El Comal Mexican Restaurant

Came here for lunch on Saturday and took a chance on a new location. This staff was very friendly and welcoming as we came in and were seated. The menu offered many of the classics and also other non traditional dishes. We had the margaritas and they were delicious as always. The chicken fajitas were also good. The lunch portion was a little smaller than I expected but it was filling. The tortillas appeared to be homemade. They were also delicious. I would recommend this location to anyone looking for good Mexican food.

Published 8 months ago

We decided to check this place out and to our surprise, EVERYTHING was amazing !!! Our server was very friendly, the atmosphere felt more authentic than most. The food was delicious... even the leftovers! Very reasonable prices... you definitely get your money's worth in taste and portion size !!!

Published 8 months ago

You can discount what I'm about to say because this restaurant recently opened and I'm hopeful things will improve over the next few weeks. However, my review is solely based on our experience on Thursday evening, June 13th.

We were greeted (party of seven) and promptly seated at about 6pm.

Drinks were ordered and served in a prompt fashion, then our orders were taken. Our server (first day on the job) had us repeat our orders to make sure she understood exactly what we wanted. However, out of the seven orders, only three arrived at the table correctly. For example, one diner ordered a hamburger with ketchup, mustard and onions. When the order arrived, it was chicken nuggets and fries. She agreed to eat it even though it was not what she requested. Another diner ordered two cheese enchiladas but was served chicken chimichangas. I had ordered chimichangas, but it took a long time to be served, and that was only after the manager got involved. He was able to sort out the confusion and made sure everything was correct -- except for the chicken nuggets instead of hamburger situation.  When I got the checks (I told the server that mine and my wife's were together but we received two separate tickets), my wife had been charged for two chicken quesadillas instead of the one she ordered. The guy at the register corrected the error.

The food was just OK -- not the best but definitely not the worse. I will probably eat here again but will give them time to work out some of the "just opened" jitters.

Published 10 months ago

First time eating in El Comal. Food was fresh and hot. Servers were nice and friendly. I received complimentary chips and salsa. Salsa was not spicy to me but I luke more heat than some. I ordered fish tacos with corn tortillas but got flour tortillas per pic. The requested extra hot sauce was flavorful and spicy. The beans and rice are a bit bland for me. I added some hot sauce for flavor. The pico was fresh and a great taste with the fish taco. A very good size piece of fish was in each wrap. My crown and sprite was brought as apple crown. Which I am not a fan of. My meal with tip was $30. My drink that was wrong was $10. Definitely not the place to drink at. But food was delicious.

Published 9 months ago

Only went with to go because I wanted to give it a try!! Never a again. Ordered a combination plate. Everything was just thrown in one bowl together, WHY??? Nobody wants a super soggy crunchy taco, soggy from beans and other sauces?? It was disgusting!! Never have i been to a Mexican restaurant where all your food it just thrown into a bowl to mix up!! If this is the case to go I definitely won't dine in. Definitely disappointed my plate looked like a pile of random foods. Try at your own discretion. Presentation is always key. After a additional wait time it was all still room temp/cold! Definitely the worst in the area.

Published 3 months ago

This was our second time here and we will continue coming. Large portions and great food. I don’t know what others got where they weren’t happy with it but we have enjoyed everything we have eaten here (wish I took photos the first tjme).

Published 10 months ago

This is the best Mexican food! I loved everything here we eat at different places trying to find authentic and quality food. This is the place !

Published 6 months ago

We love it here. This is our new go-to place. The staff is always incredibly friendly. The food's terrific, and we've tried several different dishes. Never a long wait. Order a pitcher of strawberry margaritas -- you won't regret it 😋

Published 7 months ago

Best Mexican in Birmingham area!

Published 3 months ago

I thought the food was a bit better than many of the other mexican places.

Published 3 months ago

Only went with to go because I wanted to give it a try!! Never a again. Ordered a combination plate. Everything was just thrown in one bowl together, WHY??? Nobody wants a super soggy crunchy taco, soggy from beans and other sauces?? It was disgusting!! Never have i been to a Mexican restaurant where all your food it just thrown into a bowl to mix up!! If this is the case to go I definitely won't dine in. Definitely disappointed my plate looked like a pile of random foods. Try at your own discretion. Presentation is always key. After a additional wait time it was all still room temp/cold! Definitely the worst in the area.

