El Chupacabra

Went to El Chupacabra Last night. The time was around 11:00pm when we got there on a Friday night, the place wasn’t packed at all, we sat down and waited there for a good 8 – 10 Minutes waiting for someone to even acknowledge us. There were 3 Guys working and they were just standing around socializing with each other. One guy pointed at us then another guy slowly walked over and ask what we wanted. We ordered our food and drinks. The Food was Fantastic! We got our drinks and food right away! The Employees/​cooks in the back are definitely doing something right! We hate to give bad reviews but the face of the restaurant really needs to work on there social skills and hospitality especially being a Mexican Restaurant. But the Food is great!!!
A Little tip for this establishment:
*WORK ON THE FRONT END OF THE RESTAURANT*

As an SF transplant, I’ve looked high and low through this city for a solid misson style burrito. 8 years and countless disappointments later Chupacabra still reigns supreme. They consistently have the internal burrito proportions right, the meat is always seasoned to perfection, and the mimosa pitchers are dangerous and absolutely required for brunch times.
Just go get a burrito here, you won’t regret it.

My first time eating here and I would definitely go back. Visited my BFF for the weekend and she wanted to bring me here (one of her favorite spots) for dinner. Based on just the taco salad I ordered, I really liked it and great chips and salsa. Good portions, tasty ingredients, variety of hot sauces, and great bar.

Has a punk/​metal/​goth/​Mexican atmosphere and really good margaritas. Crowded but worth the wait. The staff a cool and helpful. I feel at home in this place, which has true atmosphere.

This place is like a gem tucked away in PhinneyWood… Excellent Bloody Mary’s and the atmosphere is great. I had great service on a Saturday morning from both bar and restaurant.

Great Mexican food and a killer dive bar atmosphere! Can get a little crowded as the inside is fairly small, but spring and summer are great because they have an outside deck when the weather is good!

Went to Woodland Park Zoo for Zoolights last Saturday evening and decided to walk down the street and check out El Chupacabra. Best decision of the evening!
Guacamole and chips were great! Best mango margarita I have ever had! Shrimp tacos were slightly spicy and really yummy. One of my friends had the chili relleno special and one had the taco salad. Both were really happy.
Have to say one of the best Mexican meals I have had in Seattle! Give this place a try!

All-​around favorite! The jalapeño margaritas are not to be missed! And the nachos, burritos, and entire weekend brunch menu is flavorful and reasonably priced. On sunny weekends, expect to wait a while for a table, but typically if it’s raining the wait’s not too long.

Came with a party of three, spent about $ 50, not including tip on just one entrée dinner and drink for all three. Presentation and atmosphere is okay. Parking was a little difficult. Seating is somewhat tight. Drinks were strong. Food was simply prepared, and okay, but not excellent. I’d come again if by the Zoo and wanting a bite to eat, but there’s better Mexican restaurants in the area.

I have never written a review while still in the restaurant, but this is probably the best food I’ve ever had in Seattle. In honor of that, I’ve whipped the phone out and posting real time. El Chupacabra, I love you.
My husband and I couldn’t even speak during our mock chicken enchilada and burrito. Yes, mock chicken. And the mock steak is just as wonderful. Vegetarians, this place is incredible. Best fake meat in Seattle. After we ate, dousing everything in the multitude of amazing sauces at the table, we discussed how if we lived in walking distance, we would get too large to walk. We could eat this daily.
It’s just that good. I don’t even know where to start. The burritos, mission style, and available with real or mock meat that you can have covered in the sauce that is basically heaven. Maybe the perfect enchiladas.
Or perhaps the jalapeño margarita. I can’t even say more than that because words don’t do it justice.
My inner Texan approves of everything here.
Plus every time we’ve been here, the service has been top notch.

We got stuck in a downpour at the zoo and we were getting hungry. Some friends suggested meeting them at El Chupacabra for dinner. Since it was raining the outdoor patio was out of the question, but it looked big and I would definitely go for it on a nice day. The inside is pretty tiny with a skinny little bar to the right as you enter. The restaurant was about half full and there were 5 of us but only 4 tops left. We told them we would be happy to squeeze, especially since one of the 5 was a 2 year old, but they told us they couldn’t do that. OK, no problem, we added our name to the list and were seated shortly after.
My friend swears by the fish tacos, but I wasn’t super hungry so I decided to share a quesadilla with the little one. We ordered some chips, guacamole, and salsa for the table while we waited. The chips were bland and sad, which was disappointing. The salsa was pretty good and had a nice kick to it. The guacamole wasn’t great, it didn’t have a lot of flavor and was a light green, I suspect underripe avocados. The quesadilla was huge and melty, it’s hard to mess up a cheese quesadilla. I took a few bites of my husbands chimichanga. It was good and again had a nice kick. Everything worked together and it was served with a side of runny black beans and Spanish rice.
If you’re into the dive bar vibe and Mexican with a kick then this might be a good place to check out.

Fuck the servers here. The food is tasty but the servers are wenchy. Once upon a burrito, specifically we went with a group of 10 and put our name down when there were a bunch of open tables ready for hungry mouths. As people came, they filled the lonely tables with leasuirly people and left us twiddling our thumbs. We were only worthy of shaming when they asked us not to crowd the waiting area. After a long while we asked if we would get sat, our positively passive server didn’t answer. A different person asked again and the server finally stopped staring with a blank look long enough to say that we wouldnt be sat together… basically we waited an hour to be denied service. If we hadn’t asked, they would have let us keep standing there twiddling our thumbs for another hour
Instead of being a big boy and not wasting out time, they were passive as fuck. Their food is bueno but it’s probably gonna be a long while before we try going back.

