Nice place. Really busy Sunday afternoon lunch (maybe because it was right after 2 nearby large churches let out). Service was good. Food was nice. Waitress was patient with questions. I went next door to the bakery and fell in LOVE with, of all things, JELLO! I love the gelatina encapsulada! I also bought a loaf of a vanilla bread-cake with pecan toppings that was SUPERB. Prices were really cheap! I'll be back. read more

Went there for lunch with my little cousin who lives close by while going to Cal Poly Pomona. It's one of her favorite Mex restaurants. I ordered the small plate with two soft carnitas tacos and rice and beans. Plenty of food for lunch. Free chips and salsa. Very tasty salsa although not the traditional chunky tomato style. The rice was good, maybe a tad salty. I rate a restaurant by their rice. This passed the test. The refried beans were good. The carnitas tacos were very good, served with lettuce and tomato. Very appealing to the eye and fresh. The carnitas had no gristle or inedible pieces, you know what I mean. This is a plus. Overall, had a good meal. Will eat here again although from prior reviews, looks like maybe their meats (carne asada) may not be that great. read more

Seems to have a resemblance of a Tex-Mex restaurant. The interior and exterior of this restaurant seems to be a deterrent, but it also is a teaser to try to come in and I was glad that I did!!!!!! read more

Food has always been amazing. Service has always sycked pretty bad. Waited 15 to be seated in a half empty restaurant. And 15 min to get a drink. read more

I give a 5 star to the juevos rancheros and the jalapeno potatoes. I've been here numerous times and since this is so good I haven't been able to try anything else on the menu. If you like spicy you must try the potatoes. The service is fast and the servers are friendly. read more

This place is awesome. Great food at reasonable prices. The bakery is also a great place to visit.

Great food, great service. I am hooked on #40; only $9.99 and that includes chips and salsa. Very clean restroom. The place is decorated very nicely. A large variety of bottled Soft Drinks and beer. Steve W. read more

Great food and great Pan Dulce, but they don't always have your favorite one. They run out and not make more for a week or two. It is disappointing to get hungry for a certain Pan Dulce, and get there to find out they don't have any. read more

Love this place. First time there and we had a wonderful lunch. The chips and salsa were great. The pork burrito I had was delicious. It was also big enough for leftovers the next day. It was also nice that the burrito had red sauce on one side and green sauce on the other. Both sauces are tasty. Service was good. Prices great. read more

My First Time Here And It Was Great !!! I Got The Enchilada Plate and it was so good the spice was perfect.

I arrived at the 7:35pm tonight and was told that I couldn't eat because they were closing at 8pm... and to top it off, the hours say they are open til 9pm!! Anyway, there are too many other good Mexican restaurants in the area that I'd rather spend my money at... adios El Merendero! read more

El Merendero Mexican Food is the best mexican restaurant that exists in Pomona, the food is great specially los nachos de pollo, but the best dish is "Burrito enchilada style" I've been a costumer for over 4 years and the service is great; Juanita, Margarita, and Lydia son marabillosas al atender al cliente, they always smile y te hacen sentir como en tu casa. Attention for all girls if you are having a quinceanera i encorage you to buy your cake at El Merendero Bakery trust me the cakes are to die for. read more

Had their sweet corn tamale and it was delicious. Try with their green salsa (pour over) and a cup of cafe de olla (coffee and cinnamon).

The service is always bad(been there 8 times) food is excellent, chips suck but salsa is good. Menudo is excellent, if the service was better it would-be 4 or 5 star....... read more

I've been here a few times and have never had a bad experience. I've tried the super quesadilla, the cheese enchiladas and the chile verde with the side of rice and beans, everything has always been really good and authentic. The meals are a really good price, my boyfriend and I had dinner for like $25 and we each had a beer too. read more

This is absolutely one of my favorite restaurants! I myself am Hispanic and have grown up eating mama's delicious Mexican cooking, but sometimes she can't cook for me as much as I'd like. When i found this place I was ecstatic! The food is amazing and truly authentic Mexican food. I'm very happy to have found this place! read more

Best menudo in P-town by far. I always eat here and sometimes I tame a friend of two. Best food, always fresh and I never leave hungry.

