El Rey

Food was delicious 😋 good service we will be going back again soon 🙂

Waitress acted like I annoyed her for coming into an empty restaurant. The food was bland, no seasoning and presentation was horrible. The sauce smelled funny. A mop and bucket is needed because the place is dirty.

Amazing Chicken Vegetable soup. They were also very accommodating when I had a weird request to not put the chicken in the soup and to leave just the Vegetables. The soup was big and came with Tortilla and they gave before for free tortilla chips and they're salsa with that. Nice staff too.

I ordered combination 5, burrito beef was okay, but chorizo tacos was burned. The cook must be taught that if he burns something he must cook another.

Have loved the food here before for YEARS-previous 5 stars. But they had the wrong store times clearly indicated at the restaurant's door (and in many places online). I went in just before 1am-door was open, day's menu chalkboard outside. I sat on a table, and was told it was closed, despite all appearance to the contrary, people chatting (perhaps employees taking it easy, or their friends?), and the clearly stated *2AM* closing time. This simple error-or unwillingness to serve food at open times for whatever reasons-will cost them my business, which they clearly seem not to care about. Will still give them two stars because the food is not bad-when they deem me worthy of eating it, that is. I would be lying if I kept the 5 stars score, as it isn't a great dining experience. (Throughout the years, some employees have also been a bit lacking in warmth, though that wasn't the case the day I was refused a menu. The lady just told me it was closed when it really wasn't, so that annoyed me a big deal, because I made the trip because it was supposedly open! I just ignore the disinterested employees, and am grateful for the better ones. Customer service is thus a mixed bag, depending on who's on what shift.)

Great food, super tasty, had tacos al pastor & chorizos tostadas & it was all good & great service.

Horrible customer service I ordered for delivery and called the restaurant because the food was late the woman that answered the phone had me on hold forever and just hung up all I wanted to know was where the delivery driver was the attitude was unnecessary I don’t even want the food anymore

Just moved from Texas and I’m so happy to have found this place. Finally legit, affordable Mexican food!! The steak Torta is my favorite so far. Can’t tell you how comforting that first bite was, it was packed with flavorful well seasoned steak, all the right veggies and even some hard cheese. Amazing.

Update -this is now an unimaginative Mexican restaurant with dry food and mediocre service, which was quite slow. I did not like the food service and will not be back

I used to really enjoy this spot but the quality has gone down. The last two times I went, I found the chicken to be really dry. The burritos and quesadillas just have chicken without any other items in them, so it's all a bit bland. The Milanese chicken torta is my favorite now! The musics also a tad too loud. The prices are really cheap though!

Shrimp camarones quesadilla was ok, shrimp was well cooked but was overall soggy and falling apart--prefer small trio of tortillas over the big open style. Service was friendly.

I'm from LA. So, you know that we don't play when it comes to Mexican food. I ordered the chiles rellenos and they were delish. The beans and rice are yummy, it tastes like someone's mom made them :) my friend got the burrito de bistec and the beef has a really good flavor. It was well season. I also had a michelada, bomb. The horchata was light and fresh. Hidden gem.

When I first signed my lease, I stumbled upon this place for a celebratory drink. Ever since, I would come weekly. The food is amazing, AUTHENTIC, and reasonably priced. The margaritas are amazing, strong, and also priced right. I cannot recommend this place enough. A MUST go to in Astoria for authentic Mexican food with amazing drinks. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu. Saying goodbye to this place while moving was the hardest part. 100000/10.

This place food is amazing! Service is great. Interior looked amazing .i would come back but far away from where I live surprised it wasn't packed love it here!

Placed an order at 11:40pm. Received a text at 12:07 saying the food was on its way. Food never arrived and when I called the restaurant the woman HUNG UP on me. I don't know what this place thinks customer service is, but they've got it completely backwards. Maybe the owner should teach the staff how to deal with their clientele.

Hey it's good Mexican food served to a mainly Mexican clientele by Mexicans. Perfect. Not fancy. You should order a water if you want something to go with your booze cuz it's not coming otherwise.

Horrible horrible service. Rude and unprofessional. Placed a delivery order. It took over an hour, was cold, missing one item and one item was wrong. I reached out to get a refund, the location called me twice. The second time, a "Jennifer" asked me what my order was, then cut me off to ask when I placed my order. She told me "it was a little late" to complain. When I asked for her name she hung up on me. Pathetic.

As someone who is from CA, this is one of the first spots that made me feel at home. I tried their chicken tacos and they were great! Their red salsa is a great add on, be prepared for the kick that comes with it!

