El Torito - La Mesa has great food. And the presentation is well done for a medium-priced restaurant. The interior definitely could use a make-over. It's well worn from many customers use. All in all, it's a great place to eat. We've been there 3 times and the food has never disappointed us.

Really like El Torito's but server was annoying AF and I'd rather not have him wait on us again. It didn't seem like he knew what he was doing and didn't understand that all I wanted was a small Ceasar salad no protein...but he insisted that I could only order the full size salad with chicken or I'd be charged the same amount either way for 3oz of lettuce.

Price for non drinkers!!!!

Great overall experience!

I had a reservation and I was seated 20 minutes later. The service was good and the food and drinks were great. Unfortunately just did not like that we had to wait 20 minutes.

Nice to have the Sunday Brunch back, service was great, and the food was very tasty.

The breakfast was delicious. The carne asada was excellent and the omelette superb. The breakfast combo was delicious as always.

Son has been doing so well and wanted Brunch.

He is 10 and I am 48, neither of us drink.
The Childrens value is great. The adult option should be with alcohol $29 and without $18.99.
I have almost decided against visiting for this reason several times.

Our waiter was horrible he acted like he wasn’t interested in taking orders made very little eye contact looking at freeways while told him our order was just not helpful other waiters inside were attending to there tables and checking on them our seemed as if he didn’t care we watched as people inside who arrived than us received food while we waited about a hour for ours…even the bill and boxes came out slow my family and I believe in over tipping for good service….we left nothing because how bad we were treated

Excellent service and food.
The server provided everything we asked for and was incredibly friendly!

Had 30 mins wait with reservation. Went for Father’s Day and had a overall good experience. Staff was attentive.

The staff was very professional, efficient, and courteous. The food was delicious.

Advertised chilaquiles, chips with salsa, and berries on table but nothing on table. Service very slow, lines for buffet incredibly long, and not all included in menu available. Didn’t enjoy my meal at all.

Reward honesty our experience was the worst and got the worst experience With the waiter and we were just overall I’m happy and it really sucks because it was Father’s Day

Always like to eat here when in Southern California

Great place!!!! Been coming here for a while and never disappoints me!! Saturday and Sunday's are buffet lunch... thank you!!

Great food and very quick service!

Had a wonderful experience from beginning to end.

The menudo is outstanding as all of the other food. Fajitas are freshly cooked right in front of you.

Usually Carlos takes care of me but this time a female (I didn't catch her name behind the bar) took care of me and did a flawless job of making sure I had everything I needed. Great as always.

Very good food and drinks. Prices were great also.

Had a wonderful brunch with family. Great service and food. They did follow all Covid guidelines. Can’t wait to go back!

It was nice to get out Abby is a great addition to the staff
Thank you El Torito

The options and quality of food was great. Our waitress was amazing. The atmosphere and energy within the restaurant was perfect. The line for the buffet was expected but worth it.

We were seated next to 2 big groups in the very back...they were celebrating a bdays so it was way to LOUD...we didnt enjoy our food cause we ate and rushed out of there and for $65 for two buffets we couldn't enjoy it..we asked to be moved and was told there was too much of a wait...just Irritated

I usually come here at least once a month, yesterday was a horrible experience I had family come in to town for my birthday for brunch a total of 7 of us. We were told 3 times by a lady by the name “Maggie” that we had to leave because our two hr time limit was up?!!! We were not told that there was a time limit in the first place mind you there’s 7 of us and my family came all the way from LA to celebrate my birthday just too be rushed from our table, and lady was not nice about it either very rude! I asked for manger Maggie told me she was to busy. The waiter also was not friendly. Our normal waiter was on vacation. Horrible customer service there is a way to talk to people Maggie doesn’t have good customer services skills! Should be trained properly!

Great menu choices for food & beverages, waitstaff, Adrian, very cordial & helpful. Manageable prices, good service and good free parking warrant return to La Mesa
El Torito's.

A very nice afternoon, our food was terrific and server very accommodating. The only thing would be the music was so loud my friend and o had to raise our voices to hear each other.

Food was excellent we had a great time!!! Service was great

The restaurant cancelled my reservation I waited over 30 minutes after I thought I had a reservation waited for the food just horrible

We were seated right away even though it was Mother’s Day. It was very noisy, as expected due to the holiday. Had to ask a couple times for ample salsa. Food was just OK.

Extremely crowded for Sunday brunch with COVID modifications. People couldn’t serve themselves. I think this slowed things down a bit. I would have had a more pleasant experience if they limited the number of patrons in the restaurant. Each food station had a line to wait to get food. Food tasted good and our waiter was very friendly and attentive. Just the lines and noise level was not to my liking.

Brought my family here for Mother’s Day and she loved it! The food was delicious and the staff was so friendly! This place made us feel very welcomed, even with how packed it was. I would just suggest to make a reservation when the holidays come around because it can get full very quick.

Smelled like old oil used to make tortilla chips as soon as you walked in the door. Very noisy. Service/Waiter great. Probably won't go back.

The service was really bad. They took forever to even take our drink order which they messed up twice. Then they also messed up my food order.

Cinco de Mayo tacos, tortillas kept breaking apart. My reservation was @ 0700pm and had to wait 30mins for a table. Other than those two things everything else was fine.

Although I did enjoy the food and felt the prices were fair, the service was lacking IMO. The server seemed rushed and was not very personable. It also seemed like he was spending more time and was friendlier at other tables. We did have our two young children with us that night, so maybe we were pre-judged based on that.

I might give them another chance but I would prob go on a different night (this was a Sat)

I use to go to the bonita location for many years, a few weeks after they close bonita location, we tryout this one La Mesa location. But the food services it wasn't the same, so we stop going there for about 3 years plus, then this Sunday may 01 /21 we decided to go and give an other tryout. But And again Food wise just not the same. Service was okay. And the question that I ask myself. I would tryout again I don't know. If the Quality of Chenge maybe I give an other try... thank you. .!!!!

Our waiter was EVERYTHING and ok the food was bomb! It’s so fresh and when you reserve a table there’s no wait!

Very good food, but the waiting line for access to food was a little long