El Loco

Having been to many Mexican-​esque restaurants across Australia this one was a bit disappointing.
Food is simple but bland, tacos were really average (tried beef, prawns and fish) and would actually rather go to the Norfolk pub for tacos than here!
Also portions pretty small– you get really small servings of guac which sucks.
Service is okay. Atmosphere is very pub-​y and loud music (not fun loud music more rock which is weird)
Nothing for a nice dinner, but could be good for a fun night out with group of friends.

We were looking for Mexican food when we came here but El Loco is more bar than restaurant. The food is average and portions are small. $ 6 taco sounds good but you’ll need a few if you’re hungry and they weren’t that great (I had the queso de soya). Tequila slushies and jalapeño margaritas made it a fun drink stop though!

Mittelmässiges mexikanisches Pub Essen. Hatte schon bessere Tacos. Die Pommes mit scharfer Sosse waren dafür echt lecker

My team at work and I attended El Loco for a good bye lunch. The décor of the place looks like it as designed by someone who hasn’t actually been to Mexico. Every Mexican stereotype is here crystal skills, cactus, sombrero wearing skulls and of course tequila.
Décor aside the food here was average. I paid $ 15 for a very small «burger» that was meant to be a Cuban sandwich. It had some descent pork with what must have been supermarket ham and some flavourless Swiss cheese included. I was thoroughly unimpressed given the $ 15 price tag.
Others in my group said the Tacos were adequate and the minute steak was nice. I think this place is overpriced given the food and the menu is quite small.

As a Mexican who loves tacos, I cannot. I do not recommend the carne asada tacos. I didn’t come here with expectations of tacos like the ones I used to get from the taco trucks back in Oakland. I just came in wanting to know what tacos tasted like in this part of the world.
To be fair, I was warned. But that carne asada taco had all sorts of things going on. It was like the flavor version of mixing all the paint colors together in kindergarten. Seems like a cool idea that doesn’t turn out quite right… in my mouth.
The al pastor, on the other hand… The al pastor could teach the asada a few things. Some interesting flavors that meshed well. I dug the pineapple in it.
My parents, who are lovely people, would have shamed me for serving under heated tortillas to anyone. A tortilla breaks if it’s not heated through properly and a broken tortilla makes a sad taco. Sad tacos are not good.
The service is otherwise great.
Love the cactus number thing that you get while you wait for your food.
I was advised to skip the margaritas, so I did. Lovely selection of Mexican beers. Would come back just for those.

Tacos are the shizznit!!! Yum!!! Definitely better than Gomez n Guzman and mad mex!!! Margaritas are nice but a bit over priced ($ 13.50) nice chilled atmosphere

Cute Mexican bar. Great casual vibe for a night out with friends. Very busy though so you will have trouble getting a table. Food is mediocre.

This little gem in Surry Hills is perfect for a weekend lunch. The food here is sensational and so reasonably priced. Try the ‘Al Pastor’ Pork Sandwich with pineapple salsa it is amazing!

What a wank of a place.
The place is full of judgemental hipster duds;
Craving a connection to the weird kitchness of mainstream mexicana.
The Mexican food here is average and the googley eyed manager or possible licensee, is beyond rude.

Super leckeres mexikanisches Essen und zu einem extrem günstigen Preis. Location nicht so toll, aber wen interessiert das bei so gutem Essen :))

I don’t usually enjoy Mexican food, but… I enjoyed this place.
The salsa was very fresh, the chips were thick and crispy. I was able to get a tofu taco with a lettuce bun! It was spicy!
the service was really good!
But! one thing — The guacamole is made with sour cream?!? what?!? who does this? I was really shocked to hear this.
Food was good, spicy and fresh.
Atmosphere was nice as well!

How could I not have come here earlier?! Went here for a Friday lunch out with a large group. First off ­­ I love the décor. It’s colorful and tacky and wonderful. The menu isn’t super extensive, but that only makes it easier to order (paradox of choice, y’all). They have specials too, so watch out for that.
I ordered:
­- chorizo quesadilla. Oh man this was so good! I’m a huge fan of chorizo, and this one was super tasty, along with the cheese + chillies combo. Rating it a ⁵⁄₅!
­- butter crumbed corn on the cob (or something like that). This was a special. I don’t really know what I was expecting I ordered it, but this is basically a corn on the cob with a layer of some crumby stuff on top. It wasn’t bad, but I probably wouldn’t order it again. Maybe a 3 out of 5?
­- also got a lot of fries from my coworkers… this was a special, it had some barbecue seasoning on it. So good! 4 out of 5
They serve their meals with this little tub of their cheesy/​spicy/​mayonnaise type thing. Now THAT was amazing! I wonder if they sell jars of it??? Or if I could learn how to make it?
Their portions are interesting too, they’re really half portions. So their tacos and quesadillas are like $ 5 or $ 6 but I don’t think the normal person would be satisfied with just one for a meal.

Love the Décor, love the fact they have a trompo of Al Pastor cooking right in the dining room for all to see, and that this little pub gem is in Surry Hills of all places! Its hard for an Angeleno to wrap his head around $ 9 coronas and $ 5 street sized tacos, but that is «El Loco» and they kill it here. Lots of Mexi-​Kitsch like over sized cactus paddle order numbers and loads of bare lightbulbs give it that «Mexican vendor stall» feel– Better tacos than Norfolk.
The food gets an A for effort– Great place for that $ 70 Taco and beer night out.

