We had set up with the restaurant in advance to have a LARGE group (47 people) eat lunch at El Torero yesterday. I didn't look at my watch, but I believe they opened a little early to accommodate our group. They got us seated and they quickly jumped into action. Our chips and salsa came out immediately and someone was taking our drink orders right away. So let me just say, their tortilla chips are my new favorite of any restaurant, anywhere. They are obviously made from flour tortillas and between the 4 people at our table, we ate 3 baskets of them! My wife and I both ordered the combination plate #19 which is a chimichanga and a burrito with rice and beans. She ordered hers with the sauce on the side because she's not a fan of overly spicy sauce. The sauce was actually perfect, and she ended up putting the sauce on her chimichanga. Neither of us could finish our food, possibly because we ate so many chips, but trust me, the food was just as amazing when we heated it up at home for lunch today. This restaurant is over 50 miles away for our group and I can 100% guarantee we will make the trip again next year. By the way, I love how the restaurant is decorated. It has a very authentic vibe. read more

El Torero Mexican Dining & Cantina - Our group getting ready to have a delicious meal! - Mexican Near Me - Burson, California

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I have passed this place a couple of times, but today I decided to check this place out. First of all, the chips were very delicious and crunchy. The salsa was yummy and quite mild. The chips were crunchy and warm. The servers were very nice and attentive. Everything tasted good, but nothing out of the ordinary. The restaurant was clean and had a nice traditional environment. read more

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Delicious carnitas! Delicious Pasilla chile relleno! We've been coming here for many, many years and is has always been great food and great, friendly service. New ownership for the last year or so, and still all great! read more

Set on the side of the Highway 12 among oak treed flatlands and vineyards El Torero offers authentic flavorful food and a full bar. Prices are very reasonable as well. No disappointments. Don't expect fancy. It's simply decorated with Vintage Mexican art on the walls. Seating choices are booth or table. The bar is connected to the restaurant by an arched doorway. We decided to eat off of their combo menu in order to try different types of meats. Husband chose a #24 w a Carnitas Burrito served wet and a Cheese enchilada. I picked a #25 with a Shredded Beef Burrito and a Chile Verde Burrito. Both served wet with different delicious sauces. He preferred the shredded beef, I loved the Chile Verde. The Carnitas burrito was just ok good to us. Combo meals come with generous portions of homemade beans and rice as well. Absolute bonus was the chips and salsa received right after we were seated. Chips are a mix of Corn chips and HOMEMADE Flour tortilla chips. Yes, thank you. If you like trying different types of Mexican food, you'll enjoy this place read more

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OK, first of all let me say this is the first time we have been to this place. That we found out that this is one of the places that my wife's family used to own and just recently sold it last year so they still had a lot of pictures and stuff on the wall from her family. The service here was very good everyone there was nice to talk to. That place is really nice inside really good for this area. Seems like everyone knows each other. The food was really tasty. Can't wait to go back to try some more. We will be back when we go camping again at South Shore Comanche so we will see if I can give them a five star on the next go round I will put up some pictures so you could see a place if you are in the area you must check it out. Nice little spot with a nice bar. read more

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If you're Mexican, don't bother stopping by you'll only be disappointed. This is not authentic Mexican food. Menu has Spanish misspellings (which again shows inauthentic translation). I ordered tacos Al pastor and they were absolutely not what I ordered, gave me carnitas instead and thought I wouldn't notice. Al pastor is orange and marinated pork meat, very distinct. They tried to give me "sauce" to try to make up for it. It was a joke. Terrible! read more

Pozole on mind and we found a great place that makes it delicious . As long as there's a chill in Air. Honey Bunch had the Street Tacos and they were stuffed and seasoned. The Service is on point! The Strawberry Margarita, oh my. We will be back read more

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The food was done quick, The prices have completely gone up too expensive! Unfortunately it's really sad with new ownership. The original owners were always busy no matter what day and super friendly! Wish customer service was better also. Food was OK... It used to be fantastic. Not much options in our small town. Do better. read more

Everything,Service is Great,Food is Great. Restaurant is Clean,Staff is Friendly and Very helpful . read more

We love our local spot! The enchiladas with gravy are my go to. The family is warm and welcoming. They also make a great margarita! Definitely worth the stop! read more

