El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant
900 S Jefferson Ave, Cookeville, TN, 38501
El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant Menu
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Visit below restaurant in Cookeville for healthy meals suggestion.
Visit below restaurant in Cookeville for healthy meals suggestion.
Visit below restaurant in Cookeville for healthy meals suggestion.
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Address :
900 S Jefferson Ave
Cookeville, TN, 38501 - Phone (931) 372-0246
- Website https://www.eltapatiorestaurant.biz/
- Click To Get Directions
Opening Hours
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Specialities
- Takes Reservations : No
Delivery : No
Take-out : Yes
Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
Good For : Lunch, Dinner
Parking : Private Lot
Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
Good for Kids : Yes
Good for Groups : Yes
Attire : Casual
Ambience : Casual
Noise Level : Average
Alcohol : Full Bar
Outdoor Seating : No
Wi-Fi : Free
Has TV : Yes
Waiter Service : Yes
Caters : Yes
Categories
Mexican Cuisine
If you enjoy Taco Tuesday, then you have officially fallen in love with the Mexican Food. The main grain of Mexican cuisine is maize. Also known as corn, maize is grown for the past 9000 years after the crop was discovered by the people in Mayan civilization. Mexican empire flourished when they started growing beans, tomatoes, chili pepper, sweet potato and cactus. Till this date these ingredients are used in cooking authentic Mexican dishes and drinks.
Great use of spices, fresh chili pepper dishes like fajitas, tortilla chips, corn chips, salsa, chimichangas, burritos, nachos and quesadillas are invented in America. But when you are looking for authentic Mexican food then you must find a restaurant in the city that serves Rajas con Queso, Garbanzo in a Guajillo Chile Sauce, Pork Filled Chiles Rellenos, Chiles en Nogada, Molcajete Salsa, Pico de Gallo and Frijoles de la Olla. An eye-opening fact – Mexican don't like their food hot. They use fresh chili and other spices to create a flavor that lingers in your mouth.
Mexican food is great for those who are Gluten Intolerant as they use Corn instead of wheat in most of their dishes. Also, you can easily find many beans based Mexican dishes. Another dish which didn't get similar glory as tacos or nachos is the Mexican hot chocolate. If you love something hot on a chilly day, then go for Mexican Hot Chocolate. On merry days, you can enjoy the authentic Mexican Drinks like Tequila, Mezcal, Tecuí, Sotol, Bacanora, Charanda, Posh O Pox, Puebla and Pulque. Mexican Cuisine is for people who enjoy strong drinks and hearty meals.
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Jennifer P.
I have eaten at my fair share of restaurants, but this one has impressed me the most! Went here for lunch on a Saturday with a friend. Seated without delay even though they were quite busy. Waiter was right there asking for our drink order and the chips and salsa were on the table before the drinks. You should get the quest to go with the chips & salsa because it is GOOD! Waiter gave me a few minutes to peruse the menu since I had not been there before, and after ordering our food it was out on the table in less than 10 minutes! I have NEVER gotten my order that fast in any sit-down restaurant!! We ordered from the lunch menu, and even if we had not, the prices were excellent. I ordered the chimichanga and it was delicious - even the retried beans were good (and I normally hate those). If you choose to eat here, you will not be disappointed!
(5)William P.
Without fail we stop at this restaurant on the way to Gatlinburg or NC. We love their chicken enchiladas and guacamole. The service is always friendly and fast. This is our favorite restaurant when passing through Cookville. We've tried several others.
(5)Karen B.
Wow! La mejor comida mexicana de Cookeville, sin duda. The best Mexican food in Cookeville, without a doubt. Great service, super nice people, and fabulous food. It's obvious that the owners know how to run a business, because it shows in how they treat customers -- not to mention the great food!
(5)Mandy T.
I am from Southern California and going to North Carolina and this is where I stayed for the night, at the best western right across the street. I figured why not try it. I'm not entirely sure if I got the nachos or the taco salad but it doesn't really matter because it was very watery and there were no beans or rice at all. I got the chicken which was cooked very well but there was no flavoring to it at all. Almost no spices. When I checked in the lobby at best Western the attendant told me that all of the townsfolk love going there and it's the best Mexican restaurant, and the only one, in town. I know they are far from the West Coast but to me, as a Californian, this was a huge letdown and waste of money.... If you're going to call yourself a Mexican restaurant you might want to learn how to use spices and cook things properly. Like having beans or rice and nachos or taco salad. Come to think of it, there wasn't even any cheese. There was a huge slice of tomato, iceberg lettuce, watery nachos, sour cream and chicken. That was it. Pretty sad. Oh, and I just tried to salsa. It taste like spaghetti sauce and Italian seasonings. No spice, no salt, no flavor. Ragu? Prego?...
