El Rodeo Restaurant

I went there again tonight. So glad to see that there were many more people than last week. Just like my first time there, I stuck to tacos, and they were incredible. Al pastor, Barbacoa, carne asada, pollo asada, chorizo, and carnitas… all so damned food I ate until I couldn’t no more!!!
#elrodeohiddenisahiddebtreasure
***word of advise, if you LOVE tacos and have a non-​Mexican server, just ask for the manager. They’ll know what you’re taking about

I am going to comment on the food here. The atmosphere is just average with the exception of some pretty cool carved chairs. So if you’re going to compare and contrast this restaurant with the other «Mexican» restaurant in Falmouth on Main Street or the one that is right down the street from this one in Hyannis, I will tell you that there is no comparison. Those other restaurants don’t even have to work for it because of their location. They are allowed to get away with serving average and below average food. El Rodeo is so far ahead of these two restaurants that it is unbelievable. The only restaurant that even compares to the quality of this food is in Newburyport mass. A place called Agave.
Come into El Rodeo for one of the lunch specials and you will not be disappointed. The prices are reasonable and the food is consistent as today was my third trip in. The staff is friendly as well.

As some friends & I walked in tonight to 2 waitress being left on for the remainder of the night, there was a short argument between them about who gets to wait on us which made the atmosphere rather awkward from the get go. Well the waitress who was lucky enough to wait on us was rather hostile & didn’t seem like she was actually interested in waiting on us. Through the course of our time here we would ask questions about the menu, for a to go box, etc. & the waitress had some sort of attitude or hostility. I’ll come back since my options of restaurants on the cape are limited but I’ll make sure to have a different waitress, one that doesn’t make their customers seem like a bother.

I would give this place negative stars if possible. Took my family for Cinco de Mayo because San Diego’s was an hour wait. We had to wait 20 minutes at L rodeo which was expected. Once we got seated it took another 15 minutes for us to even be noticed. We ordered their house margaritas which came in red solo cup and tasted like they had no alcohol in them. We been ordered our food to taco salads and a chimichanga meal and it was comical when they came to the table. The taco salads had basically no lettuce, shredded carrots, watery sour cream and guacamole & fatty-​pork (literally spit the pork out 3 x bc it was so fatty). The chimichangas were tiny in comparison to Sam Diegos and my brother said they were extremely salty. My dad is the only one who said his food was edible yet he had to run to the bathroom as soon as we got home… Not a good sign.
I am a Sam Diegos regular and decided to give this place a chance. but never ever again. Don’t waste your money!

El rodeo has good Mexican food unlike Sam Diego they actually have real salsa not stewed tomatoes. Nice friendly service and authentic Mexican food good menu worth a try rather than the same old same old

This place was so bad drinks sucks food I couldn’t even eat I will never eat here again

This is 10 000% better than garbage at Sam Diego’s. We have been three times and will be back, tough to find decent Mexican food on Cape Cod, this fills the bill.

Pretty darn good for Yankee Mexican food. Spice and flavor authenticity is always an issue up here but they did a pretty good job. The salsa is thick and spicy which is a great surprise. Along with more Southern flavor the food needs more cheese and maybe some fresh guacamole and not the stuff out of a tub from stop and shop. prices are definitely affordable. I will go back when I’m hankering for some ‘ok’ Mexican food.

I love coming here! it’s some of the better Mexican food on Cape and its consistently good. I almost always get the shrimp enchiladas they’re amazing! they put some kind of cheese sauce on them, I don’t know but I love it. Everyone is really nice too!

