Casa El Mirador

We had high hopes for this because of the great reviews. We were so disappointed. The two best things about this place were the margarita flight and a sweet older lady who was bussing tables and refilling chips. She was great! She was so much more attentive than our waitress. We waited a long time for our food, close to an hour. Our waitress never brought my husband his soft drink but still charged us for it. Additionally, she charged us full price for items that were on special. She also got our daughter's order wrong but we were so tired and hungry we didn't complain. The food was mediocre. The tacos resembled fast food tacos. Disappointed for sure. The cute decor, margaritas, and sweet lady carried this place.

Got a nacho appetizer. It was a cold mess. The beans were absolutely flavorless while the ground beef had a weird taste that was reminiscent of canned dog food smell. The few chips were soggy and buried. We asked for flour tortillas for both of us. We received one small foil package with 2 small tortillas. They weren't even home made. My husband said he has never had nachos you had to eat with a fork. He said they tasted like they made it out of their old chips. The whole thing was yuck. Even the chips they brought to the table were cold. Not a fun food experience. This place made on the Pinky swear of never to eat here again.

During a trip to the Dalles we stopped here for lunch. They had just opened and we were greeted by a friendly gentleman outside putting out a flag. The host was equally cheerful and friendly. There was upbeat music playing and bright decor & wall murals felt fun. We both ordered fajitas- mine was chicken and my husband got steak. I appreciated that it was not over salty. It was very flavorful and the spices were very well done, balanced and not overly hot. We left feeling very full and happy. It was a delightful experience.

The decorations were great with bright, vivid Mexican colors and themes. The food we ordered were nicely done especially the beans, very tasty. The service was a bit slow but acceptable.

We had the three tacos plate and a specialty burrito plate and both were really good. The restrooms are super nice and clean. The service was excellent. I enjoyed the food and later the leftovers. Most places in The Dalles are more towards the low end of the spectrum so I was very pleasantly surprised to visit such a nice restaurant there. I love Spookies too which I drive from Portland to visit regularly. Thank you very much for creating such a nice restaurant. Some sites show this restaurante as overly expensive, and don't think that. My meal average was twenty dollars per person and they give you a lot to eat, so no worries on value.