I've seen this place advertised in so many places as I've always had a thing for Mexican tacos and foods .. so it's been on my want to visit for so long. In December when I was in the city, I was next door in the whiskey jar and wanted tacos so went in but they were full and were only taking bookings .. but january I prebooked and got in. Omg this place is amazing ... full Mexican inspired menu of drinks and foods with emphasis on margaritas and tequila. We just got a couple of beers and they had Corona on tap which I've never seen before. Got seated quickly and served quick too .. we went for the pork carnitas tacos and the chicken ones so me and my brother tried both and omg they were amazing. I went straight in when the food arrived and slipped it all over, only seeing the plates once I'd finished .. but my god .. they were the best pork carnitas I've ever had. Crunchy, tender and the most melt in your mouth pork ever. And the chicken ones with avocado were equally as delicious. In fact, I've decided that every time I go out around Manchester ... I plan to finish the night with tacos from here .. there were that good read more

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I never thought that one day I would be so disappointed with Mexican food or restaurant like I was discount with El Capo. The Food: We ordered a few plates to share and the majority of them did not have any flavour at all. The food without ANY FLAVOUR was: All Tacos - All chicken wings - and from the pictures the plate with shrimps. Honestly, It seems that they just marinade after cooking the food. And the only good food was the chips! The Drink: The drinks were so so. However, the sangria that they made for one of my friends OMG didn't taste like sangria all. And to be fair sangria is one of the easiest drink to make! You don't need to be an expert. Honestly, that sangria tastes like aspirin One of all favourites drinks from them were the two pink drinks which I believe that one is frozen stg The environment: Good environment The stuff: They were friendly and helpful. But they took more than 15 or 20 minutes to get us from the door and find a take for us read more

Some friends and I finally got to eat at El Capo's long awaited basement Mexican restaurant. As they were still finding their culinary feet they had an impressive '50% off food' offer so we booked on a Tuesday night. It was obviously rammed in there so we waited for our table with a drink in the bar. It wasn't long before we were seated, on a somewhat wobbly table, but a few paper napkins sorted that out. The cellar cantina, which has seating for about 40 people, certainly keeps the theme of the bar above going, with terracotta tiled floors and painted wall art - we especially liked the big TV screen showing Mexican westerns (with the sound muted). The lighting is dimmed as well (hence everyone's photos are poor quality!). The menu offers traditional dishes such as nachos and chimichangas served alongside sophisticated tapas dishes - our highlight was the lime chicken wings (praise heaped on Lucas S. for the recommendation). They were moist, meaty and exceptionally delicious and we regretted only ordering one bowlful to share. The nachos were also on the better side of the taste spectrum (having had some truly awful attempts in other Mcr venues) - you can have them with chocolate chilli, pulled pork, cheese...I just love options. One of the group ordered pan seared cow's heart 'Mi Corazon' - though our immediate British retort would be to gasp in horror at the very thought, it was actually very tender and nothing like the 'Daenerys Targaryen eats a stallion's heart' scene I was thinking it would be. Be daring and try it. For mains, we all ordered different dishes, pulled pork enchiladas, 'Frying Nemo' and the El Camino (which resembled a loosely packed burrito but with a steak inside). The consensus was that the fish dish was the least favourite of the three - somewhat lacking in flavour, we could have been eating it in any restaurant. The enchiladas were generously sized and the medium-rare steak in the El Camino was superb with the coconut rice and chorizo. The latter two dishes came with separate servings of sauce, which after tasting, near-on blew my head off. They were actually hotter than the bottle of hot sauce on the table. A milder sauce to add to my meal would have sealed the excellence, but that was my only minor quibble. Obviously we had to have desserts of chocolate rice pudding 'Manila Galleon' and ice creams with tequila sorbet 'Helado' served in small skulls. The sorbet was super good, even enjoyed by a friend who dislikes tequila. We'd definitely return here to eat, it was one of the most enjoyable meals we've had for a while. A few tweaks here and there to the menu and this place will rack up the five star reviews. read more

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Decided to ignore the low review score and give el capo a try out as we fancied tacos...tuesday is also £1 taco night... Bonus! It's pretty cool inside but very similar to most other Nq bars in my opinion. The house lager, although not the best, was pretty decent. We ordered a couple of each taco to sample. My favourite was the steak with pickled cactus. The margaritas are wry good, and for five quid, a bargain in my opinion! Will definitely be back. read more

