El Salto Mexican Restaurant
5031 E Lincoln Hwy, Merrillville, IN, 46410
El Salto Mexican Restaurant Menu
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Visit below restaurant in Merrillville for healthy meals suggestion.
Visit below restaurant in Merrillville for healthy meals suggestion.
Visit below restaurant in Merrillville for healthy meals suggestion.
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Address :
5031 E Lincoln Hwy
Merrillville, IN, 46410 - Phone (219) 940-9955
- Website https://elsaltorestaurant.com/
- Click To Get Directions
Opening Hours
- Mon :11:00 am - 10
Specialities
- Takes Reservations : Yes
Delivery : No
Take-out : Yes
Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
Good For : Lunch
Parking : Private Lot
Bike Parking : No
Good for Kids : Yes
Good for Groups : Yes
Attire : Casual
Ambience : Casual
Noise Level : Loud
Alcohol : Full Bar
Outdoor Seating : No
Wi-Fi : No
Has TV : Yes
Waiter Service : Yes
Caters : Yes
Categories
Mexican Cuisine
If you enjoy Taco Tuesday, then you have officially fallen in love with the Mexican Food. The main grain of Mexican cuisine is maize. Also known as corn, maize is grown for the past 9000 years after the crop was discovered by the people in Mayan civilization. Mexican empire flourished when they started growing beans, tomatoes, chili pepper, sweet potato and cactus. Till this date these ingredients are used in cooking authentic Mexican dishes and drinks.
Great use of spices, fresh chili pepper dishes like fajitas, tortilla chips, corn chips, salsa, chimichangas, burritos, nachos and quesadillas are invented in America. But when you are looking for authentic Mexican food then you must find a restaurant in the city that serves Rajas con Queso, Garbanzo in a Guajillo Chile Sauce, Pork Filled Chiles Rellenos, Chiles en Nogada, Molcajete Salsa, Pico de Gallo and Frijoles de la Olla. An eye-opening fact – Mexican don't like their food hot. They use fresh chili and other spices to create a flavor that lingers in your mouth.
Mexican food is great for those who are Gluten Intolerant as they use Corn instead of wheat in most of their dishes. Also, you can easily find many beans based Mexican dishes. Another dish which didn't get similar glory as tacos or nachos is the Mexican hot chocolate. If you love something hot on a chilly day, then go for Mexican Hot Chocolate. On merry days, you can enjoy the authentic Mexican Drinks like Tequila, Mezcal, Tecuí, Sotol, Bacanora, Charanda, Posh O Pox, Puebla and Pulque. Mexican Cuisine is for people who enjoy strong drinks and hearty meals.
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Patricia S.
Never had a bad meal from El Salto. Delicious. A fave for our family..great vegetarian and healthy choice menu. Margaritas are right on the money.
(4)Angie D.
Awsome ! Best staff! Can't get enough. Try the skinny margarita and I love the mole sauce. The staff is the best.
(5)Alyssa L.
We absolutely love El Salto. The staff is friendly and there is always a packed house. If you have to wait for a table, just grab a cocktail from the bar! We go to El Salto once a week or so. Their food is delicious and they are always happy to accommodate substitutions and adjustments to their dishes if needed. It's the best Mexican restaurant in Northwest Indiana!
(5)K C.
This was my first time here. The food was AMAZING. I have to say though, the service was awful. Being a server myself, I normally tip very well. In order for me to tip poorly, or even an average amount, the service has to be seriously lacking. And it was. My drink came out wrong, but I had to wait so long for any kind of service in the first place, that I just drank it anyway. I'm slightly disappointed. I would like to come back for the food again, but the service may prevent that.
(3)Justin Y.
Every time I come to El Salto I feel like a VIP guest! The servers are friendly and the manager always stops by to say hi. The food is great, and the drinks (most important) are even better!
(5)Doug P.
Food was really good, will be back again. My personal opinion, I feel this is the best Mexican resturant in Lake County, Indiana.
(4)Bart B.
We were seated on the patio. Waited 20 minutes with no service. Grabbed our own margaritas from the bar. Party that was seated after us got served beforehand. Tried to flag down several servers. AWFUL SERVICE! WISH THERE WAS A ZERO STAR.
(1)Janet E.
