Elote Cafe & Catering

Best Mexican food in the downtown area.
Which isn’t saying much.
Crowd is average, some aspiring hipsters who haven’t quite made the minimum hipster-​wage bracket yet.
Ingredients are good.
Food is very bland, you probably won’t find too many spanish people eating there.
But inoffensive and will do if you HAVE to eat mexican food in downtown area.

Eloté has been serving up their signature puffy tacos for some time now, and I’d recommend those for sure if you haven’t trie them before. But what makes this place a gem in the downtown district is their events. They host Luchador wrestling matches every month or so and have a huge Cinco de Mayo block party each year. What I usually come here for, however, is the karaōke which happens every Friday night. A lot of regulars, travelers, and first timers sit up at the bar and take turns singing any and every type of song you can think of. It’s a fun and all-​inclusive party and a great way to spend at least part of your Friday night. The place is nonsmoking but there’s an ample front patio for smoke breaks, and also to enjoy the weather on a nice day. Come check it out and sign up for a song. Tell them Josh sent you!

great food and exceptional Mescal.

Elote is my favorite downtown Tulsa Mexican destination. The restaurant has a fun, funky vibe with a wrestling ring inside the bar area for frequent luchador matches! Owner Libby Auld’s focus on fresh, sustainable, organic and locally sourced products really shine in the extensive menu and flavor profiles of each dish. Stopping in for lunch or dinner, I’ve enjoyed many dishes such as the smokin hot quesadilla packed with 3 different peppers, beans, corn, cheese, caramelized onions and your choice of all natural beef, free range chicken or spinach and avocado or the enchilada tomatillos loaded with free range chicken or fresh avocado, caramelized onions, peppers, and mushrooms then topped with a cilantro tomatillo sauce and queso fresco. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the star menu item which is famously known around town: the puffy taco! Take your pick of protein or veggie (I LOVE the salmon) and it’ll come perfectly cooked wrapped in a puffed flour tortilla and topped with all the fixings! They also serve puffy breakfast tacos (I know…) from their vintage VW van at the Tulsa Farmer’s Market each Saturday!

Best queso in Tulsa. And the salmon puffy tacos are unbelievable. Definitely a great spot to grab some awesome Mexican food and hang out. Sooo many tequilas to choose from.

Love Elote! Try the puffy tacos! Eclectic décor is fun. Veggie burrito is yum! I first visited after seeing it on Food Network (!) and have never been disappointed!

AMAZING! I’ve been here several times and the food and service was great! I like how they use natural/​local stuff in their restaurant. One night I came and they had a singer, and entertainment and food together is great!

Love this place! So happy that Elote has participated in Dining Out for Life for TEN YEARS. they’ve been here since the beginning, y’all! What an easy way to support a great restaurant (with AMAZING food) and a tremendous organization. Thank you, Elote!!!

I came here during a conference with a shush of fellow librarians on the promise that there was excellent food to be had.
And there indeed was excellent food! My veggie burrito was delicious, and the sweet potatoes were definitely an interesting and welcome twist to standard Tex Mex. I may have indulged and had both the sweet potatoes in my burrito and as a side. The white queso was also delicious and I happily partook in that as well.
The service, on the other hand, was less than desirable. Slow, inattentive, confusion. Just everything you do not want when dining out, especially in a group that’s ravenous after spending the day conferencing.
Overall, I’d be willing to give Elote another chance – the food is good and I definitely enjoyed the kitschy ambiance. It’s not every restaurant you walk into and walk past a Mexican wrestling ring to get to your table, after all.

On an afternoon trip to downtown Tulsa for lunch at Elote’s restaurant I ordered two of their puffy tacos.
I ordered one beef and one chicken with beans and corn.
The puffy taco shells were properly fried and made a good envelope for the slightly spicy chicken and juicy beef.
The retried black beans were fresh tasting. the aioli covered corn was an innovative idea.
On the whole I would say Elote’s is a fun place to eat if you are looking for some mildly spicy fun.

Get the puffy tacos! They are so good! I love this place. And I would really love to see the live wrestling that they have sometime, but it seems like I’m always working. The place is colorful, friendly, and the food is genuinely fresh. Yum!

Interesting décor and a unique menu make Elote stand out from other taco places.
Their puffy tacos and sweet potato side are on point. The two taco lunch option is more than enough food and at a good price.
You order at the counter, then find a seat and your good is delivered to the table.
The staff was nice and helpful.
Some nights they have Mexican wrestling.
They have a Wednesday night special.

Very unique menu — At first I started to regret choosing to eat dinner at Elote because I was wanting typical Mexican cuisine. I am glad we stuck with eating here because everything was delightfully delicious. The queso was very unique, took some getting used to (because I’m so used to a cheesy taste — Not cream cheese) but I ended up loving it. My friend and I ended up ordering and sharing the Dante el Nino and Elote’s Puffy Tacos — Both of which were very tasty. She absolutely loved this place because it catered to her low-​carb diet — I loved it because everything tasted awesome and it was completely different from anything else I’ve ever tried.

Well I think I’m done with this place for good as of tonight. This rating would be a single star were it not for the fact they have a wrestling ring, somewhat low prices, and they do a lot for cinco de mayo celebrations downtown.
The once charming ambiance now strikes me as unnecessarily dingy. While the much-​hyped puffy taco is good, but certainly not great. Just good. Certainly nothing special about this. However, on this occasion I went and had a chicken burrito smothered in some pretty bland sauces. The tortillas are not good, the tortilla soup was salty and somehow only salty, the rice is clearly made bulk, and poorly, same for the beans. Seriously, I can’t think of one single reason I will ever return to this place. Finally, they use those little pea-​sized ice cubes for some reason. Nasty. They melt too quick, water down the drink and are just horrible.
The only pro was our waitress who had everything out real quick (I think a little suspiciously quick) and offered us a pop to go. Which I took, but tossed within 5 minutes as it was watered down and nasty.
Done with this place outside of the 5^th of May.

