El Mercado - Austin

My family and I visited this establishment recently, the staff was very friendly, the food was good . There was just one thing that really bothered me , my teenage granddaughter was in the LADIES restroom stall and a cleaning guy walked in there to clean while she was actually using it! Didn’t announce himself to check before walking in either!

Plenty of space at 5 pm on Saturday, beginning at 7 pm to fill. I enjoyed the tortilla soup, it was quite easy, but delicious with Cilantro and Avocado. Yummy Mango Margarita. They easily split controls. Excellent service and has not encouraged us.

To dinner tonight. When I arrived, the host noticed that I went for a walk with a canoe and told me I was sitting anywhere I feel comfortable. I appreciate it so often that I go over the whole restaurant to sit at a table. In this case, I decided to sit in the main dining room. For 7:30 on a Friday night, this place was not super busy, but no less active. When the waitress came to my table, I ordered the El Grandote Margarita. I usually don't drink aromatized margaritas, but I chose strawberry. The drink was pretty delicious. While deciding what to order for dinner, the waitress brought chips and salsa. I found the salsa to have an excellent, embarrassing taste. While some critics said it was too watery, I found it a decent consistency with a reasonable amount of liquid in it. If I had only the Margarita and the salsa, it would have been a good dinner. When time came to order, I was torn between the brisket enchiladas or the shrimp enchiladas. I asked the waitress to her recommendation, she reacted quickly that I should go with the brisket enchiladas. When my food arrived and I got a taste of the enchiladas, I knew why she recommended them. The brisket was incredibly moist with a nice smokey taste on it. I found the rice on the plate well seasoned and was light and fluffy. The fried beans were also seasoned well. I mixed some salsa in both to give them a bit of a bite. Overall my meal was excellent and met the place. The drink was also delicious. Customer service was excellent from the host to the waiter. I will definitely be back to try more menu items! Hats from the kitchen staff for an amazing brisket I was told is made in the house. The host told me they're doing Carnitas, so I'll try the next time.

The food and drinks are always great at El Mercado! The hot Latin pillows were delish with the Zilantro sauce. The cattle fajitas in the taco salad were soft and damp, not chewing or dry. The flan would have used a little more of the sauce, but still creamy and tasty. One of my biggest pet peeves is the check on the table, without confirmation that there are no more orders. We have the ticket while we still eat our duck, but we wanted dessert and more drinks. While I understand that it is not a big problem, and they can simply add to our tab... as a patron, it feels rude and haste. As a server, I didn't want my customers to know.

I went here for the first time on a random weekday and it was surprisingly busy and packed! The service here great, the server was friendly and interlocutor. He has done a good job, to take orders and to do it quickly. All the food came out right. I got the brisket Enchiladas and they were good. The only thing I had to write about was that the Enchiladas were a bit cold. I wish they were a little hotter. The Mexican rice was super delicious.