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Last Update: Jun 15th, 2014
El Camino Location

El Camino

15 NE 2nd Avenue
Delray Beach FL, 33444
561 865-5350
Overall Rating
2.8
Food
Service
Ambiance
Value
Last Review
06/14/2014

Details

Hours: 11am-2am 7 Days
Attire: Casual
Parking: Street, Valet (at night)
CC: Yes
Alcohol: Full Bar
Outside Dining: Yes

Critic's Review

I tried to go to El Camino the last time I was in Delray, but they had lost power and there was no food. This time, luckily, they had power. This place is owned by the same group that owns Cut 432 and Park Tavern; Delray is a lot like Fort Lauderdale in that way, without the corruption.

Confusion began at the hostess stand, when I asked for a table. She kept asking me if I wanted to sit at the bar. "No, I'd like a table". She then mumbled something about happy hour and it hit me that, perhaps, happy hour was only at the bar? She acted like this guy off the street in a tourist town with a big camera should be fully aware of the restaurant's policies. She gave me a happy hour menu and it didn't impress me, so I got a table. I learned later that happy hour is from 4pm to 7pm; but it was only 3:25 when I asked for a table. Was I going to wait 1/2 hour to order something?

I got a table with lime green bench seating; the place is pretty cool. They have a nifty time-lapse video on their web site from when they were building the place; there's a long bar on one side of the place; an idea that has served the Big Time Restaurants people well.

El Camino Bar

There's also a big open kitchen and an impressive beamed ceiling; I've been to Mexico a few times and I never saw anything like this; the dirt and dust is missing; if you've been anywhere other than Cancun you know what I mean.

El Camino Open Kitchen

Also missing are the Mexicans; the workers here are Western Delray and Boca kids which is one thing that's better about Delray than Fort Lauderdale.

They push the Margaritas, but I drink Iced Tea during the day. Extra lemon was included, but I had to ask for sweeteners. There's some sort of hot sauce on the table, but it just reminded me of buffalo wing sauce; no free chips and salsa at the Corporate Mexican restaurants.

El Camino Iced Tea

The first thing that you notice about the place is that it's LOUD, and I do mean loud. Half full and it I could barely hear the music over the voices. They play Spanish-themed music, with "Sabor A Mi" and "Que Me Vas a Dar" among the recognizable. I ordered 3 tacos, which come with "Mexican" rice and either black beans or refried. I'd heard the black beans weren't so good, so I went for refried.

While I was waiting, I learned that the lime green seating doubles as storage, as they were ripping up the benches all around me; apparently looking for glasses. I almost expected them to ask me to move so they could see if I was sitting on the Golden Goblet, but they didn't quite go that far. This reminded me of when the Manager at Lobster Bar turned over the table next to me to tighten the bolts. Although this is something that might happen in Mexico, so it seemed more appropriate here.

El Camino Bench Seating

I continued to wait for my tacos; it took more than 20 minutes to get them. The waiting is the reason that you get bread, or hummus or chips and salsa, so you don't have to sit at an empty table with nothing to eat for so long. Finally the Taco came out, with apologies from a Manager.

El Camino Taco Sampler

I ordered the Spicy Chicken, Carnitas and Carne Asada; The spicy chicken was the best. I didn't like the carnita; I didn't like the morita salsa on it. The Carne Asada was good also; I usually don't want corn on my food but these kernels were sweet and plump. The issue was that it was impossible to eat this as a taco; it just fell apart and I ended up eating it with a fork. The refried beans were chunky; if they're not as good as El Paso from the can I can't give them a thumbs up. The Red Rice had no taste; same as Rocco's. How can cooking rice with tomatoes, onions and garlic not taste good?

The Tacos were better than what you get at Rocco's, which is opening around the corner, and comparably over-priced. The $2 happy hour tacos are more like it; I think $3 is a good price for tacos like this. Although with the rice and beans it's enough for lunch for the $13 that I paid.

Service was excellent until the end when my server seemed to ignore my empty glass. It's a pretty small place with the register nearby so the checkout process went quickly.

I did a pit stop before my drive home, and when I was coming out they already had my bench seat open and were digging for something below. At least they waited until I was done.

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