El Toro Brew Pub
| Address: | 17605 Monterey Rd, Morgan Hill, CA 95037, USA |
| Phone: | +1 408-782-2739 |
| Site: | eltorobrewing.com |
| Rating: | 2.8 |
| Working: | Closed 11:30AM–2PM 11:30AM–2PM 11:30AM–2PM 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–8PM |
Location
Photos 72
Reviews 10
AA
Aaron Palm
The great tragedy of the El Toro Brewing Company is the lost potential. El Toro is one of the older microbrews, winning awards in the 90s. Unfortunately they have been stagnant since then, so my family was excited when they announced they were opening a brew pub. This should have been a formula for success: good brewery acquires RDA money to convert former police station into trendy brewery. Instead, El Toro messed it up completely and refuses to do anything to fix it. When we first went there shortly after their grand opening, they thought a burger was "cold Costco meat on dry bun, sorry out of ketchup" a year later we tried again and it took 30 min to get a beer when the place was empty. I went once with the intention of having a few beers in the early afternoon. The place was empty but the bartender didnt want to go through the work of starting a tab for my drinks so I left confused after being told I had to pay for my beer before she would pour it. The last time I tried to go I wanted to take visiting friends to show them what a truly bad brewpub looked like, but El Toro closed early that Saturday night so we were all spared the disappointment. The point of this rambling is to demonstrate that a) El Toro has been consistently horrible since they opened and b) will not improve, do dont go back thinking they fixed themselves and c) remember that since since the brew pub was supported by RDA funds, Morgan Hill taxpayers are footing the bill for this incompetence.
RI
Richard Latham
I found El Toro three years ago while passing through Morgan Hill. Now I go out of my way to stop in. The beer is great and I find the owners and staff friendly. I am puzzled by some of the negative comments, not my experience, nor that of my friends who have stopped in.. I shake my head at the comments about the beer being "so- so". I guess the beer judges at the Great American Beer Fest didnt know what they were doing when they handed out the medal??? I have shared El Toro beers with professional brewers up and down the West Coast and have always heard very positive comments. All some of these negative comments prove is that, like art, anyone can be a critic or at least some people think they can be a critic. Sad reflection on them - not El Toro.
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A Private User
My husband and I were excited to have a beer on a Friday night. We were seated but no one took our drink order for about 15 mins. After asking the hostess if we had a server, she took our drink order and asked our server to serve our table. Once he came to our table, he looked upset at us, didnt say sorry for taking so long, just asked us if we were ready to order. It took another 15 mins. to get our appetizers-which by the way were the worst nachos I had ever had. Finally, once our food arrives, the food was HORRIBLE! The menu lacks any excitement and I didnt think anyone could mess up pizza or chicken tenders. After this great disappointment, if I ever go again, it will be too soon.
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Kyle VandenLangenberg
We stopped in for a beer (no food) one afternoon. The service was fine, but I give it two stars because the building desperately needs a good cleaning. The bathrooms stunk and were way past the point of reasonable use for the time of day. In the main dining there was quite a bit of random stuff around, like a shop vac and ladder that were blocking the side door out to the patio. On top of that the beer was okay, but not remarkable - Id rate that a three. I also agree with another reviewer that the projector above the bar is extremely out of date and for a sports type bar it really should be replaced.
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Karina Sizelove
My husband and I came in for dinner before a movie. The building itself is impressive and clean and the servers were polite and attentive. However, on a Friday night we and one other party of two were the only seated patrons having dinner. Very strange when other restaurants/bistros had lines out the door. We definitely knew why after our food came. The chili was probably the best of our order and it was alright. The rest of our order however, was very bland, greasy and had a prefrozen taste. So much potential for success here. Just improve the quality of food to match your high quality prices!
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Jon Richmond
I have been on the road for 2 years and this is my first review. Wanted to a simple bar to get a burger or something but was disapointed. Visited 2-14-12, got there at 8:30 and the kitchen was closed on a Tuesday. payed 4.50 for a so so beer and 4.95 for chips and salsa which was horrible, multicolored stale chips with way too spicey salsa. No regular beer, just a multitude of their own "special" beer that tasted like crap. Nasty bar tender was rude when I asked for a bud light and a menu. Ive been to bar/grills in every state, twice, this was by far the worst.
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dave dube
First off the food is poor, the beer is good but the management or owner has a zero for people skills and appears to have some real issues. The way you treat customers, sucks. Fire the owner and maybe your business can survive. You said we are no longer welcome back without a single example of what we did. No problem. I will also never order a beer on tap elsewhere or buy any of your beer retail. I will also share with my co workers my story if they ever mention your brand. You see, you treat customers like crap, we have recourse.
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A Private User
It pains me to write this. I want this place to be great as it is owned by a good, local brewmaster and family. The food has gone from poor to worse. The last time we were in we had salads and they were some of the worst Ive ever had. Other food Ive had there is unremarkable to poor. I have local friends who wont eat there; me either now. Great beer; some very different and creative brews. Ill go back for the ocasional beer, but wont be eating there again unless and until they revamp the kitchen and the menu.
JU
Justin Moffatt
Delicious beer and food. The Awesome IPA is fantastic as is the Chocolate Stout. Nice location with lots of space. It was a Friday afternoon when we went and we were the only people there so cant attest to the bad service people talk about. Ours was superb. I will say the owners were there and never once came over to say hi. Not that that is critical but if you own a small business its probably a good idea to let your customers know you appreciate their business.
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David Payne
Horrid food, smarmy ownership, and only one decent beer (poppy jasper). Beautiful facility but utterly lacking in charm and ambiance. Hopefully someday it will be sold and the focus will be less on amateur beermaking writ large and more on customer service and hiring an actual cook. This great location is wasted on celebrating what shouldve remained a hobbyists pursuit, but is instead a testament to spoiled and unworthy privileged mediocrity.
