El Loro Mexican Detroit Lakes

Don’t walk away from this place Run!!!By far the worst Mexican I have ever had in my life!!!There were three of us and each meal was awful. The service is horrible and they messed up our order three times before we got the right one which was not very bad at all

We are Detroit Lakes locals and we've eaten at El Loro several times. We have learned to expect two things: good food but challenging service. So, if you want to eat there, be prepared for a different kind of experience. We visited El Loro for a midweek dinner. When you arrive, there might be someone at the desk but there might not be. This time, we waited until someone finally came up to seat us. That person didn't really greet us. They normally try to seat us in a high traffic area table instead of a booth so, since the restaurant was almost empty, we asked for a booth. He decided to give us the worst booth in the restaurant, despite there being many booths open with a view to the lake. We asked for a better booth and were seated against a wall across from the lake view. Of course, the table rocked back and forth badly so we moved to the next booth. They do have a lot of good choices on the menu. We made our choices and then waited for someone. Finally, a waitress appeared to help another couple and looked surprised to see us. She left that couple and finally came back later. Like the greeter, the interaction was brief with little dialogue. We ordered soft drinks and the fajitas for two. After a while, a young man brought us chips and silverware. The waitress dropped off the drinks, again with little interaction. The chips and salsa were pretty good. The food finally arrived but there were no plates. We asked the young man who delivered the food if we could get plates. He struggled with the request and another man shows up with a concerned look on his face. We asked him for plates and he dropped them off without comment. We didn't realize that the original young man didn't speak much English. The food was good. In fact, the portions were so large that it would have fed four people easily. However, when we unwrapped the tortillas, there was one set of flour tortillas and one set of corn tortillas. The corn tortillas were so stiff and stuck together that it was difficult to salvage one or two good ones. However, with no waitress stopping by throughout our meal, we just had to use them. We didn't see our waitress again so we managed our soft drinks so we didn't run out. Finally, a waiter stopped by but only to drop off the check without saying a word. I asked for a refill and finally received one. We decided to take home the extra fajita ingredients and we flagged down the young man. After two or three attempts to explain what a take out box was (to-go), he happily came back with our box. I appreciated his efforts because he was trying so hard to please. You checkout at the cash register where you come in. At checkout, the waiter just stuck his hand out for our credit card. They add an additional fee for credit cards. I filled out the slip and he handed me my credit card. No words changed between us. We probably won't return after the latest experience. I like the food but it felt like we were kind of a unwelcome to everyone that we interacted with. If you can put up with the odd service, the food is actually really good and there is a lot of variety.

The Mexicans in this state need to step up their game. I suggest garlic and I suggest fresh food. The rice looks like it had been cooked 3 to 4 days ago. The drink barely had any alcohol in it you couldn’t even taste it and you see my $20 meal. I’m almost ashamed to feed it to the dog. I can’t even believe I chose to eat there tonight. There are tortillas although they’re homemade weren’t even needed enough you could see the lard in the tortilla. No thank you not again not even for free

Wait staff were not welcoming, and the host ran away from the table before he finished seating us and others. Very long wait times for them to take our order, when the food finally came, it was served cold and with no cutlery. We had to wait for them to return to ask them for cutlery. The food also made our stomachs sick.

We don't live nearby but the last few times we've been in the area we've gone out of our way because the food is amazing. Last two times we sat for over 10 minutes and no one even came to get our drink order. Place was not busy at all, several staff members made eye contact.