The guacamole is over priced and a very small portion and the steak tacos are over cooked and salty

Really good tacos and spicy salsa. The staff is very friendly and quick with service.

Love this little place...everything is cooked to order. They now have an array of Birria foods(ramen, pizza,quesabirria)I'm not a fan on my because I'm not a lamb person. I prefer mine all beef. read more

El Canelo - Guacamole, 2 Steak and 1 Chicken Taco - Mexican Near Me - Calumet City, Illinois

Watered down salsa and food was overcooked tasted terrible we were looking for decent Sunday breakfast I will have to go somewhere else. Don't waste your money! So many missed opportunities here. Wtf read more

El Canelo - The carrots i asked for and the watered down salsas - Mexican Near Me - Calumet City, Illinois

Fast service, consistent and wonderful chilaquiles. It is a regular spot for a few of us at work. It has gotten a little cleaner inside than it was a year ago. read more

LeBron has Taco Tuesdays, but we have Taco Thursdays (and maybe Saturday, Sunday & Monday too) After watching a content creator inhale tacos for lunch, I was hankering for Mexican food, specifically lengua (cow tongue.) I scoured the internet for authentic Mexican cuisine, not any of that fast food stuff and landed on El canelo. The food looked too good to pass up & it was well reviewed. Prices - The prices are a bit higher than you'd expect for a Mexican restaurant, but in this economy, I don't blame them. The dinners are around $10 each & tacos are about $2.50 each. With things like a medium Elote being $3 they are still rather affordable so there's hardly anything to complain about. 4/5 Customer Service - They had my order bagged and ready to go by the time I got there. Everything was exactly as I ordered & packed neatly. 5/5 Pork Rind Tacos: Appearance - These are great looking tacos which is exactly why I picked El Canelo. The abundance of cilantro and onions is delectably eye catching. The one minor gripe I have is that the pork rinds are soft sponges. I thought they might fry the pork rinds to give them a firmer texture. 4/5 Taste - The first bite fills your mouth with a medium intensity heat. The pork rinds seem to have been marinated in a hot sauce. Taste wise you can hardly taste the pork rinds due to the marinade but it's a fantastic marinade that sets your mouth a light with tons of flavor. The green and red sauces that are included seem to be homemade, but are a bit too watery. The sauces trick you by slipping under the radar with their initial mild spices, but a few seconds later you're hit with a wave of intense heat that is even spicier than the marinade. 4/5 Beef Cheek Tacos: Appearance - Looks just as good as the pork skin tacos. Plenty of cilantro, onions and meat with a double corn tortilla. 4/5 Taste - Wow, after the first set of tacos was such a knockout I was expecting more. These are so bland and unseasoned it's it's crazy. The sauce does not help. Is soft, but not spongy. Overall I think they just might have been called off guard by somebody ordering beef cheek and didn't have the time to properly season it. 2/5 Elote: Appearance - Another beautifully done dish. El Canelo really takes the time to present a dish correctly. There is the perfect amount of Chile on top with a layer of mayonnaise & cheese followed by corn. As you dig down and you don't miss anything. They even have it in a styrofoam cup so that it is exactly like you would have it on the street. 5/5 Taste - I don't know what to say here because usually elote is a rather easy dish to make and get correct and they definitely have something here, but I believe the Mayo is where this dish kind of falls apart. You don't get that tangy sweetness that you have from the street that makes it seem more like a child's snack. Instead El Canelo goes for more of an adult approach that is more hearty & what you'd expect blending mayonnaise, corn, chile & cheese. 3/5 Lengua Burrito Dinner: Appearance - Maybe I'm a bit spoiled, but this looks rather basic. From the rise to the beans nothing stands out. Even the amount of rice and beans that you get seems kind of low for the price that you're paying which is over $10. The burrito itself is wrapped in layers with the meat mostly at the bottom and everything else filling in between. 3/5 Taste - Another kind of disappointing dish and the ingredients themselves are fresh to come but the language does it seem to be marinated that well if at all. Looking at the flour tortilla, I thought it might have been uncooked and biting into it confirm that it was. The beans are nothing to cry home about as they are bland. The rice has an odd flavor to it that gives hints of southwestern, but I can't place it. The rice is definitely over seasoned as you can taste a bit too much salt. 3/5 Overall, El Canelo is a place that won't break the bank. There are the hits and misses though. It started off strong with the pork rind tacos. Well, I wouldn't go as far to say I wouldn't mind having those pork rind tacos every day, but every once in a while wouldn't be too bad. It's unfortunate that as I continued my quest to satisfy my hunger, the food became noticeably worse yet maintained that high level of presentation for the most part. Hopefully this was just an off day. 3.5 out of 5 stars read more

See all

Ordered chorizo through Uber eats and this is what I got how is this a Mexican restaurant and you don't even know what chorizo is ????? SAD 0 stars good smoothie tho read more

El Canelo - Their "Chorizo and Eggs" - Mexican Near Me - Calumet City, Illinois

Great food! Great service! Great Ambiance! Great Name for a Restaurant! The Coffee is a must as well!

The reason I like this restaurant is because the people are nice the food is always good also I'm a vegetarian and they make the best veggie tacos my daughter eat the steak tacos. Best taco restaurant to me! read more

$1.60SteakTacos were great! Customer service treat & nice staff. I will be returning. Went around 8pm on a weeknight. Nice crowd.

Excellent food & customer service. Although it seems like they are still doing curbside pickup & can't go inside but that's ok it's still worth a try. read more

I ordered the pozole. It had a weak broth and wasn't as spicy as others I have had. They gave me shredded lettuce instead of cabbage. The coffee was weak as tea. The service was slow. I think it was our servers first waitressing job. The person I was with ordered the eggs with chorizo.She said it was good. I'd think twice about going back. read more

I love this place!! Very Authentic and GREEEAAT SERVICE!!!! . Thanks being in the neighborhood!!!!! read more

best tacos I ever had. They are quick and never made a mistake. I'm a repeat customer

The tacos and food are decent and affordable the staff are very friendly, the churros and chocolate caliente are delicious on the winter time. read more

This is the best most consistent restaurant in Calumet and the surrounding area. They are always friendly and the food is excellent. Their portions are generous and the food is outstanding. I love this place and glad we have it here in Calumet City. DELICIOUS!!!! read more

El Canelo has very good food at very good prices. Our family has had breakfast, lunch and dinners there. Their portions are very generous. We have even catered from them. I read Sauve R. review about the pozole. He said he received lettuce instead of cabbage. That's because you can serve either shredded cabbage or shredded lettuce with pozole. They are also very accommodating, so if Suave R, would have asked for cabbage, I am pretty sure they would have gladly given him cabbage. read more

Their food is very, very good. The chicken and beef caldos (soups) are great. They give you big portions and their service is pretty good. Their prices are the best compared to all other Mexican restaurants in Calumet City. read more