Aguamiel

This is the worse taco I’ve ever had. I had the carne asada and it only came with lettuce. They were very small and tasted so bland so I asked for hot sauce. I waited another 15 minutes because they didn’t have a bottled hot sauce, they had to make it. So by the time I got my habanero sauce, my tacos were cold and tortilla soggy. Who serves tacos without sauce?
My friend ordered a beer and they brought the wrong one twice.
Please note: if you order the 6 taco plate, there’s a charge of $ 5.00 for sharing your dish. So If you’re full and want to give some to your friends or family, they will charge you $ 5.00. I’ve never heard of such a thing. I can understand if it’s a buffet, but these are 6 tacos with your choice of different meat.

Someone should have told them it was Cinco De Mayo! This was a disaster from the get go. The wait… forever, the service… unfortunately WAY below average, the food… my stomach has still not recovered. They are understaffed and the staff they do have is incapable of decent service. It took an unusually long time to get our drinks (not enough people behind the bar) and to get a 2^nd one. I did not care for the food… I’ve had better tacos at restaurants that aren’t Mexican specific.
I really wanted to like this place… the chips are good, and so was the mango margarita but thats where it ends for me.

Let me start by saying the food was fantastic and it’s because of the slow service and treatment by the staff that I give only two stars. (I considered only one star).
So it’s Mother’s Day and we had reservations for when they opened. It was our first time here and there was only five or six other tables sat. Drinks took a long time to get, ordering food took a long time, and getting extra anything (napkins, condiments, tortillas, etc) took a long time. Nobody made us aware of the day’s specials either. I found out they existed after we ate. The food came quickly and tasted awesome! I would say today’s crew was made up of inefficient servers/​bar staff and/​or they were short staffed
Again, the food was fantastic.
So it came time to pay. I was short changed on purpose. My «change» was rounded down. Well my receipt said I was still owed a measly 46 cents. It’s about the principal. The server acknowledged doing it and said she didn’t have 46 cents. so it was rounded down. (So are they just taking everyone’s change each shift? That’s called stealing.) Two additional staff members scoffed at me and fetched 45 cents from the bar resister and made a snide remark while giving me the change. I tipped well at the table before speaking with them at the front desk on the way out and now I wish I hadn’t after this treatment over the stupid 46 cents that was suppose to be mine after paying in the first place. Geez…
I’ve been a bus boy, a host/​cashier, a server, and a bartender and never did this to anyone. I was so taken aback that I created a Unilocal account to add my 2 cents… the food was really great though.

Horrendous.
Really, don’t bother with this place. Meh at best. Food is not good and service very slow. It’s Cinco de Mayo today and they’re not even «staffed up» appropriately for any sort of crowd.
Somebody…please…help Clarendon Hills get a decent restaurant.
Time for bed now but I definitely need some Pepto Bismol first. Montezuma has his revenge even in Clarendon Hills.

We waited over 45 minutes for just the guacamole… and that was just the appetizer! Service ruined the meal, and once the food came, we realized the food was just as poor as the service!!! I will NOT be back.

So there are not a lot of Mexican food spots in this area. Given this, I feel Aguamiel has an advantage. The ambiance is very nice and location is right by the train. Kenny is the best part about this place. He is very friendly and gives good recommendations. The food is average, although I wish I could report better. The margaritas were actually solid and not watered down. They also have a decent wine list.
The salsa they bring is okay. The green was bland to me but the red was good. The habenero that is available upon request is the standout. I’ve gotten the sampler, which allows you to try a bunch of different things. The sopas were my least favorite, despite the fact that I usually love them. These were just very bland. The taquitos, which I usually find boring, were actually better than average. Flautas were okay and the empanades were actually solid. We also tried the tacos, which were again good but nothing special. I will say I really enjoyed their tamales. That was probably the best thing I’ve had. The seafood enchilades were good but again, not a standout. For me, I really need a very good salsa for a Mexican restaurant so I hope that this can be improved upon and I can upgrade! Overall, good food, good setting and I’ll continue to go back and hope some of the dishes can bring up the flavor a bit.

I’m a fan of this place. The food is pretty good, even inventive. They take some traditional meals and put a new twist on things. Knowing that the owners worked for Rick Bayless, I was expecting the food to be at that same level. It comes pretty close. I’d recommend this as one of the best options in the Western Burbs for Mexican.

We’re happy we didn’t let the negative reviews dissuade us from trying this spot out, especially when we have a colleague of Rick Bayless cooking up less than 5 minutes from our house! We were greeted by a friendly hostess and immediately loved the warm atmosphere. We ordered chicken with verde mole and enchiladas with traditional puebla mole — both were exceptional. Our tequila cocktails were unique and tasty and the service was solid, especially being NYE when you may run into some angry servers. A few negative aspects included: Some high prices on menu items, not all, but the guacamole and carne asada entrée seemed very overpriced, the desserts were just ok, and the service wasn’t as good as it could have been. Overall, I strongly feel that many of the negative reviews stemmed from diners looking for a TexMex flavor and running into truly authentic favors and being disappointed. If you appreciate authentic mexican food — give this place a shot!

Felt I needed to update my previous not-​so-​great review. We’ve been to Aguamiel a couple more times since June. We have not experienced any employee morale issues since. And the food is outstanding! Unique, flavorful and plenty of options.