Food/prices/portions are consistently great! The staff is very sweet and friendly too! Try their fajitas and passionfruit margaritas. :)

Great food and atmosphere. The drinks are awesome too. The food is prepared fresh on order so expect a little bit of a wait. The complementary chips and salsa help with the wait.

Strong drinks but otherwise extremely disappointed. My friend and I got chips and guacamole and the guacamole was cold, almost frozen. I got the enchilada's mole and the mole sauce was burnt and tasted bad. The enchiladas verde gave my friend indigestion. The rice and beans were room temperate. Not one of the dishes was hot. Customer service was good and they have great deals on drinks but otherwise a skip.

Cinco de Mayo is a great reason for everyone to drink margaritas and eat Mexico food. I was in Astoria, neighborhood-browsing with a friend, so my Yelp instinct gravitated me towards El Rey. Even though we were in front of Mojave at the time. The meals were decently priced, and I got a combo meal (burrito, tacos, and taquitos). The complimentary chips were ultra crispy, complemented with a light mild salsa. 1. Beef Burrito - amazing, they used steak. Nicely seared with juices locked in. 2. Taco al Pastor - great blend of flavorful pork and fresh cilantro. 3. Chicken flauta - crunchy. My first flauta. Service was a bit slow because of the holiday, but our waitress was very accommodating and nice. I think I like this place... more than 5 Burro. Wow. Why, oh why can't we have awesome Mexican places like this in Flushing? Ah well, I'm moving back to Astoria anyways.

A casual Mexican restaurant in Astoria. Got tostadas and enchiladas verdes, and they were very authentic and tasted muy rico!!!! There is a wide variety of Mexican food so I'd love to go back and try more of their food. :)

Where should I start? The place was very stuffy without any air conditioning. I got one of the combinations which consisted of a chicken quesadilla, a beef burrito and a chorizo taco. The the chicken in the quesadilla was in seasoned- completely. The outside was covered in cheese and was very salty as though they tried to mask the flavor- that's kind of crappy. The beef was chewy and fatty. I didn't finish anything except for the chorizo. We promptly asked for the check. As we were ready to leave I signaled over to the waitress who LOOKED AWAY when she clearly saw me. My girlfriend and I got up as if we were going to leave then the waitress jumps up from behind the bar to come give us the check. I live literally down but wouldn't come back here

Looks are deceiving. From the outside it may not look like a perfect place to get Mexican food but oh I bet you it is! I always get the burritos here, they are amazing wether they are chicken or beef. Hands down these are one of the best burritos I have ever tried in my life. Why? It is literally stuffed with meat and cheese. The burritos come with rice and beans. The rice is interesting because it is not your typical Goya yellow rice. It is yellow but not extremely salty, it is actually tomato based. The meat in these burritos just taste amazing, always fresh and full of flavor. The only con with this spot is sometimes the service can be a TAD bit slow. But over all 5 stars in my book.

This is what you get for 9bucks. Wow is this for real?? Ive ordered nachos from other places in the neighborhood but never had this little for what I paid. Chicken on top of the nachos don's smell fresh either. This will be my first and last time to this place.

Delicious! I got the veggie nachos and they were amazing. I wish the portion was a little bigger, but that is probably a good thing that it wasn't! LOL

Wasn't impressed. The steak burrito was lacking flavor. Personally i would have gone to my nearest taco truck and been way more satisfied. Didn't order any margarita so I can't say anything about that. I wouldn't go here again.

First off, I did not know that Yelp allows ordering of food. -- Game Changer! Delivery arrived sooner than expected and the food did not disappoint. Amazing Food!

Awesome spot for Mexican food at a great price! I had the create your own combo plate with a tamal, burrito and chile relleno which were all oo so delicious (the side rice and beans were no slouch either)! The chips you get while waiting are also on point! Margaritas are not the best, but definitely a great deal, especially the $11 goblet sized cups. I will definitely be coming back again.

The server was very cordial, but the food was average, the margaritas I ordered were weak, and music from the jukebox was club-like loud. I probably will not go back to this restaurant and would give it a lower rating, but since I learned some cool new reggaeton songs by shazam-ing the loud music emanating from the jukebox, I will give it 3 stars...

We were looking for some decent Mexican food. Came upon this place cuz of some decent reviews. We ordered the AL pastor burrito and The enchalda Verde w chix. The food was really bland more rice than meat!!! Gave us indigestion after eating!!!

