El Caporal Sunriver

I am a huge fan of Mexican food and have visited more than 70 Mexican restaurants in last 3 years but this one is something else... everything I have tried (an I have tried almost every dish) was more than perfect..food is fresh and portions are huge! If you are ever in Sunriver or Bend you have to pay them a visit it will be well worth it. Ask for server Oscar or Carlos they are the best! And of course don't forget the best margaritas in town (hibiscus margarita or classic one)!;)

The food here is decent. We eat here a couple times a year and it's very consistent. The service is good also. The area is pretty small and can get very crowded. Like all sunriver restaurants we try to avoid peak times of year.

I found this place amazing. Came here off a recommendation from a friend. Had a larger party of 9 people and they were well prepared and ready to serve us. Though coming in closer to there closing time as a big group, they didn't hesitate to take us in. Wait time wasn't terrible, it was expected and for the food we got it was well worth any wait time. The place was decently full when we got there, and they still managed to be attentive and serve excellent dishes. My parents always take me around to many Mexican restaurants, but I have to say, the food here hit beyond my expectations. Everything thing had an authentic flavor, the dishes were a lot larger than I thought(worked out fine for a big group), and I definitely will have to come back! Biggest recommendations, for what I've tried so far, any of there tacos. Along with the shrimp being bacon wrapped and topped with cheese, made my day. My group also said there fajitas for two is definitely worth a try. Price ranges, depending on what you choose. But way worth it.

This is the best Mexican food! Super friendly staff, large portions and DELICIOUS food. We make sure to have this at least once every trip to Sunriver.

Delicious food and very nice wait staff! The food portions were generous and fresh. Everything tasted great and it was a well rounded experience. There was also an impressive variety of margaritas on the menu. The menu was very large and plentiful.

My family and I stopped here for lunch. This review is just about our sever. We have no complaints about the food itself. We ordered carne asada burritos but when we were served it was just steak. We chocked it up to a miscommunication and said sorry we ordered carne asada burritos. Instead of just making the order right the server proceeded to argue with us and said we were wrong very rudely. Honestly we probably would have just eaten what he brought if he was a little more courteous. In addition to being super rude when we got the check he added 20% gratuity automatically and we had to tell him to remove it. We saw the note on the menu that larger parties have gratuity added automatically but we only came in with 4 people. I feel that this is super unethical and the service was the most horrible I have ever had. WARNING: Make sure to check your receipts as they might try to add a tip automatically or better yet just don’t eat here.

It wasn't busy inside though there was a short wait for dining outside. The service was prompt enough and everything came as ordered. The food was good, though I wasn't all that impressed with the tortilla chips, but not really a big deal. I was very tempted to give a four star rating because I did not like the responses to some of the reviewers with personal slights. Nothing at all wrong with explaining or defending your business. It's a lot better also if responses weren't only made to negative reviewers. The prices are very affordable and it is definitely a good place to eat.

Enjoyed my lunch here! I was met with such kindness from the staff.

Had lunch there with family. Food was delicious. Very courteous and friendly server. Had grand kids with us and the place is nice enough to have us all. Margarita classic on ice was delicious.

Solid spot and part of our regular rotation in Sunriver. The guac is great, the Perfect Margarita lives up to its name, and the combo appetizer is always a win. The soup is good my husbands favorite, but the carne asada isn't good as a whole piece or in tacos. Prices feel a bit high for what you get, and it can get busy at peak times, but service is friendly.

Food Review: The tortilla chips were stale, and the salsa was extremely hot. I ordered the Avocado Tostada with an add-on of sour cream and guacamole ($3.50 extra), but the portions were small. The dish came with a small corn tortilla on bottom, beans, rice, and iceberg lettuce. It was supposed to include fresh tomatoes and cheese, but there were none to be found. Overall, I would eat there again.

We came to sunriver to rent bikes and cruise around . After we were thirsty. The margaritas hit the spot and chips and salsa very good. The staff very friendly . Sat outside and was fun to people watch and relax .

Very overpriced and underwhelming Just bad food and the plate comes 1/3 full. Scam! And bad service

The service was great and the people were very friendly. The mole was good and so was the taco salad and my daughter had a chicken burrito which she said was good . The only thing was the rice was very bland

I called this restaurant as a guest of Sunriver 2 days prior for a large group order. In response to the call I was told to call the day of, I called 3 hours prior to our pickup time and was told to call 1 hour prior as it wasn't an issue. When I called the restaurant when I was told to, they told me they can't take the order. Horrendously ran restaurant with absolutely terrible service. By the look of previous reviews, should have been expected.

El Caporal is a solidly good Mexican restaurant! From the chips to the margarita to the chicken flautas that I had this evening, all were very good. The service was also very good. I can't believe that it took me 10 years of coming to Sunriver to finally go here, but I'm really glad that I did. I look forward to returning sometime.

