Submitted by Matt Rowicki on 05/09/2022
It was okay and fixed a craving but nothing special. Many better options out there which are more unique. I just wasn’t that impressed with my burrito as it lacked many toppings other places provide to dress it up. Staff was very nice.
Nothing disappoints when eating at El Mejicano. The food is authentic and delicious. Portions are more than enough. My favorite part of the meal is when they bring salsa and chips to the table. Went through it, and they always bring a second serving. I will say equal to the food, the service is phenomenal. Most times, we get Berto as a server. He is beyond kind and gracious. We were taking home some soup, but asked the tortillas to be kept to the side. We forgot the bag on the table, and he literally ran out of the restaurant as we were pulling away in our car. Definitely go support this small business.
Submitted by Ninetta Esposito on 06/22/2022
My chum and I impulsively decided to mosey over here for an early lunch this past Friday. Neither one of us had been to Denville in ages, though I definitely remember frequenting Carver's next door back in the day. The interior has a Mexican kitschy vibe - a lot of bright colors and festive decorations all over the place. The place was pretty empty when we got there, and we had our pick of seating options; my chum is used to the finer things in life and immediately went for one of the booths.
I chose to roll with the brunch menu, which is reminiscent of one you'd find at any standard American restaurant, but with an understandably ethnic twist - rather than, say, bacon and eggs, you're looking at beans and chorizo. Unique, but not so drastically different that it's going to scare off more cautious eaters. I went with a chorizo, eggs and potatoes dish, the specific name of which escapes me (I wasn't able to find a brunch menu online, so that's some constructive feedback for their webmaster). It was pretty tasty - I thought the chorizo was solid, flavorful and pared well with the scrambled eggs. I wasn't as enthusiastic about the potatoes, which were a little undercooked and greasy. I left most of those on the plate. My chum went with the chicken enchiladas (and wanted it noted that she was impressed with the available meat options for that particular dish) and enjoyed them. Nothing was earth-shatteringly amazing, but it did its job by and large.
The price point was EXCELLENT. When my chum gave me the amount of the bill, I honestly thought for a moment that it was just the price for my portion of the meal. The generously portioned entrees are around $11 or so, which is great and arguably the strongest selling point of El Mejicano.
The service was decent until the tail-end of the experience. Our waiter stopped by on a regular basis throughout most of the meal to check in, and our food came by pretty quickly. For whatever reason, the waiter went MIA right around when we finished our food so we were looking around the dining area for assistance for 15 minutes or so, I'd say. Someone else ended up clearing our table and getting the check for us, so maybe we were merely victimized by an ill-timed shift change or something. But it was a little odd, especially given that there were almost no other customers on the premises.
The bathroom could use a little TLC. It was clean and smelled fine (which is the most important quality of any bathroom) but there were some obvious improvements needed. Notably, the paper towel dispenser was literally missing a piece in the front - thankfully it didn't affect your ability to obtain a paper towel - and the lights abruptly turned off whilst my chum was using the facilities.
At the end of the day, this is a pretty mediocre restaurant. Would I avoid it like the plague? No, definitely not. Would I go out of my way to stop by again? Eh. There are plenty of comparable Mexican places in the area, but if cost is your primary concern then this might be the establishment for you.
Submitted by Ee Grimshaw on 05/24/2022
I have to give this place four stars because they have great food! The absolute best tortilla soup I have ever had and great enchiladas. I don't know what it was, but even their tortilla chips were great. I had a few mix-ups with my food but like every other restaurant I'm sure they're shorthanded. First I got the wrong sauce on my enchiladas but they quickly remedied it. Then the second time I got chicken enchiladas rather than ground beef that I ordered. They were still really good. I have to say the staff is very accommodating they took 20% off our bill. I can't ask for more than that. Quaint little place. We will definitely be back.
Submitted by Linda Bonilla on 04/25/2022
My clients wanted Mexican for lunch so they picked this place for lunch. They called in all the orders and I picked it up. When I got the items things started to spill and didn't get better when I left. I ordered the shrimp fajita lunch special and it came with a drink. When I got in the platter was jumbled because it spilled a bit. I dug in and the fajitas were just ok. I wasn't feeling the flavors. The rice was the best part of the dish. All in all I had a decent experience.
Submitted by Des Kf on 04/04/2022
Was not impressed at all with this restaurant. The service was very friendly so it has nothing to do with the service. The food though I thought was not good at all. The salsa that came with chips was tasteless. Chips were good so it was very disappointing to have bland sauce. Better off just giving jarred salsa then serve that homemade salsa. The loaded nachos were also not good at all. The ground beef didn’t taste fresh and it just wasn’t good. Another disappointment considering it doesn’t take much to make descent nachos. Hole in the wall bars serve better nachos which is pretty sad. And for my entree I had shrimp tacos which also needs so much improvement. Absolutely no love was put into making them. Some shrimp didn’t even look cooked! The sad part was that we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time. This place has so much potential honestly. Excellent location, nice and clean restaurant, friendly staff but the food needs to be correct. To be a Mexican restaurant, your sauce needs flavor. Just trying to be honest.
Submitted by Brian Poller on 02/12/2022
Lunch special burrito is so good that I spent all week trying to get to Denville to have it for lunch. 10 bucks and it's perfect.
Submitted by Ken Hunt on 02/10/2022
Tried this place on a whim, pretty good for Tex-mex. The menu is fairly small however they are willing to accommodate for vegetarians as much as possible. Atmosphere was quaint and spacious but does tend to get busy. Food gave off food truck vibes. They are very big on take-out ordering. Service was slow for only two tables of 4 in the place (Friday).
The veggie burrito was tasty and fried shrimp tacos were good. The guac was very oniony and wet. Fried Icecream was the best thing!
Reasonably priced! BYOB!
Submitted by Juliana M on 02/05/2022
Fantastic place we got the ground beef Taco salad ... our waiter was so nice .. hot sauce is HOT
Submitted by Colleen Perry on 12/22/2021
Tamale was fantastic. Enchiladas were great. Burrito wasnt that great. The first burrito was made wrong and had to wait for a new one. Service was only okay. Wouldn't nessecarily stop here next time in the area.
Submitted by Lance Le on 10/05/2021