YES!!! MEXICAN FOOD DONE RIGHT! I had such an awful meal at El Mariachi that I had to make up for that travesty. So happy my friend suggested El Rey. From the outside this place looks kinda scary. I immediately thought the food was going to give me the montezooma's revenge (ugh spring break 2005, Cancun...lets not go there). Dont let the outside fool you, the food is AMAZING! I ordered a margarita on the rocks-ahhh perfection! Chips and salsa on the house I ordered the enchiladas suizas-with chicken and green sauce, melted cheese and sour cream. SOOOOOOO DELICIOUS. The green sauce was a bit spicy (I dont have much of a tolerance for spicy food) but it was so good I didnt care about my mouth burning. Washed it down with my ice cold margarita. My friend ordered the Burrito de Chorizo-soft flour tortilla stuffed with Mexican sausage. Let me make something clear, I dont eat sausage, I find it disgusting however, the sausage at El Rey is out of this world! It didnt have a chewy texture and it was packed with flavor. I will definitely order that next time. Reasonable prices. Service was okay. I'm going to stop writing, just thinking about that food is making me hungry. This place is a must!

So sad. I have enjoyed this place in the past but today was really bad. I came in alone before running to the airport to pickup my girl. Had the time so I sat at the bar. They took their time to come to me it obviously seemed they thought I was going to do a take out order so when they finally arrived I asked if I could have the order to stay. She giggled and said of course. I ordered 3 tacos al pastor. Never a glass of water or placemat or even another look. The tacos were boxed to-go and only then did I see the light go off in her head that I said to stay but she stayed the course and asked for my payment. LOOK, that's not a crime I get it... you forgot, but then did nothing to correct it and now is when it actually gets bad. The tacos were so gross! Barely heated through when the pork is supposed to be crisp and a little charred. They were also so salty and boxed with lemons not limes. I bet the limes are too expensive right now even though the tacos are now $.50 more. This could have been just a regular time at a divey mexican joint but the lack of care and follow though deserves a review. 2 stars because it's actually been kinda good before.

I love Mexican food so I thought I would check them out. I got take out twice. I had a Chili Relleno and an Enchilada. Check out their menu. http://www.allmenus.com/ny/queens/114413-el-rey-mexican-restaurant/menu/ El Rey's food is a big sloppy mess! Their Enchilada's are made of flour. Enchiladas are supposed to be made with corn. Making them with flour is not only a cheap imitation it is also fugazzi. In Texas wheat grows better than corn so they use flour not corn. But in Mexico they use corn.So this is Tex Mex not Mexican. http://mexicanfood.about.com/od/deliciousmaindishes/ss/enchiladasteps.htm http://whatscookingamerica.net/CynthiaPineda/TortillaCorn/CornTortillaMaking.htm If you read the above article from Whatscookingamerica.net it explains that flour Enchiladas are more soggy. El Rey's food is soggy and greasy. The Chili Relleno is dripping in grease and sauce so much so that I couldn't taste The ingredients just grease and sauce. If you like Tex Mex food it is okay but there are too many Mexican and Tex Mex restaurants to even think about going here again for me anyway.

Mexican food heaven. I like eating at places with the family-oriented feel. I felt like I was in Mexico with the mariachi music and Spanish television. Don't be fooled by the store front. It's not a fancy dance spot, but a place to get authentic Mexican food of generous portions and great quality. One of the things that made me happy was seeing guacamole on the menu for a reasonable price ($5.50). We got the "Chorinachos" which were nachos topped with refried beans, chorizo, cheese and jalapenos. $6 for an enormous plate. We had two coronas then I had the sudden urge to do a tequila shot! Jose Cuervo to the rescue, presented to me in a shot glass on a cute plate (I wish I took a picture). I love spicy,and their sauces were spicy x infinity. I met my match! I got the "Fajitas de Camarones" for $13.95. They were shrimp fajitas with all the appropriate veggies, sour cream and salsa toppings. It came with rice & refried beans as a side. Great! My bf got a burrito the size of his head (aka big!). In all seriousness, it was great and perfect amount of everything. We occasionally order to-go to fulfill the Mexican craving, but I'd love to come back and sit down when I'm in the mood for more tequila shots.

El Rey is one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. I honestly need to hold back from going on consecutive days. It's affordable and authentic - a winning combination! Food is excellent, drinks are good and strong. I recommend the chicken tacos, beef chimichangas, and margaritas. One minor complaint: the staff isn't exactly fluent in English. But I guess that means we need to brush up on our Spanish.

