El Patron Family Mexican Restaurant Gainesville

My wife and I stopped at El Patrón for lunch while passing through Gainesville on our way to Cleburne, and I’m glad we did. We both ordered gorditas, and they were absolutely delicious—fresh, packed with flavor, and exactly what we needed for the drive ahead. The gentleman who took care of us was fantastic. Friendly, attentive, and genuinely welcoming. You don’t always get service like that when you’re on the road, and it made the stop even better. If you’re anywhere near Gainesville, make the detour. El Patrón is worth it.

One of the things that really encourages me to give five stars is the service. As you can see by the five stars I just gave, it was up to my standards. Our drinks were constantly refilled and we were continuously asked if we were doing okay on top or them being busy. The food is alright. That's not to say it's bad but I've had better. The portions? Now, those are gigantic. I swear you can feed 3 people with them. The plates were so big that our waiter dropped some of the fajita on the floor. It was quickly picked up by other staff. They clearly pride themselves on the cleanliness of the establishment since as soon as en empty plate appeared at the table as staff member would come to take it away. The best thing here is the service!

This use to be a fairly good Mexican restaurant. It is supposedly under new management, but didn't seem to be better, only worse. The bartender was waiting tables and staff just standing around, no crowd at all on Valentine's Day. Fajitas needed seasoning, flavor, skimpy on the meat... and shrimp salad needed flavor too. The cheese dip with beef was good (hard to mess up cheese dip). Quite disappointed.

My family went here on a Sunday night. There were maybe 4 full tables. We were seated quickly. Our food can out hot. My review if because of our service. Our waitress was rude and argumentative. My dad asked for burrito salsa with his chips and she told basically told him no. He then asked for no jalapeños in his order. When it came out with jalapeños she argued and said it didn’t have any. It clearly did. She was rude and unhelpful. I understand that my dad had special requests, but don’t argue with your guests. I’ve worked in food long enough to know that. We will not be returning.

Now one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. Our food was made to order fast, fresh and delicious, in large portions.! The servers were quick and courteous. The restaurant was spacious and clean. We will be back soon.