El Capo - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

I've been wanting to get down to El Capo's Mexican cantina since the opening. I'm a huge fan of El Capo as a NQ bar, particularly on Fridays, so i've always been hoping that their eats would be just as good. I popped in on one of their 'Specials' nights - where they host Taco Tuesday, Wing Wednesday and so on.. (which I think is a fantastic concept and definitely works as the place was packed and we did have to book in advance). Wing Wednesday is so called because it's 50p a chicken wing - AMAZING! I couldn't resist, so 10 chicken wings were ordered between two of us for a starter along with some Nacho's with spicy chili con carne with all the usual sauces and toppings. The wings were bigger than i expected and incredibly messy (i really did look like i needed a bath afterwards, much to Tim C.'s amusement) but really really tasty. As a main course I ordered the Columbian Chicken Enchilada which was very good - the Lometo Completo burger was ordered too and went down a treat. Overall, my eating experience here was good. The staff are great and the service was fast and they turned around tables like no tomorrow. I was disappointed to hear that the kitchen closes at 9pm though - a couple came in at 9.05ish and only wanted wings and were turned away. Hopefully they'll look into opening the kitchen later soon. There are lots of things on the menu here so i'm sure i'll be bacl - maybe Taco Tuesday next time. read more

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Even though this has bad reviews I really liked it, I really wanted tacos and the day we went in they had an offer taco Tuesday all tacos £1 great stuff. The food was really nice would definitely reccomend the tacos they are more of a snack than a meal but they are great for sharing while having a drink. They do have a restaurant down stairs so I would go back and have a meal. The margaritas are really nice highly reccomend Overall I really liked the feel of the place it was really relaxed and chilled. The staff were friendly and the food and service good. read more

El Capo - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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I love Mexican food and I went to this place with friends for fun and relaxing evening. Outcome was different after order the food we have been waiting for starter 1h and 40 minutes. I went to manager and I canceled main meal and I left. I'm so disappointment nice place very tasty food but ruined with bad managements and too expensive drinks £4.40 for a pint. One tip if you go ask how long you need to wait for food to don't loose your time and money for expensive drinks read more

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Can here on a Friday night, with three friends. Arrived 10pm, stayed till close. It had cool music and a good party crowd. People up dancing and mingling. A young cool crowd, it was good. On the downside, it's new but it looks and feels the same as a lot of other bars around. Not that much character. Hard to have a conversation (but it was Saturday night, so kinda part of the deal). Also a rude, rude, rude barman (he told me it was his bar), who shouted at me for moving a lit candle to our table. Left me feeling upset & cross, we were spending money in their bar all night and live one block away. Puts me off ever returning. read more

El Capo - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

Bit hit and miss to be honest. I've been to El Capo twice now and enjoyed the first time so much I couldn't wait to go back. On the first visit I adored the chicken wings (still not as good as Gorilla's - which are the best chicken wings in Manchester). This time they were average with both the sauces quite bland and the meat not great either. We had the chocolate chilli nachos as well (oops 3 starters between 2.....) and these were good but really stingy with the toppings of sour cream, guac and salsa. The mains were good, we had the lamb shank special and the pulled pork enchilada with the hotter red sauce. Their coconut rice was not as good as last time either, I'd been craving it but this time it was quite dry & not well cooked. The service was a bit slow despite the place being half full. This second trip has not inspired me to return again which is a shame as I like their concept & menu. read more

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I came here for food and also to celebrate cinco de mayo. While the cocktails are delish, the food leaves a bit to be desired. The tacos are tiny and dont have much in the way of fulling (pango fish and avocado). The burritos are amazing and filled tp the brim so have a that instead. read more

El Capo - Casa margarita and vodka long - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

El campo Situated in the Northern quarters Mexican restaurant. Food was out of this world with home-made nachos covered in cheese sauce, sour cream and guacamole. I had a burrito with chicken and my partner had enchiladas and reports they were they best he had ever eaten... TIP-there was 50% off in the month of January (2015) read more

El Capo - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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Right. El Capo is getting a big dollop of Benefit Of The Doubt from me. For one big reason: it's only been open for less than a week, and it's already packed. Promises (on the grapevine) of food were sadly unfulfilled. The bar staff suggested that food would be available "in a few weeks", but given that management were looking through catering equipment supplier lists on the table next to ours, I'd say that was slightly optimistic. Optimistic. That's exactly what I am about El Capo and its food. They've obviously got off to a fantastic start: £5 for 2 pints in the NQ, even if it's not exactly craft beer, is fantastic value for the NQ even for a happy hour, and from the brief conversation I overheard at the bar, these guys know their tequila*. Expect a review soon on the cocktails. For the atmosphere and decor alone, though, I'll be back. This is typical NQ. Exposed brick, interesting lighting, and 'quirky' mexican-themed art painted directly onto the wall. *Craft beer is severely lacking. Kosmonaut's next door: sneak your bottles of Hacker Pschorr Weisse across if you must. read more