Really delicious tasty Mexican food !! I personally love the chicken and shrimp salad they make

I love Astoria. I think I have been searching for a good Mexican restaurant at a great price that isn't too upscale or too trendy. Enter El Rey. I saw all the wonderful reviews on Yelp about it and thought I would take my wonderful girlfriend along with me for a date night. I walked in and it was a completely dead. Maybe there was a couple of guys having dinner but other than that- no one was around in the restaurant. I was skeptical now. Where are the yelpers? Where are the eaters? did they suddenly lose customer base? Was 8:00PM not dinner time? I ordered the chicken fajitas and my girlfriend ordered the chicken quesadillas. It was delicious. By far the best chicken fajita I have had in my life. That's not saying a lot since I have very little to compare it to but it was damn good. The juke-box was playing mariachi music. I'm not a fan of loud music as I eat but it gave the place an authentic feel I suppose. The service was top-notch (If it was anything less I'd give this place 1 star because we were literally the only ones in there). The outside of the restaurant makes it seem like one of those old broken down places that are struggling to do business. That's what it felt like to me too but the food is so delicious, I'll eat here everyday if I have to. The food portions were totally huge. I mean- wow! I had enough to take home but I was so full and coming on with a full-blown food coma that I forgot my doggy bag. Damn. The guac was also perfect. Hmmm... 5/5 for Food. 4/5 for Price (Good food costs more). 5/5 for Service 5/5 for Atmosphere (I like low-key intimate spots) 5/5 for Experience.

I don't know why this place has four stars. This is one that I'm confused about. The margaritas suck so bad. The food is blah and the service is just idiotic. The only thing I enjoy and thought was cool was the juke box lol. I was here cause it's across the street from Astoria Manner and I was spying on my munchkin keeping a close eye for her prom. Lmao

My favorite Mexican food in Astoria. The food portions are enormous & delicious - I have never had a bad meal at the restaurant or delivery. They are also very fast in getting the food to you so it is still hot when it arrives. The steak burrito & steak chimmichanga are incredible. The guacamole is the perfect compliment. The staff service at the restaurant leaves something to be desired - not very quick in getting the drinks to you, but they are very nice.

Well there, Looks like a found a gem here. This is by far the best down-home Mexican food i've had in NYC. We ordered for delivery and the food was promptly delivered, good service. So, my wife ordered a chicken burrito and it was delicious. Good ingredients, tasted like something i'd find in Texas. I ordered the Chimichanga. It was good too but I ordered it with Carnitas and it was a little salty. Being the lard that I am, I ordered a steak taco and it was one of the best i've had ANYWHERE. It was flavorful. The chips and salsa were top notch too. Now, I'm confident to try less Americanized items next time. I'm glad that we live within walking distance and we'll definitely go back, shit I want to go back this upcoming Friday. I definitely recommend this place, especially if you're a Mexican food junkie like I am.

Amazing Mexican food in a low-key setting. They don't really speak English here so beware. The clientele consists mostly of working class Mexicans eating alone or with a colleague. I don't think I've ever seen a family eat here. There's a TV in the corner that always has Mexican soaps on. There's a huge jukebox in the middle of the restaurant blasting bandero music so loud it sets the cheerful mood and makes it hard to have any deep conversations. All the seats are setup as booth tables which makes it cozy and distracts you from how small the restaurant is. This place is just local-local. Full of heart and good food. And they're open until 2am almost all nights, which makes late-night jaunts more than convenient. I only order the enchiladas suizas here, just because it's my favorite. But you can do no wrong ordering basically anything here. There is alot of home cooked food aside from your standard burritos & tacos. Their sauces and salsas are just amazing. And the prices are right. The restaurant is incredibly shabby looking outside and is not in the most walkable street in Astoria. The awning has been torn & broken for as long as I can remember. All these are good things if it keeps hipsters away from my favorite Mexican restaurant in NYC.

What great food! Delicious and freshly made Mexican food, huge portions, easy location, reasonably priced! The decor was cute, the service was fine, the jukebox had great music, and the food! The nachos de la casa were some of the best we've ever had! And each individual piece had the toppings on it, instead of just all over the chips. Never saw it done like that and what a great idea! Our combination plates had chimichangas, tamales, enchiladas, chile rellano which were all fantastic! And for a libation, the Bebidos especial was like driniking Junket with Tequila! Yummy! I've had a lot of Mexican food, while living in L.A., and this is right up there with the best. Go!

I tried El Rey for dinner tonight. I'm a Cali girl so I need my Mexican fix every so often. The lunch specials are budget-friendly, but the dinner prices are a bit out of my price range. I settled for the chicken soft tacos. At $2.50 each, these tacos are very satisfying They were a bit on the greasy side, but they were full of flavor from the onions, cilantro and lime. Food came out quick and for five bucks I enjoyed my Mexican food.

This place has some of the best Mexican food in the area. Looks really are deceiving. It doesn't look like much from the outside, once inside, it's a small restaurant with some Mexican locals. Really good food. I'm removing a star because it needs to be cleaned up a little bit. Table was a little sticky but I didn't mind it TOO much.

