Pepe’s

Went for the Bingo night…
food was good, service was great — thank you Zach, you did a great job…

First and last time I go there, too bad because they don’t have any competition around. Poor service and you will never get right what you order because they don’t have a clue how to cook Mexican food. Please train your people how to make a michelada drink!

If this is what a Mexican restaurant is, then I would NEVER eat in Mexico. How in the world do people actually come here to eat/​drink? Attempted to have a Sunday dinner her with friends (6 of us). Don’t even know how to figure out which part of the experience was worse! The waitress obviously had no clue as how to serve guests. Slowest (I mean s l o w e s t) service I have ever received. Completely un-​attentive to any of our requests. The high priced ‘margaritas’ had no alcohol in them and tasted like syrup. Food came, and the waitress must have been on break, as she did not come back to our table for 20 minutes, and that was only after we had to give her ‘the look’ to get her to come. Every time we asked for something, she would always forget something. She must have died after we paid the bill as the table was left our dirty plates, nothing was taken away nor were we asked if there is anything else we would like.

We commented on how cold the place was as soon as we walked in. We kept our coats on throughout because they haven’t turned the heat on yet. The host sat us and 10 minutes later the table next to us. We hadn’t seen any wait staff yet. We asked a waiter in another area if there was someone working our area, he said it was not his section so he wasn’t sure. The owner came and took the order of the people seated after us, we still hadn’t seen a server so we asked the host if there was a server. Finally someone came over and took our drink order and food order, we weren’t going to stay long, it was so darn cold. The waiter tried to be nice, but the place was awful. My food was okay, not great and cold before I even finished eating. The owner walked around and glared at customers during the visit, so I can’t think she wants to stay open. Had it just been my husband and I, we wouldn’t have stayed. There are many better places to eat in the same price range in the area.

Service was slow and lacking! Food was okay. The salsa tasted like it was out of a can though. Luckily they took my coupon, so it wasn’t real expensive or I would have been upset. They have a lunch buffet on Sunday from 11 until 3, which looked good. I think I’ll try that if I go again.

Not my first choice in Mexican food (Burrito Jalisco forever) but, it’s still very good. The tacos are good, burritos are huge, good rice and beans. I love their chips and salsa. As for the cons, their pork doesn’t have a nice marinade like most places, it’s pretty dry. I don’t like when I ask for hot sauce and they bring little packets of «Pepes» sauce. It is not hot and not good. The flautas are also too thin and get overcooked. Service is great everytime.

Even though I like Pepe’s, this Pepe’s is a disaster. I’ve dined in here twice. The first time shortly after they opened. Tiny glasses of wine for big bucks and cold food. About a year later we gave them another try, heck, it could have been start up problems. 2^nd time, not much better. Fast forward a few years and we get a coupon in a local booklet delivered to our home (we live less than a mile from this restaurant) for a number of Pepe’s Restaurants. So we order the tacos for carryout at 10 for $ 12. «Ready in 20 minutes». When I went to pick up the tacos… Ooops, «We FORGOT to put your order in the system… it’ll be 25 to 40 mins.» When I attempt to pay…“Oh we don’t honor those offers, 10 tacos, $ 25.00″. Like I said this place is a DISASTER.

Great service and great food. They are reasonably priced. This location is my favorite one.

First let me say that I eat a lot of Mexican food. I just moved to the area from the city and felt like Pepe’s was going to be too tex max so I never went. I have to say when I finally got over myself the food was actually really good. All of their salsa taste like it’s house made they have very good cheese inside their own enchilada very flavorful. Say I was quite impressed so much so that I had their beans rice and salsa catered for my next party.

Okay, they won me back — at least for now. We visited again on May 28, which was a Thursday evening around 6:30 PM and was one of only about five or six tables. Was greeted by the manager, who was very professional and friendly and had a server that we had in the past who was VERY good and attentive.
I ordered the exact same dinner as last time and it came out perfectly, hot and quick. The chips and salsa had improved as had the margarita. My husband’s dinner was much better too. All in all very pleased with this visit. Side note — the «new» young waiter who served us last time was there serving the table behind us. The woman ended up getting her own drink refills and more chips for the table. So that definitely still needs to be improved. Happy that my neighborhood place is showing signs of improvement, but if they don’t get more business they may not make it in the long run.

This used to be a favorite place but there was a change of owners and things have gone down hill. Service is slow. Our table and floor around it was sticky.
They served chips and salsa. The chips were stale.
This is the second time I’ve been there with the new owners. Both time service was slow.
Good news the food was still good.

Went here on a Friday evening. Stuffed tacos were great. Other diner’s tostadas were good. The rice was rather tasteless and quite dry, and it could have used more of something — probably tomatoe sauce — on it. The service was terrific at first with offers for more chips and salsa as well as beverages. However, after a half-​an-​hour of eating, we decided to stay longer to talk over beverages. Service completely stopped! It would be understandable if the restaurant was busy — but even for a Friday evening, there were lots of empty tables around. The waitress wasn’t busy — but apparently she figures she’s «done with you» after a half-​an-​hour. After a short time, a guy from in back came over and cleared our table in front of us — beverage glasses and all — which was taken as a «time to go» message. Defiante of their incomprehensible rudeness — since they weren’t busy and it was still early in the evening — we sat a bit longer to talk. Good food, great atmosphere, but service minimal-​at-​best. If you want to sit and chat for a while after you’ve eaten — this is not the place to go. Apparently, the staff wants you to eat and get the heck outta there!