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I visited El Capo on a quiet Saturday afternoon, so whilst i'm sure I didn't get to see it in all its atmospheric glory I did get to have a proper look at the place. The décor has a nice feel about it, brick walls, wooden tables and exposed pipe work with the occasional Mexican style mural painted straight onto the wall. But its the bar that i could spend hours looking at. twinkly lights and bottles and bottles of spirits mixed in with a variety of ornaments, artworks and other bits and bobs including some amazing painted milk cartons. Yes i did just say that (spot them on the pictures) There was an extensive drink menu to choose from for both beer and wine so both of us were pretty pleased. And prices are fairly standard for city centre. Staff were friendly and so were the doorman. Newly opened and in good company with the bars surrounding it. El Capo is surely on to a winner. With Kosmonaut and the whiskey jar as neighbours El Capo already has a ready made crowd in place. Good Luck El Capo. I look forward to Phase 2...The Food (coming August 20th ish!??!) read more

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So I was on my way to meet Emily C who'd made the trip all the way over from Dublin to Manchester for the first time and I was wracking my brains of where to go for a couple of drinks before dinner. You see it's not through lack of choice but more like too much choice - and this is a good thing! Walking up the ever emerging Tariff Street, it was going to be potentially Kosmonaut when I thought let's try somewhere fairly new. To be honest nothing screams 'welcome to Manchester' like going to a Mexican themed bar... Overall I was really impressed with the decor - all exposed brick like every bar around there but one that's really made an effort to theme it up. I think I'd been putting off going due to hearing the beer situation was pretty dire and although there's fairly generic beers on pump, it was nice to see Sierra Nevada and some Mexican ales stocked. I went for the Mexican IPA which was wonderful - really tasty and one I hadn't tried before. Cocktails (lots tequila based of course) seemed very popular with everyone and the staff were just the friendliest bunch I've seen in a while - a really nice touch! I'm looking forward to going back to El Capo (especially once their food menu starts in August) and potentially making it my new hangout when wanting to pop in somewhere for a nice beer in nice surroundings - A welcome addition to the NQ read more

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I'd never been down Tariff St and didn't know there were bars here. We popped into El Capo for a night cap. The place looks really funky with it's decor. The barman let us take pictures and showed us the totem faces made out of plastic milk bottles. We went on a Monday night and it wasn't very busy being quite late as well. The drinks weren't too expensive and the music set to low so we could hear ourselves speak. As the bar was quiet, people who came in tended to congregate around the bar area. A number of groups turned up so it was noisy for a while, a quick drink and they went onto another bar and another lot of 'cool' folk turn up and then leave again. A cool, friendly bar, would like to see it filled with people sitting down unless this is only a transient bar. Would definitely go again as it has a good vibe. read more

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El Capo is on the outskirts of the Northern Quarter; it's close to Piccadilly train station. The effort they've made with the décor is obvious, and quite successful :-) My friend and I shared some nachos - a very generous portion. They came with pulled beef, which was melt-in-your-mouth tender and completely delicious! We also ordered a chicken burrito, which was one of the best I've had in recent memory. To accompany our food, we had some red wine and some exceptional Margaritas. Tip: There's a huge cross-section of tequila and mezcal on the menu. I look forward to coming back and trying more dishes and drinks :-) read more

Second time back here in a week! Would highly recommend the tiger lily cocktail and steak tacos Staff can be a bit slow at times but pleasant and happy to recommend different tequillas! (Ask for the honey one!) read more

El Capo - Cinnamon and apple burrito desserty thing! It's blooming good :) - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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El Capo is an interesting place and has a lot going for it, I am a huge fan of Mexican food so I wanted to love it here but unfortunately on this occasion it was let down by slow service. We visited during the day time as it is very popular in the evening so can be difficult to get a table (during the day time you will have no such problem). First impressions were great, the look of this place and atmosphere are spot on and the food and drinks menu have plenty of interesting things to choose from. We kept it simple with the food as we were only supposed to be snacking here, we tried the nachos and chilli cheese fries, with the drinks we tried the house beer (pretty good), tequila (always good), mezcal (very good) and a cocktail (surprisingly spicy). Overall we enjoyed it here but, considering how quiet it was when we were there, it took a very long time for our drinks and longer than expected for the food as well. Having said that, this place has huge potential and I will undoubtedly return and then update my review. read more

