch. I took a seat and ordered a carne asada burrito to go, and enjoyed the colorful banter flowing from the immediate vicinity over a Modelo. Alas, my burrito arrived. I was offered a fork. Confused as to why I would need a fork to eat a burrito, I declined. Upon arriving to my destination, I was delighted to see a fat fucking burrito waiting to be devoured. I picked it up, and the burrito all but disintegrated. It was an unmanageable mess, and understood why I was offered a fork. I have never eaten a burrito with such annoyance or difficulty. This gets ²⁄₅ for their delicious, very poorly constructed burrito.

Margaritas and carnitas are spectacular! Only Mexican restaurant worth visiting in Truckee… And we have tried them all.

One of my favorite places in town! Owners are the bar tenders. Good food, reasonable prices and best locals bar.

Our family ate at TB Wed, 1÷27÷16. I am 4 months pregnant, with a 16 month old and my husband and we ordered our all time favorite, the carnitas plate and the green enchiladas. every time we come to truckee, we loved to eat here and after a long day skiing we were hungry and ready to eat. We got our plate and it smelled funny. I first thought it was the beans and i couldn’t tell. i usually feed my 16 month old first so i was feeding her, (she LOVES mexican, we are foodies and search our delicious mexican food. we order carnitas a lot) and she was spitting out the food which was unusual, she loves food and she was hungry. I then kept trying to figure out what smelled funny, and i put a piece of carnitas close to my nose and it smelled awful, beyond borderline ok. it was really slimy too. i politely told the waitress and she was unacceptably rude, she said the owner said it «was impossible». i asked her if he had tried it and she said «he didn’t have the time.»
my husband ate 2 carnitas tacos, woke up in the middle of the night to go to BR. thank god i went w my gut feeling and didn’t eat it!
getting food poisoning while pregnant can cause serious complications and so can on a 16 month baby and should be taken seriously! the waitress should have taken what i said a little more seriously but she was arrogant and acted selfishly.
there are other Unilocal about people getting food poisoning. they need to be better about food temperature storage, labeling dates, cleanliness, etc.

The food is mediocre and the service was slow. The waiter was apologetic and took the kids dish off the bill. I would get a beer and watch a game for sure but pass on the food.

Authentic Mexican food. Excellent staff and veryvattentive. Got water chips and salsa soon as we sat down. The waiter made sure our salsa stayed full. El Toro Bravo is located in his trix downtown in a very old converted two story home. Very traditional décor. They have a full bar and a covered outdoor patio in the summer. Some if tge best and stiffest margaritas in town. I have lived here for over 20 years and thus is a local favorite. Enjoy!

Discovered this spot after moving to Truckee a little while ago. I have been back several times for lunch and dinner, and take friends and family when visiting. It is a warm, friendly place with great mexican food and great drinks! Even better after a day of skiing! I especially like the outdoor dining area in the warmer months.
Love the salsa and chips! Salsa is spicy but with great flavor — doesn’t just burn your taste buds off. I was there last night and had my leftovers for lunch today — so good!

We waited over an hour for food. The waitress was very rude and the bartender (manager) was also not apologetic about the wait and the bad service. Not worth eating here in my opinion.

UGGGHHH… the food here lacks flavor. I order a tamale/​chile relleno combo plate and the food was so bland. To top it off, the margarita tasted like I was drinking sweet and sour mix: P Needless to say, I will not be back. The only thing that tasted good was the salsa that comes with the chips.

We went by to get food to go and got home to find the taco salad did not include any salad. Other food was ok but not great.

Great authentic Mexican food and they serve Menudo seven days a week!
Try dining on their outside patio.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME… there is a reason the other Mexican places in town were more crowded, but have been meaning to give this place a shot for years.
First indication we should have canceled our order and ran for the hills: The Arnold Palmer… tasted like it was made with watered down powdered ice tea and powdered lemonade… simply awful.
Our orders were huevos rancheros and two tacos, chicken and beef. Chicken taco had lots of chicken, was pretty good, the meat not very good at all. Asked for over medium eggs… came over easy on a greasy tortilla. I almost hate to give this visual, but the beans looked like dried up vomit… coincidentally neither of us felt particularly well after our meal.
On our way home, I actually did get sick. My husband has a stronger stomach, though he complained, too. Let me clear up our earlier meal of the day — I had oatmeal and a small bowl of fruit, my husband had scrambled eggs and a bagel, so can’t really blame it on our breakfast 6 hours previous to tis meal.
The only positive note: the waiter was friendly, the water refilled promptly.

What has happened to this place!!! It used to be my favorite Mexican restaurant in town, but this last visit was the last time I will go there. TERRIBLE SERVICE and very mediocre food have led me to this decision. Chile Relleno was mostly egg and they used a canned chile, asked for all beans/​no rice and the waitress brought rice and beans, tamale was dry dry dry, etc. It took FOREVER to get our food and the patio was not that busy. When it came time to pay, I had to hunt for our waitress. I found her in the kitchen talking to another waiter and the chef.

