Maria S provided great service and made sure we had everything we needed. We would definitely recommend El Torito to friends and family.

Carlos is hands-down one of the best servers I've ever had! From the moment we sat down at El Torito, he made us feel welcome and taken care of. He was friendly, attentive, and knew the menu inside and out--he even offered great recommendations that turned out to be delicious. Our drinks were always full, and he checked in just enough without hovering. It's rare to get that perfect balance of professionalism and genuine warmth, but Carlos nailed it. He truly elevated our dining experience. If you're going to El Torito, ask for Carlos--you won't be disappointed! read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Pasadena, California

Maria S was very professional and courteous and answered all our questions. She was able to make accommodations for our dishes.

Kenia was a great server! She accommodated our big group and special orders all with a great attitude! We appreciate her service , efficiency and friendliness! The food was delicious and we didn't have to wait long. We'll definitely be back ! read more

Love coming here on for brunch! Excellent customer service (shoutout one of the waiters Carlos), breakfast/brunch buffet. Serviced dishes from Mexico. Definitely recommend to anyone looking for a good morning!! read more

El Torito - Buffet bar - Mexican Near Me - Pasadena, California

Always enjoy coming here for Sunday brunch. The food selection is excellent and never disappoints. Today our server, Maria S., was wonderful, attentive, friendly, and made sure we were well taken care of throughout our visit. Looking forward to coming back again soon! read more

Very disappointed with our experience at El Torito today. My family and I waited almost an hour after our original waiter finished her shift and no one came to serve us. We were left sitting there while other tables were helped. What used to be our Sunday family brunch spot will no longer be for us. Everyone deserves basic respect and service when dining out!!!! read more

I came today with family for my moms birthday we had food drinks and so much fun but what made it an awesome experience was our server Jackson he made us feel good knowing that he was checking on us and seeing what we needed from the moment we got here he was amazing and we will definitely be coming back soon thanks again for the amazing experience read more

Christopher is a wonderful manager who truly goes above and beyond. During our visit, he personally checked in to make sure everything was perfect and promptly resolved a small issue with genuine care and professionalism. The restaurant is well-run, the service is consistently pleasant, and the food is excellent. His positive leadership truly enhances the overall dining experience. read more

We have always come for the Sunday brunch -- but this past Sunday, we had exceptional service from our waiter, Johnathan. He was so personable and attentive, he made sure we were taken care from the moment we sat down. Thank you Johnathan -- if you're ever at El Torito make sure you ask for him! He'll take great care of y'all! read more

Great server named Sebastian who also has the name as me took my order for tacos told me exactly what hay came on it and they were very tasty. Both managers Veronica & karla both came by asking how the service and i we needed anything else. This spot is great for happy hour and just if you're by yourself trying to get a quick bite appreciate it thank you read more

El Torito - Shrimp trio tacos - Mexican Near Me - Pasadena, California

Our food was hot delicious and didn't take much time to get to me. Our waitress Maria S. Was fantastic and very efficient. I recommend 100%

María S. was attentive and kept the mimosas coming. The food was good and the staff was friendly.

Maria is a fabulous waitress, very caring. We had a fabulous experience for my husband's birthday.. thank you

For my friend's birthday, we went to El Torito in Pasadena. Our server, Richard was amazing. The fajitas and Cadillac margaritas were delicious. Richard even brought my friend flan and sang Happy Birthday to her. So much fun!! As we left, she commented on the amazing service and great music. Thank you Richard and El Torito!! read more

We come to this location often. We always have great service and food. Richard has been our server many times. He's a friendly and attentive server. We're always happy when we're seated in his section as he makes our experience that much better. read more

If you're looking for a good brunch with lots of options and bottomless mimosas... look no further. My husband and I had a solid hour without the kids and we stopped here spur of the moment. I'm so glad we did! The chips were hot n crispy and the salsa was cold and sweet! Maria S. Served us in the cantina and kept the mimosas flowing. 60 minutes later we're happy and full! 10/10!!!!! read more