El Capo - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

My long awaited return to El Capo was an acceptable experience, though nothing special. The story starts in January 2015, when a bunch of us from Yelp went along to take advantage of a half price menu that they did that January. We experienced what was definitely the worst restaurant experience of my entire life. Waiting 2 hours for starters, 3 hours for mains, some not arriving at all, a very rude waiter, and an incompetent duty manager. Fast forward 17 months and I finally pluck up the courage to return to check them out again, hoping that all their issues have been resolved, and to give them a fair crack of the whip. On arrival the ground floor was quite busy, no tables appeared to be free, and we were led to a table in the basement. The almost empty basement quickly filled up with other diners over the next half an hour. Drinks order was taken as we made our menu choices. I had a pint of the cheapest lager which was their 'Home brew' priced at £3.90. My friend and I had a large portion of chicken nachos to start, which were really delicious, presented in a somewhat haphazard way on a wooden board, though this seemed to work well. I like spicy food, and was not disappointed as there was a mountain of jalapeños on top. For main I had a pulled beef quesadilla. This was served on a tin tray with a sheet of greaseproof paper. I know this is trying to replicate street food, however it didn't really work. The quesadillas were too big, heavy and soft to be able to be picked up and eaten by hand, and when eaten with a knife and fork, it was difficult to end up not eating shards of soggy greaseproof paper. The actual quesadilla itself was pleasant enough, but definitely not the best I've ever had. I have had better Mexican food in Manchester at cheaper prices than here, although they are clearly doing something right, as for a Thursday night the place was full. Perhaps because we had unwittingly arrived on 'Latin Funk Hip Hop Night' - a DJ had set up on the ground floor. The music was pretty good and created a nice atmosphere. I had ordered a side of fries - priced at £3. I was presented with he smallest portion of fries that I have ever seen, and definitely not worth bothering with. The little metal dish contained approximately 20 skinny fries, I felt this was quite a rip off. In summary, average food, average drink, average service, so A-ok it is, nothing more, nothing less. I'm glad I gave them another shot but it'll probably be a while before I return. The bill came to £35.90 for 1 sharing starter, 2 mains, 1 side, 1 alcoholic and 1 non-alcoholic drink. I think this is on the steep side for what is branded as street food. read more

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We kicked off my friend's party with something to eat at El Capo last weekend, and were really impressed. We'd been to El Capo on nights out before, but hadn't eaten there: the food was casual, but tasty, and really good value; the staff made sure we always had drinks topped up, that we were happy with the food, without ever making us feel crowded or rushed - absolutely ideal for a start to a day of celebrating. It's also a lovely space for daytime or going out at night, a little gem tucked away by the station can only be a good thing! read more

I went there last Sunday and I can honestly say i was impressed! We went for the Sunday Service option which gives you between two the following: 2 Starters, nachos, chicken wings, a burrito between 2 and 2 sides. It may not sound a lot but they don't skimp on portions and it's amazing Mexican food! Not only is the above amazing the drinks offers make for an even better meal with the house Beer being £5 for 2 pints!!! Overall great experience and will be going back!! read more

El Capo - Sunday Service at El Capo - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