This place is one of my most favorite stops in Tulsa for Mexican food. The food is FRESH. Fresh ingredients, not but seriously they are and local too! The food is also unique. At first it might throw you off, like what is this puffy taco and do I need to try it?! The answer: they are amazing and yes you have to try them. You’ll leave there happy and probably with a puffy taco t-​shirt. Stop by on a Wednesday and they are $ 2 starting a 4pm.
According to their website they have a Luchador Tequila Club. Apparently you can Join for FREE. Each week they have discounted tequila for your taste buds and once you have sampled 30 tequilas, you will get your name and your very own Luchador name on the wall! That’s amazing!

Good times. This is a fun place. I love the fact that they have free range products. The salmon tacos were excellent. The chips and salsa were pretty nondescript and needing help. The service was excellent.
The dessert lineup looks good to try next time.

Elote is the place I have to come to every time I visit Tulsa, and even though I live within walking distance of a Torchy’s Tacos at home (the crown jewel of tacos in Texas), I still crave Elote all the time. It’s not your typical Mexican restaurant, but it’s the best and here’s why:
–The salmon tacos are heaven. Especially if you pay the extra $ 1 to make them puffy (puffy tacos are Elote’s specialty so even if you don’t like salmon, you should try the puffy chicken or steak or veggie tacos).
–The guacamole is the best I’ve ever had. It’s bursting with lime flavor and is so creamy and fresh. There usually aren’t tomatoes or onions in there unless you ask for them, though, so just be aware of that. Personally I don’t like tomatoes or onions in mine so I love it just the way it is!
–All the ingredients are local and organic and they’re big on eco-​friendly products.
–They offer really unique and really tasty sides, like sweet potatoes and their namesake, elote (corn with some yummy sauce on it), and they let you choose two with your meal. All the sides are amazing but I usually just get a cup of guac as my two sides because that’s my favorite and they actually won’t charge you extra for it!
–They do luchador nights where there are actual wrestlers who come in and fight in the arena in the center of the restaurant, which is so much fun to go to.
–Also they have tons of really unique flavors of margaritas at a great cost (all their food is pretty reasonably priced, too).
tl;dr Elote is consistently delicious and local and healthy, not to mention the fact that it’s probably one of the most unique restaurants in Tulsa. If you can only go to one restaurant in Tulsa, come here!
*Tip: If you’re planning ordering queso, be aware that it’s the cream cheese based queso instead of the typical Tex Mex white queso. I love Elote’s queso but I was definitely thrown aback by it the first time I ordered it, so it took a little while to get used to.

Had lunch here. Very reasonable prices and relaxing atmosphere.
Loved the veggie puffy taco accompanied by the Elote salad.
I generally request for items to be made vegan to be healthier. However they messed up my request and gave me cheese and cream on top. Good thing I’m not a strict vegan.

I sincerely enjoy good Mexican food.
which is why I SINCERELY enjoy elote. the vibe is fun, the people are friendly, the puffy tacos are awesome, great location, service is super fast, the chips and queso = yes please. they have a surprisingly huge menu which is awesome — salads, enchiladas, tacos. this Mexican restaurant is the real deal people.
I can’t speak much on the alcohol front because I mainly go here for lunch during the work week.
Elote, you’re good to me. thank you for being you.

Food (³⁄₅)
Two words, guys: puffy tacos. Salmon, to be specific. That’s my order pretty much every time. I came in on a Monday evening and the place was relatively empty — there were only 2 or 3 other parties in the entire restaurant.
Upon seating, we were served the complimentary chips and salsa. Chips were pretty good but the quality is not super consistent each time I have come here. The salsa has no kick to it at all; just a bland mix of tomato. The guacamole, on the other hand, was amazing. Good balance of citrus, salt, and onions with the avocado. My only gripe is that such a small plate doesn’t seem like it’s worth $ 5? (Pictures included)
The tacos themselves were pretty good. The order comes with 2 tacos with a decent amount of salmon and 2 accompanying sides, but I don’t know if they command the $ 10-​$ 11 price tag that Elote is asking for. I only say this because the puffy tacos are pretty small. I opted for the sweet potato and the black bean sides. You have to understand that I LOVED the sweet potato, but my most recent visit seemed to have shattered my faith in it. They were harder than I remember them to be, and the black beans… let’s not even talk about that. They were way too salty, and I wasn’t impressed at all.
Service (³⁄₅)
We sat at the bar, so the bartender took our order. He was pretty attentive at first, but when we wanted to place our order or check out, he was gone for a bit. This might have been my fault as I was busy when he asked if we needed assistance and I didn’t pay any attention to him.
Atmosphere (⁴⁄₅)
Super colorful and lively environment. Plenty of tables, booths, and bar seating for parties of all sizes. They host luchador (fighting) nights in their own wrestling ring, but I’ve never been fortunate enough to come in when one is scheduled. This definitely seems like a fun night out for anyone in the downtown Tulsa area.
Bottom Line
Food is okay, but the interior makes for a wonderful eating experience. The food quality has been on a decline since I first visited (e.g., harder sweet potatoes, varying quality in chips), and the prices are getting a bit on the borderline of what I am willing to pay for. (I guess that’s what $ 2 puffy taco Wednesdays are for?) However, as long as the integrity of the salmon puffy taco holds true, I will probably still stop by this place and give it another try.