El Sonador Mexican Restaurants

Above average Mexican Restaurant right in Gatlinburg.The chips were fresh and the salsa had good flavor, could have been a little hotter.I had a Chimichanga, came with rice and beans. The Chimi was good (not great, but good), had a lot of meat. The beans were great, often overlooked by some restaurants.NOTE: They don't have liquor here, beer and wine only.There is no onsite parking, but plenty of options on the strip.I would go back again.

Did they ever bring back the Salsa Bar? That was best part of my visit! Their regular table salsa in bland and purée

Great Mexican restaurant! Been here once before and decided to come back. Location is really cool and close to all the nightlife. Portion sizes are great and chips and salsa are included in your meal! Gave 4 stars across the board because it was really good, but could use a little improvement. The space itself could use a little freshening up. Our server was super nice, but there were 2 large parties that ended up taking his time away from us and we had to ask another server for more salsa (which we understand). My chicken in my chimi was a little dry and could've used more seasoning. But 5 stars for everyone's friendliness, price, portion size, and freshness!

This was one of our stops while in Gatlinburg! Great time! Lots of yummy food.

We walked in for dinner and it felt like the place was about to close. I later noticed that there are no hours posted so maybe they close when business is slow? With every patron that came in after us, the staff looked surprised, the whole vibe was weird.Chips and salsa came to the table and were tasty. I appreciate that it was a smoother salsa and not pico. Our waitress seemed very manic and overwhelmed yet only had 2 tables. She was not at all interested in our experience.We ordered the Freshly Made Guacamole $10) It was very fresh and chunky. My husband went with the steak tacos 3 tacos with onion cilantro and lime $14). They were bland but they were fine, nothing noteworthy. I went with chicken quesadilla. It 's my fault that I didn 't pay enough attention to the menu that clearly states mozzarella cheese, but also, why is there mozzarella cheese in my quesadilla?!? Very strange. The chicken had so much water/juice that the whole bottom of the plate filled with liquid. And the tortilla itself was hard fried in so much oil it was glistening and practically a hard shell. Was it bad? No, but it wasn 't good. While waiting for what seemed like forever for our waitress to bring the check while the rest of the staff wandered around whistling and playing on their phones... we watched a staff member empty the serving container of horchata into a bucket, like a bucket bucket. I know food service has lots of tricks that I don 't want to see lol and I was ok with the bucket until someone ordered horchata and I watched our waitress ladle out some fresh horchata and serve it from the bucket. I can 't explain it but it grossed me out. At least take that stuff in the back so I don 't know you 're serving me bucket drink. I don 't see a reason to come here again.