El Cartel Reviews Summary

Service and Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Tom seated us straight away and was an amazing server the whole evening."
• "Service was excellent and all staff were very friendly."
• "Amazing service, the server made us feel welcome from the second we came in."
• "Staff were very friendly and also added to the great vibe."
• "The servers were friendly and attentive and would definitely come back next time we're in Edinburgh."
• "Service was nice and fast, the place is clean."
• "The service was very good. We ordered our food quite quickly and the meals started coming one after another."
• "Service was excellent - from the moment we walked in we were instantly greeted with a welcoming smile."

Cons:

• "But unfortunately so was the server. No discount for unhappy eaters."
• "I raised this with the waitress and she couldn’t have tried to be more unhelpful."
• "We did tell our server that we didn't enjoy the food. At no point did someone come to talk to us about this."
• "Servers were ignoring the chef ringing the bell when an order was ready as they were busy talking."
• "Thank you so much to the team for my early/late birthday present!!! Food brilliant as always, my favourite restaurant in the UK since I first tried years ago. But the best part has to be the amazing staff ☺️"
• "I dropped in with a friend. Both of us have spent a lot of time eating very genuine Mexican food-I have been to Mexico probably 50 plus times in my life and have eaten in fancy clubs in Mexico City as well as rustic hovels a couple days walk from the nearest roadin rural Oaxaca. el Cartel is the real deal! Not “typical Mexican food” but it is typical of the Mexican food one would encounter in an avant-garde restaurant in a hip neighborhood of Mexico City. We dropped in for a light snack and didn’t leave until we had eaten much more than we had planned. Don’t miss this spot!"
• "The tacos were very good, especially the cochinita pibil taco. They have a decent amount of food in them. They give you two tacos per serving (most of them are £7, so it adds up quick). The service was good and efficient. Good location. It would have been nice to have Mexican music playing at a Mexican restaurant instead of rap and hiphop music. Overall, I recommend this place!"
• "Excellent mexican place, as good as it gets in edinburgh. People marking it down because it was 'better in the past' doesn't seem fair or relevant to me. Is it worse than it was? Who knows. Is it way better than the other mexican places around at the moment? Yes. Yes it is."

Food Quality and Taste

Pros:

• "The food came out very quick and every single meal was beyond delicious."
• "The taco Tuesday deal was definitely worthwhile and our group really enjoyed the food overall."
• "Favourites: - corn on the cob: juicy and delicious - pork confit taco: the meat was actually crispy - baja cod taco: crispy batter, soft and juicy fish."
• "Amazing food, really nice people, all good. Best Tacos I’ve tasted."
• "The pork ribs and duck carnitas were delicious with all the food tasting fresh."
• "Absolutely amazing tacos. I don't know if they're authentic or not, but they taste so good and fresh."
• "Fantastic food! Great if you are gluten free as all tortillas are made in house from masa corn."
• "Awesome authentic Mexican food. We came up from London which has its fair share of great Mexican restaurants now and this place beats them all."

Cons:

• "The tacos were gross, the tortilla was thick and stodgy."
• "Everything just tasted like mush/blended into one flavour. Textures were off, extremely stodgy, dense and dry."
• "Last year my starter was a delicious corn on the cob... This year it was half a tin of Jolly Green Giant in a red paste."
• "Sadly the tacos were not good. The tortilla used was simply not in the right puffed and soft texture."
• "Food was extremely bland- I don’t know how it was possible to make fish tacos taste like nothing, but they managed to!"
• "Tortillas are absolutely tasteless. They are dry and because of this tacos fall apart as soon as you grab it."
• "As an American living in the UK it can be rare to find good Mexican food- this place did not disappoint!"
• "Food was actually awful. I don't know how this place has a 4.5/5 on google. The chicken wings were probably the worst I've ever been served in a restaurant. Tasted like soggy boiled wings with a sauce slathered on."