If you’re looking for delicious Mexican food, this is absolutely a place I would recommend. BUT only for the food. The service is pretty atrocious. Even after reading all the Unilocal reviews about the horrible service, I really wanted to have an amazing experience with the staff and yet, it fell short — hence the 3 star review. We were 1 of only 3 parties of people in the entire place on a Thursday night and yet they screwed up our drink order, screwed up our food order, couldn’t recommend a tequila (it’s a Mexican restaurant, train your servers!!) and never once filled up our water glasses.
As for the food it was beyond delicious. The homemade guacamole and salsas were to die for and we could have made a meal out of just those two things alone. My pork shoulder was seasoned so well it didn’t even need the delicious sauce that came with it and while I’m not a fan of beans, I couldn’t stop eating the ones that accompanied my dish.
If you can get set your expectations VERY low on the service front, you won’t be disappointed with the food.

We had dinner here last night. It was busy and you could barley hear the music. Started with the chips and guacamole which was good. We then shared the chicken enchiladas and the garlic shrimp. Both were ok. Next time I would probably keep it simple and get the tacos.

Hard to find homemade corn tortillas! So was amazed to smell them when we entered. Had enchiladas suizas with chicken. Excellent choice! Food was very authentic and our server was great! Very impressive! Will definitely return.

Disgusting! I thought we might be in trouble after opening the menu which had food all over it. Nevertheless we ordered steak tacos and chicken enchiladas. While waiting for our order we tried the complimentary chips and salsa. We both choked down a few chips which were not fresh. We tried dipping them in the two types of thin watered down salsa but ended up tasting bland.
The steak tacos tasted very bitter. I tried the hot sauce which was hot but bitter as well.
The chicken enchiladas had a black tar-​looking sauce on it which was disgusting. The chicken was very dry and the sauce had a unfamiliar sweet taste to it.
We both love Mexican food but this was hands down the worst we both ever tried.
Being new to the area we should have taken heed to our neighbors advice to not
waste our time or money!
If you like Mexican food you would be better off at Taco Bell.

We love Mexican food so we were excited to try Aguamiel. We were a bit disappointed. We arrived on a Thursday night to find the place mostly empty. We sat outside. We ordered some drinks, they were ok not anything special. The chips and salsa were decent. We had queso fundido for an appetizer. It was pretty good, but the cheese was thicker than I’m used to. We split the taco platter — six different types of tacos. A few of the tacos were covered in onions, more onions than meat. The fish taco was probably the best one.
The outside area is nice but it’s missing something. Some music would give a more festive feel. Clarendon Hills «downtown» doesn’t really have much life to it.
Next time we’re looking for fancy Mexican we’ll go back to Cine in Hinsdale.

Yum! Nestled in a corner in Clarendon Hills is this fabulous restaurant! One criticism… bad lighting… A very quick fix! I recommend this restaurant if you’re looking for real, delicious Mexican food! What an am polite gem!

Over priced, not authentic and not a good atmosphere. The drink special was not special accept for the 11.50 price. If you have taste buds you wont end up here again. I was told if I want authentic to go downtown; this place is purposely not spicy for the area. I believe any 5 star rating are fake or people that are family or friends of the staff or owner.

Service was slow, my dad joined us 15 minutes after we sat and the server didn’t even ask if he wanted anything to drink besides water. We ordered tacos and the server said we could not have flour that they don’t have it and we read the menu again after and saw they had flour tortillas. Churros were too hard and overall food was nothing special. Okay restaurant.

When I first arrived at the restaurant, the hostess immediately asked my group if we had a reservation. We were taken aback by that because we looked around the restaurant and there were a ton of empty tables. We told her we did not, and then she walked away to talk to what I think was the manager. She came back a few seconds later and we were seated.
The food and drink menu were both a good size with a lot of different selections. Free chips and salsa were placed at our table, and I was extremely disappointed with the salsa. No one in my group ended up touching it. I don’t know how to describe the taste except it was just, off. However, the fresh guacamole was delicious! We wanted to order another one! For my meal I ended up with the steak tacos and Mexican rice. They were fine, nothing that special. For my drink I had the white sangria and it went down super quick so I of course had to order another one.
Our waitress was pretty slow and we had to ask her a couple times for refills and more chips. When our food came, 3 out of the 5 of us didn’t have the correct order and she seemed kind of annoyed when we told her this, but did accommodate us, just not with a great attitude.
This is the first time I’ve been in «downtown» Clarendon Hills and the area was pretty cute and the restaurant did have a nice décor (super cute glasses). I probably wouldn’t come back just because I believe I can find a better Mexican restaurant in the area.

Very unimpressed. My first visit to this restaurant was when they first opened and I always wanted to go back. I finally did and was disappointed.
The restaurant was decently busy but the place was not packed. The service was so slow. Our sodas took way too long to arrive. We asked for a refill of water and the waiter never brought it. It took almost an hour for our food to arrive and by that point, all of the tables around us had left.
I had the tacos, which everyone else seems to like so much. The meat was fatty and they were very bland.
The owner or manager asked us about our visit and when we commented that it was fine just really slow, he got really defensive. Maybe it was a rough night because I heard him apologizing to other tables about various things. Whether or not that is the case, I don’t see myself wanting to go back.

Definitely a great Mexican Restaurant in the Suburbs! Downtown Clarendon Hills sure is catching on! Aguamiel is a super cute place and I’ve had a great experience both times I’ve dined here.
Pros–
The 1800 Margarita pitcher is delicious and huge! Definitely enough for four to share!
The hostesses are very friendly and helpful
Chips are fresh and salsa is interesting and delicious, just wish they gave you more!
The plantains they serve with some of the dishes are fantastic
Cons–
Our waiter seemed to be rushing us along during our last meal here. Never a good feeling.
Don’t order the specialty coffee, disappointing. Basically just coffee with a clove in it.
The Mole Chicken Enchiladas were a bit dry
No free dessert for a birthday, even though the waiter pushed a dessert choice on us