El Norteno in Lake County

El Norteno is a great place to to get some great Mexican food. My family has been going to El Norteno for a few years now and we have never once had a bad meal. The service is always friendly, the food is always great, and the prices are fair.

We’ve had dinner here multiple times and had good service and food. However, the music is so loud that you can’t have a conversation. This is the norm at this restaurant. When we place orders over the phone for pickup, the waitress cannot hear the order and have to repeat it several times. They really need to lower the volume at bit.

Great food at a reasonable price. Actually going to have dinner there right now. LOL

El norteno was so good! My husband had a Cuban sandwich, excellent.

Good food and an enjoyable outdoor dining experience.

Catered a taco bar for a baby shower. The food was delicious, reasonably priced and there was plenty of food!

Just ordered a taco salad, it was ice cold when I got it. Told us it would be 25 minutes before done. They put the lettuce under the beef, I asked for extra cheese and there was not.

El Norteño has great Mexican food.Update: We still think El Norteño is the best Mexican restaurant within a quick drive from our house.This time I had Ribeye filled enchiladas with dark mole sauce. They know how to make good food!

Fantastic food, even allowed me to custom order. Very good and friendly, will be back soon!

I was so busy stuffing my face that I forgot to take a picture of the food.How does that work for a reigning endorsement

This was my first time there and everybody raved how good it is and that was no lie the food was phenomenal, the service was the best, everybody was so friendly I cant wait to go back again

First time, very good breakfast food, chips, salsa and portions. Reasonable priced, our new go to for Mexican breakfast. Service great, very clean and comfortable.

Its pretty good food, the staff works hard. The outdoor patio is great.

I hate Taco Bell but it’s seriously better than this place that has no flavor ! I had to drown my meal in hot sauce just to be able to eat it! Definitely by far some of the worst Mexican food I’ve had ! If you like bland Mexican food and really really chewy steak with bad taco shells than look no further ! Spent 60$ for 3 people for nobody to enjoy the food ! ORDER SOPHIA’S REASTURANT down the street it blows this place out of the water…

Delishious! Really enjoyed eating here. Courteous staff and a great selection of food and drink.

Excellent service even though it was late on a Saturday night. Carne asada con chile Relleno was excellent!

Always good food. The only horchata I drink. Theyre hurting for staff, like the rest of Island Lake, but always smiling faces. And you might want to make reservations on the weekends around dinner time. Its so great to see everybody enjoying themselves again 😊

Honestly it was nice here, the food was good and the service was good for how many people there was, we got our food like an hour later. It was cold but good for what it was there was like no rice I guess so instead they gave us fries. But we sat outside and it was nice :)

We sat outside on the patio which was really nice!! Our server was super friendly and helpful. Our food was great!! Overall a fantastic experience and I would definitely go back.

Stopped here for breakfast, the torpedo burrito was awesome, steak was well seasoned and tasty. Well come back for dinner some time!

Youll find some of the best authentic Mexican cuisine here at this restaurant. I had the Shrimp Fajitas. She had the Carne Asada. Great margaritas too.

Ok let people spend their hard earned $$ .Thinking they are getting Good Mexican Food at a great price 😀

I ordered food for pickup when we got home they gave us 1 red Salsa and 1 green Salsa. We had ordered 5 tacos and a burrito to feed 3 people. This is my 3rd time in a row ordering and being disappointed. You lost a customer.

Been driving by this place for years and stopped for dinner for the first time tonight. Shrimp tacos were excellent. Highly recommended.

This restaurant was packed which should tell you how good the food is. Our order took a little bit longer because of patrons visiting the establishment, but was well worth the wait. Salsa and chips are served when you are seated and if you finish them you can get more.The margaritas are very well made and taste great. They also have a good variety of Mexican beers that you can enjoy with your meal. The food was served hot and very delicious. Pricing is average for Mexican restaurants.

Always love the food so far. Usually have great service, but the waitress we had today was pretty disappointing. Will give it another try nonetheless

Awesome presentation of food. Everything that we ordered was great.

Good food at a reasonable price. The service leaves a bit to be desired as I believe theyre usually a bit light staffed, and have many to-go orders.

Great food and a friendly staff. Usually get the 2 taco dinner but the pork tamales and torpedo burrito are also awesome.

Possibly the best Mexican food in the county. Good service too!