Hello quaint lil place tucked into the back of a pub that I never knew existed!
This is a great gem of a find. They do $ 5 taco’s people, soft shell — don’t be decieved by the price like we were! I got 1 and a the salad, the taco is about half a meal. The beef and lemongrass titilated my tastebuds so much so that I regretted not getting another taco and forgoing the salad.
You get a number on a huge cactus. I believe I did try to convince one of my work mates to bend over so we could play tennis with him — they were huge.
The salad came out like a tower of awesome that had just errupted and spat out sliced tortilla chips! It included radish, a wee spicy chicken, cabbage, coriander and avocado topped with queso fresca cheese. It was a volcano of crunch covered in shredded cheese that made me clap and bounce in my seat a bit. The salad itself wasn’t very tasty, but the tortilla chips and cheese were yummy so I was sort of glad that I got the taco to begin with.
They also have a huge selection of tequila drinks that made my heart sing. I’m coming back. If only to have every single tequila drink on their menu.
The food is resonably priced, the décor is colourful and draws you in like a venus fly trap.
Except you aren’t the food, they are!
So go eat, make merry, share around some taco boats and enjoy the zest.

I love this place!!! Went here on a Friday night whilst in Syndey and it was pumpin’. It was a pre «going out dinner» but the party was at El Loco.
Yes it was crazy busy, we had to share a table, and there was many personal space violations but it was so much fun! I was with 1friend (both from perth) and we made friends with a few people.
The bar service was fast and usual sort of price for Syndey. The food was extremely fast and pretty tasty! We got the $ 33 for 2 menu which had 2 drinks, a hotdog, 2 tacos and a quesadilla (value what’s up!?). The only thing that let the place down is the food is not high quality but for the price, who cares.
Well worth a visit, would definitely recommend to people travelling.

Amazing selection of margaritas (that actually taste like they’ve got some alcohol in it unlike most other drinks in Sydney) and great tacos.
The best thing about this place though is the hot dog– maybe a bit funny to some that a Mexican joint would serve a hot dog but this thing is out of the world. It could be the mayonnaise, or maybe the pickled jalapeños, but it’s literally the best hot dog I’ve ever had. It’s pretty close to being a foot long and you’ll still be contemplating a second when you’re done.
Also just a great bar in general– it’s always hopping on the weekend!

So this was my first time at El-​Loco Surry Hills — I’ve been to the one at Slip Inn and last summer’s pop-​up bar at the Opera House.
LOVED IT!
It has such a great atmosphere, good service. I had the fish platter — good flavours.
I don’t like the fusion stuff they do*, but they do the traditional things well, its just a bit hard to tell which is which on the menu. Hopefully it’s all just more traditional flavours these days.
* At the Slip Inn earlier this year, I had the American waiter lecture me about how we aren’t in Mexico or even North America, so therefore, I shouldn’t expect traditional flavours and somethings at El-​Loco are in fact, Asian fusion. I don’t come to a Mex theme restaurant for Asian fusion stuff. Kthx.

I like to do the «shotgun» approach when trying new places: order as much food as I can, and worry about waste afterwards. (I am from North America after all.)
The chorizo quesadillas were amazeballs. The fresh chilies added a much welcomed and loved heat to the dish. The beef tacos were quite good and packed with flavour.
Then things went south. The chicken and pork tacos weren’t bad, but we’re lacking anything to set them apart from the norm. The pork taco was so watery the tortilla fell apart.
I think they forgot the chipotle on our chipotle corn. Thankfully we had the sauce from the quesadilla to add a bit of flavour.
The venue was loud and busy. The guy behind me kept elbowing me, I assume because he had no room to eat, I’ll never know if it was personal.
I would have tried the hot dog as well, but didn’t want to do another 15 minutes in the line.
Good overall, but don’t know if I’ll be back in a hurry.

Seriously good tacos and very quick service. Also the chips/​dip were a bargain and the salsa and guac were both awesome!
Add in plenty of beer choice and could easily spend the night here … will be back.

The tacos were absolutely unreal.
The restaurant is such a neat little gem.
Great selection of drinks…
Bring your wallet as these little tacos are &5 a taco… we’ll worth the price in my opinion.
This is a must try taco shack!

Mexican has become my new favourite recently. I got in here on a Friday afternoon for best tacos in town. The atmosphere is pretty good, casual setting, busy bar, and people chatting, laughing a lot.
All Tacos $ 5.00. Al Pastor and Carne Asada are all in good taste. They are not as big as you think. The taste is fresh and well-​balanced and tortilla is soft and moist. However, the flavour is not like some Mexican food I tried in LA and San Francisco, more like fusion.

I’ve been here several times already and it’s ALWAYS packed. Come early if you want a seat. One of the first players in Sydney’s recent Mexican craze this place serves all types of tacos at $ 5 a pop. Try your luck with their daily secret taco… sometimes you win (soft shell crab ftw!) and sometimes you lose (liver ftl!)
The people are hip, the service is quick, AND it’s open late… but the tacos are kind of whatever for me. They’re more Asian inspired tacos (totally not a bad thing) but I buy the Excelsior Hot Dog (PANCHOS FTW!) and Al Pastor Torta far more often than I buy tacos.
Great place for groups and for a quick bite and a beer.