El Nopal

Place was packed but got seated and serve quickly…(Friday Night).
Good food, good service and at a good price.
Consistent and dependable… nice to have them in the neighborhood.

It’s an average Mexican chain. So let’s talk about the goods and the bads.
Goods:
The typical complimentary chips and salsa.
Pretty tasty (and cheap) margaritas.
Close to me and campus.
Quick service and foods.
Bads:
Okay «bads» might be a harsh term. Maybe we’ll go with «not-​so-​goods.»
Chips and salsa is just meh.
The fried rice is dry, not very flavorful.
Service is alright, but there’s no wow-​factor. Actually, they kind of just come to take your order, bring your food, and leave the check. Nothing much more.
I like the fajitas nachos with chicken. Typically that’s what I get because it’s enough to have some there and then take a bit of leftovers as well. I like it and if there’s any of the toppings that you wish not to have they are accommodating.
Last time I was here I had the enchiladas de crema (with chicken). This came with the lack-​luster fried rice and some refried beans. I like refried beans so next time I’ll be sure to just get double the beans– I suggest you do that off the bat. These enchiladas were great, though. I love sauce which I assume is cream cheese based. And the shredded chicken is very flavorful and not dry.
Average Mexican chain, average food/​drink prices, average service. Not bad for a low-​key weeknight dinner if you don’t want to break the bank.

Standard Mexican food, just like every other chain. However, if you’re in the mood for it, it’s clean, tasty, the service is good and the margaritas are too.

I ate there last week and found a live fly within my meal. I discovered this after I had already eaten most of my food and was placing the remaining food in my to-​go box. I brought the box w/​the live fly still moving around to the host who apologized then looked at me w/​a blank stare unable to process the next appropriate step. She eventually decided to deduct a dollar from my bill instead of the entire cost due to me finding a LIVE BUG IN MY FOOD. Needless to say I’ll never patronize their business.

Pretty standard Mexican fare but way better than the other mex place in the neighborhood. Fast and tasty basics.

I’m on a quest to find the best, most reasonably priced margaritas in the city. I didn’t try the food, so I can’t speak on that. But 32oz import beers are only 4.50! I got a 24oz frozen strawberry margarita for $ 4.99 but the consistency was watery, But it tasted good. The complementary chips and salsa were disappointing. The salsa is just tomato purée with red pepper flakes, nothing special. I wasn’t impressed with El Nopal

Went for lunch time and really enjoyed it. Prices are good, food is REALLY good (large servings) and service was fine. We had to wait quite a bit for our order to arrive.

Customer service is average, the food always tastes great and is always fresh. I’ve been here 5+ times and always enjoy it.

Don’t know why others have given this place a low rating — it is the best Mexican restaurant in the city. I do not like and will not go to other El Nopal locations — most family and friends want to go to Sol/​Los Aztecas. And understandably… the food is great. But this particular El Nopal location stands out amongst the chain! In another review, I mentioned the Westport Road location. The food was shoddy — a quesdilla that was nothing more than a taco shell with beef stuffed inside, and a server that continually shoved us a bill and told us that the drink specials on the sign would not be honored because he did not know about them.
But this location is worth your time! Every single host, server, and bartender is very friendly. They check up on you constantly. They all smile and laugh and joke around with you, and will even watch games on tv with you (when the place is emptier and they have less work to do). The food at this particular location is awesome — easily on par with any other Mexican restaurant you’ve been to in this city (and definitely a thousand times better than El Tarasco, which is ironically right next door).
I’ve had bartenders at this location spend 10 minutes talking with me about drinks and my preferences, just to try and help me find something new to try. And they have mixed drinks just to my taste. I’ve also had wait staff and kitchen staff sit with me and my friends at the bar and talk about the games that we were watching on tv — in the middle of the day, when the place was almost empty and they did not have much else to do. Every staff member seems to be very, very attentive of all their customers, and very friendly. The customer service, alone, would put this place above Sol/​Los Aztecas. Not to mention that the food at this particular location is remarkably better than the other El Nopals or most any other Mexican restaurant in the city. Definitely worth your time, if you want Mexican food and are in the area!

Makes your average mediocre Mexican restaurant look like 4-​star dining.
Slow service, poor communication, watered-​down margaritas, ‘meh’-tasting food, if you want to change anything about your order they will get it wrong.
Don’t go here. Go next door to El Tarasco. 1000x better in every way.

We live close so we do the carry out on a regular basis. The food is always good but I have to say the chorizo queso is my favorite. It is a heartstopper so if you eat healthy this is not for you. They always have the food ready quickly. I have no complaints.

I love close so the boyfriend and I go here all the time! It’s pretty nice on the inside and the staff are willing to swith out sauces and stuff on the meals if you need it. It does look kinda sketchy from the outside but I’ve never had any problems, I think it’s just a bit more of an urban location than the other El Nopals in the city. Sometimes you will have an issue getting the server’s attention, but it’s never been bad enough to bother me.

