El Rodeo

The food was delicious and an excellent value. For just over $ 20, I had two drinks, a very large meal, and dessert. The service, however, leaves much to be desired. The restaurant was very slow, I was there on a Sunday evening (Valentines day 2016) several hours before closing, but I felt unwelcome and rushed the entire time. My server barely talked to me and seemingly wanted me to end my meal as soon as possible. When I went to the counter to pay, the man behind the register never acknowledged me, never talked to me, never looked at me, and never ceased his conversation with a server that was hanging out at the counter. I was only passing through town, so maybe I don’t matter to them as a customer, but if I come back, I WON’T be giving them my money.

First, I have a disclaimer. I ordered carry out so I didn’t get to sit and enjoy the margaritas that have apparently put rose (or green) colored glasses on other positive reviewers. I stayed at the hotel next door (La Quinta) and ordered the beef nachos and a small burrito.
I’m an Arizonan, but I try to not be a Mexican food snob. Heck, I enjoy Taco Bell as much as higher end Mexican restaurants. But I knew I was in trouble when I saw the nachos. Not real cheese. OK, maybe it’s real cheese in that it came from a cow, but it also came from a bottle. It’s the type of cheese you’d get with movie theater nachos — just worse. Then they just threw a scoop of beef on them. Wallah. Nachos. But, I’m not a snob, so I ate them anyway. The cheese tasted terrible — like an awful combination of melted Velveeta mozzarella & those weird regional cheeses often found in the midwest. But I was a trooper and hid the taste of the cheese with the ample salsa they provided.
Then my gastrointestinal system told me what it thought of my meal choice. I was in La Quinta hotel, throwing up and pooping nonstop all night. When I stopped pooping, I started puking again, and vice versa. It’s bad enough that I’m in a La Quinta in Clive Iowa in snow & 16 degrees, but thanks to El Rodeo, I had my own all-​night rodeo ride on the toilet.
Maybe it was because I didn’t stay for the margaritas.
At any rate, if you’re a fan of puking and pooping out half your body weight in 8 hours, go to El Rodeo — and order the beef nachos. Tell’em Brandon sent ya.

This is usually a top 3 choice for lunching during work. Lunch time margaritas are only $ 2 and they’re quite delicious every time. Relatively quick service but the friendliness is hit or miss. They seem bored & disinterested in diligent service. I understand this is a quick low priced Mexican restaurant and not like the upscale 801 Chophouse, but politeness seems like common core ethics when being a server. We mostly go here for lunch because we can squeeze it all in our 1-​hour lunch period.

El Rodeo has some good Mexican food at a great price. Like to go here and sit in the bar area, not a big fan of eating in the dining area. Really like their chicken nachos, and their chips and salsa. The menu has some good choices, some they could do better on. For the price it’s a great stop for some cheaper good food.

I work nearby so I come here often. I’m not a huge margarita fan but these are pretty good. I usually drink Vodka and sodas and they’re pretty tasty. The chips are ok (I try to avoid them so I don’t get too full before the main event) but the salsa is good and we always ask for the secret spicy stuff they don’t give out. We’ve had a smattering of the menu and it’s all been really good. My boyfriend is always getting one of the burritos. The last one he got the Burrito Ranchero with chorizo and I thought it was amazing! He thought it was really great but I was really impressed. He’s also had the Burrito Loco and he’s really liked that.
I’ve had the beef quesadilla (awesome), the Chile Verde (good!!!), the ChoriPollo (excellent!!!), the Enchiladas Acapulco (good!!!), and a bunch of other things. It’s always fast and delicious and the service is friendly, joking with you. That’s why we’ll always try to make a stop there!
FYI it gets really packed so get there early to grab a seat or make a reservation. I usually sit at the bar so never a wait for me :)

Burrito excellant, beer cold margarita was great, vegetarian combo very good. Just at entry employee on her phone and walked away.

Who wouldn’t want mexican food? This is a great place to stop by when drinking while having awesome tacos!!! Or just have some tacos!!!
Nonetheless, it’s a good place to bring friends and family. Servers are nice and helpful

We’re from Austin, Texas so we know what good Mexican food tastes like. We ate there twice while in town. I got 2 different combo plates & both were excellent. Even when it was busy we got in quickly & the service was fast.

Dinner is always great drinks are just as good. We always make time to have dinner there, when we are going through. The staff is friendly and service is good. Hector is our favorite Bartender.

Had to wait before someone would knowledge me. I finally got a table but the waiter (Rigio) was rude and short with responses. Slow down and talk to your customers. Food got to my table way too fast. I’m worried. I was right. The tamale was dry, the beef enchilada was good. It was nice and big with a god taste but the taco… I’m not sure what that was? Why is there a pound of cheese underneath it? I heard the fajitas are great, maybe I should should’ve gotten those?

