El Torito - Cheam

Salmachica (27 April 2008)

Everything was pretty average and seemed overpriced for what you get. Service was okay but we felt a bit ignored due to several large parties. We probably wouldn't go there again.

Steve (26 August 2007)

This was my first visit to El Torito and maybe my last. It was not that it was terrible, just very average and I know of other better restaurants around the area. Overall I would give it a three out of five star rating. The experience was OK, but nothing special.

To be specific, service was a four, maybe better, as they did give us good attention; food and drink was a solid three, but no better, everything being fairly standard fare, not overly pricy and with decent portions. The ambience inside was again a three, but outside faces a busy road and parking nearby is challenging, plus the hard walls and tile floors make the interior acoustics feel like routine noises such as chairs scraping over the floor as they are pulled in and out seem amplified so a two on those later points. Finally, I would give their tipping policy a one, as although it clearly stated on their menu that an optional ten percent service change would be added to the bills of groups of five people and over, there were only two of us, and they added the ten percent without asking anyway, which I paid as the service had been decent, but I was unimpressed that it was not left up to my discretion.

Essentially this is a restaurant with a mix of cuisines, none of them too imaginative or exciting. My overwhelming sense was of being in a Harvester's that had a Mexican sounding name and related décor, and you know what you are getting, but don't expect it to be more than middle of the road in quality terms.