Abuelo’s

I can’t believe I have never reviewed the place before. We used to go here quite often but have not been here too much lately. This is our anniversary restaurant for sure. We have been here the last five in a row. We no longer discuss where we are going because it is here. We least never have to wait for a booth in the restaurant area. We prefer this area opposed to the bar area. The bar area is way to noise and it leads to the bathroom which makes it congested. Don’t get me wrong the restaurant area is very noisy but the bar is is worse. If this place had a down fall it would for sure be the noise level in my book. As usual I had my ice tea with lime and hubby had the water. Our drinks were never empty without us having to ask for a refill. This is something I think they pride themselves on because I can’t remember in all the times we been here that my drink was empty. The salsa is always great with us and especially the green one. I think its a tomatillo and pineapple in it. The chips always come hot and they never stop coming. Our waitress Brianna hooked us up up a good size bowl of the salsa. Woohoo! I always tell my myself that I am going to try something different but I always end up with the ribeye and enchiladas. Why change what you know is good. I do changed the enchiladas every now and then but I went with one spinach and avocado. They were spot on. The taste of the black beans were good. The hubby being the vegan he is always goods with the veggie fajitas and loves them. The guacamole is always spot on. We could eat bowl after bowl. Manager is usually walking around checking to make sure all guests are taken care of. This evening we didn’t get to speak to him as there was an incident in the bar area, but if I had I would have explained who great everything was. And of course we will be returning.

This place is GREAT! The staff is always friendly. Can’t talk about how great this place is! The food is outstanding, including the deserts. The pricing is good also. Whenever I go to the West Loop, this is the place I go for lunch/​dinner.

I went for mothers day and meant to write about them ever since. They were busy and packed but we got excellent service. Went with three generations and all seven of us had a great meal and a comfortable easy ambiance.

We have been coming here now for over 6 years. It’s always been very consistent and friendly. I have no negatives at all. Spotless from front to back and the food is great. Last visit I had the enchiladas beef and cheese and a chicken and cheese. Freshly sliced jalapeños made it awesome

First time ever here and enjoyed the food and the experience! Our waitress, Aura, was exceptional and she made our son’s order perfect! He has several food allergies and the prepared his food perfectly!

Nasty didn’t like anything, when I said anything I mean it. The starter were disgusting, the main curse horrible and the dessert bad. The waitress was really nice, at least the service was good. But not going back at all.

This was one of the worst restaurant experiences I’ve ever had. Terrible food and even worse service. This was my first experience at an Abuelo’s and I will never visit again.
If I could give them 0 stars, I would.
I dined here on a Sunday night with 3 of my friends. We were seated in the bar area and the bar tender was to be our server. The evening started out alright with the bartender bringing us chips and 3 types of salsa. None of the salsas were very good. They all had some type of spin on them that just didn’t work. Even the plain salsa tasted off.
The food was not good. My friend ordered a chicken quesadilla. It was not a quesadilla. There was not cheese inside, just on top. It looked like a tortilla folded in half with a bit of chicken inside topped with melted American cheese. She ate 2 votes. 2 of us ordered soup to be brought out before the meal but it never arrived. My friend asked for hers and the bartender brought the soup I had ordered to her instead of what she’d ordered. I ordered 3 types of enchiladas with 3 different sauces: ground beef with spicy queso, shredded beef with salsa con queso, and chicken with sour cream sauce. They were mediocre. I asked for sour cream with my order but did not receive it. Both myself and my friend had to ask for sour cream after the food was delivered. She also had to ask for a drink refill. We watched the bartender walk back behind the bar and start cleaning without bringing our requested items. We had to wave him down and ask for the sour cream and drink again. He brought the sour cream but no drink. We had to remind him yet again about the drink and when he finally brought it he forcefully set it down on the table next to her.
When he came to collect our plates he relaxed nobody ate the soup. He asked my friend if she didn’t like it and she admitted it wasn’t what she ordered. Instead of offering it to go, he said he’d take it off her check.
When we got our checks, I’d been charged $ 6 for a tiny cup of soup instead of the «with a meal» price.
This was absolutely terrible and they should be embarrassed about their food and their employees. Disgusting.

There is really nothing special about this Mexican restaurant. The food was average at best. The service was slow and it was not a busy day. I do like the 3 sauces they offer for your chips while you wait but, other than that nothing special.