My boyfriend and I have visited this restaurant many times and yesterday's visit was very disappointing, I don't know if we will be back. All the other times we visited there was not a sign by the door bribing you to leave a good yelp review, if people are happy they will leave a good review without getting something for free. That kind of tells you not to trust the reviews for this place. I'm leaving a review but it's not a good one, should be seen by someone though since they watch yelp. We haven't been here in a while but it was his mom's birthday and his parents' anniversary that we were celebrating and he recommended El Salto to them. We arrived early and got a table while we waited for his parents. They arrived maybe 15 mins later. We came early cause we thought it would be busy but it wasn't. Our server was Ismael. When my boyfriend's parents arrived we told the server we needed some time to look at the menu because they'd never been here. When the server walked by my boyfriend's mom told him we were ready and the server said he'd be right back, which was fine, except 5 minutes went by and he never came back and we saw him across the restaurant wiping tables down. Another server had to tell him we wanted him. The rest of our visit continued the same way, ask him for something he'd say okay and never come back or bring what we asked. This got worse when a table of about 8-10 people arrived, we just got looked over even more. We waited quite a while for our food, considering it wasn't busy and we had never waited that long before and when it came out it looked as if it had been ready but sitting under the warmer for a while, wilted lettuce, dried out looking sauces and beans, mushy tostadas and hard tacos. We ate it and it tasted fine but the service ruined the experience, we couldn't wait to finish eating so we could leave. All the other times we've been here servers were attentive and food came out hot and looking fresh, it's a shame this guy ruined our experience when we were expecting better because we've had it before. Server came around lots when we were done eating because it was going to be tip time, but where was he while we needed things? Felt as if he just looked at us as dollar signs and not actually doing his job.
(2)G G.
Came here for a late lunch and everyone was very friendly. The food was great. I got a flauta dinner. They were awesome. The chips and salsa were very good. Now my son tried to "mensch" it up and go for the hot salsa. He liked it but it took a gallon of water to cool him down. The rice and beans were good too! I'll be back again. The food was served super quick too. We had a great dining experience.
(5)Fred P.
El Salto serves excellent Mexican food and drinks. The severs are awesome. The frozen strawberry margarita is very yummy. I highly recommend the mole sauce, cheese dip, enchaladas, and fajitas. We eat there twice a week.
(5)Sylvia C.
Great food! Location is kind of small. Needs waiter improvement. Understand that weekends are heavy but waiters need to come by more often and not when your mouth is full...lol Needs bigger parking spaces. No WIFI !!!
(4)Amanda F.
My order is never right! They have Mahi Mahi tacos in the menu and when they are made correctly are amazing! Tha last 5 yes I said it 5 times they have been very wrong! Tilapia was used instead of Mahi! I know the difference! Also the staff at the one in merrilliville are very rude, and it seems like they have only one female server that gets it right. I brought this issue to management and he replaced my meal, and in true fashion it was wrong!!! Bad food, bad service, I'm done!!
(1)Deanna K.
Service sucks, took almost a hour for our food, while we watched others who sat way after us get food first, never seen our server, then ordered a 24.00 meal for 2 and only gave us 3 pieces of Shrimp, asked for more and got snotty and made me pick through our food to prove we weren't lying, never again....
(1)Theresa J.
Very good, fresh salsa, which I like much better than the cooked salsa a lot of places serve. The Carnitas taco express lunch was wonderful and more than plenty and a great value. My husband thought the beef tacos were good, nothing special. Service was good and quick. Nice, new facility and easy to get to.
(4)Kim B.
Really love their margaritas. Food is good and servers are friendly. Can be slow at times but it just means more time for their yummy margaritas!
(4)Matt C.