My partner and I have lived in the area for about 4 yrs but Burson is a bit further so it took a while to make it out here (we always passed by but never stopped). We have both worked in the industry and our friends own a successful cantina so we were looking forward to giving this place a try. Sadly, it wasn't worth the drive or the cost. And the bummer is that with just a handful of changes, this place could really rock. Service was disjointed and slow, servers were bland. Ambience was like a diner with too-bright lights... Tables weren't set, chairs were messy, gumball machine from the 80s in the corner where a hostess stand should have been... The staff seemed to be moving at a good pace but for the number of tables that were filled, there was plenty of time to prep, but they weren't. The cantina side was closed and if that's the case on a Saturday night, I'm wondering when it's ever even used? Drinks and food took too long to be ordered and arrive. I order fajitas all the time and this was the first time I'd ever had them on a plate rather than cast iron. Food wasn't particularly hot, meat overcooked, beans were nice but had a cracked top from sitting too long. Rice was flavorless, as was the meat. Margaritas had a bad balance so were way too sweet and sugary. All in all, not good. Since this is probably the only game in town, maybe they feel like people will come regardless but I think they missed a huge opportunity to really be a local gem...I feel like one visit from Restaurant Impossible or something like that would be a game changer. There are probably a dozen things they could do without even spending any money. Any how, we won't be back but maybe someone will read this and want to improve? read more

Excellent food here in this old world cantina. The service is fast as you want and friendly. It's like being in Mexico the surroundings are very authentic. I had the pork chimichanga so tasty but more than I could eat. Lunch for the next day! Thank you Sarah for excellent service at the bar. See you here at this great local restaurant read more

El Torero Mexican Dining & Cantina - Pork chimichanga full of pork! - Mexican Near Me - Burson, California

Amazing place. Great customer service! Food is always constantly delicious. We absolutely love coming here for dine in or pick up. The owner is such a great guy and always accommodating. Love love love this restaurant! Come eat here!!! So so so goood!! read more

We have been driving by this place on our way to Sacramento/Truckee for years. We always say we should stop, because there are always lots of cars there. We finally did and boy are we glad we did. As we walked up people walking in said it was really good. The minute we stepped inside we were met with the most amazing aroma that made you want to start eating and by a sweet staff. We found the full bar area with fire place and all. I love ambience with my food... well we found it in that area here. Great homemade flour& corn tortillas and wonderful salsa. The fajitas were amazing! My husband loved his Chimi as well. We were lucky to have the owner come out and chat with us as well. What an amazing family owned restaurant. We will be stopping in whenever we can get by there and will tell all of my friends Don't miss out on this lovely cantina! read more

El Torero Mexican Dining & Cantina - Mexican Near Me - Burson, California

Some friends of ours took us here for dinner it was not busy at all. The waiter had no personality was not friendly and seemed like he was ready to fall asleep. The food was not good nothing had any flavor to it come on guys were in California there's no excuse for bad Mexican food! read more

I've eaten here, off and on, since probably about 2000. It had been a while, so I figured I would go back and try it. It was really outstanding. I'm going to have to go out of my way to stop here more when I'm in town. The food was fresh and tasted great. It was very reasonably priced. The service was outstanding and the food came out quickly, which is nice when you're traveling. I know it's a small thing, but the server asked me if I wanted my side salad brought out prior to the food or with the food. I really prefer my salad to come out prior and it's an annoying trend that I've noticed in a lot of restaurants now that they drop it off with all the food, or even sometimes after the main course. So I really appreciated that he asked, and true to his word brought out a salad very shortly afterwards. We are definitely going to be mack more often now. read more

The the food is good but the amount of chicken in the enchiladas needs to improve, service and ambiance was good

Chips and salsa was alright. Other than that everything was bad. Margaritas tasted like pure sugar juice with zero alcohol. Guacamole tasted like it would be in a lunchable, maybe worse. Fajitas came out not even hot and meat tasted like it was seasoned with cleaning products. New to this area and never returning here. My waitress was nice but didn't want to be there. I don't blame her! read more

Still one of my favorite restaurants! Enchiladas and the taco salad can't be beat. The service was quick and friendly, they recently painted the interior and exterior it looks really nice! read more

