EL GUAPO

When I read the reviews, I was excited to find a great sounding Mexican restaurant/sports bar. Now having been there, I can tell you firsthand: absolute disappointment. There were only tables on the patio available. Three big problems with those tables: (1) it was cold outside and despite requests no one got around to turning on a heat lamp; (2) bad glare on the TV's so not much for watching a game; and (3) its the place the hipsters come out to smoke and smoke and smoke. Which brings me naturally to the next point - this patrons looked strung out and homeless-like. And the reported "hot" waitstaff? Yikes! Not much to look at but what was worse was the service. Snippily, we were informed that they were down two servers. Okkkkay. But after 30 minutes of watching this one server chick move slowly and leave an entire patio of people without even food or drinks, we went to serve ourselves from the bar. The bartender was the only good thing - this poor little girl was swamped - she had to fill drink orders from "servers", tend the bar, and wait on people (and there were a bunch) who were forced to fend for themselves. In my opinion, if you are down 2 people, the ones who are there should get it moving a little faster and at least pick up some slack. Not so here, with the exception of the batrtender. The other servers were dishelved, slow, and just plain lazy. Food was very unremarkable and the beer watered down. I know it is the day after St. Pat's but get it together. Won't be coming back though to see if they do. It was THE WORST. Pros: ummm... lots of TVs? Cons: Terrible waitresses - slow and lazy and for the most part non-existent; food; beer more

We sat at El Guapo for 45 minutes (I'm not exagerating) completely ignored. The manager walked by many times and acted like we were invisable, our supposed waitress was crying, the hosted sat 10 feet away chomping her gum (also ignoring us), we watched half the KU game without acknowledgement. We heard from friends that this KU bar had horrible service, but our experience was ridiculous. more

Ok so I read the reviews on city search before I went to El Guapo and I have to admit I was a little bit worried about how my experience was going to be. I've now been three times including this week for March Madness and I have to say that I agree with one of the reviews down the list. I think the people who wrote negative reviews about El Guapo are in fact missing the point! It's a sports bar, so you can't expect Maestro?s like service! Anyone who thinks they can get $6.00 Buffalo wings on the Super bowl and get the best service of their lives is a Moron. The Service is good; the food is pretty good to good. The wait staff is 99% all chicks and that?s a lot of Tail running around all the time!! The Servers and Bartenders are very approachable (Easy to talk to) and most of them are hot! My friends and I play Beer Pong and this is by far and away the best place at least in Los Angeles to play! They have Tournaments all the time and they have like two or maybe even three tables always open. If you play Beer Pong this is your place. Now as I said before I was in this week during March Madness and the service was not as good as the two other times, but the place had probably three hundred people in it, and my server had like 9 tables and I still got good service. Every time I've gone to El Guapo I've had a great time and the staff already kind of knows who I am. Now if you?re the kind of Lemon who needs your ego stroked and then sends your burger back three times at every restaurant you go to by all means Outback Steak house is up in Burbank, Enjoy. If you like hot girls serving you drinks, if you like sports, and if you like to enjoy yourself, you should check this place out!! more

they have really good specials at el guapos. there is always good food sales and drink specials. the food is delicious,and i love their margaritas especially monster size. the crowd is fun, and it is always packed with fun people. i must say that the servers are allo really nice and friendly, it was definitely the best service ive seen in a while Pros: good deals Cons: not much really, sometimes its really busy more

I went to El Guapo over the weekend with my boys to watch the game, and this place was rocking. The food was awesome the drinks were reasonably priced and the waitresses were HOT!!! Can't wait to go again. Must go! Pros: hot waitresses Cons: salsa wasn't hot as the waitresses more

my friends have been talking this place up for a while now-so i finally went with them and LOVED it. i don't typically love sports bars, but El Guapo has great food and drinks, and nice patio, and really great staff. i will def be coming back-highly recommended. ps. they have beer pong tables and i think they just had a beer pong tournament. this place rocks:) more

I have lived in los angeles for some time now and i still have to say that el guapo on melrose is by far the best place to go and grab a margarita and have great food with friends. i just went recently and was very impressed with the service. All of my needs were taken care of! I highly recommend this place, go on in grab a delicious margarita, sit on the patio, watch a game or two and relax!! Pros: service, food, drinks more

I recommend going to El Guapo on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Where you and a group of friends can enjoy a relaxing fun atmoshphere.Sipping on a magarita prefrable a Peacharita and enjoying delicious mexican food. For all you fajita fans EL Guapo delivers the best fajitas and you can top it of to be healthy there mix green salad which is fresh with greens.If you are a fish lover, the fish tacos melt in your mouth. So if you want to order a bunch it is best to go on Taco Tuesday where there tacos are only a dollar and pitchers of beer are half off. Not bad for a Tuesday to relax and have some good food and beer. The service is fast and friendly and it makes you want to come back an make El Guapo be your hot spot on a sunny day or any Tuesday. more

I went to El Guapo to celebrate my birthday and had a great time...the food was great, our waitress was hott and the monster margaritas made my night!! I will definately be returning! more

I recently went here for the first time with some friends and had a blast. We watched our team win and to celebrate our waitress brought over fun shots (tip: ASK FOR FUN SHOTS). It was great weather so we sat on the patio and enjoyed our margaritas. Know what you're getting into when you go: it's a fun sports bar with mexican food, which we enjoyed-try the Fajitas or Enchiladas! We also found out this place has Beer Pong tournaments-talk about a blast from the past! Pros: Tons of TVs, Fun Shots, Huge Patio more

