I dont know what all these other bad reviews are saying.... You need to be realistic about what this place is. The carnitas tacos are the closest Ive had to killer tacos since moving from out West. Enjoy that it isnt trying to Americanize Mexican food and give this young man who grew up here and opened this place a chance! read more

Gave this place a try, no one else was there...should have taken that as a sign. Food was about as mediocre as you can get. Chips, salsa, rice, beans, tacos - all meh. read more

I ordered a chile rellano with cheese. I get ground beef, I told the waitress I ordered cheese. She comes back and tells me they don't have cheese. Now by this time my husband is almost done eating while trying to eat slow. I order a couple of chicken tacos to be quick. They were gross. The corn tortillas were saturated in oil. No dinner for me. We will not be back. The place is a little dirty too. No pic of the tacos. read more

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Food was delicious and came out quickly. I got the arroz con pollo and my friend got a pick two - both on the lunch specials menu. Great service! read more

Surprised this place doesn't have better reviews. We had an attentive server, our food arrived quickly and was delicious!! We'll be back! Great portions too read more

El Tecate Mexican Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Waxhaw, North Carolina

Love the food, and that's why we keep coming. However, the service sucks and they take forever to bring your food. Waitress are rude and short not attentive at all. Wish service was as good as the food. Might consider going somewhere else with our experience here read more

Amazing fajitas take out! Quick and efficient, ordered online, pick up went smoothly. I will be back

Lovely place for a relaxing lunch. Food was fresh and delicious and the service was friendly and helpful. Miguel was wonderful! We will definitely be returning soon! Sat out on the patio and enjoyed the cool breeze. read more

Muy delicioso todo.. el mesero muy amable el lugar muy bonito... un lugar muy agradable

2nd time here and good has been consistent. Only one other customer seated, not very busy at all for dinner time on a Thursday night. Service was excellent. Chips and salsa very good, house made salsa. Ordered the special which was taquitos with chicken. I thought they were small compared to other places and overcooked but still decent. The burrito with frites looked good as well. Still disappointing there is no liquor license but overall good food. read more

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El Tecate is doing a soft open right now and they are short staffed so I'm not sure when they'll do a full opening. With that being said, I was greeted promptly and courteously and seated as quickly as possible. The decor and ambiance is very simple and doesn't give you the feel of a Mexican restaurant. The restaurant is somewhat cozy and quaint (small) yet this isn't the reason that I gave them a try. I ordered the burrito and it was slightly better than I expected considering them being short staffed and again doing a soft opening. I will come back in the future once they are fully staffed and hopefully the food will be better. read more

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Soft opening and they are trying to work out the kinks. There were no prices except for adding what it would cost for the setup to be included for tacos in the menu so didn't know the lunch specials were $9.99. The food was not impressive. I ordered 3 different tacos and wound up w/2 the same. The meat was so dry. It felt like it was reheated Tyson's for a salad. Chips are literally poured from a bag and wonder if the salsa is like Old El Paso grabbed from next door. The service was dodgy. The manager/owner didn't know that the waitress had already taken orders and vice versa so going over the top of each other. This area needs more establishments and we were so looking forward to this new addition. We will continue to patronize our current favorite. read more

Y'all wrong here. I waited a long while to try this place because of the reviews and decided to try it. The food here is excellent! Probably the best Mexican in the area. We all really enjoyed our food. Made fresh and seasoned to perfection and the green sauce that comes with the chips is soooooooo good. The service is slow. There was only one server there so be patient. I saw people walk out because he could not get to them fast enough. I felt bad. He was doing the best he can and the service I was provided was friendly and kind! So with that, this will be one of my new go to Mexican as we all really enjoyed it. Sooooo good. read more

We were looking for a New Mexican go-to restaurant. The service was average, didn't get a refill of chips unless we asked for it (basket was small to begin with). Also had to ask for water refills and waitress took her time. To be fair, there were only 2 waitresses between maybe 8/9 groups/tables. Food was reasonably priced (~$11 for a combo meal) but not as much food as you would get at another place so the price probably was about the same per portion of other places. They did give a salsa and green salsa which was free along with the chips and was a nice change from the regular salsa. Chorizo was excellent. Only real complaint was that the waitstaff didn't have too much pep in their step. I would go back again to try something else. Had the queso (wasn't overly impressed) and passed on the guac since it was $8. read more

