Sam Diego’s

Poor service, drinks were loaded with sour mix and meals were cold — stay away.

Ok. I’ll start off this review with one positive. They make a decent margarita. That’s it! Perhaps they make a stiff drink so you won’t realize that the food they make is absolute garbage. I have never had worse food in my life, and its a crime that they actually claim to be a Mexican restaurant.
I went here one day with some school friends to celebrate and they had their all you can eat taco bar. I asked to try some of the meat before I got it, and it was so disgusting (below taco bell level) that it wasn’t even worth spending the minimal amount of money the buffet costs.
I honestly don’t understand why their parking lot is always full. Again, as a Californian who knows Mexican food quite well, I can attest that this is 7^th grade home-​ec level Tex-​Mex at best.
Disgusting. Aside from the aforementioned adjective «garbage,» there literally is no other word to describe what they serve.
Try some real food and head over to El Rodeo; it’s like 2 minutes away!

I’m a huge fan. I’ve been eating here for years and never had a bad meal. The food and drinks are fabulous and prices are amazing. Ribs are delicious, enchiladas and salads are very good. There really isn’t anything that I don’t like here. The portions are huge, so I always have a lunch for the next day. The menu is also huge — everyone in the family will find something they like, even if they don’t care for spicy food. Fun atmosphere — they do everything right. When I bring people here, they always want to go back.
I see that some reviewers have issues with the service. I have not experienced these problems. We often sit in the bar area and that has worked out very well. If I lived closer to Hyannis, I would be coming here every week.

Sam DieGO somewhere else…
This place is an insult to Mexicans and Mexican lovers.
If you want a giant plate of diarrhea-​inducing garbage with excellent service, and a beautiful view of obese white trash eating fried ice cream, then Sam Diego’s is the place to go.
My beer had an iced rim for some reason…
In all seriousness, this place is pretty terrible… there are other Mexican restaurants in Hyannis and I highly suggest going to them instead. Burrito Bistro is a block away and has delicious Mexican food that doesn’t make you feel disgusting.

I love Sam Diegos. The plant species collection is a cross between Arnold Arburitum and an Audubon Trail (at walmart). I can only image their water bill. I only see Flamingos when I watch videos of Africa, Florida Everglades or when I come to Sam Diegos. This is a special place, indeed. After a couple of Tall Glass Margaritas, I could swear they moved. Lastly, the Hawaiian shirts on the bartender, well, I guess Hawaii bordered mexico in the south sea once. They’re only connected by Monorail now. I guess it is all part of the eco dinning experience, only at Sam Diegos.

I have been coming here since a child almost 30 years food remains the same
However the service is awful I have never been so poorly treated or spoken too as this wait staff did! Sorry Sam’s but I’ll go to Plymouth from now on Bc the staff there is decent!

Crazy busy with families, Tweens, and regulars. Margaritas were exceptional. Food was ok. We were hungry and so were our sons; we would have eaten a burro or a whole mariachi band in the state we were in. We devoured our meals and six baskets of chips. Then rode off into the sunset with sombreros a bit askew.

It is hard to find a good local Mexican restaurant but Sam Deigos deliveres. The chips and salsa are always warm and fresh and they do not look at you like you are cheap when you ask for more. I would not order nachos however as I am a traditional nacho person that thinks there should be a plate piled with chips and cheese. Their’s are singly done and are lucky to get 8 chips. The entrees are consistent and full of flavor though I will say our last two visits the dueling burritos were quite poor. For now I am giving them a pass on that. Service has always been good except once. We have tried quite a bit on the menu from the tacos, to the Chimichangas to the burritos and fajitas. You get decent portions and again full of flavor. I would recommend going to Sam Deigos if you are looking for better than average Mexican fare.

Love Sam’s!!! but just went on the day of the Super Bowl and Minot going back again. Worst Bahama mama ever! To the point of undrinkable! Waitress was in a hurry to get home to watch the game so I just left it. She also ordered me the chicken kabob dinner instead of the lunch and it was lunchtime-​sometimes they ask but I really only wanted lunch size. Chicken was dry and rubbery and didn’t come with the usual sides. Oh well… time to try the authentic Mexican places on Main St.

Hands down best Tex Mex on the Cape! Lucky for me I live about 5 min away so I eat here a lot. They have amazing ribs too!

as for the queer-​o-​meter, this place did great! a solid 10. All the staff is great, friendly and attentive. Sadly, that’s where it ends. I was going to get a fajita, but oddly, they do it «Sam’s way» which means no peppers and onions. uh… so… uh… what!!! so its chicken and rice served with tortillas. That’s not a fajita. I opted for the taco bar instead and my wife for a bunch of sides since she’s vegetarian and nothing was really a good veggie option. The taco bar is very difficult to maneuver around without contorting your arm in unnatural ways. Not to mention it lessed than «wow“ed me.
The most «wow» was the fresh steamed broccoli. seriously, it was bright green, steamed perfectly and yummy. I know. I know. «HUH!!!» right. I know.
Chips and salsa was fine. The tomato soup was fine. The taco meat was almost fine. So there you have it… service was friendly and great. Everything else, you guessed it… fine.
Which is too bad, I had higher hopes. Its a great location, a great space inside, great parking and with tweaking things, this place could be a bang’em up joint.
Cheers!!!

