El Sarandeado

This is my first time at this restaurant.
They let us pick our own table to sit at which is a plus! They have pan dulce in the restaurant which is always great.
They brought out chips with fried beans and cheese which was different than salsa, but it was good.
Not a bit seafood guy but they did have different choices. I settled for the Quesadilla with my choice of protein (asada).
Service was fast, then again only a couple of people were in here (Thursday night)
Our waitress was friendly and fast.
Overall I gave this place a three because I couldn’t give it a 3 ½. the salsa was really watery, and if you’re running a Mexican place, than you better have some good salsa. The beans were a bit burnt. The rice was a bit bland and needed more flavor for my taste. Good place, will come back.

Best Mexican food in Woodburn. Even better than Louise’s. The staff is friendly, the food is fresh and delicious, and it’s authentic.

El Sarandeado is one of the reasons I like Unilocal.We never would have found this great place otherwise. Stopped here on our way home to the East Bay from Seattle. The service was quick and friendly, the restaurant was clean and well kept, and the food was great. Sharon had shrimp ceviche tostadas and I had shrimp al chile arbol. Dinner was $ 10-​$ 15 for each of us. Both dishes were done perfectly. Glad we went, and if we’re ever hungry again near Woodburn, we will be back.

Showed up 45 minutes before closing time on a Saturday night (9:15 pm) and they turned us away and said they were closed! I can’t review their food because I didn’t get to try it!

This place went down hill a little since change of ownership; but it’s still great food. Best Mexican/​Seafood place around!

We attempted to eat here the other tonight but was unable to because a couldn’t get anyone to serve us. When they were in their old location, we used to eat here all the time. The food was always excellent as well as the service. In this new bigger location, we walked in and the lady at the register told us to take a seat and she would bring us a menu. So we sat… fairly near the counter and waited… and waited. We saw three other groups of people walk in and get menus and get their orders taken. We still waited patiently and I caught the eye of a server. He grabbed two menus and started walking towards us… yay right! Then he turned around and started talking to the bus boy. It looked like he was asking him if we had been served. Ummm… hello, how about asking us since you managed to serve the people next to us who came in after us. After their discussion, they obviously couldn’t come to a conclusion and he never looked at us until we stood up to walk out and tried to get my attention. Too little too late.
As we were walking out, a lady from a family who had been waiting in line to pay said something to my boyfriend about the poor service (her husband had been giving us sympathetic looks in the last five minutes we were there).
We used to eat at the old location fairly often but I really doubt we’ll be back to give then another chance.

I love this place. Small, mostly clean and first and foremost: delicious chile rellenos! Yay, finally found a place in the state that has good one’s. So big and fluffy and so much queso blanco. Yum. They do not travel so well as I’ve learned from getting take out and bringing it back to Portland. Best to eat it there. The salsas are delicious and the rice is so average looking but remarkably tasty. The ceviche with chips is solid. Before they moved to the current location it was possible that you would not have a server/​order taker who spoke English, so knowing a little Spanish helped. There are a couple younger women who work there now who are bilingual and super helpful so it’s not as much of an issue if you don’t. I would go here at least once a week if it weren’t so far away from where I live and work. A blessing and a curse I suppose. OH, did I mention the house-​made tortillas? Divine. Last time I was there they had mariachi’s playing which I find to be super annoying, but the kid enjoyed it.

Very good! We had their shrimp fajitas-​very generous portion and lots of shrimp. Fresh made at restaurant tortillas. Sopas and tacos were great! Rice was simply made, moist and fluffy. Refried beans very good. A family friendly place. Our waitress was friendly and came back at nice intervals to ensure all was OK. Will be back

While the food was very good and authentic and the young lady who served us very sweet and attentive, I was extremely upset that they would not honor the
gift certificate that I brought. I was especially upset that the owner, while on the phone with my server, kept saying that «the coupon was fraudulent»…and the server kept repeating it over and over again while several patrons were standing in line paying close attention to our conversation. Lets start with the fact that it was not a «coupon» but a gift certificate that I paid for. Also, it is something that the owners of the restaurant would have had to sign up for, not some «coupon» I clipped out of the newspaper or printed from the internet.

This place has amazing food and service!

Best Mexican food in town. If you dine in they serve chips and ceviche and homemade salsa. The salsa is in bottles but it’s delicious. The food is crazy authentic. And the owners/​wait staff are super friendly. Spanish is mostly spoken there but do not fear — they will switch to English for you, if need be. I also like getting the «street» tacos (tortillas are all homemade!). Amazing flavor. Their seafood is yummy too. My friend is obsessed with their huaraches. Needless to say, it’s all good. If you’re still not full by the end of the meal (and portions are def generous) pop over to the connecting market and get yourself some delicious flan on the cheap. YUM!

This is a Mexican joint that specializes in seafood. I have to admit, Chuck is right: the menu looks light on seafood. But don’t judge what they are good at by the number of things on the menu. I think they just do that because they feel like they have to.
I have been there twice. I dont remember what I had the first time, but the second time I had shrimp ceviche. Ceviche is a wonderful dish, but it requires very good and very fresh ingredients because it involves no cooking. you are eating raw shrimp, prepared by soaking in lime juice. Most places don’t even try it, because handling the shrimp correctly through your supply chain is just too difficult and you end up with something that is yucky. But this place does AWESOME ceviche.
«Zarandeado» means shaken or tossed, also rocked and buffeted. I have been told they do a kind of fish here called pescado zarandeado, which is wrapped and grilled and shaken or some such. I have been told that it is awesome, but kind of expensive. But I mean come-​on. .. expensive at this place is what, 12 bucks? I am going to try it.
Chuck, the stuff they served you with the chips was ceviche! you should go back, and order it as your entrée next time.

SCORE!
Wow, excellent unexpected Mexico bakery/​grocery/​restaurant right on 99E driving back from Silver Falls. You know that you have found a good Mexican restaurant when you walk in at any time of day and every table is occupied by Mexican ex-​patriots. You may feel more comfortable if you brush up on your Spanish before trying to decipher the menu or communicate with the staff, but for the non-​Spanish-​speaking Mexican cuisine enthusiast (like yours truly), you can’t go wrong in a place like this.
I went with the carnitas torta and was not disappointed. The chips were handmade and were served with two varieties of salsa and a fresh pico de gallo w/​camarones! You will find boat-​loads of carmarones swimming around this mostly SE Mexico oriented menu.
Made to order tortillas? Yes!
Tortas cubana? Yes!
Pescado a la Veracruzana? Sí!
Take a lap around the grocery as well, make sure to stock up on their bakery items. Yummy!

Took another account here for lunch today and went as expected– FANTASTIC! He had the Chicken Tacos and I defaulted to the old stand by, Carne Asada. Everything was consistent and cooked to perfection. The only thing I would change with this place is to have the menu in English, also. Non the less, I love this place and the service/​people there do a great job. I swear one of these days I will try some of their seafood as this is what they really are said to be a lot about.

Great food! Good service. The staff was very nice. For those of you who need to brush up on your Spanish, this is a Mexican restaurant geared toward fish and seafood. Menu is in Spanish and does not have a description of what is in the dish.