I will preface this review of the Merrillville location by saying that I loved the food at the Munster location and the Merrillville location also had good food. I could gain 100 lbs eating the chips and salsa and cheese dip. The Merrillville location opened within the past 2-3 years and we started going when we moved to St. John. That's when the trouble started. We have had to leave El Salto in Merrillville no less than 5 times because of how poor the service is. It is just amazing that this restaurant has not improved on their service since it's opened. Keep in mind we've probably been there 2-4 times a month for the past 2 years. But we will never go there again due to the poor service that goes on there. It starts at the hostess station. We've had a few occasions where we showed up and wanted to sit at the bar. The reason being is we like the high top tables and there's a ton of tv's in the bar area. So we get a good spot and a good view for football or baseball or whatever is on. The problem lies with the fact that the hostesses do not know how to organize anything. The fact that you have a bar area where customers walk in and think it's first-come first-served means that any open tables just get stolen while other customers like us are sitting and waiting for a bar only table. Here's a suggestion. At least put up a sign that states that the bar area isn't first come first served. Or that you have to see the hostess to be seated at the bar. On 5 different occasions we've walked to the hostess station and said we want a bar table and that it would be a "15 minute wait." On those 3 occasions people have walked in and walked straight to the bar area and just sat down without waiting. All that does is piss off the people that is waiting for a table in that area. I don't know how many times we've even been seated in the bar area and seen open tables where people just walk up to them and sit down. Either be a boss and explain to them that it is first-come first-served or kick them out. You have to do something not to piss people off. And if making everyone follow the rules pisses everyone off then so be it. Then you can't even organize how to seat people correctly. I'm not exaggerating when I say that out of 40 visits or so that we have left 5-8 times and after this last time we will never go back. There's been times that others have been seated before us. There's been times that we were overlooked completely because the hostesses don't know what's going on. You have two people up front that aren't working together. Here's an idea. Have one person stay at the station only taking names. Have the other person scoping out the restaurant for open tables to seat these people. Put a phone up front so that they can call to the back for food orders. Don't make the hostesses do everything because they can barely do their jobs. If I was the owner or manager of this restaurant, I would fire every single hostess and almost every single staff member. Or maybe I would fire myself. I would do whatever I could to fix these problems and based on other reviews, I know that I'm not the only one that feels this way. So after dealing with inept hostesses that don't understand how you take names etc, you offer poor service once seated. On two different occasions, we've been finally seated at a high top table in the bar area and had to wait 10+ minutes for a waiter/waitress. Finally after the wait, they take our drink order. Then they come back in another 5-10 minutes and ask if we want to place an order for dinner because the bar is backed up. Sure I would love to order food, but after my 30 minute wait, I would also like to have a drink before I decide what I'm going to eat. I don't have any interest in placing my dinner order and eating dinner before I even get my first round of drinks. It's almost like they just want to rush us out of there at certain times. It also seems like there's no organization when it comes to assigning waiters/waitresses. We've had occasions where they have had a table in the bar area and a table on the other side
(1)Kristen J.
My husband and I visited El Salto for dinner last Friday night. It was around 6:30 when we arrived. There was a little bit of a wait but we expected that since it was Friday night after all! We were seated approximately 1/2 hour after we arrived. Unfortunatly, our waitress was swamped at the time with other tables so we ended up waiting almost a half hour after being seated just to order!! Then, after we finally ordered our food, it was another HOUR wait before it actually arrived. By then, we'd already been through the chips that they give you when you sit down so we weren't really that hungry anymore. :( The food was just OK. Certainly nothing to brag about. Typical mexican restaurant chain food. The atmosphere was very loud which made it hard to carry on a conversation. Overall, it was just OK. We might go back but we certainly won't be rushing back there. Just wasn't really worth it! I'd rather make the drive to Hacienda in MC!
(2)Leanne H.
Being short on time, I stepped in and was immediately seated. The server was a bit slow initially. However his service from them on made up for it. I order the lunch Flautas (shredded beef) special and the portions were just fine. The meal came with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream. rice and beans. The flautas were crispy and cooked (deep friend) to perfection. Many Mexican restaurants serve chips and salsa. In this case the chips were served warm. The salsa was served in a small separate glass container and this allowed you to put as much or as little into the receiving bowl for the salsa. Friendly service, bill was presented on time and no one was rushing to push you out. I will be back when I am in the area. The only negative was the music was played a little too loud for me.
(4)Marc W.
I have been here many times and the food has always been good. Now on some occasions the service has been way below par. Overall it is a very good place to eat
(4)Ted T.
The food is awesome. The service is terrible. Chips and salsa were gone before we even ordered drinks. 25 min wait to order dinner.
(3)Mike S.
The food quality has becoming more and more inconsistent here lately. I recently had the steak fajitas and sadly they were pretty terrible, not worth anywhere near $12. I will say that there waiters are very friendly and there drink specials are unbeatable. Hopefully the food will return to the quality it was when they first opened.
(3)C B.
Came here cuz I was craving some authentic Mexican food. Inside was nice looking. I had the Speedy Gonzales for $6.25 around lunch time, you get an enchilada, taco, rice and beans. My enchilada came with mole sauce on it but I sent it back asking for salsa verde (green sauce) and oh man, it hit the spot...
(3)Harold S.
