Rosa Lindas Mexican Cafe

Overpriced mediocre food. I could eat Mexican food for every meal, but won’t be coming back here.

Restaurants can be measured in a variety of ways. For many, my reviews are predicated simply on the quality of food, where it obviously always begins. For others, it’s a mix of atmosphere, service, convenience, and the like. For Rosa Lindas, my review also involves community. North Denver (Highland, LoHi, whatever name is attributed to it today) is a dramatically changing community. Rosa Lindas is an absolute community anchor. They serve excellent Mexican food in a very non-​pretentious, comfortable manner. The owners are some of the friendliest people in our neighborhood and, as evidenced by the annual Thanksgiving feast, they always contribute back. Thank you, Rosa Lindas!

I really wanted to like this place. I’m vegetarian and it’s always hugely appreciated when a restaurant creates a specifically vegetarian selection. It sounded great with a handful of options, especially the Calabacitas, Cactus, etc.
They had the option for a «mix free» margarita but it was not very good at all. No prices on the drink menu either so after a disappointing margarita I discovered that it was $ 10.
They charge for the 2^nd basket of chips/​salsa whether you have 1 person or 5 people (little annoying)
The food… Terrible to sum it up. Obviously canned beans with no flavor. Flavorless rice. The calabacitas were simply awful!!! I literally felt nauseous eating them. They tasted like they opened a can of creamed corn, added yet more salt, then scooped it onto my plate. I had other try it at the table and everyone confirmed that it tasted like creamed corn.
I was thinking perhaps it was just the vegetarian dishes but everyone else thought it tasted like a canned meal from the enchilada sauce to the beans, rice, etc.
I won’t ever be returning here despite my desire to support a locally owned veg friendly neighborhood restaurant. Bummed.

It is like eating with family … it is relaxed and enjoyable (don’t be in a hurry).This used to be quite a foodie location 15 years ago, but now resides in mediocrity. The food is your average mexican fare nothing that stands out. They do have a great corner location and a nicely shaded patio. The staff is friendly and even helpful, but nothing happens promptly. WIsh I could say more about being above average, but the neighborhood has improved so much and they are so many better than average options in the area … they need to step it up on quality, price & /​or service to start standing out.

I love it here! Fantastic portions, amazing food, wonderful customer service, and great prices!!! I’m definitely coming back!!! I recommend this place to anyone who wants a nice laid back meal. They have outdoor seating as well.

Love this place. Great patio, great food, delicious mole. The nopalitos are an authentic and tasty novelty, too.

I love this place — it’s like eating at my grandma’s. The service is not like fast food so those without patience may be unhappy with it but it doesn’t bother me at all. The staff are all friendly and wonderful people. We consider this place a must!

Very disappointed. Looked cute, cute area. Patio was so dirty. Tables were all dirty. Dirty everywhere. We felt all that was dirty the kitchen probably is That way too. No one came to take our order so we left. Will not go back. Suggestion: hose the patio down, clean the table, leaf blower would help and pay attention to your guests. You’re in a great location. Kindly.

Tried to eat here last night. We were seated and didn’t get service for 15 minutes (nobody even came around to take our drink order). Got up and left.
We were hesitant to try this place because of the bad reviews and went anyway. They were right; the service here sucks. It’s disappointing that this neighborhood sucks so much at Mexican food.

I’m from LA so I’m used to good Mexican food. This place is very authentic and good! The food is very fresh and it taste like good home cooking. I absolutely love the chicken quesadilla.

A Facebook friend recommended this place as they have a vegan menu and as much as I love Tarasco’s on Federal (near Alameda), I was ready for something new. I give Rosa Lindas one star because the food was only a step or two above Taco Bell. Except Taco Bell is cleaner.
For a restaurant that’s been in business for several decades, I expected more. (Then again Taco Bell has been around for decades.) I had the small veggie combo which consisted of a bean taco (standard and nondescript), an undressed burrito (the sauce was foul) and a cactus tostada which was the only decent part of the meal.
Apparently some regular costumers came in because the waiters were literally screaming and hugging them. The entire building shook. They were tended to immediately, but my water glass was never even refilled. I hate to think what service must be like when they are busy.
No thank you, Rosa Lindas.

Very delicious homemade Mexican food. I had the meatball soup which was super delicious and healthy. Great friendly staff, locally owned business.

I came here with a lot of anticipations from reading the menu as well as hearing their good deeds in helping homeless people on Thanksgiving day.
Hate to say the food and drink was disappointing. First off, they cannot do scramble egg whites (compares to regular eggs) when every other restaurant in the world can. Second, I got some nasty luke warm white wine that have been in the freezer. Third, the portion was not big for the charge… and bottom line, the legendary nopales tastes just alright. I lived in California for 5 years so I kinda know about Cactus dishes — they are tricky to cook yet I don’t think they had mastered it here.
Second star was actually for the owner still running food with his age… I respect him being so diligent.

Go to Rosalinda’s for the food! Authentic, home style Mexican cooking. Nicest folks in left in the old neighborhood — everyone else has gone Yuppie. My wife and I have been going to Rosalinda’s almost from its inception 30 years ago.