Every time we go there the staff is very friendly. The food is very good. Never had a bad experience here.

So glad this place is in our delivery range! They have the best tacos and best rice around. The house chicken with the Coke marinade is super delicious, too. This is quickly becoming a regular stop.

Ive been going to this place for about 3 years now was thinking of trying other restaurants similar to this in the area but I decided theres no reason to they have everything I like great food great service great people give it a try Im sure youll have a pleasant experience

Yes food is delicious! The service is absolutely horrible. It has been a year since we have had our order done right. Whether we order for pick up or eat at the restaurant they can NOT GET THE ORDER RIGHT!!! English or Spanish doesn’t matter. I don’t know who owns this place but they sure need to train their employees better. Every single time our order is wrong. Again the food is good but not worth spending money on the frustration of not getting what you ordered every single time.

Food is delicious, authentic at a reasonable price. They offer all the main mexican dishes. This was my second time there, and look forward to their outdoor patio in the summer.

Great tasting food and good service! My husband tried a variety of tacos and really liked the tongue taco. I got the chicken enchiladas with dark mole and they were absolutely scrumptious!

Great authentic food at a good price. New go to!

This place is great...when they get your order right. Jose always ensured phone orders were packaged right with nothing missing. Hes now gone and sadly, so is the assurance of our phone orders being right. The last 3 times weve ordered, our orders missed avocado, which we paid for, tortillas to complete the order, salsa, or they ran out of ingredients making us change our order when we got there - having to wait longer to complete our order. Or sometimes they just flat missed part of the order, meaning we purchased and paid for a dinner, but just got the sandwich or entree. Its just really frustrating. Dinner for 4 is not cheap and all we get is sorry, well fix it next time or you can come back. They have expanded pretty quickly, but their attention to detail has not. When we call the person taking the order is always multi-tasking and in a rush. Weve decided to stop ordering for now, and started looking for a new place. Were sad because the food really is good when everything is right. Hopefully with time and training theyll bounce back.

First time ordering! Everything was fantastic! Very little to no fat on my steak tacos. Supplied plenty of green and red salsa. Also added several item notes to not include certain ingredients and they actually read the item notes. Almost every time I order online from anywhere they never read the item notes correctly, if at all. Definitely ordering again!

Excellent service.. ordered steak torta, great value for the amount of food you get! Great chips and salsa too!!

This is now my familys favorite Mexican restaurant. Large portions. Large menu. Reasonable prices. Friendly service. Very nice outdoor dining area. Clean restrooms. This place is a model for small restauranteurs. Take note! They do a lot of things very well. Kudos to the owners whoever you are. This is a top notch place in my humble opinion.

Very clean place, fast and friendly service, a great variety of dishes on the menu, delicious food and they serve a generous portion, delicious drinks and quite reasonable prices, we will definitely return soon. Recommendations; The mask is optional, bring a good appetite because the food is delicious

We came here hoping for fajitas. After walking in and sitting down, the waitress took our drink orders. I got a horchata and my boyfriend got a coke. The horchata tasted a bit artificial, as if it was made from a drink mix and not homemade. Then we tried ordering chicken fajitas with a side of cheese dip (queso, but they told us they don’t have that. What kind of Mexican place doesn’t have melted cheese dip. we were hungry so we reluctantly said it was fine. She then brought out the chips and salsa. Took one bite of the hard, gross chip and got up to cancel our order, pay for our drinks, and leave. Very disappointed.

I cant even begin. This is the "holy grail" of Mexican food. Everything is outstanding. They are busy for a reason. This place is AMAZING!

Never eat here ! I get a pile of mush. They don’t care and the place should be shut down. Absolutely 0.5 out of 10. Only eat here if you’re desperate to survive

First time dining here (took it as carryout). Everything was fresh, hot, and tasty. Definitely will dine here again.

You want margaritas? They are awesome here. You want steak and other amazing food, this hidden gem is amazing. Dont miss out!

WOW!!!!....SIMPLY SAID, WOW!!! this place is awesome! By far best Mexican food around!Theres 2 other local places in the area but this one is now THE BEST in my book!

Service was good. Food was delicious. My fiances burrito was HUGE!

I had their steak burrito bowl with extra steak and lettuce, a horchata, and my partner had the ribeye burrito bowl. We were not disappointed. We loved it! Their portion sizes are rather big so we had to get boxes. Definitely coming back again!