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El Burrito
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- None
14 reviews for El Burrito
First of all, let me say that I am a HUGE fan of Mexican food, and have always mourned the somewhat dismal availability of quality Mexican here in Hawaii. Not to mention that most of the acceptable Mexican restaurants here tend to be overpriced (I'm wagging my finger at you, Compadres)... When you can get a quality bambucha burrito, a side of rolled tacos, plus 2 fish tacos anywhere in Southern Cali for $6, it really makes you wonder.
But then there's El Burrito. One of the few Mexican restaurants in Hawaii that I can honestly recommend to a person who's had real Mexican food, and my favorite place to get what's emblazoned right on their sign: a burrito. My favorite is their (shredded) beef burrito, because the thing is big enough to be your only meal for the day, and it is absolutely STUFFED with beef. Not rice and beans and cheese with a few sprinkles of dry meat, but STUFFED. The meat is shredded, simmered in some proprietary stew of delicious spice, 100% free from fat chunks and gristle, and available "spicy," which means jalapeno slivers thrown in. Cover that with the guac mix, pour on their extremely excellent homemade salsa, and it's fiesta time in your mouth. Prices are all extremely reasonable (again, for Hawaii).
The staff at El Burrito are terrific: friendly and attentive. They recognize their regulars and are part of the community, so it's not unusual to see a family come in and see their children run behind the corner and give the cook (the matriarch of the establishment) a hug. The only slight problem is that parking can be hard to find (heed the warnings and do NOT park by Arts Hawaii - those guys will call a tow truck before you even make it across the street), and the seating inside is limited. But those two small points should not deter you. On taste alone, El Burrito is my favorite Mexican restaurant in Hawaii. It just so happens that the prices are good and the people great.
JUNK. They burned the chips, the salsa was bland (come on, add some salt or something!) and the carne asada burritos I got tasted the same. Actually, the burned taste actually gave the meat some flavor. Will NOT go here again. Better off going to Diego's Taco Shop, Ramiero's, even Taco Bell or Taco Del Mar!
This CA native says don't waste your money. Sad when EVERYBODY is saying they burned the chips, goes to show you that it wasn't just my visit.
Price was reasonable. Service very friendly. The food was bland, unfortunately. I had the shredded beef burrito, with rice and beans. All of it was very bland.
Hole in the wall place across fm Moana Pacifc and the Honolulu Time Company at the Rainbow bldg. Very reasonably priced! My husband lives and dies by this place. I'm personally not a big Mexican fan (quit that years ago) but I like tripe and their Menudo soup is pretty good and so are there burritos. My husbands addicted to their lamb chimichangas and me.... How's about some flavored pork - Mele they call it. Its all very simple home cooked stuff - nothing fancy. Chips n salsa is ok- don't expect too much but i've been as far as San Diego for Mexican food and this place pretty descent. Especially since Mexican food in Hawaii is limited like anything thats Spanish or European here has to be good to survive here for as long as I can remember. And well we see Spanish speaking people here allege time so it must be OG. Ask for extra spicy or jalapeño in your stuff and it's lovely. Anyways family that's eats together stays together right? He doesn't care too much for natto but I make him try anyways. Oh and watch out where you park....tow trucks love this area.
The food didn't used to be this horrible here. At one point, this used to be one of the more highly recommended Mexican joints on the island. I felt bad because my friend was craving good Mexican food and I brought him to El Burrito. He was so disappointed.
The salsa was weak and the chips were bitter and slightly burnt. I've never had such tasteless salsa. How can they even serve that stuff? I've seen my Mexican friends make salsa and they can easily whip up a tasty batch in mere minutes. I expect the salsa to at least be edible in a Mexican restaurant.
I ordered the taco plate with lamb and steak tacos. I forget how much it cost but it wasn't cheap. I used to get the carnitas and al pastor tacos here, but this time I wanted to try something new. What was I thinking? I'm one of those people that love gamey meats, but the lamb was smelly and had absolutely no seasoning--not even salt. It was just huge chunks of unseasoned lamb in the soft flour tortilla--no cilantro, no onions, no topping. I couldn't do it; it tasted too much like goat.
