Monterrey

Fish tacos are excellent! Love the sauce

Pretty decent Mexican food with the absurdly large margarita glasses you pretty much expect. Not a rave review but also no complaints

Horrible service. We had to repeatedly ask for certain items to be brought to our table, and the food wasn’t anything to get excited about.

Bland. Bland salsa. Bland food. Food came quickly, waitress did not return to the table until we were done. I had to get up and find someone to refill my glass. My wife’s chicken nachos had no onions, peppers, or cilantro. The meat in my burrito and enchilada had a grainy texture. The taste was not horrible, just bland. I have no reason to return.

Awful service — Go to Zapata’s around the corner.
Full large Margarita spilt on my lap tonight. When I complained that it wasn’t taken off the bill (at least… enough years waiting tables myself to know that’s worth a free meal) the manager said it was because they were short staffed (…I’m not seeing the connection?!?). This wasn’t the only incident tonight, just poor service that didn’t want to be there or help us. Even though we’ve been there a dozen times (for the food), we will now drive past it to hit Zapata’s.

We had been looking forward to trying out a good Mexican place in town. When I saw the Groupon a few days ago for Monterrey I picked it up and we went there tonight to use it.
The restaurant is tucked away in the back of the Magnolia Plaza. It has quite a few seats in it, and when we went in at 6pm there were only two other tables there. There was a friendly hostess waiting as we entered, a guy brought over chips and two salsas (one mild and very tomato-​y and the other having some spiciness) the moment we were sat down, and the waitress came over within a minute to greet us and take our drinks down. The drinks are one of the reasons this place gets 5 stars in my book. I had a 16oz glass of XX on tap, and it was only $ 2.85! My wife had the house margarita which was 12oz and that cost only $ 1.99. These are their everyday prices! Not happy hour, not the Monday special, but every freaking day of the week!!!
The menu is what I like to see in a Mexican restaurant… a variety of special entrees as well as the «combination» page where you can mix and match the Mexican basics like tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Now when I go to a Mexican restaurant, I base my opinion of them on their carnitas. I have a special place in my heart (and stomach) for these succulent morsels of porky goodness, and if a place can get it done right then I’m sold and will gladly return. So I ordered the carnitas ($ 11.35) and I’m happy to say that it was spot on. The pork was extremely tender and oh-​so flavorful. There’s nothing fancy about this meat… little to no seasoning (maybe salt) and no sauce, so it’s all about the quality of the meat and how it’s cooked, and this was cooked perfectly. It was served with lettuce, pico, avocado wedges, refried beans, rice, half a lime and three flour tortillas. Everything went well together, and this was some of the best rice I’ve ever had… not crunchy or dry, but very moist. I took home extra rice and beans and will definitely be making a tasty omelet tomorrow morning with it!
My wife initially ordered the number 7 combo, which was an enchilada and chili relleno. When asked which meat she wanted, she ordered the chicken since she does not eat beef. This is where we encountered the only «issue» with the restaurant. Her chili relleno was not what we expected. In every other Mexican restaurant we’ve eaten in, from New York to Florida to Nevada, a chili relleno has always been the meat stuffed inside a full or half pepper. This was not what she got. Monterrey’s version of a chili relleno is basically a ground beef ball smothered in cheese sitting atop one strip of green pepper. It wasn’t so much the fact that the dish was prepared differently than usual, but that it was beef instead of chicken. We called the waitress over and I don’t think she initially understood what our problem was. Eventually my wife explained it enough times for her to understand, and the waitress suggested that my wife get a chicken taco and then she would just change the order to the enchilada/​taco combination. Her taco came out fairly quickly afterwards and it was good. Nothing fancy, but tasty. Her enchilada was likeways very tasty and cooked as you would expect a chicken enchilada to taste.
The total for the two of us came out to $ 26 and change, and after giving her the $ 20 Groupon we were left to pay $ 6 and change, plus tip. The food and drinks are cheap compared to other Mexican restaurants I’ve been to, the service was quick and friendly, and the one problem we had was resolved in the end, though it took some explaining for the waitress to understand what the issue was. The price, quantity, and quality of food and service are both flippin’ sweet and I would highly recommend going here to get your Mexican on. We’ll definitely be checking out other Mexican restaurants nearby, but I’ll totally be coming back here again someday soon.

The best Mexican place in the Lake Norman area. Everything on the menu and the service is always wonderful. You can’t go wrong with a Tecate. Also if you go and whatever you have ask for the Valentina hot sauce. This is not hot but very flavorful with whatever you add it to.

UPDATE: we have switched our go to mexican food place because the service has been very poor lately… so poor that it is under new management, likely too late to get us back
My wife and I recently moved here from CA and Monterrey’s food is definitely comparable to the best mexican food we’ve had in So Cal and Nor Cal.
The chips and salsa are fresh and we eat at least one full plate each visit. I highly recommend the Arroz con Pollo, Chile Verde, and the fish tacos. The service is great and the food is phenomenal.

I have been going to Monterrey for over 10 years and it is hands down one of the best mexican places ever! the best staff the best food, and the price is unreal!

I love Monterrey! My husband and I eat there all of the time! Good food and great service and always always very very friendly with expedient service. I love the Spinach and cheese burritos but have had the taco salad and many other items. I have never had a bad meal there nor have my family or friends! We love Monterrey!

YUM.
Just moved from California and have tried several Mexican restaurants with no luck. All were bland and pretty much kind of gross.
We tried out two combos at Monterrey to sample a lot of the dishes and the food was fantastic. The beef tacos were delicious and the fish tacos were not too shabby either. The service was fast and even without the coupon, the price was pretty reasonable. We’ll definitely be back.

Fast, friendly service, large portions and the biggest beer I’ve ever seen!
Despite the review down below, I find their salsa to be very tasty, so much so that my buddy’s girlfriend buys it by the caraffe!
Great place to go for lunch when you are pressed for time. Gets a bit crowded, but not to the point where you have to wait for a table.
The chicken quesadillas here are very good.
In the evenings, the small bar area at the back left of the restaurant is a lively little place to grab a beer or margaritaville and watch some futbol on the television.
Monterrey’s doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to mexican restaurants, but it does what it does very well, and has become one of my favorites in the area.