Mi Zarape Mexican restaurant

Before I get into the review I wanted to say the people working here were very friendly and went out of their way the entire visit to greet the customers, be attentive, sing from the kitchen, and go out of their way to give the customers a good experience. They even went above and beyond and expressed their appreciation, which made the visit a feel good experience.

The other thing I would like to begin with is that I have a string of disappointments recently at Mexican restaurants that were new to me and I feared this could be a repeat. It was far from the truth. The chips were pretty good and so was the salsa. The food was delicious. The beans and rice tasted fresh and I ordered a beef chimichanga that was crisp and delicious. All of the flavors were good and the other food at the table looked really appetizing. I could see us as a family coming back here for dinner.

I am a bit confused about what restaurant this is. I thought it said Mi Zarape, but they did not have the same huge menu anymore. I thought this was the same as the Auburn Hills location which shared the same menu but perhaps there are new owners? Or they splintered off into a different restaurant? They still had a nice variety of good food. This would not stop me from coming back, I did have a really great experience.

As of June 2022 now operating under "El Cantaro".
They were able to accommodate a group of 13 with basically one server.
Their food is tasty and reasonably priced.
Happy hour is from 3:00-6:00.

I went to Mi Zarape around 1:15 on a Tuesday afternoon. I think I was the only customer in there. The server was very friendly and brought me chips and salsa alons with my large cup of iced tea. The tea was very good -- I didn't need to add sweetener to it. The chips and salsa were standard fare -- good for munching on, but nothing great.

I ordered the lunch combination of an enchilada, a quesadilla and a tostada (I believe). It didn't take long to come out, which made me wonder if any of it was microwaved. (I've been watching a lot of Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" reruns lately.) The quesadilla was ok -- just melted cheese in a flour tortilla. The enchilada had some beef inside and had sauce on it. The tostada was soggy -- I had to use a knife and fork to eat it -- and I think it only had cheese, lettuce & some sour cream on it.

All in all, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't outstanding, either.

Must say its pretty good. Love the chimi chicken and beef. Get one of each with cheese sauce on top so good.

Sorry but this place is a ripoff, rice and pico de gallo DO NOT cost this much. Dishes seemed to made and then heated in microwave oven. Alcohol is even more over priced.
Overall a very bland and average experience for prices that are simply ridiculous.
And the cash prices bit is a little shady to say the least. Still over priced but the price goes higher if you pay by card? With COVID-19 and ridiculous margin of profit, one would think the credit charge should be easily covered.

People rave about this place in the Lake Orion Chat Room. No idea why. They claim it's "authentic Mexican food" ... suburban people are weird.

First, they change their name frequently. Everyone boasts, "same owners, they just changed their name to X" like it's normal. Obviously not just a fun thing to do, it costs money, what are we hiding here?

Anyways, walked in and we were seated. There was a dead fly on the table and it was dusty. Ok, I cleaned the table up myself. Whatever.

The menu was nothing exciting. Ordered. I used the restroom, the stall was out of TP. How hard is it to make sure you have TP? Sat back down at the table. Noticed a spiderweb up above our heads in the middle of the table with a tiny little spider moving around right as our meal arrived.

Let's talk food.... The house salsa was mostly tomato and cilantro flavor. The meal with shrimp was so overdone it was tough to chew. I asked for something to be removed from my plate due to allergies, guess what was front and center on my plate? Had two sodas, one was heavy syrup so much that we had 2 sips and were done and the other was barely any and tasted like soda water.

Service was ok. Not great, and towards the end of our meal we were ignored. However the server had been around shortly before we were done to offer boxes, but then didn't come back for another 15 minutes of us sitting there. Server brings the check eventually, as the card was already in hand, and walks away saying that they can take it up when ready.

I honestly can't think of one positive thing about this experience. I was so hopefully considering the other options for "Mexican" in town aren't the best either. This one instantly is at the bottom of that list though.

Apparently Mi Zarape is now El Cantaro? This review is for a takeout order on Aug. 14, 2022. The new menu for El Cantaro can be found on their Facebook page as they do not follow mi zarspes. The queso fundido was extremely runny like a soup and basically had ground beef chunks in it. The ground beef for the tacos was WAY too salty. The enchiladas were basically ice cold like they came right out of the fridge? All of us had something wrong with our food except my baby who got a cheese quesadilla. Will not go back unfortunately.

My family and friends and I, use to eat here all the time , one night i had got super sick and I think it was from the ground beef here another reason why I won't eat at non authentic Mexican restaurant ever again. The food here has more flavor then sage brush , and ecspecially rio on Main everything in town is better then rio even the Leo's Coney Island lol , but this place made me sick and I don't want anyone else to go through that.

Sorry, not returning. Chimichangas were not cooked enough and were soggy. My wife had a taco salad and the meat was so Salty she couldn't eat her food. Not going back. On top of it, without notice, they charged us a 4% fee oayiby credit card - not playing fair there.

Good Mexican food, not too spicy but flavorful. Colorful inside. Friendly staff. One of our favorite restaurants.