El Cazador in Seguin

 My favorite Mexican restaurant near my home unexpectedly closed down, so we decided to try a new place a little further down the road. El Cazador in Seguin, about a mile west of Texas Lutheran University at the intersection of Highway 90 and 464, was easy to find and in close proximity to both my home and TLU.  

The building has been a number of restaurants over the years, and El Cazador is the newest establishment in this location. They have recently done a number of renovations to the building and are still working on the parking lot, but the building itself has a welcoming exterior. I found the inside to be nice and open. However, it was very loud inside between people talking and servers moving back and forth. This made it difficult to talk to the people around me at a normal level or to talk on the phone if you had a call. 

When we first entered the building, we were warmly greeted and told to take a seat anywhere. We were immediately greeted by our server who provided menus and took our drink order. Our server and every other staff member that we interacted with were very nice and helpful. As we were trying to decide what we wanted to eat, the server told us the specials for the day and pointed them out on the menu so that we could see the descriptions. 

We were quickly brought our drinks and complimentary chips and salsa, which was a selection of three different options. The first salsa was rather watery and contained small chunks of avocado; while flavorful, this salsa was relatively spicy and not for someone who cannot tolerate heat. The second one I tried was a standard red salsa, which was also quite spicy. I did not try the third, a green sauce, as I have never been fond of these particular salsas.  

The menu itself was simple and easy to understand. They offer a wide variety of enchiladas, but the menu didn’t include some items you would expect at a Mexican restaurant, such as chalupas, taco salad, or fajitas. While not exactly what I wanted, I ended up ordering the beef crispy taco plate, while my younger brother ordered the chicken quesadilla meal. Each entrée came with rice and beans as well as a side of lettuce, tomato, and guacamole for the quesadilla. The tacos were basic but good especially when I added the tomatoes and salsa to them, which really helped boost the flavor. I tried a bite of the chicken quesadilla, which was also really good, but seemed more like a grilled soft taco rather than a quesadilla. The rice and beans were very well made, and the homemade flour tortillas rounded off the meal nicely.  

If you do decide to give El Cazador a try, be prepared to spend around $15 per person with drink and tip. While rather noisy in the restaurant itself, the taste and quality of the food and service made up for any deficiencies in the atmosphere. Overall, I was happy with my experience with them and would recommend it to others in the future.