I’m not one to review places, but this deserved it.
Once was a good place to eat ~ 90’s. Thought I’d try it again, reviews are too high. Other high reviews must be from family members or friends?
Menu was filthy, looked like it came from the dumpster out back. Requested a clean one.
Chips and Salsa, most the chips were burned/​over cooked. Salsa was lackluster.
Food was so so, I’ve had way better. The family complained of the refried beans, bland, no flavor. Some in our party never finished their plate.
We’re the only three in the café at 5pm on a Saturday? Ok, four more people showed up finally over the next hour. Six of us now! This isn’t saying much for the Café.
Cost was expensive for 3 people. ~$ 13 ea, Usually I can feed the family of four at this same price and get better food.

My favorite Denver green chile! I moved away, and come back to eat here every time. Love it. And the Aguirre family are second generation restaurant owners. Very nice people.

I am giving this 2 stars only because of the bean & cheese dip, it was wonderful. Really a meh for the rest of the meal, chips were cold & meh, tacos were tiny & meh but what really got me was our bill. We went for happy hour as nothing much was open on the 4^th and we saw that they were doing $ 1 tacos all day! Fab right… not. My husband and I each got a soda and he got refills, upon their asking if he would like another. We didn’t think anything of it until we got the bill and paid TEN dollars, yes people TEN dollars, the price for 2 twelve packs at the store, for the sodas! So we paid $ 7 for our meals and TEN for our sodas. I am not ok with them asking if we wanted refills but not saying we would be charged for each one. Pretty shady.

My favorite place in Denver to get Mexican. We’ve been coming here regularly for years. I’ve got the Aguirre’s back for life; they are such good people and very friendly. The House Margaritas (muy Bueno) are always at our table within minutes of sitting down, without having to ask for them. Also, they are health conscious and there are plenty of vegetarian options. Sorry no lard here. You can try cactus here too! Yet another reason I love Denver: places like this.
One last thing: best mole I’ve had anywhere, ever. I’ve had alot.

So sad but this place was completely disappointing. The atmosphere takes you back a couple of decades and seriously needs a makeover. Even the front entrance was piled with junk which was a little off putting. We tried the two dishes that we gage every Mexican restaurants by — chili rellenos and chimichangas — which were none other than unsatisfying and overpriced. Both entrees were rather mushy without much flavor and the sides of beans and rice were pretty sad I must say. We have always liked supporting local, family-​run businesses, but this is sadly not one I would ever return to or recommend.
We had heard that Rosa Linda’s was some of the best Mexican in Denver — we were the only people in the whole restaurant at dinnertime which probably should have told us something.

Really disappointed… I’d heard good things about this place, but it just didn’t deliver…
Service was friendly and decent, so I’ll give them that. But from the start, the dining experience wasn’t great… My water tasted terrible. Chips tasted quite stale. Food was ok, but nothing special. My fiancé felt the same way as well.
Don’t think I’ll be back, unfortunately. I really do try to support any and all local business, and am not a fan of chains, but I just didn’t enjoy my meal here. Not the worst I’ve had, but not the best for sure.

My husband and I are frequent diners here, for good reason! The place is awesome! The place is and has been family run since it opened (1985), the owners will chat with you and ask about your day, and serve you up some really tasty pasole, OMG amazing! I grew up eating this and for those of you who like menudo, congrats but I don’t, so when I find pasole, I’m not only gleeful but when I find really good pasole I’m positively grateful!
I can foresee this becoming a problem in the form of addiction… :)

It’s good and cheap which sometimes is exactly what you need. The portions are somewhat small but for $ 6 how much should you be expecting? It’s not Taco Bell. The culture is actually pretty cool. The son runs it, the dad still shuffles around delivering booze and mom is in the back cooking. I think the booze might be overpriced but I guess they have to pay the bills somehow.
There’s a trap door in the mens room. I might come back just to see where it goes.

I came by Rosa Linda’s on the suggestion of Kelly T who had eaten mini taquitos here during an event and was curious to try the rest of the menu. So we got together for lunch and it was pretty good. I have to say all the dishes were affordable especially considering this is a sit down Mexican restaurant. Another nice aspect was our very friendly service. We had quite a few bees cruising our table with interest for some reason and the server brought out a bowl of vinegar, which apparently works to keep them at bay. A nice tip to know about!
While they do serve breakfast all day, a healthy menu with calorie counts, and lots of veggie choices I chose the enchildas combo, which had 3 enchildas (you choose between cactus, cheese, ground beef, shredded beef, steak, or chicken), rice and beans. It was pretty good, but I am not really a fan of onions (read: I won’t eat them at all) and there were quite a few in my meat enchiladas so I had to do some creative cutting for my bites. As a side note for mole lovers you can get your enchilada topped with that sauce if you’d like.
Rosa Linda’s also has orange soda on their machine — a favorite of mine! And I was super excited to be able to drink that. Unfortunately one of the bees dive-​bombed my soda cup mid-​way through my meal so I didn’t get to finish my glass, but I probably didn’t need all that soda anyway…