Published 3 months ago

Published 4 months ago

Published 5 months ago

What a great change of taste. Not the same old Tex-Mex menu. The food was very fresh and the portion size is good. Sorry we waited so long to try this new Pelham restaurant.

Published 6 months ago

This is the best Mexican food! I loved everything here we eat at different places trying to find authentic and quality food. This is the place !

Published 6 months ago

Food, price, and service were excellent. Beer came in frozen mugs! Will be returning.

Published 6 months ago

Every location has great food!

Published 6 months ago

Lunch fajitas were very good.

Published 6 months ago

So today I had lunch here. I've been in this restaurant before and there's always a language barrier to order your food. So the last time i was here I later noticed on my ticket that I had gotten charged a fee for not paying cash. Today I tried to ask if I paid with a card would there be an extra fee, again language barrier, but finialy she said yes. I ask if there were any signs up about this extra charged for using a debit card or credit card, so people would be aware of this. Again a language barrier and she finial understood what i was asking and said no. So I told her I would be paying with cash. Then she couldn't find my waitress or my ticket to check me out. After a few minutes and talking among themselves they finial got my ticket and checked me out. She did apologize, for all the confusion. The food here is good and the restaurant is clean which is a plus. I do hope they can get these issues worked out so they can make it here in pelham.

Published 6 months ago

Great service and food! 1st time in and will be back!!!!

Published 7 months ago

They're done a nice job remodeling this place. The food is great, and I really enjoy the variety on the menu. It's got all of the Tex-Mex staples, a nice variety of seafood dishes, and some novel options as well.

Published 7 months ago

Published 7 months ago

Muy buena la comida

Published 7 months ago

Food good. Service not so good.

Published 7 months ago

We love it here. This is our new go-to place. The staff is always incredibly friendly. The food's terrific, and we've tried several different dishes. Never a long wait. Order a pitcher of strawberry margaritas -- you won't regret it 😋

Published 7 months ago

We decided to check this place out and to our surprise, EVERYTHING was amazing !!! Our server was very friendly, the atmosphere felt more authentic than most. The food was delicious... even the leftovers! Very reasonable prices... you definitely get your money's worth in taste and portion size !!!

Published 8 months ago

Published 8 months ago

Bad food untasted full, ok service , atmosphere the could make an better effort cooking the food more tasteful because Mexican food is amazing.

Published 8 months ago

After visiting El Comal in McCalla which we loved, we decided to try El Comal in Pelham. It was a different experience. The server could not speak a word of English and we had a hard time communicating. She brought half our order and we had to use sign language to explain that we wanted two of the same thing. The manager had to keep coming over to get things straight. I asked for the bun cake which was on the dessert menu and no one knew what that was. Manager did bring out a pre-packaged little bun cake about the size of a golf ball and asked if that's what I was looking for and I just declined. The Mexican guacamole was good and the margarita was okay. I've had much better experiences at other Mexican food restaurants and won't be returning there.

Published 8 months ago

Came here for lunch on Saturday and took a chance on a new location. This staff was very friendly and welcoming as we came in and were seated. The menu offered many of the classics and also other non traditional dishes. We had the margaritas and they were delicious as always. The chicken fajitas were also good. The lunch portion was a little smaller than I expected but it was filling. The tortillas appeared to be homemade. They were also delicious. I would recommend this location to anyone looking for good Mexican food.

