La Espuela Mexican Restaurant & Cantina

Good, competent Mexican food with a few highlights, in a huge (really huge) place with good services (based on my one experience so far).

I went for lunch and at noon, it was fairly empty. I understand it gets busier on Fridays and weekends but the place is so big that I can't imagine it full!

First thing to enjoy are the chairs. Custom-made, these are solid wood, carved and painted. Funky-touristy-garish and awesome!!! Every chair is like this -- hundreds of them. This restaurant can never change its name!

I had the carnitas and they were super crispy and fried. Where most carnitas are a mix of meaty chunks with crisped edges, these are all crisped edges. A different style and I liked it very much. Served with rice, beans, sour cream, guacamole and tortillas, it was a generous portion and a hearty meal.

My friend had what he always has here, the molé enchilada, which I tasted. Good molé is rare, and this was indeed good. Slightly sweet, deeply flavored, and complex. Mild but if you like spice, just ask for some habanero sauce and add a few drops.

Overall: Very good food, huge space, good service. I'll come here again.

Really big, really empty (at 8am) Mexican restaurant across the street from America's Tire when I had a flat and needed to grab a bite while I awaited my new Michelin Pilots.

Surprisingly delicious coffee, respectable if not world-class chilequiles, and a friendly waitress. All I needed that early in the morning, cranky because of the money I needed to spend and forcing myself to order coffee and not a margarita.

4 stars for the entertainment, maybe adjust the speakers, but not bad at all. The food on the other hand was a miss, therefore the 3 stars, burp, excuse me. Great presentation, but maybe we didn't order their specialty which is unknown to us, although if it's on a menu then it should be good enough to be sold, right? We ordered flautas and pozole. The flautas looked delicious but they were over powered by the taste of oil they were fried in, no bueno. The pozole was, meh. Too much oil residue floating on top. Micheladas on the other hand were A OK. Thumbs up for that. Will we come back? Probably, let's give it another chance. For today 3 stars.

PROS:
*Good Entertainment
*very friendly staff
*Attentive staff
*Clean bathrooms!!!
*You can see the kitchen
*Good for family gatherings

CONS:
*Food was off (at least that evening)
*A bit loud (don't sit under the speakers)
*Heartburn (take your anti acid before you go)

After a drive to San Jose on a beautiful sunny day, we hit this place up on our way back. This was one of my regular spots when I lived in Mountain View, but haven't been back since I moved to SF in 2008. Wow, I sure missed this place. Was not nearly as busy as I remembered as when I used to come here this place could be packed, and it is HUGE! Last night, there were only a few people, including me and my GF.

The jumbo wet burrito with red sauce was excellent. The red sauce was tangy and a little earthy due to the chili peppers used. My GF's enchiladas were equally excellent and also included a little salad. The chips and salsas were definitely on point. One salsa is like pico de gallo and the other is a more blended salsa with slices of green onion. Definitely enough food to last for 2 meals.

We came here to listen to Mariachi. That brought me to this totally cliche Mexican establishment with the old logo (El Charro) still visible everywhere.
Mariachi was blaring and there were lots of people enjoying dinner. Read the reviews and I agree with most. Average or below average food.
Watered down salsa that they charge you for! Its on the menu in case you miss it. $2.00 for very watery salsa and chips. The taquitos were also basic and nothing special. The nachos a little better. Yet nothing we said wow or yum to.
The drinks were regular priced and also nothing great. All in all I would only come here again to listen to Mariachi and not even eat. They need to step up service a bit and for sure start with making the salsa better!!

been here only for breakfast, i got the chilaquiles the first time and they were very very good so i came back again after six months and got the same thing, this time was not that great. I was told they had music and the bar are is open later in the day, i think i will try to visit again besides breakfast and see if the food is good.

The place decoration is nice, i wish i could tell you more about the food but once i tried more i will

Whatever you call this place, La Espuela or Los Charros, you'll enjoy standard Americanized Mexican fare. Our server was friendly, attentive, and check up on us frequently.

Their chips and salsa come with pico de Gallo (aka salsa fresca) and another salsa that had chunks of green onions. That one, I especially liked!

We ordered a wet, super shrimp burrito and carnitas plate. Both came out quickly, which made sense since this huge restaurant had very little patrons for a Thursday night. Both dishes were large in portion and fine in taste. Both were demolished rather easily!

If you are not in the mood to be dining in such a large, mostly empty locale, check out the OG location in downtown Mountain View. That location is much smaller, etc.

Had lunch there today,
The

Menus were filthy, for 2 micheladas,3 tacos , one chile relleno by its self and a posole it was $70.00
Later!!
Expensive!... no wonder why its empty!
So the service wasn't that good either
I just think with $70 one can go else where and get real Mexican food.

We tried out this Mexican Food establishment last night. The chips were served "cold" and appeared stale. The food was OK. We ordered margaritas on the rocks that were small (cup size). When we received the check, Wow, those were over $12 each!

We flagged down the server and said the margaritas are way over priced and she agreed and stated that we should have come for Happy Hour where the margaritas are $8.00.

I do not think we will ever be back.

I agree this is literally the worst Mexican food in California. I have had similar food as fast food places at the airport.

I knew the food wasn't going to be good before I got here. I had a lack of time, and I ordered something I thought they can't mess up: Cheese Enchiladas...it was edible.

The positive stuff:
- They had Lagunitas on tap.
- The bar tender was nice.
- The chairs are interesting.