El Torito - Irvine

Stopped in for late lunch before my flight out. I ordered a taco salad and was more like a deconstructed salad. With very little lettuce and what was served needed more crispiness. Chicken was tasty and plentiful. Salsa needed work as it almost seemed as if poured out of a jar. Chips were just okay but not the best.

So I took my staff out to eat for Mexican Mother's Day. We came to El Torito since every other restaurant was super busy on such important day. I have been here before, and for the most part, the place is okay for a meal. But this particular day the food wasn't that tasty at all. Several of my staff ordered a dish with shrimp, and their shrimp was too salty to swallow. Even if you put some lime juice, it was just to harsh.So we ask our waiter to change the shrimp. And they did, after a long wait for the new shrimp to finally arrived. Unfortunately it was just as bad. So it was just an unpleasant experience on this mother’s Day. We had no alcoholic drinks at all and the bill was a bit high, plus now they've a surcharge to be added to your bill.No bueno!

The best breakfast buffet we've ever been to. The servers are super friendly. There were a ton of food options and everything was delicious.

The service was poor as waiters were arguing over serving our table. Eventually the hostess and bartender became our servers and they were great. The food was ok but the Tostito steak salad was nothing but old brown lettuce and meat , none of the other items in the salad. The chicken fajitas were not on a sizzling plate not even close to fajitas style. We will most likely not return. Please note the hostess and bartender made it bearable they were great.

Good service, food could be a little better for the price. Decent happy hour options!!