The food here is gross. The drinks are ok. This is not a MEXICAN restaurant. There’s decent service and it’s kinda fast but the food was gross. Really gross. I wouldn’t come here again. And I don’t recommend it. To anyone. :(

* Good Food
* Good Service
* Free Comcast High-​Speed Wi-​Fi
* Nice Décor & Atmosphere
* Needs a Bartender
I’ve been here twice during winter 2015 & wasn’t disappointed. The staff on both occasions were friendly, helpful & accurate. The first time we sat in the main dining room & were enjoying the Mexican décor & peace & quiet when someone turned on the radio & blasted awful current top 40 music.
(minus half a star for blasting «All About That Bass» in a dining room)
They have an extensive menu of great food. Found coupons right on their website. The second time there we sat a high top table in the bar while watching a Blackhawks game. I found their bar area to be even more enjoyable, with a good atmosphere & good tunes playing on the jukebox.
They offer a lot of exotic mixed drinks that, unfortunately nobody knows how to make. Seriously, servers should never act as bartenders. They could really use a real bartender with a sanitation license & proper certification etc. We watched as the «bartender» used the same blender to make several drinks without washing it in between uses. Since they have no concept of measurement, whatever doesn’t fit into the glass being served, gets drank by the servers, but at least we know they’re not getting a buzz off the drinks either.
(minus half a star for not having a professionally staffed bar)
I also noticed that they had a patio out back, but being winter, we didn’t get a chance to check out their outdoor patio yet.

Honestly my girlfriend and I have no complaints about Pepe’s. The service is spectacular and attentive to our little quarks. We’ve been to a few of the other locations, but this is hands down the best place to go! The drink specials are actually a great deal and have a variety throughout the week. Will be coming here for a very long time! :)

We used to love this place until we had two horrible experiences. The first was when we tried to use a groupon. We asked the waitress if we could use two groupons. We knew that you can only use one per table but we were with friends and she told us no problem, she would just ring us up separate. She could not ring it up that way and the manager came over and explained how groupon works. We understood how groupons work but the server told us we could use two and the manager told us «too bad». What a joke, the manager clearly should not be in that position.

Ambiance is great & waitstaff are friendly but the food was ok. The location in River Oaks gets 5 stars.

You remember that restroom situation I encountered a while back. I am pleased to announce that this was a one time incident thank goodness. Since then we have been in their several times and each time we really received darn good service. It jst seems like they have been escalating their levels of friendliness. It really makes you feel welcome. The food has not changed a bit

Summary: overcoming low expectations to provide consistently good Mexican food on an approachable menu.
With so many good Mexican options around the city of Chicago and suburbs, it surprises me that Pepe’s has survived so long. It is a local Chicago chain with locations scattered around town.
If it were me choosing, I would want to explore one of the ~infinite number of mom-​and-​pop Mexican places in the southwest suburbs before choosing Pepe’s. But it was not me choosing — we went there for a family celebration and it was the choice of the guest of honor.
I have come to realize Pepe’s has a place in the restaurant scene here: it has really tasty food. Yeah, so, perhaps the menu has pretty standard options on there, and one is hard-​pressed to find «exotic» Mexican ingredients like chihuahua cheese, lengua or even fresh cilantro/​coriander. But the simple things they have are really good.
I had a steak burrito suiza with black beans. It was a dinner plate which means it includes rice and beans. Chips and salsa and some Dos Equis beers. Others had tacos and fajita burrito and enchiladas. It was by all accounts all very good.
Would I recommend it? Not sure, depends on the person. Not to a gourmand or someone seeking authentic top-​rate Mexican food, nor to someone with experience eating Mexican cuisine regularly. Such people might be disappointed in the options available. But I would recommend Pepe’s to a newcomer to Mexican food — it’s a good place to try Mexican for the first time. I’d also recommend it to families. Maybe you’ll fall in love with it and this will become your favorite Mexican place — and if so that’s great! It’s just not my favorite despite being fairly delicious.

Pepe’s is an awesome place. At least this location. The food is the same as at any other Pepe’s you go too. It’s not bad, you don’t get a craving for Pepe’s tacos when you’re drunk, but you’ll definitely enjoy them while you are getting drunk.
The best part of this Pepe’s is the atmosphere. It is very inviting and friendly. Ihave never had a bad bartender/​sever. I also always sit in the bar area. There are tables, booths and bar to sit at. In fact for the longest time I didn’t realize that there was a whole other seating restaurant area on the other side. In case you couldn’t tell Pepe’s is as good a place to grab a beer or margarita if not better than some of the other bars around here. They have a nice patio in the summer and it’s a blast here on most bar holidays. The free chips and salsa really seal the deal though.