El Tejano Mexican Restaurant

User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The staff and Food is awesome could not ask for anything better

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User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Being originally from South Texas, I found that El Tejano has the most original Tex-Mex style food around. When you walk through the door, you are always welcomed by Rosie or one of the fine-friendly staff, even if it is your first time. They interact with you as you being the most important person around, and do they love kids! Food is always hot and delicious and the prices are very reasonable. My suggestion is the Nachos El Tejano, beef or chicken. My favorite is the beef. I can not wait to get back to a very enjoyable place to eat. Chips, salsa and cheese dip make very good appetizers!

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User Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

This restaurant is walking distance from Days Inn in Simpsonville, near Wal-Mart.

The proprietors wife/the hostess is very friendly and welcoming as another reviewer mentioned. But then again, that is merely an expected and normal disposition for a restaurant owner/manager. Most people trying to make a living in the restaurant business are welcoming to their customers. So no special points in that respect.

The way you can tell if a Mexican restaurant will be any good is the quality of the salsa and chips first presented. I have found this to be true over and over again. Great chips and salsa almost invariably means good food will follow. Unfortunately the salsa at the El Tejano is mediocre to rather nasty with an after taste that was somewhat rancid or “day old” tasting in my experience. The green salsa was “ok”, nothing special. The red salsa's were the worst. The chips were fine and typical.

I ordered the Carne Asada, one of my favorite Mexican dishes. I asked if it came with cilantro as I always ask for extra cilantro and extra lime. Cilantro is one of my favorite herbs and Mexican cooking is simply not Mexican cooking without cilantro. The waiter, who was not very friendly said “no” when I asked him if the Carne Asada had lots of good cilantro. I then asked which dish they offered had plenty of cilantro and he indicated “none of the dishes”. That is when I should have left, but I was willing to give them a chance to impress me. When the Carne Asada arrived the meat was dry and tough with little seasoning. All it consisted of was sliced grilled meat and some onions. While Carne Asada is a simple dish, a good cook can make it wonderfully. This was not the case at el Tejano in my experiance.

The cook is the husband of the hostess, from what I understand. The man who brought the food was very nice and friendly and that may have been the cook, I am not sure if that is the husband. The waiters seemed a bit surly. Maybe it was the lack of AC that day. Accordingly, a surly waiter always gets and insulting tip and these waiters got what was coming to them. Conversly, a good waiter always gets a large tip by me. If being a good waiter was easy, everyone would be doing it...

The refried beans seemed a bit thin in consistency and did not impress me with flavor or texture. Rather bland and certainly not very fresh tasting. The rice was typical, and was ok.

I did not note any deficiancies with cleanliness or sanitation, however I did not check the washroom facilities. When you inspect a restaurant if the bathroom is nasty you can generally assume the kitchen is equally nasty.

The small guacamole salad was too heavy on the artificial tasting sour cream. Not impressed with it.

The Margaritas are overpriced for the quality given. At around $7.50 a drink, they were only so-so. Not the worst I have tasted but certainly not impressive. I ordered a second and they were a bit heavier on the tequila on the second. Mediocre margaritas.

The restaurant was stifling hot. They were having a problem with their AC and I heard the hostess on the phone really trying to get it looked at so no points deducted from them there, but it did not add to the already rather poor meal.

The place was noisy and the hostesss tended to shout orders and greetings etc. not in a nasty way but in a rather harried way. The place has a definite harried atmosphere about it when it's busy I suppose. It does seem to turn a steady businesses but keep in mind what the distance is to the next Mexican restaurant that is worth going to and that locals may not be very critical of restaurant fare.

The hostess asked my how the food was and I gave my usual “do you want an honest answer?” line and she said she did. She was very apologetic and seems sincere so el Tejano gets points there but I think that they think they are better than they actually are.

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