I've been there many times and the food and service is always great. The staff is very friendly and fun - I always have a good time when I'm there. I recommend the Chef Platter. And if you like spicy salsa, ask for the Angel salsa - it's excellent!
(5)Chris L.
Drinks were great. Service was terrible. Waitress rarely returned. We were there mostly for the drinks but order a burrito to split. It took an hour to get it. The food was good despite the wait.
(2)Thomas Z.
My wife and I eat here at least twice a month and we love it. The food is great and the service is excellent.
(5)Joe C.
Awesome food......Mondo the manager is the best....he always makes sure where taken care of....me and my wife always make it a point to go there every Saturday night.
(5)Jim B.
Funny they named the place El Salto, since the food would actually have some flavor if they used a little salt on it. We got jalapeño poppers that were like a corn dog, the breading was about 8mm thick on one side and practically not there on the other, and that side was wet. The thick part was lukewarm, doughy, and greasy. When I see that I think premade a week or so ago and wonder how many freeze thaw cycles did it go through before it was finally served. The cheese wasn't melted all the way through and was clumpy. The alleged star of the show, the jalapeño, had absolutely no flavor or heat to it - spice or temperature wise, and was just a strip and not whole. They need to change the name from popper to something a little more suitable to what it is, like Jalapeño Corn Dog or something like that, it literally was over half the length of a regular corn dog and not a lot less thick. Their chef seems to know how to suck the flavor out of everything that leaves the kitchen. I got enchaladas verdes that were again flavorless, came accompanied by cold beans and dry rice, all on a cold plate. I had to ask for the verdes, because the only two enchalada options I saw on the menu both came with mole sauce. I don't think I've seen a menu that had even offered enchaladas with mole sauce before, probably for a good reason. The last time we were here it was packed, and the waiter we had was awful. He seemed to be put off by us being there, and had about the character of one of those jalapeño corn dogs we tried to choke down. Even though the place was half empty today, the service was about the same, but the gal waiting on us was a real sweetheart. I can't figure it out, what in their operating practice makes it so hard for their people to get back to the tables regularly? On the bright side, I love guacamole, and theirs is about the best I've ever had. The salsa is pretty good also. They warm up the chips, which is a nice touch that I like. All in all, I loved the family that had the Mexican place that was here before, unfortunately they didn't seem to make it work as a business. Their food was really good, but the interior of the restaurant wasn't decorated and laid out very well, and I think that kind of turned off the locals. El Salto came in and glam yuppie Mexicanized the place, brought some name recognition in from Munster, and here we are. Maybe a hybrid, let the previous family run the kitchen and the El Salto owners stay with they do well, interior decorating. I don't know what else to say. We tried the place twice and I just don't like the food at all. I will have to say they are consistent, the food in Munster isn't very good either. I don't think I'll be coming back.
(1)Cory K.
Came in for a Friday meal. Arrived at 6:15 and waited 10 minutes for a seat. Restaurant was busy but we ordered at 6:30. It took 45 minutes for us to receive our food. (1) kids quesadilla, (1) shrimp fajita, (1) skirt steak. This is the longest we ever waited for food at a local Mexican restaurant. I'd rather go to La Carreta in Merrillville.
(2)Andrea C.
Went with a group of 12 people. They didn't have our table ready despite a reservation. It took forever to get our food. Food was just average. The waitress did great and was very good about accommodating our requests. It was extremely hot inside. Drinks were good. There were lots of rules I had to agree to before I could make a reservation and had to talk to the manager first, which all seemed a little ridiculous.
(3)Janet E.
My boyfriend and I have visited this restaurant many times and yesterday's visit was very disappointing, I don't know if we will be back. All the other times we visited there was not a sign by the door bribing you to leave a good yelp review, if people are happy they will leave a good review without getting something for free. That kind of tells you not to trust the reviews for this place. I'm leaving a review but it's not a good one, should be seen by someone though since they watch yelp. We haven't been here in a while but it was his mom's birthday and his parents' anniversary that we were celebrating and he recommended El Salto to them. We arrived early and got a table while we waited for his parents. They arrived maybe 15 mins later. We came early cause we thought it would be busy but it wasn't. Our server was Ismael. When my boyfriend's parents arrived we told the server we needed some time to look at the menu because they'd never been here. When the server walked by my boyfriend's mom told him we were ready and the server said he'd be right back, which was fine, except 5 minutes went by and he never came back and we saw him across the restaurant wiping tables down. Another server had to tell him we wanted him. The rest of our visit continued the same way, ask him for something he'd say okay and never come back or bring what we asked. This got worse when a table of about 8-10 people arrived, we just got looked over even more. We waited quite a while for our food, considering it wasn't busy and we had never waited that long before and when it came out it looked as if it had been ready but sitting under the warmer for a while, wilted lettuce, dried out looking sauces and beans, mushy tostadas and hard tacos. We ate it and it tasted fine but the service ruined the experience, we couldn't wait to finish eating so we could leave. All the other times we've been here servers were attentive and food came out hot and looking fresh, it's a shame this guy ruined our experience when we were expecting better because we've had it before. Server came around lots when we were done eating because it was going to be tip time, but where was he while we needed things? Felt as if he just looked at us as dollar signs and not actually doing his job.