I’ve been to the Chup many times and the experience has been consistently inconsistent.
The vibe and aesthetic is great – I love sitting inside or on the patio, listening to good music, having good drinks and chips-​n-​salsa, and the friendly, easy-​going waitstaff. It’s a punk rock taqueria dive bar, basically, located in what is, for my money, North Seattle’s coolest neighborhood.
The menu is also great, in that there are options galore and they are very kind to the veggies and vegans. They offer several faux meats and Daiya vegan cheese-​like product, which the die-​hards love. I think Daiya walks the fuzzy area between «good» and «peculiar,» and I don’t quite know the words for how to describe it, but hey, anyway, El Chupacabra steps up for the veggies and vegans, so nicely done.
The actual execution of the food is what’s hit-​and-​miss. I have had great luck with the tacos but less success with the enchiladas. (I never order burritos at restaurants… I’m not sure why not. Shrug.) Last night I got enchiladas with the vegan «spicy green chicken» and good ol’ Daiya fake cheese… the vegan chicken was fine and the enchiladas were good in the middle but sorta tough on the edges, and the sauce was kinda heavy and tasted a little like a Tex-​Mex TV dinner.
I’ll stick with tacos from here on out, and we’ll see if we can bump this up to 4 stars. xoxo.

Go here for dinner, but not if you want to party. The food is okay. I tried a bit of everything: the pomegranate and cadillac margaritas, the nachos, empanadas, and fried ice cream and liked them all. Buuut, I was there with 10 other people, we were the only Mexicans in the bar and they kicked us out for being too loud. We asked for shots and they said they wouldn’t sell us more. And believe me, we weren’t drunk; loud, yes (hello, it’s a Mexican bar!), but not drunk.
Quite a disappointment for a place with a website that reads «El Chupacabra is best described as a punk rock cantina. The music can be a bit loud and the wait staff sassy but we’re out to show you a good time!». Basically, the music can be loud, but not the people…

Mission Style Burritos here: WOW.
Went for the carnitas and carne asada with half’n’half red and verde sauce and couldn’t be happier! And between the small and large size, it’s only a $ 1 difference so not bad at all. Go big or go home!;P
This restaurant has fun extra sauces and spicy goodies that you can add to your meal so it was fun to check out all the different types of sauces they had available at the table. The house margaritas here are pretty decent as well. Be aware that the chips and salsa are an additional cost and we got chips with the entrée (mission burritos) too so next time we go, we’ll order something besides chips and salsa for an appetizer…
One thing though, the service here is kinda awkward and we spent the last 30mins waiting for our check.

I prefer more of the sauce-​soaked, spicy, limey, cilantro Mexican I’ve fondly dubbed «Taco Truck Mexican.» This is not that style. It’s much more American with basic tomato sauces, flavorless rice & large portions.
However, it is astoundingly vegetarian friendly & for that I will return. I had 3 tacos (which was one too many for me). Two tacos were vegetarian & very good & filling (kind of reminded me of college food — good but bland & large portions). However, I got the fake chicken and it was terrible. Another person got the fake beef & said it was good. Personally, I am not a vegetarian that craves meat so maybe that’s part of it.
The décor was entertaining, staff was friendly, they gave plenty of limes, food came quickly & the bill was affordable. All in all, I would return here for dinner another time.

Who can go wrong with beer and a beef chimichanga!!! Gahhh – sooo good. Then again, anything deep fried is delicious.
This place is popping, but after 8PM the crowd died down a bit and we were able to snag a spot at the bar and then once our name was called we got a nice table.
Anyway, good food. People in Seattle are so nice. SO NICE.

Went here for the first time last week. It was so good I wanted to go back the next day!
We arrived just in time for a happy hour house margarita while waiting for our table. NOTE: there is a sign in sheet for a table in the middle of the restaurant. It should be closer to the door. The house margarita is the best house margarita I’ve had outside of Mexico. No fake sugary mixer used here. It was so good we HAD to have a second one. ;)
Got seated at a table in about 10 minutes time. Ordered a basket of chips with their in house made guacamole & salsa fresco. Excellent! Sampled all the hot sauces on the table too & especially liked the chipotle pineapple sauce & am inspired to try to make my own.
Hubby had the large fish burrito with cheese & sauce added to the top. It truly is large. He took about ¼ of it home. He loved it so much he had it again on our return visit. I had the street tacos with pork al pastor. Normally served with 2 corn tortillas so they hold up better. These weren’t so they were a little messy to eat. No worries. They are not served with rice & beans but I was full enough on the 3 tacos so I didn’t miss them. On our fist last night I ordered the chicken verde enchiladas. They are served with a red enchilada sauce so you do lose a bit of the verde flavor. Not sure if green sauce is an option but if so I think it would be even better. Large chunks of white chicken inside. I brought 1 home with half of my whole pinto beans. (Substituted for red fried black beans).
This is our new favorite restaurant. I look forward to taking friends there soon.

I’m torn on reviewing this spot, so this is really more like a 3.5 out of 5.0.
Is it worth the wait? Absolutely. The list moves quickly and we were seated within about 15 – 20 minutes. Drinks were served well and stiff, with a great selection of margaritas to consider (jalapeño margarita is for those wanting a big kick of spice only).
But I have to say, the homemade and wrapped chimichangas were absolutely divine. I cannot recommend that dish highly enough! Feel free to skip the early chips and salsa though– they were a bit chewy…
Service was great except for the guy bartending. Don’t get me wrong; his drink making skills were fine. But I honestly believe the man is afraid he will spontaneously combust if he even attempts to smile or be pleasant…

We wanted to kill sometime before our beer tasting and ended up here. Their margaritas are beyond excellent. Very cute restaurant/​bar/​hangout spot in the Phinney area.
The drinks are totally affordable.