El Pinto Restaurant

Buffett lunch for nearly 100 people; fresh salad and hot dishes. Nicely done. Several gluten free options (host and others needed gluten free). The room we were in was quite beautiful, fresh, alive. Felt like we were outside in the sun, but we were inside. Service staff were outstanding. Always close by without hovering. Quick service. Food was pretty good. However, the sopaipilla "walls" were quite thick. Almost like a slice of bread was flattened and deep fried. Not very enjoyable. Overall, though, one of my better visits to El Pinto.

For someone visiting the area, the food and service was great. Some of the tortilla chips I have ever tasted. My wife and I loved our entrees. They even have a gluten free menu!

My background is from the restaurant industry (20+years) so here is my opinion. The atmosphere is nice, especially the outdoor seating but every table and chair wobbles with every movement. It's brick floors so a little wobble and slant is understandable but even if you move your chair to a flat surface it still wobbles, I think they were missing the part thay helps them slide across the floor. I tried multiple chairs and they were all the same. We ordered 2 margaritas, one was good the other tasted like cleaning chemicals. (It is a different type of tequila so I can't fault them if I simply don't like that kind of tequila.) Also my margaritas didn't come until right before the meal arrived, so it took a very long time. The chips and salsa were good. The menu has a gluten free symbol listed in the key but not a single item was marked gluten free on the menu. They had a seperate gluten free menu but why go to the bother of adding gluten free to the key if you aren't going to utilize it? I settled on the Chicken Adovada because based on what the gluten free menu said, the red chili sauce was gluten free. The menu also said my meal came with rice, beans and Calabacitas. My husband wanted to try the Calabacitas since I assumed it may have gluten and probably wouldn't be able to eat it. The waiter told me I had to chose 2 sides, even tho it said it came with all three. So I chose the Calabacitas and rice, even tho I was confused on why this was the case when the menu said all 3 sides came with the dish. When the meal came, the Calabacitas wasn't like any other Calabacitas I had before. It was simply mixed vegetables, a squash corn medly if you will. I decided, to eat the vegetables since they shouldn't contain any gluten. They were cooked well but needed some salt and pepper. (I use low sodium everything because I don't like heavy salt, so if I say it needs salt.... you catch my drift.) So no problem right, I'll add it. No, there was no salt and pepper on the table. The chicken was so-so again it needed salt and pepper. The rice was good, I'll give them that one. My husband got the ribs, they were tender and the spices tasted decent but again it needed salt. The waiter was nice but we didn't see him often. I didn't get a chance to request salt until my meal was almost consumed so I didn't bother at that point. The sopapillas were brought with the meal, so by the time we were done with our meal and my husband wanted to eat them, they were cold. My bill was almost $100 before the tip, so I expected a little more out of the experience. I'm just disappointed.