(2)G G.
Came here for a late lunch and everyone was very friendly. The food was great. I got a flauta dinner. They were awesome. The chips and salsa were very good. Now my son tried to "mensch" it up and go for the hot salsa. He liked it but it took a gallon of water to cool him down. The rice and beans were good too! I'll be back again. The food was served super quick too. We had a great dining experience.
(5)Fred P.
El Salto serves excellent Mexican food and drinks. The severs are awesome. The frozen strawberry margarita is very yummy. I highly recommend the mole sauce, cheese dip, enchaladas, and fajitas. We eat there twice a week.
(5)Sylvia C.
Great food! Location is kind of small. Needs waiter improvement. Understand that weekends are heavy but waiters need to come by more often and not when your mouth is full...lol Needs bigger parking spaces. No WIFI !!!
(4)Justin Y.
Every time I come to El Salto I feel like a VIP guest! The servers are friendly and the manager always stops by to say hi. The food is great, and the drinks (most important) are even better!
(5)Doug P.
Food was really good, will be back again. My personal opinion, I feel this is the best Mexican resturant in Lake County, Indiana.
(4)Bart B.
We were seated on the patio. Waited 20 minutes with no service. Grabbed our own margaritas from the bar. Party that was seated after us got served beforehand. Tried to flag down several servers. AWFUL SERVICE! WISH THERE WAS A ZERO STAR.
(1)Amanda F.
My order is never right! They have Mahi Mahi tacos in the menu and when they are made correctly are amazing! Tha last 5 yes I said it 5 times they have been very wrong! Tilapia was used instead of Mahi! I know the difference! Also the staff at the one in merrilliville are very rude, and it seems like they have only one female server that gets it right. I brought this issue to management and he replaced my meal, and in true fashion it was wrong!!! Bad food, bad service, I'm done!!
(1)Deanna K.
Service sucks, took almost a hour for our food, while we watched others who sat way after us get food first, never seen our server, then ordered a 24.00 meal for 2 and only gave us 3 pieces of Shrimp, asked for more and got snotty and made me pick through our food to prove we weren't lying, never again....
(1)Jim B.
Funny they named the place El Salto, since the food would actually have some flavor if they used a little salt on it. We got jalapeño poppers that were like a corn dog, the breading was about 8mm thick on one side and practically not there on the other, and that side was wet. The thick part was lukewarm, doughy, and greasy. When I see that I think premade a week or so ago and wonder how many freeze thaw cycles did it go through before it was finally served. The cheese wasn't melted all the way through and was clumpy. The alleged star of the show, the jalapeño, had absolutely no flavor or heat to it - spice or temperature wise, and was just a strip and not whole. They need to change the name from popper to something a little more suitable to what it is, like Jalapeño Corn Dog or something like that, it literally was over half the length of a regular corn dog and not a lot less thick. Their chef seems to know how to suck the flavor out of everything that leaves the kitchen. I got enchaladas verdes that were again flavorless, came accompanied by cold beans and dry rice, all on a cold plate. I had to ask for the verdes, because the only two enchalada options I saw on the menu both came with mole sauce. I don't think I've seen a menu that had even offered enchaladas with mole sauce before, probably for a good reason. The last time we were here it was packed, and the waiter we had was awful. He seemed to be put off by us being there, and had about the character of one of those jalapeño corn dogs we tried to choke down. Even though the place was half empty today, the service was about the same, but the gal waiting on us was a real sweetheart. I can't figure it out, what in their operating practice makes it so hard for their people to get back to the tables regularly? On the bright side, I love guacamole, and theirs is about the best I've ever had. The salsa is pretty good also. They warm up the chips, which is a nice touch that I like. All in all, I loved the family that had the Mexican place that was here before, unfortunately they didn't seem to make it work as a business. Their food was really good, but the interior of the restaurant wasn't decorated and laid out very well, and I think that kind of turned off the locals. El Salto came in and glam yuppie Mexicanized the place, brought some name recognition in from Munster, and here we are. Maybe a hybrid, let the previous family run the kitchen and the El Salto owners stay with they do well, interior decorating. I don't know what else to say. We tried the place twice and I just don't like the food at all. I will have to say they are consistent, the food in Munster isn't very good either. I don't think I'll be coming back.