I really shouldn't have gotten out of bed for this. I almost don't want to write this review and relive the experience. Basically, the restaurant could not cope with our group of 20 at all. Which was strange, seeing as they'd had the booking for weeks (I believe it had increased from 12 - 20 five days beforehand, but that is still plenty of warning). I can't remember exactly when starters came out, but it was definitely well over an hour after ordering and things came in fits and drabs, most notably the sauces for the nachos, thereby rendering the nachos (which also featured burnt chips) pretty unappealing. Luckily I wasn't starving so I was still quite relaxed at this time but other people were quite upset and it was beginning to dominate the talk at the table and ruin people's enjoyment of the evening. The wings were great - the garlicky ones are delicious but the lime are particularly good. Had it not been for what happened later I would definitely return for these. What happened later was that lots of people's main courses never arrived. In the case of I think three people this was because they actually eventually just cancelled because they couldn't stay out any later because of work the next day (context being their arrival at 7pm, and this being well after 9pm - and now they are leaving hungry). So the group basically started to fall apart as they left and others finished their meals (some with only partial food delivery e.g. sides missing, the wrong number of tacos) and left before the rest of us had received anything. Some of the food received was also sub-par - the refried beans looked awful and apparently tasted awful too. The outside of part of Rana's steak was black. The fries however tasted good. I hung on till about 10.10pm, by which time Andy and I still hadn't received our main dishes. Nothing had been said to me about the delay or when I might expect the food. No one at our end of the table had been offered a drink, explanation or apology. No one had given us an ETA for the food. I went over to the manager who was chatting to someone at the other end of the table (odd considering there was obviously work to be done) who claimed that we shouldn't be surprised this happened because she warned of the long wait when we increased our table booking. I said I still hadn't actually received my food, over two hours later and I had not personally been told anything about the wait the entire evening. I asked her if she was going to apologise - she said sorry but then immediately started justifying it again saying that the restaurant downstairs was fully booked, they have a small kitchen and they had to prioritise the tables downstairs that had the amount of people came they had booked for. OK so: (1) Don't accept a booking if you don't have capacity (2) Don't punish a group for something its individuals had no part in (i.e. increasing the booking five days before, which in any case is perfectly reasonable AND TO WHICH YOU AGREED) by deliberately de-prioritising their food order over others who arrived later (we witnessed the table next to us ordering, eating and leaving) (3) Don't make up some crap about your kitchen being small. You know who has a small kitchen? TACO TRUCK. It is LITERALLY A TRUCK. Yet taco truck could have made me 1000 tacos/burritos/quesadillas in the time it took you (a) not to prepare anything (b) not to have the basic courtesy, service skills and decency to come over and explain what was going on. (4) Don't be so incredibly bad at your job, and personally lacking any empathy or manners to boot. When I went back over to my seat, the waiter that had been in charge of our table(s) - which I would think was a little much, accosted me saying that I arrived late (which is true, but again this was 2 hours and 20 minutes after I had ordered, I ordered probably only 20 minutes after the others and Andy who ordered with everyone else was still waiting, nearly 3 hours later) and everyone else was happy and some other stuff I now can't remember because thankfully my mind seems to be blocking it out. I told him I didn't want to speak to him about it (as I'd just made my complaint to the relevant person, his useless manager) but he wouldn't drop it and just kept going on and on shouting and gesticulating. So I just left at that point. I was extremely upset and shaking at how aggressive and unpleasant this confrontation was. I would now never go back to El Capo simply because I would dread seeing that man again. Later when Rana and I went back to pick up his car which was parked outside I waited at the other end of the street because I didn't even want to chance bumping into him. Incidentally, I am pretty sure that interaction was witnessed by the manager, who did not come over. So yeah, after over 550 reviews and only 5 1-stars unfortunately I regretfully add this to the ditch. read more

Lovely meal here over the weekend! The place had come recommended as well made Mexican comfort food and that's exactly how I would describe it. We shared wings to start and the meat just fell off the bone. Then I had the chilli - the beef was so well made and the portion was huge! Very spicy but that's just how I like it! Lovely beer selection as well. I can't comment on the churros as much as I'd like too, I was far too full! read more

El Capo - Chilli! - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

Just had lunch... Same amazing menu... Service great... Food 5*... This is the real experience! Even one of the waitresses made herself known to me and apologized for the previous evening... I guess they are customer focused and the previous night was literally just one of those nights... Lets hope lessons learnt!!! read more

It's the third time I've attempted to enjoy a decent food offering here and I'm sorry to say it's the third time I've been disappointed. It's such a shame as they appear to be doing everything else right - the service is impeccable. I've taken a few friends from out-of-town and work clients here and they've always commented on how nice/attentive the waiter was, to the extent I keep coming back. The wine is good, the management always appear to want feedback. Which is why I still frequent this place. However I don't think it's bad of me to say I expect a decent sized portion of nachos for 9 quid and if this is meant to be shared between 2-4 people, I am really not happy when the tiniest portion of dip (guacamole was a dwarf-sized portion I wouldn't even serve to a child, yet this was meant to be a 'large') comes out. Not even enough for one person! The first time I went I ordered the pork and beef tacos and I could barely taste anything due to the amount of salt on the meat. This was when they first opened and I let it slide. The second time I ordered some bruchettea type starter as a snack, which was half a bap/muffin...bit of a rip off at £4 if you ask me but still... So a few of us ordered the nachos on Sunday last and for a Mexican-themed bar, they ought to be ashamed. How hard is it to get nachos wrong ffs! Not worth the money if you ask me. I'll still go in to drink and eat elsewhere in future, unless they up their game. read more