Once we got seated … The food was awesome! Way more then I could eat. My husband had the especial fajitas… They were fabulous! Highly recommend !!!

I have been here in several occasions. Once when they were slow and once when they were extremely busy. Both times I have had excellent service and my food came out minutes after ordering. May I recommend the choripollo. Homemade chorizo on top of chicken and covered in queso!

I would like to give it no stars but it will not allow me to rate it with no stars
I will not be coming back here. We are the only ones in the restaurant. The waiter was more interested in talking to the girl at the register it seems about something he was not happy about? I don’t speak Spanish but he was more interested than that then seating us. Then it went down hill from there. Attitude: could care less about customers, had to ask for him as he sat us and never came back. Then a gentleman dressed in a t shirt yelled for him which he still took his time to get to us and get my husbands drink order at that point we just ordered as we didn’t know if he’d come back. Then the food was cold inside but hot plates that he didn’t warn us about.
The burrito that I had did not take good at all. My husbands order was wrong.
We will definitely NOT be back and will NOT recommend it.

One word: meh.
I felt like I was bothering them from the moment I walked in to when I paid my bill. Less than spectacular food served on very hot plates.
Paying my bill resulted in me waiting for the cashier to take a break from totaling up receipts. In the middle of posting my bill someone came to ask about catering and get attention turned to that person (makes me wish o would have signed the receipt «batman» before leaving since she was no longer posting attention).
There are other Mexican restaurants in the area. So far one remains my favorite and it’s not el rodeo.

I’ve been here before and it wasn’t bad. This time, not so much. There was a huge group of people when we got here and they hadn’t even ordered their food yet. A bunch of women and some kids, so I’ll try to give them a few stars as there was only 3 people working. First off, let me say the cashier is not the friendliest. She doesn’t say hi or even tell you the the price when she’s ringing you up. She didnt say s single thing to us when we got here or when we left. You’re the first person I see when I walk in, try to leave a good impression. Anyways, it took forever for the waiter to even come by, when he finally did about 20 mins after we got sit down we ordered our drinks and then he brought them back. Fine, he came back about 10 mins later to take our order which took so long I wanted to just pay for the drinks and leave. When I did get my food, I ordered a taco salad which half of my hamburger was cold and I didn’t even get any shredded cheese on it and my shell was burnt. My husband ordered the same and didn’t get any cheese sauce and got all hamburger and wilted lettuce. We did order a chicken taco and it wasn’t to bad. My soda tasted just like combination no flavoring but I paid for it and honestly at this point I ate my cold salad and was annoyed at how long it was taking. The waiter also forgot our silverware. I’m the type of person who likes the waiter who took my order, to also be the one to serve my food. This was not the case so the person who brought our food thought it all went to one person and barely understood English. We just told him to put it on the table and we would figure it out. When we asked for the ticketed it took about 20 mins just to get the waiter to bring it. I understand that you could be short handed or the table of about 15 women could be a handful but this place could do a lot better. It needs an update on the interior to the point it made me want to leave. If you’ve ever watched kitchen nightmares with Gordon Ramsey then you know what I’m talking about. I may try again on another night but it will be awhile!
Oh, they do give you free chips and salsa!

One of the best Mexican places I’ve been to in a while. Super fast service. Great prices! $ 7.99 for dinner combos. Their cheese dip with spinach is so good and comes with little «eggrolls» filled with chicken or beef. I highly recommend it! The monster margarita is gigantic. I’ll be back!

It was easy to get in and out without any trouble, and the food was less than desirable. The folks I was with seemed moderately satisfied with their food, however, I ordered a simple taco salad that was 95% lettuce. A little meat, a half of a slice of a tomato, and a whole lotta salad…

El Rodeo has been … And will probably always be my go to for Mexican in Des Moines. I came in today around noon. It was hoppin’. I branched out from my usual fajita quesadilla and ordered shrimp tacos with sol. I always get the queso dip too. The salsa had a little more heat today than usual which I didn’t mind at all. Good stuff!

I just moved from Chicago so I’m used to authentic Mexican food. I ordered the flauta plate. It was like a Mexican monte cristo. Not crispy like flauta is supposed to be… more flaky & pastry-​like. The chicken inside was sparse and there were more peppers inside than meat. I know that everyone cooks different ways but i didn’t care for it. At least if it was tasty Id come back. It was pretty bland.

I’m not a regular with Mexican but when I go I have my simple favorites.
We had a group of 6 and sat right away after the lunch rush. The Margarita special was good and the wait staff was on top of it. No one at the table had issues with food. They loved the chips and salsa. I always get the white cheese to dip my chips. Yum.
Mix the cheese and salsa and you are set to go. I can’t do the hot stuff so it was perfect.
I heard that this is the best one of the three. Bill was a little slow but that’s just tine for food to settle.