Not too many Mexican restaurants to choose from in Oregon but we did find this one in the Village. Very authentic Mexican Restaurant with friendly Latino compas and comadres. Ambiance is casual and this is a busy restaurant but it is worth the wait. I had the combination enchilada, taco & tostada with rice beans and salad on the side. Was super delicious. For drinks I recommend to try the Jamaica margarita. A definite 5 star rating for these restaurant for good food and excellent customer service.

This is our favorite place for a sit down Mexican restaurant in Bend. We come every year for soccer and baseball tournaments. It is lightening fast service and the fresh margaritas are the best. It's a perfect way to relax after a long, hot day of supporting the team. We sat down to immediately chips and salsa, bar drinks within 5 min, food within 10 min, and I never have to ask for help. They anticipate every need. Thank you for yet another awesome dining experience!

We love this place. The rice n beans are so fresh and exactly how we love them. The portions are huge as well. Outside seating to accommodate ppl w dogs. Omg the margaritas!!! Be careful they are strong and amazing!!

We eat here every summer. It's in the perfect location especially during summer. They get pretty busy here. Fun and festive vibe. Clean inside the restaurant. They have tables outside as well. Customer service is always great. Their food is pretty good. I haven't had anything that I didn't like so nothing but positivity here.

Great place for a $26.99 meh carne burrito. That's right. $26.99 for a carne asada burrito. It was ok but not worth $26.99. Overall meh.

Food was pretty good as usual. This was our fifth time here since April- 3 take out orders and 2 times dining in restaurant. The service by our waiter was NOT GOOD. Our server was not attentive. One order was wrong. We could not get enough hot sauce. We could not get a second beer. We could not get his attention to get more hot sauce, order a beer or let him know we had the wrong order. When the bill came I mentioned these issues, and he shrugged, no apologies at all, nor did he try to address or correct these complaints. There is a bit of a captive audience due to their location and the upcoming busy season. We normally try to help the local businesses during the slow season. This service just lost us. We have been dining here at this location with previous ownership of El Pescador and Chowder House for close to 30 years. Lowest tip in my life at any restaurant. This server seemed upset that I complained about the service. This is my first ever negative Yelp review.

The food here is good and they have a wide selection to choose from. I was glad to see they even had some vegetarian items on the menu. I ordered two spinach enchiladas and had enough to take home for another meal. They also have an extensive margarita selection. I highly suggest the hibiscus perfect margarita. It was so good! The area where El Caporal falls short is in service. It was pretty busy when we ate here for dinner but there seemed to be only one waiter in charge of the whole outdoor area and possibly one waiter inside. We had to wait quite a while for a table, then to order food, and then for our check. I hope they hire more waitstaff because the food is good and it would make the dining experience more enjoyable.

You wouldn't guess what a jem hidden at a far away place like Sunriver. They not only greeted me but everyone with so much welcome. I was there at lunch time and it was pretty busy for that one hour I was there. What a value for the large servings. Great price for the four of us and we all left full to the rim. No dinner for us that day. Martin and Pat were great servers. A must place to eat when in Sunriver.

Great restaurant. Great food ! Very nice owners‼. We make this our first stop each time we travel to Sunriver!

Without question, the most disappointing Mexican food my family and I have eaten in ... forever. Even my nine-year-old -- who admittedly has a discerning palette -- said, "Worst Mexican food I have ever had!" The best aspect of dinner was the food taking so long to arrive (45+ minutes from when we ordered) we bled into the Primetime Olympics broadcast and were able to watch a USA relay team win its heat on large screen TVs posted in the restaurant. The service was exceedingly mediocre, the prices were grossly overblown as compared to world class Mexican, which may be the most boastful part of the experience: "Highest prices ever for crappy Mexican food anywhere!"

Came here with the family for dinner when we visited Sunriver. Family wanted Mexican food and apparently there are not very many Mexican restaurants to choose from but we did manage to find these restaurant. Casual dining busy environment but fast service, did not wait long for our food. We each got different plates and they were all delicious. If you are looking for a Mexican restaurant and are in the area do give this place a try and they can accommodate a big crowd. Great customer service great food and fabulous margaritas. Definitely 5 stars.

Always solid food. Great portions. Service is friendly and speedy. As locals we love coming here. Thanks el caporal!

Food is on par to some of the great Mexican restaurants I have tried at the same price point. The carne asada burrito was great. Seemed a bit pricey but it is enough food to leave leftovers. Standard service that is nothing to complaint or brag about.

Food was great but the service was stellar. We walked in with a large party and kids and they sat us immediately and were very accommodating. We will def continue to come here for our Sunriver Christmas lights tradition.

