Ay Jalisco

Good food. The server was attentive and pleasant. Decent prices unlike the fancy Rio Washintonian Tex-​Mex restaurants. You must ask the server for a spicier salsa. They’ll happily bring you one. One thing that irked me was their use of Mozzarella on the enchiladas… Even though the enchilada was great, I felt queso would have made the enchilada even better… Great food though…

I been coming to Jalisco since since 1998 and I can tell you they make the best fajitas around the Gaithersburg area I recommend this place if you want have a good time with friends family very friendly staff including the owner Juan give it try you’ll be satisfied

Id been to this place a couple times before a year or so back. Craving some Mexican food I thought I’d stop by. It was two of us. We walked in, there was a good amount of people more then I ever remember seeing. There was no one at the host stand but someone came up and sat us promptly. The lady wasn’t rude but definitely not friendly. We sat down got chips quickly, which was good! The chips weren’t very fresh tasted like they had been just sitting for a while. The salsa was flavorful but Runny. Our menus were laminated and really needed to be cleaned there was food residue stuck on them. Gross. Our server got everything we asked for but didn’t really check on us and wasn’t very attentive throughout the meal. I had chicken with A white sauce rice and salad and asked to add shrimp very tasty. There were parties and just two of us. the manager/​owner walked up to every big table around us to ask how they were doing except us! The food is good &the portions were big, and everything is super adorable. Overall the place could use some renovations, or a good detailed cleaning. The customer service is lacking. But the food is some I would come back for.

Very good food and a cool little spot tucked away near air park. Food is always great, and the service is welcoming. Chips and salsa can’t be beat while waiting for food. There are a lot of options to go for Mexican food but this is a must try because it does not disappoint.

The Colombian waitress was super friendly yet professional. The food was really good and the mango daiquiris were both cocktail and dessert in one.

Wow service here is horrible. People who came in after us got served their main dishes while the waiter was giving us our appetizer. A family that came around the same time as us got their main dishes when we were eating our appetizer. I don’t know if we were seated at the wrong table but we waited over an hour for our entrees. We ordered jalapeño stuffers as an appetizer, tacos al carbon and chicken tacos as our entrees. Food was good. As aforementioned, maybe we just sat at the wrong table for our service to be so awful.

I am so disappointed with the service at this place. To start things off, we had a big party with us (11) I understand we were a big party but that is by no means an excuse to poor service. Having to wait close to 2 hours for our food it was unacceptable. On top of that the waitress informed us after 20 mins of ordering that they had run out of soup 4 people in our party had ordered soup. The appetizers and salad took 2 hours to arrive as well as the kids’ meals. Giving this place 1 star is way to gracious of me. I am one who doesn’t like to write negative reviews but this place has truly forced me to warn others about this place.

Ay Jalisco has changed.
A few years back I used to come to Ay Jalisco at least once a week. Too many times to count, that’s how much I loved them and their service.
After years of not having gone I finally went back last night (4÷12÷16). We walked in and there was no direction. No one was available to seat us. (It wasn’t even that busy.) No big deal, I wasn’t completely annoyed. Fine.
We sit down, quickly know what we wanted to order, but we cant find the waiter… Where did he go? From the time we sat down: I went to the bathroom (this was the worst part and I’ll get to this in a second), came back drank water, we ate ALL the chips and still no waiter. We are hungry. He finally comes and gets our order, brings more chips and salsa, and our food comes out pretty fast. Fine.
THE BATHROOM: I walk into the bathroom and their is a roach on the floor. ALIVE. Not like a small cockroach, this thing was the size of a pinky finger. Like, its been living there since forever. First of all I hate roaches, they are absolutely disgusted creatures. Ay Jalisco has NEVER been this dirty and if it wasn’t for me being as hungry as I was I would have left. But we didn’t. (I understand that any establishment has roaches, even the cleanest ones, I get that, BUT DON’T LET ME SEE ONE!!) I cringed the rest of the evening thinking about cockroaches crawling all over their back of house and all over the food.
If I ever go back to Ay Jalisco I will re-​attempt at the one off of 355 but never again will I go to this one. Mostly because of the roach but secondly because the service wasn’t great.

Food is great, enough food good prices

Excellent food. Excellent drinks. Excellent service. My spot to go to every week. Cheers and soak up the atmosphere.

I’ve been going here for over 5 years with my wife. Although the food is still delicious, the service can be absolutely horrendous. If you go, try to get Jose to be your waiter.

We love eating at Ay Jalisco! We enjoy our meals, have tried a variety of items-​Fajitas, Quesadillas, Pupusas, Pollo Encebollado, Sopa de Res and so on. Good portions for decent prices. We have done both dine in and carry out, always good food! Highly recommend this family, neighborhood restaurant.

Ay Jalisco is one of my favorite restaurants ever!
The staff are always friendly, fun to talk to, courteous, attentive, interesting, some of the best people a person could hope to meet in this world.
The food is always delicious, fresh, great portions, and makes you want to return again and again.
First experience at Ay Jalisco was in 2005 and we’ve been going back ever since. Always a great place to have a great time!