Had higher expectations. We went on a Sunday afternoon and got seated right away. Service was ok. Salas are above average. Food was about average– not my favorite Mexican place by any stretch. I ordered a combination type of meal. It appeared to have sat in the window for a little long, beans were «set» and had started to harden on top by the time it arrived. Wife had the chicken chimi. Both nothing to really «write home about». We’ve had better Mexican at several different places for close to, or less than the same price.

So far so good quick friendly service — had chips and salsa almost the second we sat down — our drinks came quick so far pleased! Well the food — not so good I ordered fajita tacos and asked the waitress what was in the tacos I was told lettuce tomatoes and cheese (choice of meat) When it came out there was a gross cream sauce the meat was smothered in. I am lactose intolerant and obviously had to send my food back. I was also surprised when I saw the meat almost all fajita meat is in slices not tiny little burnt pieces of meat. Well my food just got back to me and of course they took my entire plate back but when it returned it was only two tacos no rice no beans. So for an overall review I would say the service was good besides the one mistake the décor is nice but… the food BLAH no flavor it’s honestly not as good as Taco Bell even though I haven’t eaten at Taco Bell in 10 plus years. There are too many Mexican choices to waste your time here
We’ll now it’s worse they have these stupid iPad things on the table that say unlimited play $ 2 but I had no idea that if you touch it its $ 2 I figured my 5 year old could test it out and it would prompt you to pay if you went past a trial period nope they just as it to the bill WORST EXPERIENCE IN A LONG TIME

Food is subpar and takes a long time to come out. Servers are rude and don’t have interest in taking care of you. After telling the waitress it was my first time there, she proceeded to walk away without explaining anything about the menu.
The only reason I gave two stars? The salsa that came out with the terrible chips was fantastic.

This is my all time favorite Mexican restaurant. They never disappoint. The food is well prepared, well presented, and flavorful. Not only is the food of excellent quality, the service and atmosphere make it a fun place to dine.
I also want to add kudos to the staff for making my husband’s birthday very special. I took my husband to Abuelo’s (his favorite restaurant) for his birthday dinner. I simply whispered to the server that it was my husband’s birthday. At the end of our meal, the staff presented him with a complimentary dessert (complete with flaming candle) and sang happy birthday to him. I so appreciated this. With no prior notice, they made our evening a memorable one.

A painted pig of a restaurant. (And I like piggies, so no offense to the cute chubs.) I honestly do not see how this place is even rated to a 3-​star?! I can cook better Mexican, and I’m Polish! We just wanted the convenience of a (what we thought), would be a quicker, more quality meal. First off, this is our second trip to this restaurant, as my in-​laws live in Orlando. I waited to give it a second chance until I rated; so this rating is thoroughly justified.
The first time, we had to wait for our waitress for at least 5 – 10 minutes, then from there, everything was downhill. She forgot some stuff, orders were messed up, and she would forget to refill the drinks. The food arrived after about 25+ minutes. (No steak was ordered to push a wait.) She never stated any apologies nor that they may have been short staffed.
The second time; the 4 of us were seated in the bar section, at a table, on a Friday evening around 7:30pm. The waiter/​bartender took about 10 minutes to greet us and take our drink order. The table was still dirty as there were sticky drink stains on the table. It looked, and smelled like, they quickly took a dirty stinky rag swipe to the table just to get the crumbs off. I cleaned it myself with my water. Another wait till he finally came back to get our food order. We had to flag him down. We seriously waited 30 minutes, until I had had enough! I could not chuck down another thin, overly greasy tortilla chip! I had asked to speak with the Manager to then please cancel our whole order, as they were finally bringing it to the table! Still we left! Talk about timing… Either way, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME! Shiiit. go to Taco Bell instead or whip up some tacos at home, make yourself a (free) drink, and save yourself both time and money! Funny, 2 of us actually did end up going to Taco Bell! ;) —
Now, I can see if they are short staffed. I’ve worked in food service before, TGI Friday’s, through my college years… I’ve been in that such predicament, to where I have kindly stated the situation, so my customers would know first hand, what to expect. But not this place, I think they honestly do not know what quality customer service is, or how to portray such a experience! (Until they have to apologize for lack thereof, after the fact…) You can have a nice looking place, create an inviting ambience, but if it’s not well maintained, and the overall quality does not match, you have a painted pig! Over-​priced, overly greasy, overly fatty, waste-​o-​time!