UPDATE — Well, the summer crowds are gone, so we tried Sam’s one last time. Unfortunately, this will be our last.
While the waitstaff was great, the food continues to be underwhelming. The chili was serviceable at best. It packed heat, but was hot for the sake of being hot and not hot with flavor. There’s a difference. There was no detection of any layered flavors. It’s as if someone went heavy handed with the cayenne pepper and called it a day.
The entrée is the reason, that after 25-​years of faithfully patronizing this restaurant, I’m done.
I got a chicken and black bean burrito that was horrible. The pulled chicken that filled the burrito was tasteless. Absolutely tasteless. The black beans were equally uninspired. There wasn’t so much as a hint of even the most basic kitchen spices. It was just soggy mess of boiled, pulled chicken and black beans. The burrito was to be topped with a red salsa verde. But apparently, «topped» means about half a dozen pieces of diced tomato sprinkled randomly across the plate. And the white cheese sauce? Awful. Just awful. They obviously crack open a can of Sysco cheese sauce and call it done. And while I realize a garnish isn’t supposed to highlight the meal, I thought it should at least be visually appealing. My iceberg lettuce stalk and pale red tomato slice would’ve been better off left out back.
I’m disappointed having to write a review like this for such a longstanding favorite, but something has happened over there. Something that just doesn’t make it worth the time or the money any longer.
ORIGINAL —
Sam Diego’s — what happened? I’m forty-​four years old. My first time to Sam Diego’s is when I was nineteen. And for a long time, Sam’s couldn’t be beat. Now? Well, now they’re being beat like a rented mule. Then they’re serving him …
The once flavorful, bountiful, reasonably priced entrées have now been replaced by bland, skimpy, overpriced plates of Sysco fare. I honestly don’t think there’s anything really «fresh» in the building. I mean really — how hard is it to make fresh, flavorful salsa? Apparently, it is a monumental task not worth attempting.
My old standby has always been the Bear & Bean Burrito Grande. Once a big fat beef and bean behemoth full of flavor and topped with a blanket of white cheeses loveliness, it has now been relegated to poorly put together wrap of ground beef mix from a bag, canned retried bean and a dribble of cheese sauce that could very well be Velveeta. Tragic really. And the fajitas? Please bow your heads and observe a moment of silence, for the fajita platter or lore is dead.
The once majestic plate of fajitas fixings, the meats seared with lime juice and perfectly seasoned has now been replaced with utterly tasteless, chewy, uninspired fajita fixing wannabes. And the fixings? Lacking at best. And it’s not in the least bit appealing or appetizing when the condiments come to the table watery and lacking any authentic Mexican flavor. It almost seems as if the fajita plates are made ahead of time and refrigerated, only to be uncovered in enough time to have the meat tossed on before it comes to the table.
It’s really sad. This restaurant used to be a staple in our dining out rotation. But the quality and quantity of the food as of late, combined with the an extremely unbalanced price to value ratio, has made Sam Diego’s a place we’ll now drive right on by on our way to Chipotles. Chipotles doesn’t have near the menu variety, but what they do offer, is hot, flavorful, fresh AND a great value.

Conveniently located in hyannis this Mexican restaurant is quite convenient and has a large menu.
The margaritas come in two different sizes… normal, and HUGE!
They lost a star because the service was pretty bad. Several times did we try to get our servers attention and we were ignored. One of us had to actually go up to the bar to order a drink. After that, at least 20 minutes went by before our server actually came over to take our food order. Better luck next time, heh.

This has been a Cape Cod staple for Mexican food for decades. This is the first time I’ve been here for many years. It is a nice, large restaurant with cheerful Mexican décor. The lighting is dim, but not to the point that you can’t see. Our server was friendly and attentive. We got our drinks right away and she put our food order in immediately. The menu has many, many choices so there’s really something for everyone. Their kids’ menu is also very large with Mexican and American choices.
The chips and salsa came to our table immediately and they were fresh and delicious. The adults all ordered the pulled pork soft tacos and my son ordered the child’s cheeseburger. The tacos came out quickly. There were two in the basket and were very filling. The pulled pork wasn’t drenched in sauce and did not overpower the pork flavor. I used the sour cream that came with it sparingly because the tacos were really great without it. The child’s cheeseburger is slightly smaller than a whopper and the meal comes with French fries.
The price was also very good. The tacos were $ 7.99 and the children’s meal was $ 5.85. Pretty great prices for dinner!