I first came here based on Yelp recommendations, and I'm glad I did. I was looking for affordable, authentic Mexican food, and you sure get it here. Service has always been very friendly, and although my fiance (who is Hispanic) always speaks in Spanish to the waitstaff, I'm sure we'd be fine going in and only speaking English. The first time we went, we both got the Enchiladas de la Casa, and we haven't ordered anything different since. We don't even look at a menu, we just walk in, say "dos enchiladas de la casa, por favor," and that's it. They are FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. You get three enormous enchiladas, stuffed with tender chicken, drenched in mole and verde sauce, and topped with cheese, tomato, avocado, and onion. I always forget it's coming, but then a couple minutes later (because the waitress can never carry it all at once), a hearty portion of rice and refried beans is placed on the table. NOM. Every time I go in, I say to myself that I'm going to order something different, but it hasn't happened yet. They're that good. And let me reiterate - it's a HUGE portion. I'm not usually one to leave food on my plate, but I can barely finish half of this. I end up getting it to go, and I have it for lunch or dinner the next day, it's just as good. The few times we've ordered delivery, they sent a 2-liter bottle of Jarritos for free, yum! Delivery speed is so-so to my area (Steinway above Ditmars). Maybe next time I'll try something different. No promises though.

After five years of being within a block or two of El Rey, we finally ordered takeout from there. We've ordered from them twice now, and both times were good, but not mind-blowing. Enchiladas de la casa were a solid showing. Both burritos we ordered were enormous to the point where you have to use a fork and knife. The carnitas inside, though, were a little dry - and cubed, not the shredded pork you normally expect. Fajitas de bistec were simple but delicious: meat, onions, peppers. Can't really go wrong there. The other reviews here can speak to the service in house, but ordering and picking it up was easy and fast. We'll be back.

Started with two tamales. They were good. Tried their chicken and beef burrito sampler dish. The chicken was way better than chewy tough beef. Finished with Chicken enchilada verde which was off the hook. Heat but no fires. Pleasant service. Jukebox and deerhead always a plus.

Margarita was horrifying. They must have lost half their liquor license because it was white zinfandel wine with sweet and sour mix. Reminiscent of bathroom cleaner, without the buzz. Food is great, ambience crap. Save yourself some pain and get takeout or delivery. Personally, I'd rather hit up a truck. Not sure why people rave about this place.

Not sure what all the fuss is about. I ordered the "enchiladas de la casa" - chicken enchiladas with mole and green sauce. The meat filling, while plentiful, tasted somewhat gamey (old?) and contained a bit of cartilage. The sauces were lacking in both quality and quantity. While I did enjoy the crema and queso blanco sprinkled on top, there wasn't enough of it! My co-diner had the chicken torta, which contained a passable piece of white meat, a thick slice of mild cheese, and avocado on a fresh roll. Once again, though, the dish lacked spice and a certain je ne sais quoi (yo no se que?). People, there's got to be better Mexican food than this in Queens.

Once upon a time, when I was younger, and had a few more friends living in Astoria, we would frequent this place. Thank you for taking us back, even though we started friendly knife fights, fork fights, and plain Imma kick the chair til you fall on your back fights. Thank you for enduring and still delivering great food! I miss this place.

So, after reading all the reviews I wanted to check this place out for myself. The place is small and after getting off the train wondering about the neighborhood...but after ordering the combinaton platter (Chimichanga, Tostada, & Chicken Taco) OMG, delicious! Loved it! This is some real authentic mexican food. I would definately recommend it to anyone who wants to eat real Mexican food. :)

Pretty Good and Authentic Food, my service could of been a little better, I walked in and all waitress staff were still sitting down looking at me until one finally said I could seat myself, there were only two other people eating at the time. Maybe language was a barrier so my waitress didn't communicate much but I knew exactly what I wanted. The food was good will try their food again.

Come here all the time. The food here is authentic Mexican. Everything here is good! I'm a hard taco person, but the soft tacos here are everything. Come and eat here! Just don't sit in my booth.

This is some damn fine (and proper) mexican food. The salsa is fresh and has a kick to it. The tacos are excellent, cheap, and sizable. The beer comes with frosted mugs, straight out of the freezer. They're open 'til 3am and they deliver. And, no offense, but you've never had tongue this good.

This place is close to me and I needed an large order of guacamole (no chips). I specified that we needed as much guac as we could possibly fit into a container, willing to pay whatever price. They gave me a third of a containers worth guac and 2/3 of unappetizing chips which I really REALLY didn't want or need.