Descent prices. Ambience was good. Menu is sparse but adequate. Coke products. Only one waitress so service was slow/poor. Good was good but not great read more

Good food, service and ambiance. Prices are great vs portions and food taste is very homie . Everyday have an special and Tuesday is taco day read more

Food was strictly ok. The red sauce wasn't great. The server did not seem interested in serving us. There wasn't a smile on the face . She seem to get frustrated when we were trying to change a few things while giving our order. She twice left us while we were giving our order. It may be that she was working alone and probably was busy but I believe you should give your customer full attention regardless. read more

I saw the on and off reviews before going here, and I went anyway to try for myself! The chips and salsa was phenomenal! My food was very DELICIOUS!! My boyfriend LOVED his food, and I LOVED my food!! This will be my on the go Mexican Restaurant. The food I ordered and my boyfriend never tasted anything better with a Mexican Restaurant. I ordered a steak fajita and it was the best fajita I've ever tried! read more

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Super nice staff, great food and clean restrooms! I don't eat Mexican often but this place was really good. read more

El Tecate Mexican Restaurant - Taco Salad - Mexican Near Me - Waxhaw, North Carolina

The soda machine was so good and the prices were great. The bathroom was very clean and smelled amazing! The workers there are very nice. It took a little bit of time to get our food but it tasted very good. read more

Love to support local business, so we stopped in for a quick meal. The wait staff was pleasant, but the food was unimpressive. Bagged chips, jarred salsa. I ordered chicken fajitas. Little flavor. I never got tortillas. Small portion of beans and rice. My 9 year old grandson ordered a chicken quesadilla and didn't care for the cheese - very stretchy and the bite-size chicken was tough. Limited menu, high prices for what they offer. Hopefully, they can get it together. read more

Came here for the first time because we were hungry and I'm so glad we did! The quesadillas were so delicious and the sauces were very good. Will definitely be back soon! read more

Waitress help us with our selection to leave by sweeping the tables with the floor broom Ordered drinks and food and the staff was bussing tables with the same broom for the floor and then wiping down the tables read more

Bad meal, asked if we could get lunch, they said yes, then had a shift change, charged us for dinner prices instead, tried to charge us for a fountain drink instead of water. Brought the wrong food, had to wait for them to remake the right food and didn't comp anything. PLUS, the food was awful. Chips stale. We'll stick with Chuy's or El Varta. read more

First time visiting. The chips were fresh and salsa was good. Came on a Thursday for lunch and they had a taco salad special and $5 margaritas, we ordered the specials and when the bill came they charged us full price for drinks and said we got the large, no questioned asked or price changes made. Food was good, typical Mexican food, small space. Unfortunately would not recommend. If you do go, and there's a special make sure your request it and specify the special. Total bait and switch. read more

10/10 would recommend this little spot! The food was delicious and the service was great. It's obviously a small / family (or locally) run business, so the atmosphere is basic, but who cares when the food is good?! I had the combo dish with a chicken tostada and a chicken taco. The chicken was juicy and well marinated. The food is definitely authentic and reminds me of the Mexican restaurant I frequented when I lived in NYC. Highly recommend this spot if you want to eat a good meal while supporting a local business. read more

I REALLY hope they can improve as they serve more customers (clearly they are learning as it just opened) as its really convenient to us. I didn't find the pollo con crema appealing at all...it had a flesh tone color vs. a white cream sauce in similar meals at other restaurants. I'll give it 6 months and try it again-if it can survive. read more

Not impressed. Short staffed no alcohol. Prices high. Food below average . Parking is fine because of Publix grocery store next door. Very small restaurant and it actually can only sit just a few. Would not recommend for large group. read more

If you have not visited this family restaurant, I highly recommend it. The owners are a very friendly family, the service is excellent, It has a variety of food very exquisite. read more

The staff is great. Very attentive to the guest to make sure you have everything you need. From a food standpoint the meals were fair at best. We ordered fajitas, carne asada and pollo asada. Very nice presentation but the meals lack flavor. Compared to other area Mexican restaurants, the portions were smaller but pricey. They didn't have a liquor license so you couldn't have a beer or margarita but they had a fun tasting pineapple soda. Probably wouldn't come back. read more

