Tijuana Flats

The best churros I’ve ever had outside of Mexico! 6 of them for $ 2.99+tax ($ 3.17 total). They were super busy but service was fast. Would like to try their main menu items one day. Will update if I do.

I am normally not a fan of mexican food or tex-​mex. However, Tijuana Flats is my exception to that. The food is very good and the quantity is large for what you pay. My favorite part of Tijuana Flats is the hot sauce bar. The service is attentive and quick. I always get the flautas on wheat– they come with a side of queso. I’m obsessed with the fun décor and atmosphere. The edgy vibe, the hot sauce bar, and the consistent quality is what makes Tijuana Flats stand out as the tex-​mex place to go.

Very good food. Best mexican food I have in Gainesville. I always ordered their hard shell taco filled with grilled chicken and bean. Love their sauce counter (and also the name of their various sauces, too funny :)). Price is pretty descent, probably underpriced. Good location. One point is because just a couple of times I found their taco shells to be very soggy.

The staff here is amazing! I get so happy when a place provides exceptional service. They greeted us when we walked in, came over offering refills of our drinks and of our queso dip, the manager even came over and brought me a to-​go box with a free refill of chips and a lid for my queso. Amazing! More places should provide this kind of service.

Ok. Not really very authentic for a Mexican place. Lots of hot sauces and innuendo anywhere they can make room for it. I could do without the latter. Food wasn’t bad, there are just a lot of better places to choose from.

Atmosphere:
Tijuana Flats on University Ave. is small and loud and lively (especially on Taco Tuesday night!) and GREAT! It screams college town and is, afterall, located right across from the University of Florida (Go Gators!). There’s high and low top tables. Tijuana is an order at the counter style restaurant. They have a sauce bar with all varieties from mild to fire-​engine hot to spice up your dishes. Wash it down with wine and beer, also available.
Food:
I went here for Taco Tuesday (DEAL IS: 2 chicken, beef or vegetarian hard or soft tacos topped with lettuce, cheese, jalapenos, olives, tomatoes, and sour cream served with a generous portion of chips and a drink for $ 5.49). This place is swimming with regulars who want decent food for a few bucks. Can’t beat it! Of course their menu has several other items, too. I think their tacos are tasty and a good size. I had the chicken tacos on wheat soft tortilla. They were good, filling and topped with fresh additions! Are the best tacos you’ll ever eat? No. Are they Taco Bell drive-​thru quality? Heck no (although maybe you like that)! They’re worth taking advantage of the Taco Tuesday deal. Go where all the cool kids go (albeit, I went and I’m not a young ‘cool student’).
Service:
I’ve never see an order at the counter style place do it quite like Tijuana does. This is where they really shine! Greeters at the door welcoming you and giving you the low down on specials as you line up to order. There was even an employee taking drink orders while guests stood in line so they had a beverage while they waited — who does that? Tijuana. Another employee came around while we ate offering us samplings of their desserts. HELLO CHURROS! Employees are scattered throughout really working as a team, it seems, clearing tables, getting drink refills, welcoming guests. The service is top notch and incredibly favorable considering the sub-​par service you usually experience, or at least expect, at University located joints.
Why I’d go back… Taco Tuesday, duh! :) But, really the service & friendliness of the staff every single time I go.

AMAZING! This place has quickly become one of my favorites! The food is amazing and the selection of sauces are incredible. The staff is always friendly, and the price is just right. Can’t say enough good things about it. Thumbs up!

Taco Tuesday is the best thing ever! I love, love this place. Without a doubt, my favorite thing is the service; the staff is always attentive and asking if you need anything else. The food is always very, very good and fast. I love the sauce bar as well — so many options.