Published 8 months ago

Published 8 months ago

Published 8 months ago

What a Great restaurant! Great food and some authentic dishes in there too. We waited with bated breath for this restaurant to open and tonight, as the stars aligned, we made it there.
The food was hit or miss, but where it hit, it was off the charts. The atmosphere was clean and newly revamped. Anyone who knew the Italian place before knows that the interior needed some TLC, well El Comal did it justice. Renovated and now sleek with traditional touches everywhere, it is a nice dining experience. The service left much to be desired, if only because of lack of training. The inexperienced service was easily obscured by its amazing dishes.
We ordered a bit of everything and, here are the highs and lows, starting with the latter. The Carne asada was dry and over cooked. However, the nopales were a nice touch. Had it been cooked a little less, the dish may have been less like beef jerky and more like the quick seared Carne asada of my youth. Oh, well, next time. The tamales are small and topped with a tomato based sauce and ground beef that does little for it. Do yourself a favor and ask for the toppings to be left off. The chile relleno was lacking, severely. A bell pepper fashioned into a bowl, filled ground beef, and topped with copious amounts of cheese dip, not their best showing. The cheese dip is awesome, a tad bit more flavor than most restaurants around. The salsa is smokey and slightly spicier than the local fare, I approve.
But where El Comal is off the charts starts with their selection of traditional seafood dishes. Ceviche, coctel de Camarones, and seafood tostadas, the list goes on, amazing! Few places can really make these dishes well, or at least the way my mother and aunts did, and they do at El Comal. The Hawaiian fajitas were moist and delicious, topped with pineapple and just delightful.
What must be said is the portion size of their dishes is very large. We left satisfied and with doggy bags. The rice and beans did have an aromatic different than I am used to, clove perhaps, ever so slight, different, not bad.
A huge draw back was the untrained service. Although attentive and EXTREMELY nice, the inexperience was hard to over look. Dishes were brought out as they were made (?) growing cold as we waited for the main dishes. Our party had one whose plate came out well after we were forced to eat to avoid eating completely cold food. Forgotten drinks, and such, which will correct themselves after some experience. However, if a capable hand could teach their servers the basics of serving tables, the drawbacks of eating here would be eliminated, that and knowing what NOT to order.
All in all, we actually loved El Comal and plan to go back and try all their dishes. Fingers crossed that the service improves to better time the dinning experience.
If you have not tried El Comal, do yourself a favor and TRY IT.

Published 8 months ago

Published 8 months ago

You can discount what I'm about to say because this restaurant recently opened and I'm hopeful things will improve over the next few weeks. However, my review is solely based on our experience on Thursday evening, June 13th.

We were greeted (party of seven) and promptly seated at about 6pm.

Drinks were ordered and served in a prompt fashion, then our orders were taken. Our server (first day on the job) had us repeat our orders to make sure she understood exactly what we wanted. However, out of the seven orders, only three arrived at the table correctly. For example, one diner ordered a hamburger with ketchup, mustard and onions. When the order arrived, it was chicken nuggets and fries. She agreed to eat it even though it was not what she requested. Another diner ordered two cheese enchiladas but was served chicken chimichangas. I had ordered chimichangas, but it took a long time to be served, and that was only after the manager got involved. He was able to sort out the confusion and made sure everything was correct -- except for the chicken nuggets instead of hamburger situation.  When I got the checks (I told the server that mine and my wife's were together but we received two separate tickets), my wife had been charged for two chicken quesadillas instead of the one she ordered. The guy at the register corrected the error.

The food was just OK -- not the best but definitely not the worse. I will probably eat here again but will give them time to work out some of the "just opened" jitters.

Published 9 months ago

Amazing!!! When I tell you I’ve tried dozens of Mexican restaurants in Birmingham and the surrounding areas I’m not exaggerating. My wife is from Arizona where they have amazing Mexican food so she’s VERY picky and hard to please when it comes to this type of food but she absolutely loves this place and I have to agree with her on this. The only thing she was even a little critical of was the flour tortillas. She prefers the more authentic style like they make fresh and sell at Mi Pueblo supermarket. She said these remind her too much of mission tortillas.i think they are fine but that may be because these are the type I grew up eating and she’s more used to the fresher, thinner and flakier style. To be clear though she and I both agree this is the best Mexican food around by far! Plenty of friendly waitresses and great prices!

Published 9 months ago

Margherita! Yum!

