The Riviera Restaurant & Cantina

We have been dining at The Riv for many years now. However, we have noticed a significant decline in the service and food quality recently. Last night's experience was the final straw for us. The waiter took a long time to take our order after bringing our drinks, and then blamed the kitchen for the delay. When I questioned something on the bill, the server who brought it shrugged and gave me an "I don't know" smirk, which was completely rude. This restaurant used to be known for its high quality service and delicious food, but it seems like that is no longer the case. There are plenty of other great Mexican food restaurants in the city, so we have decided to say goodbye to our old favorite. The best thing The Riv can do is to thoroughly screen their new staff and train them to act more professionally.

I had never eaten at this restaurant while I was living in El Paso, but I recently visited for a private party. It may not be fancy, but that's exactly what you want when enjoying authentic northern Mexican cuisine. The enchiladas were delicious! The staff who handled the drinks and service were exceptional. Everyone had a great time, even some guests who are usually hard to please.

This place has been around for a while so I knew I had to try it. The hostess wasn’t too friendly but our waiter was so he made up for it. The tortilla soup was flavorful, but lacked chicken. The gorditas were very good although my mom thought they were on the spicy side, my five year old was able to eat them however. The Chile rellenos were also very delicious. My sister only had dessert, the churros with ice cream and she was very happy with it. My only complaint and it’s sad because it was the main reason I wanted to try this place: the margaritas. I had been told I needed to try them. So I ordered the Coronarita $10). The margarita itself had absolutely no flavor. It tasted like a water slushee. Then I added the Corona hoping it would help but it ended up tasting like watered down beer. I was so disappointed. Maybe their other margarita offerings are better. I’ll give them a try some other time. They also have a small bar next door that stays open after the restaurant closes.

Out in the west Texas town of EL Paso, Riviera’s is fossilized into EL Paso’s food history pedigree. Chard fresh table salsa, cooked to order deliciousness arrives on a food cart ready to serve. My huevos rancheros were on the money! The red Chile ranchero sauce was fantastic. Textured potatoes with hatch New Mexico green Chile impressed the taste buds! This is a great historical food marker in EL Paso and would to definitely not pass by on!

Had the ground beef gorditas this go-around , they were huge! Everything was super fresh and tasted great.. The salsa was on point and we went early enough for zero waiting and good service.