This makes for an EXCELLENT cheap eats with flare destination. You can’t beat sampling some delicious hot sauces (with names like «Smack my ass and call my Sally») while enjoying the colorful, eclectic décor and admiring the pictures of all the people of notoriety who have eaten there (Daniel Tosh, anyone?) and the pictures of military troops enjoying the grub overseas.
It works by grabbing a menu from the pants of a guy on the wall, looking over the various tex-​mex inspired eats, then going up to order. My dad and I went when it wasn’t busy, but I am POSITIVE this place gets some crazy business when school’s in session.
We were told that the hot sauce bar is free to sample, and boy did we take advantage of it. It is neatly labeled from left to right describing the heat intensities and ingredients used to make the sauce. It was so fun going up and trying them; my favorite it the Rasta one, so do yourself a favor and try it!
I wasn’t hungry, but my dad ordered the Banging’ Chicken Burrito that came with chips/​salsa and a drink (he got the happy hour special, which we were made aware of by the lovely ladies on shift). My dad really enjoyed the burrito, and he would eagerly get it again– his only criticism is that they need to serve more salsa with the order. The salsa itself was very tasty, however it is a pretty generic salsa.
My favorite thing about the entire place is the vibe it gives off– it’s a place that you WANT to be seen kind of deal. I loved reading about the history of the chain, and I appreciate the effort the business makes to keep everything fresh (hormone free, vegetarian when needed, etc).
I will try to make an effort to visit more of these whenever I come across one, because although it is a chain and I typically try to avoid those this place makes for an exception to the rule.

This Tijuana Flats is a great restaurant. After being in GVille for over ten years now, it has maintained consistently great food and service.
If you are looking for college town vibe, this location will not disappoint. Its location across the street from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium draws an extremely diverse crowd. I’ve sat next to local stars such as Billy Donovan, Mary Wise, and a handful of famous student athletes at lunch.
The down side to this location is that parking is hell. There are a few meters out front and a small lot a half of a block East of the restaurant.
The menu has most of the usual Mexican fare on it. No big surprises. Be sure to check the specials board. They have some great deals on a daily meal and happy hour specials. My favorites are the tostadas and the burrito. Load them with everything.
What put the flats on the map is their hot sauce bar. There are approximately 10 hot sauces which range from mild to wild. They rotate the sauces at the bar on occasion so you can try many different types.
My drink has never gone empty at this location. The staff are always quick and attentive. They usually turn tables pretty fast here. On a busy lunch day every table can be full when you are waiting in line. By the time you pay for your order a table usually opens up. Tip — get there before 11:45 for lunch during school season.
The bathroom is horrendous. Being at ground zero in college town I would expect nothing less. Bring some hand sanitizer and don’t touch anything.
If you made it this far thanks for the read. Please give a click below about what you thought of my review. Thanks!

Love the attention you get here. Friendly and efficient staff. Great Food, Good Portions. Manager personally took the time to strike up a conversation. Here is someone who knows how to run a service oriented business. Great Job ! Much appreciated in a town where it is sometimes lacking. I’ll be back ! again and again.

I am guilty of loving Tijuana Flats. Just the thought of a chimichanga gets me salivating…
This location has the typical Tijuana Flats food. Of course, I ordered my favorite, a chimichanga with steak, and it was simply fresh and delicious. The service was quick and very friendly, no complaints on my behalf.
My only complaints are that some sauces cost extra — I asked for a side cup of cheese and it was $ 2!!! I kindly took back my request for extra cheese because it’s definitely not worth it, especially when my chimichanga alone cost a whooping $ 9. Also, I noticed significant inconsistencies in the sizes of my friends’ burritos. They ordered the same sizes yet some of them got really large burritos while the others got pretty small ones.
All in all great, but could still use some improvements.

I love the artwork on the inside. The people are friendly and the waitresses are cute. I just wish the food was decent. I got a regular pork burrito. There was barely any pork and it was unseasoned. It tasted like it was braised or something, rather than grilled. The queso was actually poured *on top* of the burrito. So, I had to eat it with a knife and fork. At this point, I don’t think the meal should qualify as a burrito. Of course, it wasn’t really queso; it was nacho cheese, like the kind I used to get at my old high school cafeteria. I also tried the Mexican hot sauce with some chips. I would caution anyone from doing this as it had the consistency of water. Sure, it had a little kick, but virtually no taste. The staff seems really great and the restaurant seems like the sort of spot I would love to hang out at if only the burritos were at least as good as the ones at Chipotle.