I really liked the décor to start. Bright colored, they really added money to this place and you can tell. We started with the cheese dip, because as I had stated, «how could you go wrong with cheese dip?». We apparently you can. The cheese dip tasted like «butter popcorn and chilis» according with my cousin. It wasn’t inedible, it was just… buttery. I love me some butter, don’t get me wrong, but on a tortilla chip not so much. The dip was rescued somewhat with the salsa. Oh! the complimentary salsa! Beware kids! I am the kind of girl that puts hot sauce in their salsa. I didn’t need to with this. This had a kick! Careful! They didn’t however give us an extra plate for the salsa and the dip, so we ended up using a napkin spread out on the table to catch the drips. Food was decent on the other hand. Although I am not sure what they define as a burrito, because in my eyes, a burrito is a hand held sandwich, and this was closer to an enchilada. It still tasted good, but I question the authenticity. But then again I could be wrong (see pic). All in all, I would rather eat here than their competition. But it wasn’t amazing. I will probably be back.

I ordered the chimichanga dinner one steak tips the other chicken. Both were so incredibly salty I could not finish them and they were swimming in a very rich cream sauce. Not to my liking. I’m not one who usually writes reviews but I was very disappointing.

Another couple in the restaurant with us during dinner. Platters were very hot but the food was not. Ate at the bar and the bartender did not socialize with us at all. Taste just like all the other mex restaurants. Fear the worst. One year so far in business

The Cape previously did not have an authentic Mexican restaurant, and El Rodeo is definitely improving the situation. I’ve only been here once, but my Cancun chicken enchilada with cheese sauce was quite good! The rice on the side was fresh and tasty.
The service was good. My only critique is that the salsa came out slightly frozen. Some people may be really put off by that, but I’d rather have it frozen than old or out of date.
I’ll definitely try this place again.

how sad… this place absolutely went downhill. months later and it’s not even worth going to just to save it… you know there’s trouble when they have erased prices off the menu… time for this place to be taken out back behind the shed.

Decent food in an unfortunate environment.
My parents decided to take friends from Arizona to this restaurant in an attempt to sample some authentic Mexican cuisine (they’re from Arizona, not sure why they’d want to eat Mexican in Massachusetts, but whatever). Actually, the food ended up being relatively well received by our entire group. The only exception was that the one steak we ordered ended up being overdone. 4 stars out of 5.
Our waitress was very nice and patient considering that it was her first day and half of our group can be overwhelming to even the best waitstaff. 4 stars. The real problem was her management, which I’ll get to in a minute.
What ruined the entire experience was their in-​house entertainment. We had the unfortunate luck to be there the first time they had a Mariachi band play. This four-​piece band included two guitars plugged into the sound system in a vain attempt to raise their volume to match the insane audio levels coming from their unmuted trumpet. They were so loud that we couldn’t hear ourselves think and two members of our group had to leave the restaurant while the band was playing. The band came over to ask if we had any requests and were told that they were way too loud and then they proceeded to play a song for the table right next to us at the same audio level. Ambiance earns 0 stars. I would give it negative stars if I could.
Now, the waitstaff was kind enough to replace the cold taco that one of us had asked to be reheated after returning inside. However, we were seated mere feet from from the manager that night. At the end of our night, we asked our waitress to send the manager over to discuss the untenable conditions. The manager admitted that they had seen the issues our table had been having with the Mariachi band, including people leaving in an attempt to maintain their sanity. Yet, the manager offered no apologies or even regret over the problems our entire table expressed. The lone thing they said was that they would «work with the band in the future.» The volume of the band was unbelievable and the response of the manager was completely unacceptable. 0 Stars again.
I cannot overstate the negative environment we experienced. It’s unusual for me but I can only give them 1 star. If you are going to eat here, make it takeout.