We came here on a Saturday night for a birthday celebration. Luckily we booked as the place was really buzzing and had a lovely, trendy atmosphere. We were led downstairs where there was a bar and brightly lit windows giving us a view of the action in the kitchen. I don't think they needed the TV they had down there though. We were tucked into a cosy booth table in the corner. Our lovely waitress brought us our amazing cocktails - a few Yaga Yagas which were a bit like Piña Coladas, a Hanky Panky which was refreshing and tangy, and a few Tiger Lilies - very fancy in their martini glasses. The food looked slightly disappointing though - a bit too much like fast food (my friend wants to know why restaurants have started serving all foods in grease proof paper?!) and the burrito looked a bit anorexic - I've never seen one that small! I ordered the mango lime and coriander chicken wings all the other reviewers raved about. The sauce tasted great but the chicken itself needed flavouring/marinating. Luckily, the desert was on its A game. There were far too many churros per portion (not really complaining!) They were delicious and filled with chocolate, served with MORE chocolate. We also got a churros sundae with was also massive but nobody complained either! After finishing the evening off with more cocktails, the girls decided that this place deserves 4 stars! The food was okay but deffo would recommend this as a bar for their cocktails and music! read more

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I really, really liked this place. Really. Very cool decor - using the standardised current aesthetic of bare brickwork, hanging down lightbulbs, graffiti & hand painted murals, and general earthy, but funky interior. They have a selection of craft beers, tequilas and mescals, and some pretty funky cocktails. I got myself a 'melancholy holiday' which was really delicious - I'd recommend trying it on a sunny day when you're in need of refreshment. The stars of the show though were the staff. Really sound, really enthusiastic, and totally genuine. Just what you want. Lovely guys that would make me want this as my local! The only reason it's not getting five stars is that I'm holding back for the food to arrive. And I'm getting straight on a plane to Manchester when it does. It's bound to be good, I can feel it in ma bones! read more

After hearing several things from fellow yelpers after a elite event I was in two minds about it. But since we were parked outside and it was raining we thought let's just try it. As it was bang on midday it was just open and things were still being put into tables. Not too much of an issue but it was freezing inside. Anyway after we got some menus and ordered to beers we ordered fajitas and a burrito and split them so we could try each other's and a side of chilli fries and wings Fajitas - they were good and also a bloody good portion size especially for a Sunday lunch hangover cure Burrito - nothing to shout about ( better cheaper in town ) Fries - stabdard fries with chilli plonked on top again not really worth it plus needed some seasoning Wings - lowest heat flavour - it was succulent tasty and very moreish ! Would order again Overall a three point five from me would have been a 4 but was told at the till that we could have actually ordered off a lunch menu but wasn't offered it , but the bar man did alter the bill which was nice read more

I've been to El Capo a few times (both drunkenly late on a weekend evening and for food; in big parties and as a couple) and until my most recent visit, had always been impressed. The quality of the food has always been consistently reliably good, and the atmosphere and decor is fantastic. I have been as part of a birthday group of between 10 and 15 on two occasions and although there were a few hiccups with the service (wrong orders at wrong times or missing aspects), the food has always been massively enjoyed by the whole group, and a good time has been had by all. Last night me and my boyfriend went (a Tuesday, which means Taco Tuesday, all tacos £1 all evening) to partake in their brilliant taco deal. My boyfriend ordered nachos to start, followed by 6 tacos. I ordered an avocado bruschetta to start, followed by just two tacos (damn you diet!). The waitress wasn't particularly friendly or amenable and took our orders quite brusquely. My boyfriend's nachos, however, looked delicious and were devoured by him greedily. My starter didn't arrive. Eventually (as I was starving - again, damned diet) I asked another member of the team about my bruschetta. It turned out that it had been put down as a main and "was I okay to wait until the mains came?". I opted to wait, and my boyfriend demolished his nachos whilst I watched on jealously. My tacos were nice. The bruschetta was delicious. The tacos were definitely nothing more than nice. This was my first experience of the food being anything other than fantastic, and the waitress had not particularly warm, so I was a little disappointed as previous experiences had always been so positive. We paid up and discussed going for a drink after the meal. After discussion about where we would go; we decided to just stay in the bar upstairs for a drink there (saves a decision and it's so lovely in there). The bar service was friendly and the barman was attentive. He cracked a joke about my indecision followed by my order of water and was a cheerful kind of guy. The atmosphere was lovely and we sat and had a quiet drink in the beautiful and unusual surrounds of the upstairs bar. Overall recommendation - go for the atmosphere, definitely go for a drink, soak in your surroundings. The food is generally good, but I would suggest ordering the mains over the tacos (or the nachos, which are great). I love the margaritas and the bar staff are friendlier than the waitresses who take food orders. Final comment - the dark haired waitress (very pretty, perhaps foreign) needs to smile a little more! read more