I’m not usually impressed with Mexican food. This place was really good our server, MJ was outstanding. Great attitude, great recommendations and fantastic service. My co worker and I were in town and we decided to wing it when it comes to meals. The place looked pretty nice bs the name was a bit interesting. The meal I ordered was mostly Mexican but it did includes a ¼ rack of ribs. I ordered it based on the Ribs because Mexican restaurants are mostly disappointing. Well, I only ate the ribs because I didn’t want them to be left behind. The food was amazing, and tasted like fresh, not the usual processed stuff you usually get. I will only be in Cape Cod for 4 more days and I will visit Sam Diego’s at least once more

Great Tex-​Mex food at a VERY reasonable price.
The food was great, the ambiance was kitschy, and the service was prompt.
There were 4 of us on a Saturday night at 8pm. There was no wait at the door, but the restaurant was filled. We ordered 4 different meals and 4 GIANT-​ASS margaritas.
The drinks were potent and very tasty.
Food was on point, nothing out of the ballpark, but way above average. Could have been a bit more spicy for my liking, but for your average customer, it was probably fine.
This place will be on our list again when visiting the Cape.
Total for 4 people, 4 entrees, 4 drinks = $ 115.

So I did this to myself, needed a change from the barrage of lobster, clams and other ocean related friends and thought, hmm, Mexican, that’s different, okay.
Boy was I wrong. This is what is categorized as Yankee Mexican food or Gringo Mex, whatever you want to call it, it is not Mexican at any degree besides the concept.
I’ll start by saying the drink was good, margarita gets it a star. The restaurant was clean, kept up, there’s your second star.
So the food…
Think of the salsa as a soupy ketchup with green chiles. Cilantro? No. Jalapeños? Nope. These are what we would consider core concepts of salsa.
I got fajitas. You have to try hard to mess up fajitas. They messed up the delivery of fajitas. I think they forgot seasoning on the meat, it wasn’t bad meat, but I’d say you need to use like salt or garlic or cumin or anything. This was delivered on quite possibly the blandest Mexican rice I have ever eaten. Maybe I made a mistake by assuming it’d be the sizzling hot plate variety, I paid for said assumption. They put black olives on my plate. You do not put black olives on a fajita plate. Ever. I also got half a pound of grated cheese.
Girlfriend got a deep fried burrito with what I’m going to guess was thousand island dressing on it. She’s from Connecticut. She said «wtf.»
You must think, what makes this guy validated in berating this northern Mexican chain? Well, I was the only Mexican in the restaurant, and I’m only half. This is quite the feat considering.
I highly recommend Sam Diego’s if you are 70 and can’t digest things like spice or tolerate savory flavors.
I also recommend that you don’t deviate from the seafood standard of the Cape, you’ll be punishing yourself, like I did.
Sam Diego’s, I humbly request/​demand you change your name to Sam’s I heard-of-this-place-called-Mexico-and-there-are-enough-people-who-don’t-know-the-difference-around-here Cookery and Okay Bar.

My husband and I came to Sam Diego’s while we stayed in Cape Cod for my birthday. We came here for lunch on a Saturday during the off season and it wasn’t terribly busy. Our waitress was not very helpful and her friendliness was sub par.
I ordered the Sam’s Favorite and my husband ordered the Burrito Del Rio. I had also ordered the Lime in the Coconut margarita. The drink was a bit on the bitter side but it was overall pretty good. I’d give it a 4 out of 5.
Sam’s Favorite had some good flavor but I think calling it authentic would be much of a stretch. Still, though, it was tasty and I would probably order it again. The only thing I didn’t like was that the rice was dry and my husband agreed that his was as well in his lunch.
The Burrito Del Rio had a lot of seasoned ground beef, and much more beef to beans ratio which is perfect for a burrito.
Since we were visiting I am not sure if we would return, as I’d like to check other places out. However, it wasn’t terrible, although I wish the service could have been better. Though, the food came out at a reasonable time and the prices were right for the quality.

Sam’s has been there for what seems like forever. I went recently for the first time in at least a decade. If you like standard Americanized Mexican food, it’s just fine. The décor reminds me of somewhere in Florida for some reason, and I guess that fits for the tourist crowd in summer. On our winter visit, there were lots of twenty-​somethings in single-​gender groups looking to make new friends and have some cheap drinks.
The salsa was extremely mild, without any kick whatsoever. I had a cup of the green chili, and that did have some spice. Flavor was good too. My husband had some sort of wrap sandwich. It was fine. The bartenders were young, but both good.
This is not to discourage anyone. If you know what to expect, or are with a big group as we were, I’m sure you’ll have a good time.

as most locals know, there aren’t too many Mexican cuisine options on the cape. This is by far the most well known which is sad because it is far from authentic and overall, plain average. Over the years, I have tried many things off the menu and nothing stands out. The food is very Americanized, the drinks are watered down, and the chips and salsa is on the same level as Tostitos.
Surprisingly, they do have amazing buffalo chicken!