This place might be the definition of «meh». Growing up on the Cape, I didn’t really know anything about Mexican food. Sam Diego’s and Gringo’s both served (and continue to serve) watered down Tex-​Mex.
The owners of El Rodeo definitely successfully identified a gap in Hyannis’ food offerings, but unfortunately they’re failing to execute. The location, in the old Outback Steakhouse space, is fine. There are a couple new Mexican restaurants on Main Street that are getting good reviews (and I need to try!).
The layout isn’t too much different than Outback. A lot of the booths in the main dining area were knocked out in favor of an open floor plan with tables. The booth tables were resurfaced and the walls were redecorated.
The food is actually ok! After eating at many quick-​serve Mexican restaurants in North Carolina, the menu looked very familiar to me. I ordered some chicken fajitas, and I couldn’t complain. All of my family’s food came out fast.
It’s primarily the service and the details where El Rodeo fails. It’s almost like the owners and servers haven’t worked in the restaurant business before. For example, our server did not ask if we wanted water, and it took a long time to receive them after we asked. This was very confusing, considering there were only a dozen people in the restaurant early on a Sunday evening. Water should have been served immediately alongside the chips and salsa.
Ordering a margarita is cumbersome. The server will ask you many questions in an attempt to get it just right for you — including which flavor, which size, salt or sugar on the rim, and rocks or frozen. They should have a default option to make things easy (classic, regular size, salt rim, rocks). Ultimately, my margarita was served in a red wine glass (but it did look like the jumbo margaritas were served in margarita glasses). The table was sticky, so I had to carefully lift my margarita up each time to take a drink.
Overall, you could have an ok experience here with the right server, but it fell short for me and my family.

Really surprising how very good this new restaurant is. We took our 12 and 14 year old children and out of 4 dishes ordered the average score based on percentage satisfaction is approx 96% 14 year old said her dish was the coolest thing ever ordered … A chicken dish called pollo vaquero served on a sizzling platter… Burrito with green sauce had a fresh element to the taste that made me want more more more! Chimichanga and tacos just as satisfying. Service was very pleasing and fast. Go… You will enjoy!!!

While it isn’t perfect, El Rodeo is miles ahead of Sam Diego’s and will definitely become a Cape Cod staple in the future.
This place is your standard mexican fare– free chips and salsa, an assortment of burritos, fajitas, and other things. As long as you play it safe and stick to familiar dishes/​pallettes you have had before, youw ill enojy the experience.
That being said, I’ve never loved the meals I’ve had at El Rodeo, only liked. They could be a bit better– I find my favorite part of each meal is the same– the suaces. The Sauces at this restaraunt are to die for. Salsa, Guac, Bean Dip, and Queso– all amazingly scrumptious.
The service is great– almost too quick. They come back to your table and ask for drinks and meal decisions almost instantly, and then those come out within 10 – 15 minutes, even at their most busy. It’s an impressive, albeit rushed, dining experience.
Overall, I’d say try it out, if only to experience something new on the cape.

I was hoping that this place would be a great addition to the Cape Cod cuisine since we are greatly lacking good authentic Mexican food, but unfortunately el rodeo was not amazing. Good, yes!
we started with queso which was good. Thick and cheesy just as expected. Unfortunately it didn’t seem like the chips were homemade and the salsa was average.
For entrees, I ordered one of the combination dinners with a tamale and a chile rellenos; my two favorites. Both were good, but nothing compared to more authentic places I have been to. My husband ordered the mole enchiladas which are his favorite and he was not amazed either. Although neither of our dinners were special, the food is definitely better than the competition Sam Diego’s.
Hopefully this place can work out some kinks and become a 4 or 5 star restaurant cuz the cape sure needs it to!

The restaurant was clean but our waitress was a little ditzy. Our appetizers of guacamole and cheese dip was tasty. But we ran out of chips and it took a while to get out chips refilled. I wish they had fresh tortilla chips.
Our dinners were good. Two Of us ordered enchiladas and when it arrived. It looked the same just covered in a brown gravy. The hot plate entrée arrived with very little vegetables and was burnt.
The dessert was good but the menu descriptions were lacking. The flan was drowned in chocolate sauce. The churros were greasy but but was nice and came with ice cream.
We discovered there were quesadilla entrees after we had ordered but the menu was not easy to read to find all the goodies.
Not sure if I would try them again since there are new authentic Mexican places in Main Street.