The steak taco was the same. No lime, cilantro, or onion. WTF? It was really dry because the steak had been zapped too long in the microwave. Yes, I saw them heating our food up in the microwave. Maybe that's why the meat smelled; it had probably been sitting in the fridge for days.
Service was indifferent. The girl only came by the table to take our order and drop off the check. I'll never go back there again.
Wth?
Don't bother with this place, everyone says it used to be good, sad.
The chips! The 1st thing one looks forward to is that basket of warm tortilla chips and homemade salsa, sit down and BOOM start shoveling chips and salsa into your face. I couldn't do it! They screwed up the chips! ALL the chips in the basket were burnt! Dark almond brown, and acrid tasting! The salsa was nothing special, watery and lifeless. I asked our server for some chips that weren't burnt, she said they are all like that. Perfecto! I won't waste your time with more critique, suffice to say it was all downhill from there. My friend H.O.H.R. and I didn't even bother to take home the leftovers from our two half eaten entrees, that sums it up.
Funny how there aren't very many good Mexican places in Hawai`i, especially when considering that Mexican food isn't hard to make.
Conclusion: El Burrito is El Crappo! Ole!
(yes i know "ole" is from spain, so sue me)
The food is not good here...
I ordered the vegetarian burrito was filled with what tasted like Campbell's vegetable soup and nothing else. The refried beans had no taste at all.
My coworker ordered the carnitas which were dried, no flavor chunks of meat.
The food used to be much better, I don't know what happened.
Worst Burrito I ever had...
1) Carnitas -- they actually gave us chicken...big tasteless chunks of non-marinated chicken. Not even Tapatio could help much here.
2) Guacamole -- their recipe is 1 part avocado to 3 parts water
3) salsa -- see recipe for gucamole substitute avocado with tomatoes
4) rice -- what rice?
5) beans -- they spread refried beans as thin as butter on toast.
6) tortilla -- dry, bland, tasteless
7) sour cream -- in an attempt to compensate for the paltry amount of guac, no cheese, and smidgin of beans, the thing was over full of sour cream to the point where I'm taking whole bites of it. Oh and we had to pay extra for it.
I would have enjoyed taco bell more (and for half the cost). This is just sad.
Back in the day this place was pretty good but not anymore. I can't see how this place stays open seeing they serve horrible Mexican. Don't eat here; even if someone pays you! Run while you can...
man this place doesn't even deserve a star. this is the first place I went to for some mexican food in hawaii and the food sucked so bad, i hesitated to even try any other mexican spots in hawaii for awhile.
This place is a hole in the wall...figured it must be good and had read some decent reviews. Since moving to Honolulu, we've been on the hunt for good Mexican food....this is not the place.
1) They only take cash...this irks me to no end
2) Our server was playing footsies with some guy in the corner
3) Salsa...tap water with salt would have tasted better
4) I ordered the taquitos...bland, too much sour cream, rice and beans are also flavorless...the salt shaker got a lot of use
5) My husband ordered the carne asada plate...no bueno. Meat was a cheap cut of who knows what that was obviously pan fried, no flavor, came with 2 tortillas.
6) Guacamole was odd looking, also flavorless.
Save your money and go to Taco Bell. This place leaves much to be desired!
I have eaten Mexican food from Mexico to USA to Canada.
Geee..., I was very disappointed. Its alright that their place is small. But the food ain't good. Why would anyone want to pay $4 for a taco that has just a plain corn patch with meat that is not really asada ( but tasted like it was preserved meat form days ago) and a small amount of salsa that i could buy in the supermarket? I may as well do it myself with less money and would tastes a lot better. There were no scallion nor other traditional veges/species etc with it.
Liked the food a lot. One of the best Mexican restaurants on the island. I really wish they would offer more free chips and salsa after we finished our first tiny complimentary serving. That's one of the things I like most about Bandito's Cantina. Oh well, I still like the place.
Home style Mexican food. The best in Hawaii.