Published 9 months ago

First time eating in El Comal. Food was fresh and hot. Servers were nice and friendly. I received complimentary chips and salsa. Salsa was not spicy to me but I luke more heat than some. I ordered fish tacos with corn tortillas but got flour tortillas per pic. The requested extra hot sauce was flavorful and spicy. The beans and rice are a bit bland for me. I added some hot sauce for flavor. The pico was fresh and a great taste with the fish taco. A very good size piece of fish was in each wrap. My crown and sprite was brought as apple crown. Which I am not a fan of. My meal with tip was $30. My drink that was wrong was $10. Definitely not the place to drink at. But food was delicious.

Published 9 months ago

Muy bonito lugar para ir en familia, todo muy limpio y ordenado. El servicio muy bien Al entrar El Rey de Reyes lo recomiendo 100%

Published 9 months ago

Fantastic experience, salsa is obviously made with love and tastes amazing. I ordered the pollo loco and enjoyed every bite. There is no lack of flavor at all. The staff are helpful and incredibly courteous. I recommend this place 100%.

Published 9 months ago

The food was good and flavorful. I also had the Mexican Margarita which was delicious!

Published 9 months ago

Best Mexican food in Birmingham. Quality staff and service always as well. This place is like family.

Published 10 months ago

Absolutely love this place. Amazing food and great people!!

Published 10 months ago

Published 10 months ago

Que agradable lugar, es la primera vez que vamos por qué recién abrieron, desde el saludo de bienvenida hasta el que tenga un buen día fue emotivo el servicio es muy bueno, el lugar muy limpio y la comida muy rica, hay pocos lugares que te quedas con ganas de volver y aquí si volveré a ir.👏🏻

Published 10 months ago

Good Food, nice Service, kind waiters

Published 10 months ago

Published 10 months ago

Published 10 months ago

Published 10 months ago

Published 10 months ago

Para mí el lugar no estuvo bueno las tortillas son de paquete no son hechas a mano recomiendo mejor los compadres allí las tortillas son sabrosas👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Published 10 months ago

I've enjoyed my food the two times I've visited. The server is very young maybe her first job ever and I'll believe that she'll get better; until then I'll order to go. This has nothing to do with the deliciousness of the food 😋 support our local businesses. We have a good one here.

Published 10 months ago

this place was friendly and the inside is cute but omg was the food so bland and horrible. guys we ordered tacos and they gave us a crunchy taco 😭😭 i don’t expect the real deal but cmon. my husband ordered a burrito the burrito has nothing in it other than ground beef. cozumel takes the cake by a LONG shot. i don’t see this place staying opened for too long honestly.

Published 10 months ago

This was our second time here and we will continue coming. Large portions and great food. I don’t know what others got where they weren’t happy with it but we have enjoyed everything we have eaten here (wish I took photos the first tjme).

Published 10 months ago

I have a new favorite Mexican restaurant!! The portions are huge! I ate 3 meals from the dinner I ordered. I ordered a grilled shrimp plate with rice and fresh green peppers. It was absolutely delicious!

The server we received was very friendly, professional, and even took the time to ask her manager to double check my order since she had trouble understanding my personal preference to eat only fresh green pepper.

Highly recommend this place!! What are you waiting for?!

Published 10 months ago

First off we waited 25-30 mins before they even took our our for drinks. While the serving us this spicy salsa and chips with nothing to drink. My kid wouldn't touch the salsa. One lady came by and refilled the salsa bowl. But we had nothing to drink. I had to flag someone down to take our order. Dude from the bar took our drink order. The food came out 20 mins later. I wanted an adult beverage mood the lack of attentiveness took me out the mood of having one on FATHERS DAY. I barely wanted to eat anymore. I didn't even finish it, because my appetite was gone. The food was 5/10 at best. I'm sure the people are nice but we won't be coming back. We always leave VERY GENEROUS TIPS but we didn't leave one this time.

Published 10 months ago

Service was fine, but the food was just not very good. The ground beef was flavorless, salsa was below average and the beans were truly the absolute worst I have ever had. I know they have only been open a few days so I will give them another chance in a couple months (if they make it that long)

Published 10 months ago

We had the quesadilla rellena and burrito tipico from the lunch menu. Both were well-prepared. Service was prompt and polite. The price was $7.25 each. We definitely recommend.

Published 10 months ago

The best Mexican food I’ve had in Pelham hands down 10 of 10 recommend

Published 10 months ago