Love this place me and my workers are alway ordering hear on are lunch break great bread , great food ,great staff

Its sunday,its hot so we ordered el merendero. We went to pick it up and the young lady working there took forever to come help us. We were standing there for maybe 5 minutes before she came to ring us up for our food. It wasnt even busy! She seemed miserable! I've the food ,but the service wasnt great.... read more

I have had lunch at El Merendero about 12-15 times a year for the last five years when in the area. I have not often been disappointed. I recommend any of their burritos, which have varied combinations of beans, cheese, rice, meat choice, potatoes, and guacamole. My favorites are the simple bean and cheese, and the chili relleno burrito. They have very good enchiladas and tamales, Their taquitos and chile rellenos are also good. Their hard tacos are average. I also like their nachos. The only below average dish I had was the tostada, but this was a few years ago. The only knock I have on their taquitos is that the guacamole is camouflaged by lots of lettuce, so there is not much. Twice I asked for a little more, and one of the times I was charged. I you want the best deal, DO NOT order one of the small combinations, unless you are getting the enchilada and two taquitos, which is what I get most often. Instead, I strongly recommend you order a la carte to get more for your money. Most combos cost about $9.49, but most of the items ordered individually are $2.49, and an 8oz serving of rice and beans is $1,99. each. Therefore, you can get the same items plus 8oz each of rice and beans for $8.96, or you pay $9.49, and get only half as much rice and beans. It's an easy choice. If you want a chile relleno with rice and beans, you will pay $8.47 instead of $9.49 on the combo, and get wice as many rice and beans. This afternoon, the beans were somewhat runny, but this is not the norm. The are usually very good, especially in a burrito. As a final note, Their chilaquilies really should come with eggs, as it does everywhere else, but El merendero will charge an additional $1.50 for a single egg. read more

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!! by far the best mexican food i have tasted in my life! i love the burritos and the nachos. the service is great and the prices are great even on my budget i can still manage to eat a great meal here. its a nice place to have a drink too the margaritas here are the best i've ever tasted Order anything off their menu trust me they will not fail to impress you read more

Woohooooo! i love this place, i can't stop raving about their food and student-friendly prices!!!!! they sell the best burritos in all southern california, NO JOKE! i recommend their super combo burrito enchilada style (green sauce). For less than $10 you can eat a huge burrito, chips and salsa and tamarindo water...yum! Have been here many times and each time im blown away by the fast and efficient service =) read more

The food was delicious, no complaints there. However, the service was terrible!! Their staff need better training in customer service.

Ok let me start by saying if I can put negative stars I would. I never post any reviews on here, but I got so sick after eating there that I just had to. I went on a Sunday afternoon that was not busy and I still got horrible service. I ordered a tostada de ceviche and my grandma order fish tacos, as soon as we got our food there was an awful rotten fish smell coming from our plates. I tried to excuse the smell because it is fish, but fish is not supposed to smell like that. I gave it a bite and it was disgusting, five minutes later my stomach started hurting really bad. I ended up getting very sick. This is not the first time I come to this place and have a bad experience. I don't understand why people post some great reviews about this place. This is not the way Mexican food should taste like. Their food is plain and flavorless, aside from the fact that is unsanitary. I finally learned my lesson and will never come to this awful place again!!! read more

loved this place. delicious menudo, tortas the bomb. green chilaquiles are yum! their pan dulce is the best!

This is a nice combo spot, either a Mexican restaurant or a bakery. I mainly come here for the bakery side. But have enjoyed some of the Mexican food side as well. They have a decent burger and shrimp cocktail (a small is actually a pretty decent size, even for a big guy like myself) I don't know why but I love getting burgers from Mexican restaurants, they're usually pretty good in my experience, and this place is no exception. As far as the bakery part of this establishment it's pretty decent as well, good selection of cookies and sweetbreads, I just don't know about the stuff behind the glass at the counter ( like the 3 leches cake ) I never see ppl buy that stuff and think it just goes back in a fridge in the back or something. So the only thing I don't like about this place is the OVER DONE SECURITY, is it really necessary to have an around the clock nosy security guard there? This place has 2 front doors, and I absolutely HATE IT when I'm walking up, and see the security guard watch me through the glass windows to figure out what side of the restaurant he needs to migrate to, to be all up in my ish, REALLY, but maybe they were robbed, I don't know. Send me a PM if you know anything. Otherwise it's pretty annoying, or at least give the customers some space and not be all up in their grill. Come on, I don't even get that treatment going to my bank or any other place that actually requires security. read more

The food is great but I hate the restaurant since its always filled with a bunch of hipsters. I recommend you just order your food to go and not eat in there because I guarantee you will be annoyed by the kind of people that eat there often (*coughs* hipsters *coughs*). read more

They have an affordable breakfast menu. The red chilaquiles breakfast (fried tortilla strips with spicy red salsa and traditional Mexican cheese) and the pancake breakfast are really good. You can order a cup of cinammon flavored coffee for about a dollar. It's in the Downtown Antique Row in Pomona. I highly recommend this place if you're looking to eat a tasty breakfast meal with friends and family. They have their own Mexican bakery right next door. Their pastries range from about 75 cents to a couple dollars. read more