(1)Sylvia F.
While driving through TN., we had a hankering for Mexican food. I got out the trusty DROID and found a Mexican restaurant found it with GPS and it was closed! UGH! So moved onto choice #2. Which was this place. First off, they share the same parking with a MOTEL! WHAT?! Could barely find a spot and had to walk way to far. Once inside, it was very noisy!!! We follow the hostess and walk pass a ton of empty tables and booths, to where she takes us to the BACK of the restaurant one table away from the bathroom and right next to a party of 20!!!! NO JOKE!!!! We sat down and yelled our order to the waiter. He brought our beers right away and some Aluminum can tasting salsa with chips. Food was fair , but we inhaled it so we could GET OUT OF THERE! If your traveling through Tennessee.... keep moving on to the next "Food Stop" exits. Save you the trouble.....and your hearing.
(1)Jennifier R.
The chips and salsa are great! I loved my food, my kids liked other restaurants we have visited in the past over this one. Our waiter was HORRIBLE he didn't pay attention to our drinks, what we ordered and he had to keep running and running cause he couldn't get his act together. I had to finally demand my check-out ticket cause he stayed missing running on other tables where he didn't organize or listen to his customers.
(4)Tanya S.
Awful!!! We spent 10 days in a Cookeville, Tn motel, visiting family, and kept seeing ads & good reviews for El Tapatio. We checked out the location on Jefferson St. We've had Mexican food all over the country, and in Mexico, and THIS WAS THE WORST!! I ordered the 3- cheese enchilada dinner. The cheese inside wasn't melted & the enchilada sauce tasted like diluted tomato soup. They replaced it...nachos grande - large chunks of unseasoned chicken, burned globs of ground beef, & slimy refried beans with about a tablespoon of runny cheese sauce underneath. The "tomatoes" ...one large hunk - the guacamole...mashed avocado with no onion, tomato, or seasoning. Finally, our "top-shelf" margarita ($9.50) tasted like they forgot the tequila. They comped the uneaten food, but what a waste of time! The 1-star is for nice decor and courteous waitress. Otherwise - a disaster!
(1)Lyndsey B.
Ate here in June for lunch. Popped in around 1.30pm and the place was packed. A good sign! Huge baskets of tortilla chips and salsa provided free of charge which I hear is normal in the US, but novel to these Brits! Loved the chips, but the salsa was not great, not spicy and tasted a bit canned. This was the worst part of the meal. I had chicken chimichanga that was packed with chicken.Lovely, crispy, Hot, not greasy. Was impressed. Boyf had enchilada I think that was also good. Prices were pretty keen, and despite the place being super busy, our sodas were refilled and the service was attentive., so extra points for that. Toilets were spotless and generally a really nice experience and if Im ever passing through Cookeville again, we will go there.
(4)Dkandt A.
We enjoyed eating here. My husband and I both had the fajitas. One of our least expensive meals while on vacation, but surprisingly one of the better ones. Good service and food at a decent price.
(5)Carlos V.
Food was great! Service is excellent, as close as you can get to south western Mexican food as you will in this part of the country
(5)Drew S.
Great food, great staff, great atmosphere. You won't regret it, especially if you order the fajita taco salad!
(5)Jeff W.
Bottom line, this is the best Mexican (Tex-Mex) restaurant in Cookeville. The food is very tasty and affordable. El Tap has dominated the market so long that it's now cool to hate on the place in certain circles but in my opinion it remains the alpha in the tex-mex field in Cookeville. Try the fajita nachos (steak). The chorizo is really good as well.
(5)Luis R.
Great Food, Very close to authentic Mexican food.
(4)Maggie H.
I spent the night at the Best Western in Cookeville and was so pleased to see a Mexican restaurant just steps away from my room. I dined alone at El Tapatio and ordered cheese enchiladas. The salsa that came first was standard, which is good. The enchiladas that came were beef, but they had delicious cheese enchiladas out to me in five minutes tops. Good place. I will definitely eat at El Tapatio on my next drive through TN.
(5)Kristie P.