I'm surprised this place has such a low review on Yelp. I decided to try it out because the more recent reviews (within a year) appear to be good. [Ambiance] It's a small and cozy place. It has the vibes of a warm, family-owned restaurant. Outdoor seating is available upon request. We went in for dinner so, of course, it was packed. The tables are pretty close to each other so don't be surprised if you bump into someone. With that being said, that didn't really bother us as it's understandably busy during dinner time. [Food] Once seated, they served us tortilla chips and salsa. The salsa was spicy, just the way I like it. I ordered chicken taquitos and my partner got one of the small combos. The plates were huge and hot, which kept the food warm. The taquitos came with rice, beans, lettuce, salsa, and a generous amount of guacamole and sour cream. I enjoyed the taquitos as they were fried to perfection and were cut into smaller pieces. The chicken was not dry at all and each taquito was stuffed with meat. There was some seasoning on the chicken, but I expected more flavors. The guacamole and sour cream did add more flavors to it. Nothing special about the beans and rice, good flavors and complimented the meals pretty well. [Drinks] If you like sweet drinks and don't love the taste of tequila that much, I highly recommend the black rose margarita. It looks and tastes like the pink drink from Starbucks, with mild tequila that's not too over-powering. The portion of the drinks was great and the drinks we had were about $12 - $13 each (mentioned this because the drink prices are not on their menu). [Overall] I gave it a 4-star for having great, fairly-priced Mexican food for the Pacific Northwest. Can't compare to Mexican food in San Diego, haha :D I would definitely come back here and highly recommend it if you're craving some Mexican food without wanting to spend a fortune in Sunriver.

Totally forgot I had come here. Good thing our phones track literally everything we do, am I right?! Well, this restaurant was really good and I gladly spent and ate way more than I should have! I regret nothing :)

Great spicy margaritas. Very friendly service especially from Oscar who was so kind to us senoritas ;) Mole 'Chicago was delicisocio. Thought Parmesan on a burrito was an interesting choice but it maybe worked beget than what you may think. Arrividerci!

Service is ok. Food was ok. Being from Texas I have higher expectations for Mexican food. I shared a combo plate, enchilada, tamale, and taco. The taco was soggy because it was on top of the tamale and enchilada which was covered in sauce and cheese. There wasn't much open for Christmas Eve, so we stopped in here. The chips and salsa was also ok. Overall 3 stars, but we didn't leave hungry.

We were pretty excited to have some good Mexican food and had heard from some locals that it was really good and they go there a lot. I ordered the Taquitos Rancheros and a beef Tomal. The Taquitos were very good, but the Tomal was not fresh and only took one bite. Not eatable really. The rice was very al dente and crunchy. Just didn't seem like freshly made. In the background you could hear mad chopping for an extended period of time. Service was excellent! So not sure what was going on that day, but willing to try again sometime.

Food was not good. Maybe it's an Oregon thing, but the food we ordered was bland and soupy. I'm used to burritos coming wrapped in foil. These burritos came in large to-go containers. Filled with wet beans, rice, and other items that belong inside the burrito. And it just didn't taste good. We ordered 6 different burritos and all were bad.

Went to Sunriver for the afternoon. Decided to have dinner at El Cap. (I live in Bend near the Eastside location of El Cap). Wow! What a disappointment! I ordered a combo with a chicken enchilada and tamale. The enchilada was a few pieces of chicken wrapped in a tortilla. The tamale was very dry. Neither had sauce or cheese on them. The rice and beans were good. My friend had a burrito and a Chile relleno. Both were OK. I also had a house Margarita, which was pretty good. I have gone to the Bend locations many times with no problems. This location needs a bit of help.

Super nice staff and atmosphere. My chicken enchiladas was a little bland, and unbalanced.

Food was ok, but waiter was giving off a creepy vibe. Made me feel extremely uncomfortable being watched and smiled at the whole time I was there, despite being with a man. Took my meal home to eat.

First off I guess I'm just old and the "it's too loud in here" cliche is true!! But this place is super small and crowded and LOUD! We've gone twice now and both times are the same thing. Maybe lunchtime wouldn't be so bad? The super nachos are GREAT! Everything else not so much, and it's a little pricey for a chain Mexican place. The servers are busy because the place is busy but they do kind of make you feel rushed and favor the larger tables more than a table of two.

I had the El Caporal Camarones. They were pretty good. My only complaint is that it had a ton of mushrooms and not all that many prawns. The fajitas looked the best. My wife says the chipotle enchiladas were worth 4 stars. They kept the chips and salsa coming. The service time was reasonable given the size of our party.

We love going here, the food is authentic and very tasty. The price won't set you back! Jose does a great job and we have been doing the pick up service since Covid hit. We love having this restaurant in Sunriver and we have to be sure they stay in business..