I am disappointed in the manager who received a call from our waitress regarding two orders of Tacos that my Daughter and I wanted to return because of the taste. I offered to pay for one order so the restaurant wouldn't lose to much money. The waitress said that was fine until her manager demanded that i pay for both orders. My family was so embarrassed that my mother in law paid. I would not recommend this restaurant until they reimburse me and they do more training w/management on how to handle situations similar to this one. Thanks for platforms like this, where customers can voice their concerns. TL read more

We enjoyed our first visit to El Tecate. Our server was very sweet and our order was exactly right. We had shrimp fajitas and shrimp tacos. Both were delicious! We sat outside and it was lovely. read more

I wasn't impressed by the food here. It seemed sort of like it'd been sitting a while and just not super authentic. The server was very sweet though and the restaurant was really clean. I'd give it another try in the future, hopefully it's just growing pains. read more

Food wasn't bad. But my experience with waitstaff and management left much to be desired. Following our meal I provided my CC to be charged. Waitress came back and said "I'm so sorry, but I accidently charged another table's order to your card too. You should see a refund soon. Let us know if you don't." That was August 21. I returned Aug 22 - asked to talk to mgr, he wasn't available. They gave me his # and took my contact info and told me to call him. Over the next 3 weeks... I called but he doesn't answer, his voicemail isn't set up, and it hung up me. I called the restaurant and left voicemail asking them to call me. I contacted my bank and they told me I had to work it out with them. I returned in person to the store and again talked to the woman who seemed to be the lead, but she's not the mgr. She called him and after talking to him told me it was being processed. I asked that they call me within 5 days to either confirm it was refunded or discuss options. 5 days later , I had no phone call. I returned to the store (Sept 14) and after an unpleasant conversation with the same woman I left with the full refund that was due me. Mistakes happen. I wasn't mad that the mistake was made. But after almost a month and a lot of effort on my part, I can't recommend this place to anyone. read more

Just left this place. Food and service was horrible. I arrived ahead of a couple and the waitress that looked like them served them first. I ordered a Burrito that came with rice and cheese and ground beef inside. When the food came out there was veeeeery little beef in the burrito. Not to mention one of the sides was rice. I basically had a plate of rice with little to no meat. I showed it to the waitress and I asked to speak to someone about the lack of meat in the burrito. The young man came, I showed it to him and he began to tell me about how they put the same amount in every burrito. I would Not recommend this place to anyone. They've been open for 3 months and I don't anticipate them lasting long with that kind of service. Just plain sorry! read more

I remember eating here a year ago and wasn't too happy... decided to try them again and I was pleased, great food with good prices

Food and atmosphere are not great. Seems like an odd restaurant to be in the Marvin area.

I was really hoping for some good Mexican food (I grew up in Southern California) and this was our first date night in a while. Unfortunately the other reviews are correct; friendly staff but the food is lacking authenticity and doesn't come close to chain restaurants like Sabor Latin Grille. Chips and salsa seems store bought, the tortillas are definitely bull packaged and the presentation in the menu pics is not reflected in what you get. The mixed fajita medley was actually flavorful. However if you could use a better vendor or make in house your tortillas, tortilla chips and work on presentation of the food and use fresh ingredients you'd get repeat business. Also, the decor inside looks more like a high school cafeteria than a Mexican restaurant. But I guess Sabor does as well. A lot can be forgiven if the food is top notch. read more

Our 1st time & we WILL be a regular! It's not your typical Tex Mex..it's unique & delicious! Never had Shrimp Empanadas like this before!! Light & crisp pastry filled with yummy shrimp mixture! Service was friendly & restaurant was clean! Also, generous portions of meat in entree! read more

We went here on a Friday night after work and we were seated pretty quickly...that's about the only quick thing about this place. Severely under staffed and young staff. They were friendly but I felt like everyone was trying to do everything. We barely got something to drink let alone someone taking our order. Maybe give them some time to work some kinks out before coming. We probably won't be back though. Food was just ok...once we did get it. read more