Some of these reviews are appalling. El Tap is the best restaurant in Cookeville! First, the food. I've never had a bad dish. The queso dip is among the best I've had. The fajita quesadilla is one of my favorites--delicious grilled meats and veggies, oozing with cheese? Um, yes please! The portions are hefty as well. The prices are insane--insanely cheap! My family of five used to eat there for under $30! Also, anyone complaining about the service--the problem is you. My family has patronized this restaurant since I was little, and we've never been treated with anything but over-the-top friendly and unbelievably quick service. Also, they are genuinely caring people--they sent flowers to my family when my grandpa passed away!
(5)Brian K.
I'm somewhat particular of my Mexican food being from Arizona, so I'm basing this review off of the Mexican food that I have found around Nashville. The Mexican food in Nashville seems to all be very similar in that most of salsa seems to come from cans and every dish is covered in a white cheese sauce. El Tapatio is no different but I did feel the food was still less enjoyable. I had the Beef Chimichanga and it was okay. It was basically beef and onions in a fried tortilla. The meat was pretty good but it seem like there were way more onions than meat. I did enjoy the margaritas. They were pretty standard margaritas, but I liked that you had an option between small, medium and large. I went with a medium and it was huge...I wonder what the large was like.
(2)Gary D.
I just made the 100 foot journey from my motel room to the restaurant. The food was decent (seemed to be sysco faire). Price was reasonable. Service was good. Beer was cold.
(3)DJuan L.
This is the place that got me addicted to Mexican food. The food here is great. It's not authentic as some other places, but the food is still pretty good. You can get "green" tomatilo sauce instead of the traditional red salsa. They also offer cooked jalepenos that you can order with your food as well. One of my favorite dishes is the chicken & rice bowl(not on the menu). I go here almost everytime I come to Cookeville
(5)Melissa K.
What can I say? It is El Tap. I definitely grew up going here after a long weekend at the lake. Their queso and salsa is great and I love their fajitas. The servers are fast and you will get your food about ten minutes after ordering. While I would not consider it to be quality food; it is yummy, bad for you, and about as cheap as it gets. What more can you ask for? Oh and watch out for those giant margaritas.
(3)Josef W.
What IS IT about these mexican places? I SPECIFICALLY asked that they hold the bell peppers from my order.... I noticed that the waiter wrote something on his pad when I asked for NO BELL PEPPERS... He even nodded to me that he understood. Let me tell you something, once a DAM**ED bell pepper hits your food, the smell and taste is there FOREVER... When I finally was able to stop him and asked about the bell peppers, (it seemed as though I got EXTRAS!!!) he just shrugged and took off... Oh, the beer was good and cold.
(2)Carol Anne B.
Throwing this out there first: if I was just going off the food, I'd give it a 4. But here we go. I've been here several times, generally I'd give this place a 3 or 4, because the food is good but the service is "meh" (naturally, there is a translation gap after all). But this last time just...well, it made me mad is what it did. And I don't get mad easy. Maybe the hostess was having an off day, or didn't realize that a gosh darn Sunday would be busy - but she was rude. Down right rude. I walked in, my family waiting outside and went up to the hostess desk where no one says anything or even acknowledges my existence. However, when an old man came in behind me, they immediately asked how many people he had with him. Luckily he was with a group that already had their names in - and finally someone decides to look at me. Look back away, look again and say with the deadest of expressions "How many?" To which I say "Five, please" with a smile, trying to be friendly despite being initially ignored. And the girl says "Ugh - Are you kidding me?!" And then doesn't even speak to me again. Another girl asks for my last name and puts it on a list. No one gives me a time estimate, no one looks at me again. Now. I work as a hostess/cashier (same job she was doing) just a block away from this place. And I do my darnedest to be polite and helpful. I don't treat people like a nuisance, and I don't expect to be treated like a nuisance when I go somewhere. Especially not with my family who deserve a nice lunch out. If I had guts, I would've said something to her, but instead I just said "Sorry...?" Because I was baffled that you'd say that right in front of a customer. I guess it makes me so angry because there are well-mannered, gracious people who look long and hard for a job and can't find one. And this person is the one who got that job. Rant over. I'd still go back here for the food. This was the first time after going there for months with just my father that someone has been so rude. But maybe I'm just a sensitive introvert. Whatever, up to you.
(2)Eli H.
Decided to check this place out because it was one of the few places in the area with any Yelp activity. We ordered a taco salad, some chicken tacos, and a "medium" margarita which turned out to be pretty huge. As mentioned in the other reviews, the salsa they serve here really needs some work and was closer to spicy catchup than what I'd call salsa. The chicken tacos were surprisingly good, and the rice and beans that came with them were pretty standard. The margarita was a little heavy on the mix and low on the tequila, but that could have something to do with us going there for lunch and it didn't seem like there was a real bartender working then despite their being a full bar. Also, when we arrived we were seated in a fairly open area and despite most of the restaurant being empty, two couples with babies were seated right next to us... which never is fun. Overall, we'd probably go back but more because there just doesn't seem other mexican restaurants in the area than El Tapatio being that exceptional.
