I’ve driven by the El Torito on Ocean Park Blvd in Santa Monica a couple times on my way to Clover Park, and today was the day that I felt the need to stop in. I checked out the reviews on various “pay us or we’ll keep the negative reviews of your restaurant online for all to see (cough Yelp cough)” and it seemed pretty positive. The overall impression was good happy hour, no Mexican people actually eat there.
Well, I saw a lot of Mexican folks there actually, though the waitstaff was a lot more diverse that you’d find in any other Mexican restaurant around town. Think super-Americanized Chinese restaurant like P.F. Changs but Mexican food. It was good, no complaints here other than the fact that we (The Girl and I) pounded a margarita pitcher (we dehydrated ourselves at the beach) and then assumed that we’d need another one since the first one went so fast. Not true, when the food hits the table suddenly your body doesn’t require any more margarita. That’s ok though, we’re troopers, we finished all but the last sip of that second pitcher.
Now we’re also vegetarians, and I’d bet my life savings that the beans here aren’t actually vegetarian, but we pretended and had a fine time. The fact that this place is in the parking lot of an office park along with a Cocos and Carrows gives it the vibe of being a Chotchke’s outside of the office in Office Space. No flare here though, just cheap burritos and semi-strong pitchers.
