El Rayos Authentic Mexican

Great food and service. Very pleased with the menu--better variety of vegetarian options than any other Mexican restaurant I've visited in the area so far. We'll be back!

Excellent food and service!!! With reasonable prices!! As always!!

Tacos de carne asada is great Great service

Interesting location and setting for a Mexican restaurant. As the service goes the hospitality is great. The food is what you would expect from a tex-mex kind of establishment, but this does not make it any less delicious. Overall a great place.

Best Mexican restaurant I’ve been to in many years, possibly ever. What makes it great?

1.) Start with the food. I had the Tacos Carlos, one chicken, one steak. The meat itself was juicy (not hastily overcooked and sopping in sauce like so many “street taco” places). The cilantro and onions were fresh. The corn tortillas were perfect. I also had two tamales, happy I ordered two because they were outstanding. But again, simple. My wife ordered the Pollo Loco and the flavors were just fantastic. The table sauces were excellent. My wife had a margarita — perfection — and I had a Negra Modelo. Our toddler son in the high chair happily dined on anything we handed him; having a kid there worked out great. We finished with churros and sopapillas, probably carrying everything too far indulging ourselves, but so fun to go overboard. Simple, perfectly flavorful recipes built around authentic ingredients.

2.) Add atmosphere. Now, Mexican restaurants are an old idea in the United States. You will run the gamut from Taco Bell to some very fancy places that char the meat, put on a show, all amped up and every dish comes out like a fireworks display. But not El Rayos Authentic Mexican. This restaurant is HUMBLE. and so much the better for it. No one in charge at El Rayos is designing dishes because they look pretty and photograph well. The Pollo Loco in particular was not especially attractive. But it was essentially...homemade. It looked fine, it tasted WONDERFUL. If you want to make a splash on your first date or something like that, this is not your place. If you want to relax for an hour with loved ones or a good friend, come by.

So, back to ATMOSPHERE. We were among the first guests to arrive Saturday evening. The radio was on, playing Mexican pop music, and the senior waitress was quietly and unselfconsciously SINGING ALONG. I bet every Mexican restaurant manager in America wishes to God they could get their waitstaff to sing along to the music without affectation or fear. It was just one touch illustrating a hundred small ways that this clean, well-kept, simple place was so welcoming and so easy. You get the feeling you were in these people’s home and they were just being themselves.

3.) Value. Are you kidding me? I can’t remember the last time we each had a drink and desserts and the bill was (compared to other places with just as much service, care and attention to detail) so *low*. Go online and check out the prices yourself. What you want to pay is your business, For for my money, it was pretty unbeatable. Like a time machine back to the 90s.

Anyhow, that’s my take. I don’t have much reason to be in Calhoun GA often, but I am so so happy we stopped by. I recommend getting in there before it becomes a thing. Pretty awesome. And hats off to the people of Calhoun for supporting such an outstanding restaurant.