Tijuana Flats was good! We stopped by while visiting University of Florida, and overall the food was great! It was exactly what we expected, and the staff was awesome!
Ambiance:
Very unique! If you have never been to Tijuana Flats its worth checking out. Its kind of like Chipolte food wise, but definitely far from it ambiance wise. Im not really sure how to explain what you should expect, but its unique :)
Food:
The food was tasty! It was exactly what we expected. We both got burritos, and tried a bunch of their sauces.
Sauces:
One cool thing about Tijuana Flats is their sauces! They have a bunch of different flavors ranging from hot, mild, and even sweet.
Staff:
We had a great time with the staff, and overall they made our experience fun.
In summary, Tijuana Flats was good! It was exactly what we expected, nothing crazy special but good food overall. I recommend giving it a try.
Thanks,
Connor Brady

Two words: Taco Tuesday.
This place is an overall win. The only thing that sucks is salsa costs extra, but most texmex places include it free. That being said, they do have a cool hot sauce bar and give ten percent off to uf employees, so that’s cool.

Went with a group of 6 last Sunday night. And when we walked in the man working there looked at his watch and said he was closed. It was only 9:20 and the sign on the door said they close at 10. Very rude.

Came here for Taco Tuesdaze yesterday, and everything was better. Ordered chicken tacos which were awesome, and the chips had flavor. Will be back again.

How I feel about Tijuana Flats is how I feel about Moe’s.
Yeah, I could eat here… or I could eat at Mi Apa or Mexico Lindo or La Tienda or Emiliano’s or La Fiesta. If I was low on cash I could go to Burrito Brothers or El Indio or Tacos Locos. I’m pretty sure I just covered every geographical region of Gainesville, as well as all the major price ranges and different styles of Latin (and Spanish) cuisine. So why would I go here and pay for overpriced greasy garbage? It just doesn’t make sense.
The only thing they have going is their «Taco Tuesday» deal but I’d rather spend more and go to the Top for their Taco Tuesday (which has interesting and healthy options) or just go to Burrito Bros.
I’d even rather eat Taco Bell. Sure Taco Bell is grade D rat meat and nasty processed cheese but I’m usually only paying $ 2 bucks for that nasty meal.
Tijuana’s queso is good and actually pretty cheap. Even so, not to be even more of a Negative Nancy., but honestly. it’s pretty hard to mess up melted cheese.
Meh.

Considering that this is not a sit down, you have a waitress restaurant, it is kinda expensive. This is unless you go on Tuesday or Thursday when they are running specials.
On Tuesday it is Taco Tuesday. You get two tacos chips and a drink for $ 4.99. On Thursday it is Burrito Thursdito. With this you get a burrito, chips and a drink for $ 4.99.
The food is alright. There is nothing that is that special about it. They have many options though which is awesome and makes it a great place to bring a group as people should be able to find something that they will like. The chips that they have have both salt and pepper on them, For some this is a problem as they do not like pepper. There is a salsa bar with many different choices that range in hotness. The salsa is imperative to ass if any flavor is to be found in the food.
The staff are very nice. They don’t care if you rearrange the tables for a large group and are constantly circling asking if you need a refill on your soda or if you are done with your meal and they will clear it for you.
Overall, I think that for the price there are other places to go and I will personally only return if I have a group that wants to.

This place has pretty good food if not a little bland at times; this however can be remedied by a quick trip to the sauce bar. I would recommend their tacos or enchiladas as these are the most flavorful.
It’s not by any means authentic Mexican, but I don’t think one is lead to expect that upon entering. It’s a fun college atmosphere but parking can be a nightmare which is mostly what prevents me from going more often.
The sauce bar is the big hook here; usually offering about a dozen different sauces to choose from ranging from sweet to extremely hot. If they didn’t have to sauce bar I can guarantee they’d be getting a lot more two star reviews.
Try to go on dos tacos Tuesdays; pretty good for the price.