Review El Paisano Restaurant - Reno

I don’t leave bad reviews until I’m done with the place. Ate here several times, drove across town to eat here. They are inconsistent with their quality of asada. After getting our order which was obviously mixed with old burnt meat, we’re done! Taste like charcoal and cannot even salvage the food. Ordered tacos regularly, and sometimes a burrito, only had asada. Rice was hit or miss.

If this review was based on food quality, I would rate this place much higher, but the one star comes from the poor service quality my mother and I received here today. I have had staff make errors at numerous businesses before, but I have never been treated as intentionally poorly as I was by all three of the staff on duty at El Paisano today. We stopped in around 1:00 PM today and ordered two lunch combo plates, which as seen in the large sign on the front of the restaurant, were advertised as being $8.50/meal, not including tax. We ordered two of these lunch specials and noticed a few minutes after the food arrived that we were being charged around $21 before tax for these meals. We asked the cashier, Josseline, about this, and she immediately gave us a bad attitude and said that it was "because of taxes." We pointed out that taxes would not be that high, and that they were also accounted for separately on the receipt, so we didn't know where the extra charges were coming from. She then changed her story to say that "that's just what the machine rang up, so that's what she charged us." We asked to speak to the manager, and the manager essentially repeated Josseline's line of reasoning, saying there was nothing she could do for us since the credit card had already been charged. I said this was unacceptable and asked to be reimbursed the difference in cash, to which the manager grudgingly agreed to. Not only was the attitude unacceptable, but also the fact that I as the customer needed to come up with a solution to this problem, instead of her as the manager. We then returned to the cashier for the reimbursement, and now both she and another employee made snide remarks to the tune of "you're the customer, and we are at your service" as they prepared to give us our reimbursement. One of them also pointed to the menu inside the restaurant and said that "food prices had risen", so lunch specials now cost around $10.50, "as we could see." We said that rising food prices weren't the issue; it was the false advertising in the outdoor signage and subsequent bad attitude we'd gotten about a very simple request to correct an error that was on the business to correct. The employee then added that "nobody else had ever complained about this before," and we replied that this had nothing to do with the false advertising and subsequent lack of taking responsibility. To add one final insult, Josseline (cashier) said that "if we were unhappy, we could always leave a bad review for them online." Ultimately, we received a $5 refund in cash. This was a very simple mistake to correct, and the restaurant should have recognized they were clearly in the wrong with their huge outdoor sign advertising something that was no longer the case. It was an easy fix that could have been handled with a simple refund, a coupon for a meal at a future time, etc. Instead, we got no acknowledgment and only a refund under duress. At no point did any of the staff even look at the sign outside or our receipt - clearly they were not interested in listening to us or seeing it for themselves. The food is tasty here, but if you go, be careful that you are being charged as advertised. The foul attitude we received left me wondering whether they are doing this on purpose to defraud people of small dollar amounts here and there that add up over time, or whether they just lack the ability and willingness to display good customer service and perform the basic mathematic operations necessary to run a restaurant.

Excellent authentic Mexican food. Place is nice and clean. Clear menu and helpful staff. No problems and enjoyed the food.

To start with the place is absolutely filthy! Dust caked everywhere. Spills on the floor. Not one clean table in the entire place. Stood at the register to order for 5 minutes before even being acknowledged. When the girl finally came out, she just stared at us. I have never felt like I was inconvenience someone more in a restaurant. After ordering, we were met with "is that it?" When we got thw food, one of our orders was near inedible as the "steak" tastes like charcoal and had the consistency of beef jerky. Had we not been starving we wouldn't have even chanced it for fear of food poisoning. Overall, we will never be back.

The service was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!!! My order was in a timely fashion however it was not up too Salvadorian par! Not to mention how dirty the restaurant was, there were plenty of empty tables however dried salsa left over food on the tables, the floor was so dirty I almost slipped and hurt myself. When my asada tacos and fries were over cooked and extremely dried out, I asked for fresh replacement items and the lady was so rude and refused to remake. I asked for a refund and was denied. I'll be contacting my bank!

I came looking for authentic Salvadorean food. A salvadorean breakfast that fills you up with flavor. Instead I order my eggs sunny side up hard (see picture), I don’t know what I got. It was some sort of egg, but not what I expected. I ordered Fried Plantains (Platanos fritos) a tipical dish of the salvadorean cuisine, (see picture), I got half banana/ half fried plantains. I still had hopes the pupusa would change my taste buds and my mind (see picture), I did not get a pupusa, I got a tortilla with a bit of cheese in the center. I had to really look hard to see the cheese and to taste the cheese. I’m definitely not coming back here. I guess this place is an eatery but is not a salvadorean restaurant, selling salvadorean food. Service - What service? This place is like a gas station where you serve yourself. What they cook is handed to you from the kitchen. I really had hopes for this place.

We had breakfast here for the first time. The chorizo and eggs were good but the huevos ranchero was swimming in slightly colored water which came from the sauce they put on top after pouring off about a quarter cup of this liquid which was making the fried tortilla soggy it was ok.

This unsuspecting taco shop is a hidden gem. Menu selection is great and prices are reasonable for today's financial climate. I went over board at this location, especially considering my search for the ultimate Chile Reno burrito. Ordered Carne Asada Fries, Chile Reno plate and Papusa's. All the food was fresh and flavorful. The Chile Reno was great, but my search continues. What I will rave about is there Papusa's and hand made tortillas, exceptional to say the least. Definitely worth taking a detour to try them out.