This charming South American themed venue has great staff, appropriate music, evocative decor and the foods not bad. The problem is when I went (a works lunchtime Xmas do), it appeared to have all the right ingredients, but unfortunately not in the right order. Flavours and textures seemed authentic enough (a lovely 'Moronga' Paraguayan pork stew) but portions seemed small with an inflated seasonal price tag. Service though friendly was chaos. Despite being the only diners there and having sent out orders in the day before, vegans got cheesy burritos, vegetarians got meat tacos and carnivores waited for the mess to be sorted. On a positive note, they did take responsibility gifting a bottle of wine and knocking off 10%. For a small Xmas party they kind of got a way with it, but a significant birthday bash or a romantic meal for two might well have been ruined. read more

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Great food, sloppy service! Been here for cocktails and tequila shots before and fell in love with the venue - a very cool NQ bar with a great atmosphere. I was desperate to return for food so came for taco Tuesday the other day. Although I still love El Capo for cocktails and the food was delicious, the service really let it down. They have a cool basement restaurant downstairs where we were seated - small and cosy with a screen showing films in the background (nice touch) and its own bar too. However, when we asked for another minute to browse the drinks menu it took an age to catch their eye to get them back over. No one seemed to know what the drink/food deals were, and we really struggled to understand one of the waitresses. That said, the tacos were amazing! £1 each on Taco Tuesday (including the steak ones) and they were actually really filling. Full of flavour too. Four was just about the right amount - left room for a delicious apple and pastry dessert too! Washed down with a yummy tequila cocktail and a glass of wine, it was a really enjoyable meal. Just a shame their service was so sloppy read more

Amazing food and the friendliest staff in town. The bar can be packed on friday and saturday nights, where drinks are the main focus. Pick another night, or head downstairs to the restaurant area. Its only small so be ready for 'cosy' dining, but truly authentic flavours. read more

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Having been here a couple of times now and had mixed experiences, I was feeling relaxed after a day of celebrating my friends 10k run and given how he wanted to go here, I caved. It was busy and had a great atmosphere. The three of us had a range of different dishes and the nachos starter was the perfect size, unlike the nachos main, which was nice but MASSIVE. Food in general was ok, a little bland in parts but overall it was sufficient to fill the faces of three hungry boys. We all had two courses and some drinks and for £65, it wasn't all that bad. Service was much better than previously experienced and so I would definitely be back.... even if it was for the tequila based cosmopolitans! read more

El Capo is a nice place. Great eclectic décor and a great soundtrack. I visited with friends and we ordered quite a bit. Small nachos were great for £5. Wings were served in a sauce, which made it quite difficult to eat. £1 for a taco was good, however don't expect anything more than two mouthfuls per taco (I would never pay full price for these (3 for £6). The real issue with this place is that everything is very laid back. It was packed on the Tuesday night and they only had three serving staff on. They seemed to be similarly understaffed in the kitchen as it took 1hr 40mins for our tacos to be served. I don't understand how it can take so long to out some ready prepared meat into a tortilla and add a bit of salad and cream. In the end, to their credit, they removed our extra sides from our bill as they forgot about them. Wide selection of cocktails with similar prices to other local offerings. read more

This is a quirky Mexican restaurant, with high quality food. I had the fish tacos, with a house beer. Perfect casual dining. Great decor, and the playlist was unexpectedly cheesy but great. This restaurant doesn't take itself too seriously. Really great atmosphere. read more

I went to 'Taco Tuesdays' last night with a few friends as a couple of them had been once before and had a wonderful time with great service. I phoned at 11am to book a table for four people at 8.30pm, and arrived a little early to my table being cleaned which was grand. Within five minutes of the booking, the whole party was there and we were ready to order our tacos. What no-one had mentioned to us was that they had completely sold out of tacos, as well as many other dishes from the menu. We all found something that we wanted to eat though, so we were happy enough to order alternatives. We had ordered by 8.45pm, received our drinks, and were having a nice time. By 9.30pm, we had still not received any of our food (and with our order being for a burrito, nachos, a quesadilla and a sandwich, this was somewhat confusing), nor had we been told at any point that there was a 45 minute wait on our food. Once we spoke to a waitress, we were told it "would still be a little while". Not very informative. And ultimately, very surprising, considering they were certainly expecting our arrival. It is worth noting also that over half the tables had emptied in this 45 minute wait, so it was not as though every table in there was ordering at the same time. 10pm rolls around, and still neither our food nor an update had arrived, and all of our attempts to attract the attention of a member of staff were blatantly ignored. Once it got to 10.15pm, we had had enough and asked to speak to a manager, who informed us our food was on the pass now and would be with us any minute. We communicated our sever displeasure at our experience, and with all of us working this morning, we asked to have it doggy-bagged as it was getting ever so late. This was OK'd, but took until 10.30pm to get to us. We received 25% off our bill, and although I appreciate the gesture, we hadn't actually eaten any of the sodding food, so I'm unsure why we got charged anything at all. Once we got the food home, it was not even particularly nice so three of us didn't bother with it. Considering we went in for £1 tacos, a bill of over £30 seems a bit ridiculous. When I did get the food home, it wasn't even packaged properly so that everything was soggy as the filling of my quesadilla had completely fallen out of the tortilla. Very disappointed, and I will not be going there for food again. Avoid!! read more