We have been looking for a decent tex mex spot in Rockville/​Gaithersburg and so far this is the closest we have found (though we really wish chuy’s or el paso down in springfield were close by). They have terrific size portions, though it is a little pricey. Chicken fajitas are pretty good– that would be my recommendation.

A little hidden gem in the corner of a strip mall. We started with the chicken nachos, which was huge serving, almost enough for a meal for both of us. I then went with the Steak Salvadoreño for my entrée. A large cut of sirlion steak topped with a tasty salsa and with my favorite side dish, plantains. Service was ok, and the décor is a little dated inside.
A delicious meal overall, and a place we will go back to.

Went here for the first and was pleasantly surprised by great food, a clean restaurant, friendly service and a huge menu!
I have been driving by this place for YEARs and have never had the urge to stop in. It just looks like it’d be the typical dated run-​down Gaithersburg restaurant that you see all over «airpark.» But it isn’t.
It is a well maintained place with nice patio seating and a huge menu with steak, seafood, chicken, soups and deserts. White tablecloths with white parchment paper that is changed with each customer.
I had the Carne Asada (they called it Carne a La Parrilla) which was served fajita style with a sizzling pan and condiments, but it was not sliced as you’d expect to find Carne Asada. It was a very tender delicious piece of meat.
The food at the other tables all looked pretty good. It was your typical Mexican fare but the portions of everything seemed large and I didn’t hear anyone complaining.
The chips they bring out are fresh, the salsa is good, and the SPICY salsa (ask for it) is excellent. I’ll definitely come back and I won’t be afraid to bring the family!
(NOTE, I used to have this review posted on the 355 location and didn’t realize the mistake. So I moved it here. I have no idea if the 355 location is any good or even if it is the same owners)

This is AUTHENTIC Tex-​Mex! Best local non-​chain in the area! The food is always flavorful. I enjoy every bite. I like all the food, but the taquitos, chicken ensebollado and tamals is my go to. I have taken friends, family, co-​workers here throughout the years they go without me and/​or bring their friends/​family.
What makes this restuarant a bit different than the others? I have always seen the owner (Juan) here and he always greets you with a smile. He will work the room, come to every table and introduce himself as well as ask hows your food, anything he can get you? and he thanks you for coming. In addition, you will see him taking orders and serving food to his patrons.
Well lets get to the good stuff…
Price: Affordable
Food: Authentic and absolutely delicious
Menu: Variety from salads, soups, fish, chicken, beef, desserts (yum).
Service: Attentive and Quick
Staff: Friendly and helpful
Atmosphere: warm colors, latin décor, TVs, full bar
Seating: Outside patio and inside booths and table with chairs.
Happy Eats!

Tasty, tasty, tasty! This is a gem in Gaithersburg. Fresh food and friendly service for the entire family can be found here. The restaurant is clean, welcoming and homey feeling. They’re fairly busy on the weekends so plan accordingly. The bar is incorporated into the dinning room but the patrons are well behaved. The chicharrones and fresh salsa are my fave here.
Recommendations:
Camarones a la crema
Ay Jalisco Platter
Shrimp Fajitas
All of the margaritas
Enjoys!

I passed by here so many times on my way to bootcamp. I finally got to try this place out and it’s not bad. It’s a hole-​in-​wall Mexican restaurant. The complementary chips and salsa here are better than the ones served at Guapo’s.
My friend ordered the Appetizer Sampler, which came with chicken wings, taquitos, quesadilla, and nachos. It also came with guacamole and sour cream. I only liked the guacamole. Everything was too baked or fried, therefore too dry.
They have a pretty decent amount of items on their menu. It was difficult to make up my mind, but I ended up ordering the Tres Amigos Enchiladas (beef, chicken, and cheese). it came with yellow rice, beans, and guacamole. The beef enchilada and rice was good. The chicken enchilada was dry. Skip the cheese enchilada. It’s way too cheesy.
I would come back again here if I’m in the area and in the mood for Mexican. Service was great and the prices are decent for the amount of food you get!

I came here since I had a
certificate for $ 10 off any meal over $ 20.
I ordered the Ay Jalisco platter and a side salad. The Ay Jalisco platter came with a lot of food; rice and beans, beef and chicken fajitas and three shrimp.
It also came with tortillas which were store bought. I was shocked! I would think that a small Mexican place would make their own and could not believe that the tortillas tasted like something from the grocery store.
Granted, I’m a little spoiled because my mom makes home made tortillas. However, all of the Mexican restaurants I visit have fresh hand made tortillas.
The fajitas were greasy and so was the rice. I’m not one to waste food and always take leftovers. But this time I did not finish my meal or take food home.
The menu is very broad and I’m sure they have some great items! But I will skip the Ay Jalisco platter.