We stopped on our way from SF East Bay to Genoa Nevada. We just saw it and decided to stop. It was great food and service. The chips were fresh made and hot. All the food was really good. We would defiantly stop again. read more

3.5 stars. I liked this Mexican restaurant. They were busy and had to wait to be seated. Tables were available, so that means they were understaffed. Sadly, that's what we are facing now. I enjoyed my food and would eat here again if I was in the area. The staff was nice. The only thing that would make it better is if the chicken taco was deep fried w/chicken and cheese. Beans and rice were good. Beans were a little thin for me though. I will be back if I'm In the area. read more

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We came to celebrate my birthday. We've been here before and it's exactly where I wanted to go for delicious, authentic Mexican food. The service is always fast and friendly. The drinks were well made and all of our food was delicious. The restaurant and bathrooms are and well kept. We have never been disappointed eating here. We'll be back! read more

Nice to have new owners. The last time we went was 2yrs ago, and said we wouldn't go back. After seeing reviews in FB, we decided to try it again. Service was good and very attentive. Food was fresh and hot! - chips and salsa included both corn and flour chips - Enchiladas suiza - Grande chicken tostada Clean inside They have a larger area for large parties and family friendly. We will definitely be back! read more

Long wait to take order, they were not very busy. Waiter was not very friendly. Husband had to send fajitas back as they were so dry and no flavor, waiter did not even ask if he could bring something else, i had to tell him to bring something else. No one asked if everything tasted ok. Rice, hard and tasted like it had been made and stored in fridge, no taste. I had carnitas tostada, it was edible but very salty and no other flavor.Took awhile to get check to leave. Will not be going back, so sad. I wanted to like it read more

So I had been hearing a lot of people saying that you need to go back to El Torrero because there's new owners and everything's amazing. We decided to give it another try. Big mistake. First of all we come in and we're seated fairly quickly so I thought that was great. We sat there for about 20-25 minutes with waitresses walking back-and-forth before anyone decide to come take our order. After the first waitress took our order, a second waitress came to us 15 minutes later to take her order and we told her we had already been helped. We literally sat there for an hour waiting for our food that never came. I saw another table of six get served, and they had arrived after us. We were a party of two. The waitress kept coming by telling us our food was going to be out in a couple minutes. Obviously, her version of a couple minutes and our version of a couple minutes are completely different. There is no reason we should've been there for an hour and a half, and not even get food. Honestly, how long does it take to make a few tacos? We were so disappointed that we just got up and left. The place wasn't even crowded,. They need to get it together, number one make sure you know who arrives first, so you can take their order. And number two get the orders out in a timely matter. I just wasted an hour and a half of my evening, and now I'm at home cooking at 8 o'clock at night. So much for giving them a second chance. read more

The food and service are wonderful. They're working on the ambience. Highly recommend this place.

I'm not sure what happened, but my second trip here was completely opposite of the first. Our food lacked the taste it had a year ago and the servers were just going through the motions, not a very welcoming environment. The best part of our meal was the chips and salsa. The chips were fresh and the salsa was excellent. Our main courses though were very bland. The shredded beef was very watery and lacked any flavor. The chicken was also very dry and flavorless. read more

"As Americans, we tend to look at Mexican food as nachos, which is not Mexican food really - they don't eat them" -- Anthony Bourdain It is with these late Anthony Bourdain words I start this review, because I know I do not know jack about real Mexican cuisine. So, do not judge me based on that, as I base my opinion on what tasted good to my Palate. Driving down the foothills on Hwy 12, we were about an hour from Sacramento when hunger struck! There was a very crucial decision to be made right then and there; do we wait to get to Sacramento and risk everyone in the car getting in a crabby mood, or find a place to eat as soon as possible. We opted for addressing the latter and within minutes we spotted El Torero Mexican Dining & Cantina to the left of us on the side of the highway. A quick, but safe U-ey and there we were! The place was packed when we walked in and the three people who were scrambling to serve guests were completely overwhelmed. It took a while for someone to attend to us, but when they did, they were very gracious and attentive. We ordered a few drinks and the lady who was serving us ran behind the bar and made the drinks herself and they were just right. I ordered carnitas plate as I usually do. The refried beans were delicious, all the other sides on the plate were good too. The carnitas tasted very good, but it it was just a bit dryer than I would like my carnitas. My significant other thought hers was just right. She ordered hers with a side of salad and loved it. One of us ordered an Enchilada combination plate that came with three enchiladas, beef, chicken and cheese. She too liked her dish, but loved the refried beans as we did. We had to try the flan before heading back, so we ordered two. I must say it was a bit too sweet for me, but that is me. I am not a big fan of sugar, unless it is used in moderation. If Yelp allowed for partial stars, I would give El Torero Mexican Dining & Cantina a 3 1/2 star, so I settle for 3 star with a side note that we loved our servers and the job they did under pressure (i.e. A super crowded Sunday evening). read more