First visit in a while. Let's say the company has improved. We went for Sunday brunch. The drink menu, cafe de olla, bottomless mimosas, along with brunch selection is superb. Large selection, homemade tortillas, chilaquiles, and my favorite the menudo. Our waitress Rebeca was on top of everything we asked for. Definitely will tell our friends El Torito is back to what we knew a long time ago. read more

Great place for Taco Tuesdays. Happy Hour items all afternoon after 3:00 pm to close. The service was great but a little chaotic as the place was busy but they only had a few servers in the bar area. Love they have a regular seating are if you want Happy Hour, you don't have to eat or order at the bar. Their taco station offers fresh tortillas made by hand, selections of meat, salsas and other things to add on the side like beans, sweet corn cakes or slaw. My wife and I feasted for under $25. Wish they still had the Rolled Grilled Flour Tacos, they were so good, better than the flautas. read more

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This is my go to El Torito, primarily because it is the closest to me and my sisters love it here. We decided to bring mom for her birthday on a Saturday night. Staff were extremely friendly and their bread pudding dessert was amazing! Our drinks were brought out promptly, however, we were 45 minutes in, drinks almost empty, and still haven't received our sampler appetizer plate. When we notified staff, they were attentive to it. By this time, food had gone cold. It's okay, we'll try again next time. read more

El Torito - Mexican Near Me - Pasadena, California

First time visiting this location and it was great. Serena behind the bar was wonderful and was able to chat with the manager, Karla, who was very personable. Great team and location read more

Excellent menu and service by our amazing server Caridad..so attentive and kind. The mariachi was a pleasant surprise for the Sunday brunch. Excellent service, will definitely travel to go back read more

Good service and ambiance. Carlos provided good service. The food and proportions were fair.

Service was terrible. We were seated and nobody had acknowledged us for a while - no waters, chips, etc. We had to get up and flag someone down to take our order several times. We ordered the fajitas duo (shrimp & steak). Both were a bit dry. On the menu it said the fajitas come with a choice of corn or flower tortillas but got charged $2 for the tortillas. Shouldn't it be included? Most places offer tortillas for free with fajitas.. The only thing I really enjoyed was the sweet corn cake! read more

El Torito - Steak & shrimp fajitas - Mexican Near Me - Pasadena, California

Amazing food, the server Jackson was excellent and very kind to us also helpful. Always checked on us for drinks and other things

First of all, the service was impeccable!! Thank you Trino for being so kind, courteous, and attentive. We started off with chips, salsa, and guacamole. You cannot go wrong with their chips and salsa and table side guacamole. So yummy! I ordered a Cadillac margarita which was on point. The perfect balance of alcohol and mixers. Even the Pepsi was nice and strong with good carbonation. My daughter and I both ordered the salmon with lemon butter sauce. She had sautéed spinach and I had the sautéed veggies with a side of rice and corn cakes. Everything was seasoned and cooked perfectly. We topped it off my a shared bread pudding which was nice and warm and moist. Topped off with ice cream and caramel sauce. It's the perfect ending to our meal. read more

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Went in for dinner last night (Friday 10-3-25)...ordered the asada burrito ( Chimichanga) style & that was amazing best ive had. Our waiter Sebastian was the best waiter ive ever had. He is the best waiter I have ever experienced in a long time. He always came to check on us, always made sure we had our drinks refilled, very courteous, friendly, attentive had such a great personality. Other waiters can definitely learn from him about what great customer service is and how you should treat your customers. This is the kind of service that makes you come back. Thank you again Sebastian for a great dinner experience. See you again soon. read more

DJ Jim is amazing. Awesome Jerome. Karla is the best manager. Amazing time. Great service

Wonderful service given by Beto our sever. Brunch selections were so many we had own plate and were done. You will be left with a belly full of deliciousness and a smile from red to ear. Just be careful with the mimosas, they can creep up on you. Last but not least, make sure you ask for the churro pancakes. It comes with the brunch. Nice dessert touch! read more