Those of you who are complaining about this place are missing the point. It's a friggin' sports bar with good-looking waitresses walking around. They also have every game you could want, and a ton of TV's all over the place which you can watch whether you're sitting inside or outside on the patio. If it's not your kind of sports bar, go ahead and sit in a dark bar with a handful of TV's and some old guy pouring you drinks. I moved to SoCal for a reason, and it wasn't to avoid the weather or good looking girls, but hey, whatever floats your boat... If you go at times other than big sports days, it's a kicked-back place that makes you feel like you just walked into a house party. It's up to you whether you want to meet people, or just hang out and talk amongst your friends no matter where you go, but I haven't been to a more laid-back and wide-open bar in LA since I moved here. The bottom line is that it beats the hell out of waiting in line to get into a place where they charge cover, where drinks are twice as much, where people are ten times less approachable, and where some DJ is blasting music so loud that you can't possibly carry on a conversation. Some of the food is really good, some is pretty good, and the rest is what you'd expect from an inexpensive restaurant and/or bar food. At least they don't skimp on the portions, and none of it is expensive, so my only problem is that football season just ended. Pros: Fun, cheap, and plenty to look at (games and girls). Cons: If you're just doing dinner, you might want to go elsewhere. more

Called ahead to reserve a table by a tv to watch football. When we arrived, they said they were too busy, and sat us outside where it was freezing. Couldn't hear the game, and couldn't see the tv b/c of the glare. Our waitress was beyond slow (except to her friends who sat behind us). If you're going to call yourself a Mexican restaurant, at least try to be authentic. Their tacos shells were the yellow, u-shaped shells you buy in a box. The food overall was terrible! The hostess was rude, the busboy was rude--the service was horrendous! We asked several times to see a manager, but they never sent one over. We contacted the manager in an e-mail later, and he basically told us to "go cry somewhere else!" Guess we know where the staff gets their attitude from. Cons: Terrible service, terrible food, terrible attitude more

Sunday football is a blast, especially if you're an Eagles fan. I hear the bar is owned by some guys from Philly. The service wasn't that great though, and I felt like I had to jump up and down to get a beer. I also couldn't really figure out the strange attire of the servers. Strange. The food is not that great either. But you can't beat pitchers of beer and football. Pros: Eagles football, lots of tv's, open design, lots of seating Cons: slow service, just OK food more

This was a real disappointment. It seems out of place on Melrose or in Hollywood. Better suited for Universal Citywalk. Venue needs to figure out who it is - sports bar or mexican restaurant. In its current state, feels like a sports bar. Odd mix of patrons, very, very loud, too many smokers on patio, smoke reaches into non smoking portion of restaurant and the staff seems bored and their 'casual' attire cheapens the feel of the place. It is too bad the atmosphere is what it is, the food and drinks are good. The menu deserves a better restaurant. Cons: Loud, poor atmosphere for dining more

This is one of the best bars in Los Angeles. This joint has two full bars across from each other. Beautiful cocktail waitresses, great eats. Great for football, baseball and UFC events. Friendly management. Pros: Great Bar Concept Cons: Too packed sometimes that affects visit more

There's nothing special about this place really. The food and drinks are your basic sports bar fare. It's the only large venue to watch the game in the area so I'm stuck going there. There's no reason to go unless there's a game on - then it's game on! more

This place might be "average" for other cities, but it's hard to find a cheap, good, fun, casual place in LA, especially in this neighborhood. The margaritas are a bargain and the food is exactly what you expect. Pros: Fun atmosphere Cons: LOUD during Laker games more

There is nothing special about El Guapo. It is your basic sports bar environment. The location is good and occasionally some hot girls show up. My buddies and I had a blast there on Cinco De Mayo last year. The food is OK. The guacamole ain't bad. They added some wraps recently which were actually pretty good. Don't set you expectations too high and you will have a good experience there. Pros: Location, decent food and atmosphere. Cons: Messy bathrooms. more

This place is terrible, so please don't be fooled by all the tourists writing positive reviews. There are dozens of better Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles. I went to this one because I was hungry and also wanted to watch a baseball game. El Guapo claims to be the best place to do both those things, since they have the DirecTV package that broadcasts most games. The website says if you want to see a certain game, just ask. So, when I arrived, I did ask. I asked a waitress if we could change one of the channels. She said we had to ask a hostess. I asked the hostess, who informed our waitress when we sat down. The waitress brought out a remote, but didn't know what to do to change the channel correctly. So she left the remote with us for us to figure out, and that was the extent of her help. Finally, after about 20-30 minutes, the hostess got up from her chair (where she had been sitting the entire time) and asked a busboy to change the channel. Ten minutes later he was finally able to do it. I missed two innings of the game as a result. How is it possible that a restaurant that advertises itself as a sports bar can't even educate its employees in the operation of the televisions? The food is not bad, but not particularly good either. I can't imagine going there just for the food, and now that I know that they can't figure out the televisions, what's the point of going there at all? Pros: none Cons: terrible service, uninformed employees more

It is a great place to watch a game. Cute bartenders. Cheap food. Best Philly Cheesesteak I've had since Pat's in Philly. I can't wit for the EAGLES season to start. Pros: cheap food and drinks - plenty of TVs Cons: parking more