I'd love to be able to give a review on the food but I wasn't able to even order! My boyfriend and I sat down and got a couple waters while we looked over our menu (which took about 2-3 min). When we were ready to order we put our menus down and waited and waited and waited. No one came to take our order. After about 15-20 minutes of waiting, we finally asked another waitress if we can order. She said that she would tell our waitress. Our waitress then walked by our table another 4 times without saying a word to us. We finally just walked out and found another place for lunch. We are very patient people but that was the worst service I've ever had. read more

They have recently moved to a new locations since I was here 4 years ago. But, back then, the inside of the restaurant was not the cleanest. Aside from that, this place served a great carne asada burrito. read more

Just got back to from this place and what i ordered was decent: beef soup: the veggies were cooked well and the had good chunks of beef, but it was on the bland side as compared to other beef soups I have ordered from other Mexican restaurants. I had to load up on the lemon, cilantro, jalapeno, and onion that were added on the side and that had little affect. The champurrado was pretty tasty - i liked the cinnamon flavor and it wasn't too thick. I would come back again and try something else - a good thing about this place is that it is clean, the staff are friendly, and there are 100+ menu items. Side note:if you pay by credit card, they charge you an additional 50 cents - it didn't bother me though, but just a fact for you to know. another side note: i have yet to try but they have happy hour on tuesday from 5-830pm - buy one margarita or pina colada and get the 2nd one for 50% off. read more

I like the food here. The menudo is good and so is the rest of the stuff on the menu. The service is crap but it has been that way for years and it is not about to change anytime soon, so just go in expecting crappy service and you wont be disappointed. The Pan Dulce is OK and the bakery is conveniently located right next door. read more

We live within walking distance to this place and it is fabulous! Great food and the bakery is awesome.

Been going here for years, before it was at its current location and it remains my favorite in Pomona. Sometimes going to Antique Row I find it a treat to grab some taquitos or a favorite to go with family or friends. I recommend Menudo, Enchilada style burrito with green sauce, the chips and salsa are addictive. After, gotta check out the panderia, I love the pink cookies and candy apples are delicioso! Today Carina the cashier gave customer service. Warning, it can be a life changing experience, to receive such abundance. Much gratitude for such blessings in Pomona. read more

OMG!! best mexican style food ever believe it of not. I have had many so called mexican food and so far this is the best i kid u not. My all time favorite is the Nachos with carne asada and green salsa YUM!!.. the portions and prices are quite reasonable but trust me you wont be dissapointed. I have been eating there since i was child and i keep going back. PLus their new location is gorgeous and now instead of having to order at the window you now wait to be seated and take ur order of the menu. The best part if you like it so much they can even cater for you. Trust me your guest will not be dissapointed. I have had some catering done from their restaurant and my guest loved it and were wondering where i got it from. which is quite a plus. So stop going to those cheap so called mexican restaurants you know what they are and go here... trust me if you like albertos and chipotle grill trust me i guarantee u will like el merendero mexican food 100 times more. Also if you are in the mood for dessert their bakery is on the other side which always smell delightful =) This is a great place to take the family, even the children since they now serve a kids menu but only for under 12yrs of age. read more

Speak spanish if you can. This spot is in the neighborhood ! SOPO !! comida always bomb. breakfast on weekends always a pleasure. Huevos Rancheros, Chilequiles rojo con carne, or Menudo a favorite. tacos de papas on those lenten fridays. Service is great if you have a good attitude. The panaderia the best of ANYWHERE IN LA!!! Come to town and give it a try and savor the local scene, with its diverse artforms and merchantry, and music! read more

mmmm menudo para el crudo, but the waitresses hmm i will so bitch slap you , next time visit table every 5-10 mins if i need something, geez slow asss, but food good. read more

Best Mexican food ever. I love the bakery and the restaurant. If you are looking for food Mexican food this is the place.

Good! The food was not bad, just okay. I had menudo of which I am a big critic. It was decent but could of been cleaned a bit better.

Ordered a cake from here and was very specific about what I wanted for the filling in the cake. Even though it was stated on my receipt they still managed to screw it up. They put the wrong filling, the writing on the cake looked unprofessional like a kid did it and then they they had the balls to give me a broken decoration for the cake topper. The cake was good tasting but would have preferred what I ordered. When I called to complain they said to take the cake back but not if it had been cut already! WTH! How do u think I found out the filling was wrong! Oh n if u dnt speak Spanish don't bother going in without a translator. Lol had to have my husband complain!!! read more