Came here after work for some food + margaritas and the experience was actually better than expected! We got the Margarita flight and all 3 flavors were really good - the mango and blackberry were on the sweeter side but really tasty. It's always a fun time with margaritas and chips/salsa! It was surprisingly pretty busy on a Tuesday evening. Our server was friendly and accepted the free entree I had with no issues or delay. We sampled off the happy hour menu and got the birria beef tacos and mini crunchy tacos. Both were amazing! The birria was so flavorful and dipped in the consume was even better. We also got fajitas which were mostly good but the steak was so chewy and tough - really don't recommend getting the steak fajitas. The shrimp was the best of the combo. read more

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Looked at the reviews and they must be from regulars. Came here since it's near by, but highly suggest to find another Mexican restaurant. From the moment we sat down we waited 15 mins to get service ( I had to ask for my server). Everything was overly salted. I questioned if the Birria was even cooked fully. As a server just acknowledgement that a server would be with us soon would've been fine. Instead 3 servers passed us and didn't look our way. I understand rush hours, but the overall experience of coming here wouldn't even bring me back. read more

El Torito - Happy hour birria tacos, street corn, and nochos. - Mexican Near Me - Pasadena, California

Plenty of parking, average prices, friendly employees, and great food!! I love El Torito and their Flautas are the absolute best!!! We got the Chicken Flautas and the flavors sure dance in your mouth!!! :0) it's perfectly flaky and crispy and yet soft. I also really like the chips and salsa put out upon your arrival. I wish the chips were slightly warmer but it was still appetizing! The chicken was dry but I loved how the onions were flavored! We tried the banana cheesecake cinnamon dessert and it was good (but not mind blowing). I want to come back and try their drinks :0) the mojitos and cocktails look amazing! Our server was friendly but sometimes it took awhile to get help because he was working at least 3 tables. There are plenty of seats inside so it's great for group meals. read more

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I have been to El Torito many times different locations but this one stole my heart! It's my third time here but this past Saturday we came run some errands near by and we decided to have late lunch we sat in the bar area and they have happy hour our server Kennia was great she kept checking on us to see if we needed anything great service, great food and cantina area great ambiance, we loved, Thanks guy we'll be back soon read more

There's a really cool bull statue before entering the establishment, I had to take a picture of it & it's a great photo op! Food was amazing but the service was a little down. We came for lunch but it wasn't busy so the servers should've been a little more attentive. We had to ask for refills on waters twice before they actually came to refill the waters. Other than that, everyone seemed happy & cheerful :) read more

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Excellent experience! The food was amazing, the service was top-notch, and Beto provided extraordinary attention and hospitality. Highly recommend!" read more

Wil our waiter did an amazing job! He was very friendly on top of things and very patient with our party of 13!

Terrible service! Every step of our dining experience took an extra 20 minutes. Sat down, no menus, finally got menus, asked for water and didn't receive it until about 30 minutes later. When they brought our food out, we still didn't have any utensils, plates, and the fajitas were missing tortillas. We finally had to talk to our server about our experience and instead of apologizing, the manager decided to haggle with us on a discount. Shame, it used to a nice location but I don't know if we'll come back to this one. read more

They will straight up ignore you when busy. Have had several delivery orders cancelled out of the blue. Wish they liked customers. read more

Been going to various El Torito's in So Cal and I know they don't have as many locations as the old days but I am still a fan. Come on, they had me at free (good) chips and salsa!!! The Pasadena location has been my go to. Came for an early dinner and discovered that they have Happy Hour EVERYDAY from 3-7 pm so we went to the bar side and tried the Happy Hour menu. Good prices and they were busy so everyone had to wait longer for food but they kept the chips and salsa coming. And, if you are a Costco member, go get the El Torito gift cards ($100 credit for $80) to further sweeeten the deal. read more

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We don't have an El Torito close to where I live, so anytime we're in Pasadena we come here. Great food and thank you Oscar C for great service! read more