Proper mexican food for once, i read an article that said the chef spent time in Mexico to learn what Mexican food is really about, and it shows. Awesome hidden gem of Manchester! Our waitress was super attentive and dealt with us only, all round great service, atmosphere and vibe about the place. They are always packed out which must be a sign of good things. read more

Stepping into El Capo on a Friday night is like being on the set of breaking bad when they're in Mexico... very authentic music and decor right from the offset. It's pretty much always rammed on a friday night for dancing and drinking upstairs and I think, the tapas continues downstairs... They have a great shot where you have tequila in one glass and tabasco and tomatoes in the other.... sounds weird but actually quite nice! Have never sampled the food here but heard its really quite good! Must come back and try some food instead of downing tequila! read more

Brace yourselves.... it's gonna be a bumpy ride! Rare it is in life that you embark upon a review such as this, about a night that had more horror twists than a Stephen King novel. Now, as a militant humanist and a devout Rumi-ite, it simply isn't in my nature to let the insidious remarks that bubble to the surface escape through my narrative. However it is of utmost importance for those in charge at El Capo to listen very carefully to the following constructive feedback. I won't go into the specific sequence of events as others have covered them already. But if I didn't know any better, I would genuinely think that someone at El Capo had a massive chip on their shoulder for our group, or perhaps someone in our group? Did one of us REALLY piss you off guys? Stole a salt shaker? Insulted a waiter? Made fun of the chef with a pompous obnoxious comment? No? Because from the go, it felt like there was an enormous effort put into making every faux pas imaginable. It had to be a wind up surely! I kept scanning the place for hidden cameras. NO ONE in the history of my dining out experience has EVER waited nearly 3 hours for their food, ever! NO ONE, in the history of my Dining experience has ever been as Saintly/Patient in waiting nearly three hours for their food. And finally, (if I didn't find this hilarious I'd find it deeply offensive) NO restaurant manager in the history of my dining experience has had the balls to fail to even acknowledge/explain/apologize for the aforementioned cockup. I specifically felt guilty and extremely sorry for Andrew Y in particular who's main still hadn't arrived after I received mine (after an hour. Which compared to the others in our group was Usain Bolt time) I would love to talk about the food, because it wasn't that bad (It certainly wasn't two star worthy) My Steak was mostly black as Natalie W mentioned. (Yes, I said well done, but it was done in) But so happy and relieved was I to actually receive my food (after I'd spent about 5 minutes scraping the burnt layer off) I was happy to just get fed. However, so below par was the service to my friends that as a collective experience it was unacceptable. In fact it is a measure of how far and beyond reality this experience was that previous waiting record for the lack of food arrival before leaving was 50 minutes. The coupe de grace for the night was the miraculous appearance of the manager when it was time to collect the bill and her discourse upon arrival. Shockingly despite the disastrous night majority of the Yelpers weren't actually that angry (Ok maybe some were) but merely hungry and disappointed. It was her reaction that tipped most people over the edge. Everyone makes mistakes and clearly there had been a catalogue of terrors (yes I mean terrors not errors aka terrorizing errors) throughout the night. What you don't do, is make excuses which not only fail to make sense but place the blame on a customer who's waited THAT long for their food. Despite the fact that there was a deeply disturbing/heated exchange between the waiter and Natalie W. I strongly believe it was NOT the waiter nor the Chef that was to blame for the night but whoever was running the show. Because that person didn't just mistreat 20 random diners. But 20 of the most active food bloggers (from a tightly knit community) from THE biggest and most active restaurant review site in the North of England. If El Capo was my joint, I'd rebuild the burnt bridges by taking responsibility, biting the bullet and inviting everyone back as a treat. And perhaps as a cherry on top making sure a different waiter and manager took the reigns. Because in all honesty, as my previous review suggests I actually really like this place. So don't be angry about the one star reviews El Capo ownero.. These people mean no malice they merely were forced to take part in a dining horror movie called Nightmare on Tariff Street. read more

Vegetarian burrito = over priced rice + kidney bean wrap. May as well have go to fresh bites for dinner. Avoid at all costs hope this place closes asap. Weird vegge chilli too read more