Reviews for El Mezcal Mexican Restaurant Ocala in Ocala, FL

I am new to the Florida Ocala area and let me tell you not one Mexican restaurant has lived up to the taste test. The food was... very bland not much flavor that Mexicans are known for. I had the salsa chicken enchiladas and overall the presentation wasgreat but the chicken taste from a can. Hopefully I am wrong but won't be back. The atmosphere was true mexican just not to mytaste of what it should be. I ordered dessert fried ice cream and this was Great presentation but didn't deliver on true friedice cream. Read more

First time visiting this restaurant and we were not disappointed! The atmosphere is very festive and bright but we did have a... strange red bulb in the fixture above our table which was mildly annoying. I didn?t notice if it was at all tables so maybe wejust got the one oddball, but anyway, I had a frozen margarita and it was the best I?ve ever had at any Mexican restaurant, beeffajitas, chicken quesadilla, Mexican street corn, and empanadas. All of it was amazing but we were not crazy over the empanadas?the rest of the meal and amazing staff made up for that though. Absolutely recommend this place! Read more

We came here from a recommendation of a friend. The atmosphere and the servers here are absolutely wonderful! My wife got the... super burrito and I had the Mocajete. Mine was a show stopper! The shrimp and the carnitas were so good. I couldn't stop eatingit! My wife did have a little issue with hers tasting a bit bland. I had to agree with tasting my rice and beans. But we caterto our community, I can't argue with that. We will be back! Read more

Food presentation was outstanding. Extra large portions, you won't go hungry. Fabulous atmosphere featuring colorful Mexican... decor. Service was very good. My wife's burrito was flavorfull, however I had the grande platter and it was rather tastelessexcept for the chili rellonos. Margaritas were outstanding as well. Read more

Unforgettably delicious! The food was amazing! The staff was fantastic! If you are hungry and want a beautiful atmosphere and... friendly experience this is a perfect place ???? Read more

I had high hopes walking in to what looked like a very exciting atmosphere. Beautiful artistic decor that was colorful and fun.... We were sat and ordered some margaritas on special. Fresh blueberry and strawberry margaritas for $8.99 each. Chips and salsacame first and we asked for some queso as well. Drinks came out with salt after we originally ordered them without. Meh ithappens. Ordered our food with some very basic requests. My fiancé ordered her meal with no beans and it came with beans. Myson ordered soft tacos and they came as hard shell. Just seemed very careless and rushed when the place was not busy. Then afterwe finished eating we didn?t see our waitress for 15-20 so in total about 45 mins after we got our food. Never asked if wewanted more drinks and never checked if we needed anything else. At that point place was empty and we had to stand to getanyones attention. Not the best experience. Hopefully this was an isolated case but wish we felt the need to come back becausewe probably won?t. Read more

Edited review to four stars based on response from owner. The food looks great but was average overall. I don't normally spend... a lot of time writing about the experience but I really wanted to enjoy this restaurant and felt a need toshare. Ambience: Nice overall, comfortable. Beautiful art and very clean but the music was so loud we had problems talking atthe table. We had to ask three times for them to lower it. Margaritas: Good flavor and not stingy on the tequila. Not big onsize but not small, either. Chips/salsa: Salsa was alright but tasted more like tomato sauce than Mexican salsa with notexture. A side dish of Pico de Gallo would have been wonderful. Still, the salsa was good with the chips. But... Most chipswere tired and saturated with oil with a taste from some other cook or day. Some had a darker color from that. Fresher chipswere on the top and the older below. The fresh ones were crunchy and flavorful. Fajitas: I like fajitas prepared with thesteak separate from the vegetables so it gets a sear and a little blackening for better flavor and texture. The same for theveggies. Hot and fast. But cooked and served mixed together makes it more like a stew and kills the individual flavor of themeat and makes it a little mushy and the same for the peppers and onions. I would not order again. Chili Relleno: Very, very small anaheim(?) chili stuffed with ground beef. Good flavor but a chili relleno normally is stuffed with cheese and fried witha flour coating. Had neither. I would not order again. Taco: Crisp corn tortilla. Tasty ground beef. With the fixings on theplate this taco was good. Rice: Cooked perfectly. Good flavor. Was a good compliment. Refried beans: Ok but almost no beansnoticable in a puree mix. Overprocessed. This should be a perfect compliment with the rice, but not. I have had the sameelsewhere but just a little texture is nice to the eyes and to the palate. Guacamole: Sorry, but not much flavor. Just mashed Read more

We had dinner here and it was very good. The salsa and quac was fresh and tasty, and our orders came out very quickly. Portion... sizes were large, and prices were very reasonable. Our only complaint was that even though it was not busy, our server was notparticularly attentive. She did not check up on us after our food was brought to our table, even though we wanted to requestmore chips and wanted beverage refills. She did not attempt to upsell desert, which we likely would have considered. All thingsconsidered, definitely will go back again! Read more