El Vaquero Mexican Restaurant

My family and I celebrated a wonderful "birthday dinner" on 11-11-2023 at El Vaquero Mexican Restaurant at 2195 Riverside Dr. in Upper Arlington. Over the years, I have eaten many times at the El Vaquero at 3230 Olentangy River Rd. but had never before eaten [as far as I can recall] at the El Vaquero at 2195 Riverside Dr. I had always assumed that the El Vaquero at 2195 Riverside Dr. is across the street from Upper Arlington but learned, several days after we had eaten there, while carefully checking the Upper Arlington map, that that restaurant is actually in Upper Arlington even though they are on the west side of Riverside Dr. We had arrived for our "birthday meal" during the late afternoon after we had briefly visited several places just north of there [Frank's Marathon and two locations within Griggs Reservoir Park] immediately before sunset so that I would be able to take some photographs of those places while the sun had still been shining. The restaurant had been nearly empty when we had arrived but quickly became crowded as people started to arrive for "happy hour" specials and/or for late-afternoon meals. My food choice that afternoon had been #40: "Chicken Burrito and Chicken Enchilada" [one burrito and one enchilada topped with lettuce, sour cream, and tomato]. If you are looking for delicious Mexican food served in an energetic environment, I recommend El Vaquero [at any of their several locations].

Just arrived home after 8 hours in the car and decided no one wanted to cook. Although it was raining we were able to sit at one of the open air tables. Service was fast. In fact too fast as we had barely pulled out our chairs before having time to look at menu. Appears there are numerous staff positions with each person assigned duties and they aren't coordinated time-wise. Once we ordered, the meal went smoothly and the food was plentiful and served hot. Servers were friendly and the restaurant appeared clean and well maintained. This was our second visit and we will probably return.

The food was delicious! The server was terrible. He did not smile. Shoot he barely spoke to us. He wasn't friendly from the first 30 seconds. He literally left and didn't come back outside the last 20mins we were there. A different server got our Togo bags, extra food and bills. I could kiss the chef though! My meal was delicious 😋

This place is always amazing. We’ve been going for years and it just keeps getting better. The staff makes us feel like family, the food is consistently great, and you can’t beat the margaritas! We love how kid friendly it is too, all the staff are always so kind to our kids and make it easy to have a family meal out!