(2)Pam N.
So, it's attached to a Best Western Motel and isn't all fancy and sh*t, but this is the Mexican food I want to eat when I'm hungry for Mexican food. Today my husband and I stopped in for late lunch/early dinner and had an awesome meal for less than $30. The place was busy for an "off hour", but we were quickly shown to a booth by a friendly hostess, who provided a basket of warm chips and a bowl of salsa when she seated us. Our waiter was quick to take our drink orders and appreciated that it took us a few minutes to read through the menu to decide what we wanted. My chimichanga was great with just the right amount of cheese sauce, topped with just the right amounts of lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, and pico de gallo. My husband's order was more complicated -- guacamole salad, a combo plate of three beef tacos with rice and beans, an order of tamales, and cheese dip. Yes, we had a table FULL of food, and it was all delicious. The most notable component of our meal was the guacamole salad. It's a pretty little thing that comes out in a small "tortilla bowl" - like a taco salad, but tiny. The bowl is filled with a handful of fresh shredded lettuce and topped with a generous helping of tasty guacamole. Order it. My husband rated the tamale with high marks for flavor, consistency of the masa, and the amount and taste of the meat with which it was topped. The decor is "old-style Mexican restaurant" from 1985, but it's clean. The staff is friendly and responsive, but there was some confusion about our order, which was a bit slow to come to the table.
(3)Becky M.
Consistent! Tasty. Service ALWAYS excellent.
(5)Krys G.
If you're in the mood for authentic Mexican this is the place. There are two locations and both are amazing. The prices are cheap, cheap, cheap! Fantastic margaritas! The place is always crowded - service is quick and the food exceptional. Probably the best Mexican I've ever had!
(5)Jay M.
So I am on this diet called "the 4 hr body". This means no flour, no fruit, no carbs and no sugar. Amazingly enough the Mexican food diet is great for this. I got the pollo a la plancha. thats chicken something. Now when I think of Mexican food I think Tex Mex. This was more Creole Mex. The sauce was more what I would call tangy and reminiscent of Louisiana blackened fish cooking. Definitely different. Definitely tasty. The decor is vey traditional Spanish feel. Which is cool if you like that sort of thing. Me, I wouldn't bring a date here on the first date. This comes off definitely more of a family resteraunt. No wonder this is the after church favorite. A definite second date place though once you have known the girl and the awkwardness s less tangible. But would definitely come here again. The food is fantastic.
(4)Jessica M.
OMG, El Tap, thank you for introducing me to chile rellenos! A large group of us dined here on Saturday night and everything was delicious! Service was great and fast. I ordered a combo dish of a chicken enchilada, a chicken burrito and a chile relleno, which is a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with cheese, battered and fried. Total Deliciousness. I also tried the carne asada tacos which left me wanting for more and I am craving them right now. With a group of 20 people, our dishes ranged across the board but everyone was satisfied. The wait staff kept our drinks full and got every order correct. I wish I had an El Tap in Miami because I would go all the time.
(4)Fadwa A.
Best Mexican chain
(5)Steve C.
This place is really good and very inexpensive. The service is great and the food is fresh. It's relatively clean and if you're looking to have dinner out without it costing an arm and a leg, go here! The drinks are cheap and huge, but I wasn't drinking on this night :( Next time, for sure!
(4)Dan B.
Salsa was lacking, but the Chimi's were great! Good service too.
(4)Chris T.
Best Mexican food ever. I always eat the same things and have a hard time only recommending 1 thing. I will recommend this. The free grilled jalapeno side plate with cheese sauce and chips. Also the jalapenos with Tierra Blanca. Also the fajita's or chicken fajita tacos salad. And a special request I make that is great is the shrimp chillequelas with the shrimp cooked with the a la diabla sauce. 5 stars
(5)Peter C.
Restaurants like this make me miss Texas. Tennessee Mex just doesn't quite have the same ring to it. The chicken from the chicken salad was well seasoned, but the lettuce could have been more fresh. I was personally fine heading into the evening, but the same could not be said of my business associate who got a bit queasy from said lettuce. Maybe in this case, one should just stick with the chain restaurants.
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