The ambience is beautiful and the service is amazing. However, I was really dissatisfied with my meal. Everyone else liked my chicken medallions but I just couldn’t get into it. It was a bit dry and I just didn’t like the flavor. I ended up filling up on chips, rice and mashed potatoes and now I feel awful. Not their fault, I was just really hungry. I’ll come back again and just order something else.

ABUELO’S Review:
Absolutely bland unless eating lots of salsa.

Worst refried beans ever. Poor service. Overpriced food. We won’t return. With this experience it’s doubtful they will be in business much longer. Within 3 hrs my girlfriend has vomited 6 times and now diarrhea dealing with food poisoning. Need I say more!?!
Sunday morning (the next day)
I spoke to the Kitchen manager this morning. He offered to send some coupons and guaranteed top service on our next visit. LMAO! Do you think we would ever return? Lol Lol
He finally called back and said he was going to refund at least a portion of the bill.
Update! Up to 7 times vomiting. 12 hours later. It should almost be out of her system.
The did call back and credit meal 12 hours later.
I wish I could give this place less than 1 Star if possible!

Stopped in on the way out of Orlando for quick bite. Service was great and our abuelo dip sampler was good and chips were thin and excellent. We had the lunch specials which are available everyday of the week. Durango burrito which is shredded beef with chile con queso and guacamole it comes with refried beans and a potato with chile which seemed like a mexican mash potatoe and our lunch fajitas were good.
Place is big and service is quick.

O lugar é super bonitinho, mas a comida deixa a desejar. Exceto os nachos que eram muito bons, quase tudo tinha gosto de que era comida pronta de microondas.
O cogumelo recheado de espinafre é bonzinho mas foi servido frio e o molho de queijo que o acompanha me deu a sensação de ser molho pronto de macarrão desses que qq dona de casa menos besta da uma reavivada, mas nem isso foi feito, tinha gosto de «acabei de sair da embalagem comprada no mercado».
As bolinhas de queijo com pimenta são até gostosinhas mas não posso afirmar pq tavam frias. Talvez servidas quente fiquem boas.
O arroz tava borrachudo, nitidamente tendo sido aquecido no microondas.
Enfim…

Was told it would be a 35 min wait — 6:50pm
Was told at 7:30pm I would have to wait for another 25 min at the least — I was a party of 2 and should have been an easy fix; however the hostess only wanted to make excuses for the wait and zero solutions to my long wait… They didn’t want to talk to me so they left me in middle sentence to help other guests.
We ate here before and loved it however, the way we were treated– I refuse to give this brand another dollar! Way too many places in Orlando/​Kissimmee to spend my money.
Fair tasting food — Bad business practices

Llegué a Abuelo me sentaron en la mesa, espere por 7 minutos y nadie vino atenderme, me levante y me fui.

Great that they have an entire gluten free menu. Not so great it took our server 15 minutes or so of asking which offerings were GF on the standard menu, the light bulb came on and our server told us that had a separate menu just for that! Service was slow, took forever to get drinks but they have a tabletop trivia game to play others in the restaurant. Maybe just an off night in service, but wouldn’t go out of my way to have dinner there again.

MUY BUENO!!! This was my first time here. I have seen it it the couple of times I’ve been next door to «another place».
We didn’t have to wait for the salsa tree & chips. We also ordered the Abuelo sampler of cheese dips & guac. The white queso was the above quality compared to Amigo’s & Tiajuana Flats for sure!
It was happy hour. We ordered a «mucho» Modelo, «mucho» Blue Moon, & also a hand shaken Margarita. The Blue Moon was from tap & you could tell. The hand shaken Margarita made w/​1800 (pic) was really really good.
I ordered the Juarez combo platter (pic) was huge & delicious. Two enchiladas, tamale, hard beef taco & two sides. I had the refried beans & cilantro lime rice. It came out with the papa’s but the server, Jesus, did notice & my side was quickly added.
My husband got the Grande combo of 3 enchiladas, tamales, hard taco, & two sides.
The tamales were the best I’ve had, corny w/​meat. The enchiladas were good. The papas w/​chili were smooth& cheesy.
Bueno times all the way around. Good looking place inside as well. (Pic)