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Where do I start. Came on a Monday. A gentleman waited on us, no personality what so ever. On the phone walking around the whole restaurant talking to someone about plywood. Maybe the owner? Only 1 other table in the place. Food was not good. Shredded taco had hardly any meat in it. Chile relleno sucked. Cheddar cheese on everything???? Rice and beans no flavor. Iv noticed this place is very busy some days when we drove by so we wanted to try it. Will not be back. read more

Always delicious! Always friendly! Highly recommend giving them a try. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Good food good service local and do able for a modest budget Service was good. One of my family members left their wallet and the staff put it away and kept it for them. Honest folks! read more

excellent food and service . Very clean and the enchiladas and nachos are excellent!!!

I am so disappointed in El Torero, I had family come from as far a Colorado, Fresno, and Pebble Beach to my Dad's 93rd Birthday lunch. El Torero was told days before the size of the party (15) One young lady sat us then disappeared for a long time. There was maybe one other table with customers at that time. We did not have the table prepared for us, we were asked to "share" menu's. We had to ask several times for water (never one offer to refill our glasses), and the service, if having to ask several times for someone to take our order is even considered service, was terrible. My 89 year old mom had to wait so long for her lunch we were almost done before she even received it. The drinks were so weak I would bet anything there was no alcohol in them. My list could go on and on. I did call to let them know this was so disappointing and felt the owner was more annoyed at me for a complaint (which is why I decided to write this yelp) Had he truly felt bad or even came close to acknowledging my honest disappointment I would never even write this review. One last complaint, the food itself was not up to par, another embarrassing and disappointing experience as I had told my family how amazing they were. I guess that is past tense! The owner did tell me when I called that he was busy, so if I wanted to call back at 6:30am to talk I could do that. Not feeling the need to waste my time as he had no time to give me today. read more

Been coming here since the ole Papa Gallo days. Best Mexican restaurant in Calaveras county.

Very dirty, the table is sticky and a film of dust everywhere and the bathroom was unusable. Makes me wonderwhat the kitchen looks like. the waiter got our order wrong. The food flavor was tasteless and bland. The enchilada was small and drowning in sauce that looked and tasted like tomato soup. The chili relleno appears to have been microwaved and very hot on the outside and cold on the inside. For the price I won't be back. read more

Absolutely delicious every time ! I always get the crab and shrimp enchiladas-very fresh, seafood is sautéed in a little wine and garlic , unbelievably yummy ! Delicious salsas and steaks too ! Big, full bar, and attentive service . We always come here when we hit Lake Comanche , always worth the five minute drive ! read more

I ordered the steak fajitas. The steak and refried beans were bland. Overall, i was unimpressed with the fajitas and will probably go elsewhere in the future. I will say that the staff was friendly. read more

Great local spot for great food and drinks. We always return for the food and the great prices. Staff are friendly too!

Food was excellent....full bar, great beer on tap and their flan is probably the best I've ever had...what's not to love, we will be back. read more

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Went for lunch/early dinner today while doing some shopping in the area and had never been to this restaurant before, thought we'd give it a try. To my surprise, the food was sooo delicious and the complimentary chips and salsa were better than most Mexican restaurants. Due to covid I haven't been out to a Mexican restaurant in months it seems and that made it even better! I ordered the vegetarian quesadilla with green onions, tomato's and peppers inside with fresh guacamole on top. I loved mine! Dave ordered a steak burrito which he liked as well. The Price came to just under 30 for us both which isn't bad and I will definitely be back. I was so excited to be having Mexican food, I forgot to take pictures like I usually do. read more