We moved to Bend a short while ago and decided to try this place. We have now eaten there several times. The food and service have been good each time in spite of them being very busy. It has that genuine Mexican appearance inside with murals on the walls and Hispanic decor. We will return. We had margaritas each time and they were good

We got on their ridiculous wait-list on a Thursday only to find out they only allow outdoor dining for groups. Would not define how many people constitute a group. Total waste of time.

I'd probably just give this 4 stars, but I feel the 3 star average is unwarranted and this really is very good Mexican for a small town. We were impressed with the chips and salsa. The salsa was actually spicy, and also just plain delicious. I ordered a side of guac which was also great. Our Cadillac margaritas were delicious as well. The menu was slightly overburdened by margarita options, but I'll take that over bad drinks any day. For dinner we had a burrito Colorado and mole enchiladas. Both were tasty. Typical hot plate with the main resting next to rice and beans. Both of us only stopped eating because it was getting painful. So I'd completely recommend this place. Michelin stars? No. Fantastic Mexican in a small town. Yes!

Ignore all the crap reviews. This place is solid classic Mexican cuisine. Good drinks, good chips and salsa, good Mexican platters.

Friends and I ordered take out for dinner. The prices are reasonable and the portions are large, as expected. Unfortunately the food was unremarkable. I had the grilled fish tacos. They were very dry and and I did not finish them. Some of my friends finished their meals but some did not. The food seems hit or miss, leaning more towards miss. But if you're starving and want a lot of food, this would be a good place to consider.

First time here, definitely coming back when in the area. We had a party of five and everyone raved about their food. chicken tostado; halibut tacos, combo with tamale and relleno , and steak fajita salad. Super good Cadillac margaritas. Great service; very attentive!

I highly recommend this restaurant. A group of us ate there and ordered a variety of food and drinks. Everything was delicious. The waitstaff was friendly and efficient. The "Perfect Margarita" was a big hit!

Great food, great margaritas, awesome service. I was in SR for a week with family and friends and we went here multiple times. Big menu.

Honestly one of my favorite places in Sunriver. Great service and super tasty food! Thank you for being here! I love in California most of the time and El Caporal is one of the reasons I'm glad I live here too!

The only thing was when I order the tapasta, I couldn't see the tortilla shell. It was just veggies and cheese and like melted refried beans. Everything else was satisfactory.

This restaurant, like most of the restaurants in Sunriver, is horrible and if it was anywhere but SR it would soon be out of business. The reason? It has a captive audience and no competition. Everything about it, starting with the food, is mediocre. And, they DON'T CARE because they don't have to; each week during the seasons (summer, winter) brings a new wave of eager customers. But as a local, I've had my last meal there, and I will never recommend them to anyone.

Good food and best margaritas! I love the chicken nachos.. huge portions and can never go wrong!

After viewing all of the Sunriver area restaurants for take-out, we decided to try this place because it has an extensive menu and many dishes could be easily veganized. Three of us ordered the Veggie Fajitas and the fourth ordered the Fiesta Platter. The fajitas order was packed in two separate containers- one containing the rice, black beans, guacamole, lettuce and sour cream while the second one contained cooked veggies- large chunks of carrots, celery, red peppers, and onions. It ordinarily comes with cheese but we veganized the orders. Each order was enough for at least two meals. The tortillas were hot and wrapped in foil. The Fiesta Platter had taquitos picadillo, chicken flautas, cheese quesadilla and nachos and came with quacamole and sour cream. The bill for all of this food was very reasonable. The restaurant was pleasant with booths and tables and was nicely decorated. There were a few outdoor tables looking out at all of the action in the village. We will definitely go back next year when we visit Sunriver.

Should have turned around when we walked in. Told the hostess we had 2 kids and 2 adults and she said, "so four"? Do I look like your personal abacus? The waiter never came back to confirm that my wife's order didn't contain wheat or gluten. We ordered 2 kids lemonades and got one, ordered flour AND corn tortillas and had to remind them of the flour tortillas 3 times before getting it. When they delivered the corn tortillas, I reminded the human who brought the food that I also ordered flour. "So you want more"; I just want what I ordered goddamit! I didn't realize two orders of tortillas between two people was so gratuitous. My son ordered a kids burrito and they delivered an enchilada. The waiter tries to tell us it's a "wet" burrito to cover his mistake. If you want a skills challenge in patience and the blandest food ever, give this joint a try.

Just ok as you'd expect in a resort town, in Oregon. We had 8 people on the trip, ordered for pick up things were ready when they said they would be, hot and as advertised just not great. I had fajitas which were over seasoned and the chicken tasted as though it was cooked long before I ordered the food. Otherwise the kids liked theirs and other adults in our party were just about as happy as I was. Did the job, we had a palatable dinner and went about out time.