El Encanto - Cave Creek, Arizona

Dean O.

One of my favorite Mexican food restaurants. Food is always great. Atmosphere and Service has always been fantastic. Eat early as this is a hooping place for dinner. Love eating outside. You feel like you’re in a park.Any of the Taco meals are good. Fajitas are a huge portion.

Laurence F.

Been coming here for years and I have never left disappointed. This is classic Mexican cuisine and they do it perfectly.

I usually get the Chicken Enchiladas with Mole' sauce but anything from that kitchen would make me happy.

It's a large restaurant so finding a table is usually easy even though the place is busy.

Even if there is a wait, do it, it's worth it. Great staff and very fast with the refills and orders. Enjoy!

Ray L.

Nice little Mexican food eatery. Had the Carne Asada Tacos. Tacos were pretty sparse on the meat and overall bland tasting. All else was good, though. Great atmosphere. My server, Ryan, was excellent! Can't wait to see him on the next season of The Voice! 😉

Suzanne F. (.

I am so glad that my sister introduced me to El Encanto. It looks fine from the outside, but once you go through the iron gates, it's magical. A true desert oasis that offers great drinks, awesome salsas, and delicious food. We started with Queso Guillermo which is hot bubbling cheese and fresh tortilla chips, and guacamole with Prickly Pear Margaritas. Then on to chicken fajitas which were also served hot out of the skillet. The best part was there was plenty left to take home with us, which was delicious in our version of migas the next day.

I wish I could remember the name of our server -he was fantastic, and took great care of us. He could have been on the radio with a velvety smooth voice and a great personality. I can't wait to get back to Arizona and dine here again.

Ron S.

We have long enjoyed El Encanto. When I was an executive in Phoenix we would eat our Sunday lunches there. On returning to the valley we headed to El Encanto, again. We were not disappointed. From our Margaritas to my Enchilada Pollo Mole our meals were wonderful.
What a pleasure to be back.

Steph

This is a must see place to visit when in Cave Creek. I love the atmosphere so much it was the first place I took family visiting from out of town.

There is a large pond inside the restaurant with an open air for about half of the restaurant. Not all of the restaurant has a view of the pond and not all of the restaurant is open air. The pond has birds ( mostly ducks) ,turtles and fish.

The restaurant has a lot of greenery, flowers and a mini waterfall. It is absolutely stunning and is a wonderful retreat from the desert life of Phoenix.

With all of that said, I don’t think there has ever been one thing I have ever tried from here I thought was delicious. I have been here three times and have tried something different each time.
I would not consider this authentic Mexican food.

The most recent time we were here my boyfriend and I were assured by our waitress that two adults could share the Carne Asada Pasilla which essentially is a steak, cheese enchilada, beans and rice. The steak was good but the enchilada was 1/4 filled and it was dried out shell. We did need to order another dish but I was content with half. I would not order this again.

They provide 3 salsas and a basket of chips. The first salsa is an acidic green salsa. It tasted like a green smoothie or wheatgrass. The second (largest salsa) is very sweet and could use some herbs. The third salsa seems to be spiced with dried chili flakes. I mixed 2 and 3 salsa together and it tasted better.

They have a small bar that is halfway inside and halfway outside.

There is usually a guitarist playing dreamy music.

It’s a great place to visit for a date and or with kiddos.

T K.

Came here for a wedding anniversary. From the website, the place looked like it would be a great spot for some southwest food. Wrong. This place was horrible and felt like a tourist trap, but with bad food. The place was packed on a Sunday afternoon, and naturally, I would assume things would be great with all the patrons. We had reservations, so we were able to get seated quickly, but that was the only good thing I can say about this place.
-they gave my wife a water glass that was cracked. She almost cut her lip on it. The cracked was in a U shape at the top and atleast 3 inches long. Very obvious to anyone that looked at the glass.
-tables were filthy and not cleaned.
-our waitress didn't know what elote was when I asked about it.
-ordered two margaritas, glasses were mini and held maybe 6 ounces of liquid after ice.
-menu states how authentic the food is. However, all food items we had didn't have any flavor, nor was not made with the freshest ingredients.
-people and kids throwing all kinds of food into the pond that has ducks and turtles. None should be eating spicy food. See pic with a duck that had a chicken quesadilla stuck to its back and couldn't get it off after diving underwater. To me, that meant the cheese melted to the feathers and unable to remove because someone thought it was a great idea to toss a hot quesadilla onto the duck.
-when we immediately showed the waitress the broken glass my wife was given, no apologies, only wow, how did that happen.
Would not ever recommend this place. Tacobell has more flavor and better service.
Been to many southwest restaurants from TX, NM, AZ, and NV, never did I encounter a horrible place like this.

Rickele O.

This place was amazing from the atmosphere all the way down to the food and service. We ate outside by the pond and it was fabulous and beautiful. Our food was amazing and our sever was a younger gentleman who was great and fabulous.