(1)Patricia S.
Never had a bad meal from El Salto. Delicious. A fave for our family..great vegetarian and healthy choice menu. Margaritas are right on the money.
(4)Theresa J.
Very good, fresh salsa, which I like much better than the cooked salsa a lot of places serve. The Carnitas taco express lunch was wonderful and more than plenty and a great value. My husband thought the beef tacos were good, nothing special. Service was good and quick. Nice, new facility and easy to get to.
(4)Kim B.
Really love their margaritas. Food is good and servers are friendly. Can be slow at times but it just means more time for their yummy margaritas!
(4)Matt C.
I will preface this review of the Merrillville location by saying that I loved the food at the Munster location and the Merrillville location also had good food. I could gain 100 lbs eating the chips and salsa and cheese dip. The Merrillville location opened within the past 2-3 years and we started going when we moved to St. John. That's when the trouble started. We have had to leave El Salto in Merrillville no less than 5 times because of how poor the service is. It is just amazing that this restaurant has not improved on their service since it's opened. Keep in mind we've probably been there 2-4 times a month for the past 2 years. But we will never go there again due to the poor service that goes on there. It starts at the hostess station. We've had a few occasions where we showed up and wanted to sit at the bar. The reason being is we like the high top tables and there's a ton of tv's in the bar area. So we get a good spot and a good view for football or baseball or whatever is on. The problem lies with the fact that the hostesses do not know how to organize anything. The fact that you have a bar area where customers walk in and think it's first-come first-served means that any open tables just get stolen while other customers like us are sitting and waiting for a bar only table. Here's a suggestion. At least put up a sign that states that the bar area isn't first come first served. Or that you have to see the hostess to be seated at the bar. On 5 different occasions we've walked to the hostess station and said we want a bar table and that it would be a "15 minute wait." On those 3 occasions people have walked in and walked straight to the bar area and just sat down without waiting. All that does is piss off the people that is waiting for a table in that area. I don't know how many times we've even been seated in the bar area and seen open tables where people just walk up to them and sit down. Either be a boss and explain to them that it is first-come first-served or kick them out. You have to do something not to piss people off. And if making everyone follow the rules pisses everyone off then so be it. Then you can't even organize how to seat people correctly. I'm not exaggerating when I say that out of 40 visits or so that we have left 5-8 times and after this last time we will never go back. There's been times that others have been seated before us. There's been times that we were overlooked completely because the hostesses don't know what's going on. You have two people up front that aren't working together. Here's an idea. Have one person stay at the station only taking names. Have the other person scoping out the restaurant for open tables to seat these people. Put a phone up front so that they can call to the back for food orders. Don't make the hostesses do everything because they can barely do their jobs. If I was the owner or manager of this restaurant, I would fire every single hostess and almost every single staff member. Or maybe I would fire myself. I would do whatever I could to fix these problems and based on other reviews, I know that I'm not the only one that feels this way. So after dealing with inept hostesses that don't understand how you take names etc, you offer poor service once seated. On two different occasions, we've been finally seated at a high top table in the bar area and had to wait 10+ minutes for a waiter/waitress. Finally after the wait, they take our drink order. Then they come back in another 5-10 minutes and ask if we want to place an order for dinner because the bar is backed up. Sure I would love to order food, but after my 30 minute wait, I would also like to have a drink before I decide what I'm going to eat. I don't have any interest in placing my dinner order and eating dinner before I even get my first round of drinks. It's almost like they just want to rush us out of there at certain times. It also seems like there's no organization when it comes to assigning waiters/waitresses. We've had occasions where they have had a table in the bar area and a table on the other side
(1)Angie D.
Awsome ! Best staff! Can't get enough. Try the skinny margarita and I love the mole sauce. The staff is the best.