My friend and I ate here Friday ⁸⁄₁₄. We had the civeche that had an obvious fishy taste to it, so we stopped eating it. No big deal. Fast forward to four in the morning I awoke to my friend rolling around with the worst cramps and projectile vomiting. Fast forward again to eight in the morning and now we’re both fighting over the almighty toilet.
Long story short, she ended up in the hospital to receive an IV of fluids while I had a barf bucket by the bed. It was the most expensive meal I’ve ever had after missing a day of work and a hospital visit.
We called the restaurant to let them know of our experience for good measure of other patrons who might indulge. He was incredibly baffled as to how we could have possibly fallen sick from their food, I guess he hasn’t read their past reviews.

El Toro Bravo is a nice mexican restaurant in the heart of Truckee. The portions are very large and the food is pretty good. I ordered a Chicken Super Burrito. It jam packed with meat, rice, beans and other fun goodies. The Tortilla chips come standard the spicy salsa is SPICY.
The quesadillas are also huge. We could not finish them between the two of us. It seems like the day we were here there was only one waitress working hard. Service was a bit slower than expected, but it seems like she needed more help at her side that day. The bar is a nice touch to the restaurant, and the piña colada I ordered was equally delicious.
Also, I noticed that the restaurant did not have a website or menu posted on the website so check out the pictures of the menu if you want to know what they offer.

This place was killer! Everything I ate was so delicious, from the house salsa, to the guac, to the crab & tomato quesadilla that I ordered — I thought it would just be some canned crab (which I was still hungry for), but there were chunks of crab leg in my quesadilla! And the tortilla was crisp, not soggy and not fried or burnt — perfectly executed!
The chile verde super burrito was divine: very generous with the sour cream and guac, and the large tender chunks of pork were so juicy and flavorful — couldn’t have been better!
The staff seemed like genuinely nice people and we really enjoyed their service. I will absolutely be coming back here next time I’m in town! Keep up the good work guys :]

I like to order pizza from this place in Virginia Beach called Chicho’s. they always ask if you want regular or spicy pizza sauce. The spicy sauce pizza is soooo good, but that is an appropriate context for spicy pizza sauce.
Anyway, the salsa here tastes exactly like the spicy pizza sauce from Chicho’s.
This is definitely the worst Mexican food I have ever had.
My super burrito came in a pool of liquid, mind you I did not order a wet burrito.
So I continue eating with a knife and fork…
It tasted like your Aunt Marge from Minnesota had made a burrito casserole with a recipe she found online. Edible, but seriously???
My girlfriend got a chicken chimichanga which would have more appropriately been called a bean enchilada with chicken. It was indiscernably fried, we hope, but my larger point is that she ordered chicken chimichangas and the filling was ²⁄₃ beans, who puts beans in chimichangas?
I also am thru-​hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and had just come in from a 60 mile stretch and was VERY hungry, it should’ve been extremely easy to make me happy.
I think you get the point.
Synopsis:
Please close this place immediately.

Just left — Beer was served warm and had an «off» flavor. Silverware cut my wife’s mouth. Looked around at all the other silverware and they were in worse shape. Chicken taco was served so hot that when I took a bite, some juice came out the side and burned my cheek. Took 20 minutes for the two tacos to cool down before I could eat it. Well… I regret eating them. Bad stomach cramping for me and my wife after dinner.
Follow up: spent the next 24 hours after visiting this place with stomach problems. Also, be advised that any negative review about this place on Unilocal will get you a sarcastic unprofessional reply from someone who works there about how ungrateful you must be.

Hey! This place has great service, laid back atmosphere, tasty food, and good prices.
The tacos are pretty good– carne asada was the best. Chicken taco, I could have done without. The carnitas taco was also good.
Super burritos with beef and chicken are certainly super sized, and also super tasty.
The free chips with spicy red sauce are addicting and the restaurant is very generous with them. Very friendly and efficient service. The outside patio is clean, cool, and pleasant even in the midday sun.
Just had a bad experience with the beef tamales– mine was kind of starchy and had a less than great flavor and texture.
Great spot for a laid back lunch.

I was moved to write my first Unilocal review ever because of the amazing experience I had here today. Super friendly staff, huge portions of food, and a great environment.
I noticed all the negative reviews on here were based on the amount of time it took for their food to arrive. Little mom and pop restaurants get busy, dicks. They have a full bar here. Chill out.
Definitely bringing my wife here to spend an evening of good food and to hang with the salty dogs at the bar. I am a fan.

This place has one of greatest margaritas ever! :)
I like their salsa, Guacomole and nachos toro with carnitas. My favorite place in Truckee.