Tried el nopal for the first time today… Went in for an early dinner and tried the carnitas which were described as breaded deep fried pork served with beans and rice. When I got them they had not been deep fried at all and were not breaded… was still tender and good but was not as described in the menu… Service was good at first and then our waiter totally ignored us… had to get someone else to get a box for our leftovers and finally had to flag him down for the check. He seemed annoyed that I asked for the check. Which is fine by me I tip 20% for bad service and really well for exceptional service… Needless to say he got 20.

It’s not gonna rock your socks but it IS good. Here’s why:
1. I’ve never seen them on a wait, even with large groups coming in.
2. The food is consistently tasty and good quality.
3. The service is consistenly good — speedy and accurate, even friendly.
4. Great place to watch the game! Quite a few decent flat screens so its hard to get a bad seat in the house.
5. Very affordable.
6. They have non-​mexican dishes if you’re with a hard-​to-​please group.
It’s not traditional mexican but it IS super tasty if you like Ametican style mexican.

Take this review with a grain of salt, I just live in Texas for three years… And this restaurant wouldn’t survive one month down there.
They didn’t have horchata or borracho beans… That’s only a big deal if you like those an naturally I do.
Sufficient chips and dip with really good queso! I had the tacos carnitas, the meat was good but bland… Honestly no seasoning. Quality of the meat and shells were pretty good there.
By no means is this authentic, but perhaps if your none the wiser on real Mexican food you might love it. My friends did.

I went here for lunch today with a very SPECIAL person despite the poor reviews. I will try almost anything once. But, I didn’t think it was too big of a risk since all the El Nopals are pretty comparable and I’ve been to several. Our waiter was friendly, efficient and the food was piping hot and great. I got just what I ordered it was delicious. I’d go there again in a heartbeat.

I’ve been here many times, I’m not sure why everyone has had problems with their service, I’ve always had great service here. Food is always hot and orders are always correct. My brother and sister in law are vegetarians and their orders area always 100% correct.
They have great drinks too! Will definitely continue to frequent this place!!!

I ate here with my family earlier today and had a decent experience. Nothing on the menu seemed unique or special, but the burrito off the a la carte menu ended up being fairly good and reasonably priced. The plate it was served on was way too hot though and I ended up accidentally bumping my arm against it and slightly burning myself. The service was good and with little waiting time. The main reason that I can’t give this place 4 stars is that there are no unique menu items to make it really stand out.

Oh, Unilocal!Why must I choose a round number? I would definitely give this a 2.5 if I got the chance, but I can’t bring myself to give it a two because I love food too much.
El Nopal is your typical Americanized Mexican restaurant. I like a good chimichanga when I can get it, especially with queso and chips, rice, and beans! I skipped the chimichanga on this occasion as this particular restaurant had a rather expansive menu compared to its local counterparts. I ordered the Pollo al Chipolte. The generous (I’m talking around ¾ of a lb) chicken breast came with chipotle sauce which was thick and spicy. Mexican rice and refried beans were standard. Split my entire meal and was satisfied — leftover central! My friends split a pitcher of margaritas and were pleased.
Service was rather quick and server was attentive. Checkout was quick and painless. Left with the usual perfume de restaurant, which happens. Salsa could have been better. Meh, its pretty AOK — if this dime a dozen Mexican place is your thing.

So, we have this habit of just popping by to visit with our friends Potsy and Wordsworth. It’s usually close to dinner time when we end up in their living room working up an appetite debating politics, religion, and whether Windows is better than Linux or whatever.
These conversations, inevitably, get carried over to some local eatery. One such excursion brought us to this location of El Nopal.
The waiter was irritable and annoyed that we were even there. He huffed and sighed as we asked about the menu and placed our orders. When I asked about a dish on my platter that appeared to be missing (it wasn’t, it was buried under a mushy pile of refried beans), he snapped that «this isn’t like taco bell». Sexy Beast was between me and him which may have saved his life (or, at the very least, allowed him the privilege of continuing to breathe of his own volition). Everyone at the table was appalled by his behavior.
We finished our meal and proceeded to exit.
Sexy Beast, Potsy, and Wordsworth wandered out to the parking lot. The following dialog was the result of my lack of supervision.
Lady Ringing Up The Check: How was everything? Was everything okay?
Me: No. Actually, our waiter was a dick.
Lady Ringing Up The Check: Okay! Thank you for coming! Come again!
Me: …
Either his behavior was commonplace enough that she wasn’t surprised or her listening skills were as awesome as his people skills.
The food wasn’t worth being treated like this. It was bland and boring and there was a *lot* of grease involved. Even if my plate had been graced with Filet of Unicorn with a side of fairy wings sauteed in elf tears, I will never return.