(5)Cory K.
Came in for a Friday meal. Arrived at 6:15 and waited 10 minutes for a seat. Restaurant was busy but we ordered at 6:30. It took 45 minutes for us to receive our food. (1) kids quesadilla, (1) shrimp fajita, (1) skirt steak. This is the longest we ever waited for food at a local Mexican restaurant. I'd rather go to La Carreta in Merrillville.
(2)Andrea C.
Went with a group of 12 people. They didn't have our table ready despite a reservation. It took forever to get our food. Food was just average. The waitress did great and was very good about accommodating our requests. It was extremely hot inside. Drinks were good. There were lots of rules I had to agree to before I could make a reservation and had to talk to the manager first, which all seemed a little ridiculous.
(3)Alyssa L.
We absolutely love El Salto. The staff is friendly and there is always a packed house. If you have to wait for a table, just grab a cocktail from the bar! We go to El Salto once a week or so. Their food is delicious and they are always happy to accommodate substitutions and adjustments to their dishes if needed. It's the best Mexican restaurant in Northwest Indiana!
(5)K C.
This was my first time here. The food was AMAZING. I have to say though, the service was awful. Being a server myself, I normally tip very well. In order for me to tip poorly, or even an average amount, the service has to be seriously lacking. And it was. My drink came out wrong, but I had to wait so long for any kind of service in the first place, that I just drank it anyway. I'm slightly disappointed. I would like to come back for the food again, but the service may prevent that.
(3)Kristen J.
My husband and I visited El Salto for dinner last Friday night. It was around 6:30 when we arrived. There was a little bit of a wait but we expected that since it was Friday night after all! We were seated approximately 1/2 hour after we arrived. Unfortunatly, our waitress was swamped at the time with other tables so we ended up waiting almost a half hour after being seated just to order!! Then, after we finally ordered our food, it was another HOUR wait before it actually arrived. By then, we'd already been through the chips that they give you when you sit down so we weren't really that hungry anymore. :( The food was just OK. Certainly nothing to brag about. Typical mexican restaurant chain food. The atmosphere was very loud which made it hard to carry on a conversation. Overall, it was just OK. We might go back but we certainly won't be rushing back there. Just wasn't really worth it! I'd rather make the drive to Hacienda in MC!
(2)Leanne H.
Being short on time, I stepped in and was immediately seated. The server was a bit slow initially. However his service from them on made up for it. I order the lunch Flautas (shredded beef) special and the portions were just fine. The meal came with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream. rice and beans. The flautas were crispy and cooked (deep friend) to perfection. Many Mexican restaurants serve chips and salsa. In this case the chips were served warm. The salsa was served in a small separate glass container and this allowed you to put as much or as little into the receiving bowl for the salsa. Friendly service, bill was presented on time and no one was rushing to push you out. I will be back when I am in the area. The only negative was the music was played a little too loud for me.
(4)Marc W.
I have been here many times and the food has always been good. Now on some occasions the service has been way below par. Overall it is a very good place to eat
(4)Ted T.
The food is awesome. The service is terrible. Chips and salsa were gone before we even ordered drinks. 25 min wait to order dinner.
(3)Mike S.
The food quality has becoming more and more inconsistent here lately. I recently had the steak fajitas and sadly they were pretty terrible, not worth anywhere near $12. I will say that there waiters are very friendly and there drink specials are unbeatable. Hopefully the food will return to the quality it was when they first opened.
(3)C B.
Came here cuz I was craving some authentic Mexican food. Inside was nice looking. I had the Speedy Gonzales for $6.25 around lunch time, you get an enchilada, taco, rice and beans. My enchilada came with mole sauce on it but I sent it back asking for salsa verde (green sauce) and oh man, it hit the spot...
(3)Harold S.
I've been there many times and the food and service is always great. The staff is very friendly and fun - I always have a good time when I'm there. I recommend the Chef Platter. And if you like spicy salsa, ask for the Angel salsa - it's excellent!
(5)Chris L.
Drinks were great. Service was terrible. Waitress rarely returned. We were there mostly for the drinks but order a burrito to split. It took an hour to get it. The food was good despite the wait.
(2)Thomas Z.
My wife and I eat here at least twice a month and we love it. The food is great and the service is excellent.
(5)Joe C.
Awesome food......Mondo the manager is the best....he always makes sure where taken care of....me and my wife always make it a point to go there every Saturday night.
(5)