There are three El Sombreros in Statesboro and the Buckhead location is the newest one. It’s located across from Sonic and Subway, but it serves the same menu as the other two. I’ve frequented this location, but the trip especially for this review was interesting. When I entered I was seated rather quickly and found the menus, drinks, chips & salsa, to come rather quickly. The menu is reasonably priced, you can expect to pay about $8 for lunch and $10 for dinner, assuming you don’t want extras. The food was ordered and our waitress was a bit overbearing on service, refilling drinks at about half and checking on us a bit too much to the point it was uncomfortable.
As you can see above, the lunch offering was rather large and filling. From previous trips I can tell you this isn’t the norm and it’s all up to the kitchen staff on if you get a large or normal portion, but they never have really skipped out. Anyway, the food was alright for what it was. The chicken didn’t have any super interesting taste, the salad that came with it was rather nice, and the tortillas were not perfectly cooked but sat somewhere between “too long out of the steamer” and “moist.”
Overall, the trip was alright. Talking about past experiences, this place has been consistent on delivering a decent portion of food on the low end range of pricing as long as you don’t want any extras or get greedy. They will charge for an extra of anything and there is an additional salsa charge if they feel like you have had a bit too much (from what I’ve heard, I’ve yet to run into that problem).
As far as the atmosphere, the restaurant is newish, has a nice wall fountain, and two bars. One on the first floor and one on the second floor. The second floor’s view is kind of bleh, you can see the roofs of the nearby stores and the steps up there are a bit far, but it’s really neat. The chairs/tables are not in the best condition and the A/C is usually too high. I’ve gotten a wobbly table before that they kept sitting people at who kept requesting to be moved (I have no clue why).
The cocktails is the reason a lot of people go here, they are very strong usually and they have a wide selection of beers.
Overall this scores a 2/3 on our three point scale. I would say go there if you’re in the mood for mexican or want to drink and you want somewhere with a nicer more comfortable atmosphere than the other two el soms. You can find more information on their website: http://www.elsomstatesboro.com/
El Sombrero
879 Buckhead Drive Statesboro, GA 30458
