Carlos Obriens

Not a very good lunch… this is not a great mexican restaurant, but It looks way different than it was when this was the Elephant Bar. The dining room is too crowded though and looks more like a convention floor rather than a restaurant.
1. Cheese Crisp — not enough cheese and served with no condiments — $ 3.95
2. Two tacos — too much cheese and the shredded beef was inedible. The machaca meat was only slightly better. $ 7.50
3. Chips and salsa — nothing wrong here. free
4. Pollo Fundido — unusual, was not enjoyed by fellow diner.
5. Side of Sour cream that should have come with Crisp was $ 1.50
6. Lunch specials — not everything is on special, just the usual gringo plates.
You will walk out feeling greasy and cheesy. Not the Mexican lunch I had in mind. Adiós.

Food was still good! Waitress forgot us a couple of times. Looks like the place should be serving sushi instead of Mexican food. Décor leaves things up to the imagination. Kind of lost in between dimensions.

Not my favorite… this restaurant has a lot of hype… we found it to be very pedestrian, very average. The service was impersonal, the food was mediocre and the ambiance was boring. I’m sorry, but if this is all Carlos O’Brien’s has to offer, I’ll get carryout from Filliberto’s.

Great food, very responsible prices, awesome atmosphere and the kids like it too. The refried beans are kind of weird but everything else is great!

If you’re not intimately familiar with Arizona’s mexican food, here’s the primer:
Carlos O’Brien’s — Not, I repeat, not even remotely irish food. It is Mexican food. (Now some of you might wonder about this clarification, but I’m shocked how many people thought Carlos’ was supposed to be Irish food…)
This country’s border states each have their own species of Mexican food. Arizona’s tends to have a lot of meat, deep fried tortillas and about 4 pounds of cheese on top. Oh, and don’t forget the red sauce to pull your entrée, beans and rice courses together into one tasty conglomeration. We don’t put rice in our burritos. We don’t use a lot of green chiles, but we do use some. We don’t know what a chalupe is, we know you’re a hipster if you want street tacos, and it’s best not to even mention Chi Chi’s here unless you find out what it means first. We know fajitas and chimichangas aren’t really Mexican, but we think they taste good anyway. Carlos makes a mean chimichanga. We have flautas, but generally not taquitos.
The Carlos subspecies of AZ Mexican food is known for enormous portions. The tamales are about the size of a can of soda and the burritos are bigger than that. Don’t forget the 4 pounds of cheese on top.
The service at Carlos is quick and friendly, and you can usually get in and out pretty quick for a sit down restaurant.
Carlos isn’t authentic Mexican, it’s authentic Arizona Mexican for when you need that fix.

meh. food was ok. wasn’t amazing. tasted like regular chain-​restaurant food. like chilis, applebees, etc.

This venerable local chain has had its ups and downs over the years, but right now Carlos O’Briens is on the upswing. It’s americanized Sonoran Mexican food right down to the obligatory olive as a garnish and gooey cheese, but it’s damn good food. The lunch menu has some good quick options.
Service was a little spotty on our visit, but the food took me back to when I was growing up in Phoenix and we’d drive over to Bethany Home to eat here. I’m glad we don’t have to drive as far anymore.

Cheese-​aloo! I came here with a coworker for lunch one Monday. I had the chicken enchiladas and albeit it was very tasty it was soooo cheesy! So were my coworkers tacos. We had a small plate just full of all the cheese we didn’t want to eat haha. I love cheese, but wowza.
We also had to have a margarita since they were only $ 3.50! Yumm. Can’t beat that.
There was no wait, which was nice and the place was clean. I had an enjoyable experience and wouldn’t definitely dine there again :)

I’ve had the opportunity to dine at this location twice now. Service has been quick, place is clean and it’s a fairly comfortable Mexican restaurant. So on the topic of Mexican… I get the Carlos, yet the Obriens… not so much =).
The top 2 recommend dishes on both visits were the Pollo Fundido and the #13 A Little bit of Everything In Miniature!
Sadly, I have had both and they were both just borderline OK for me. Not much flavor (though decent serving sizes). I do not understand why it’s so hard to find good, especially authentic tasting Mexican food in Arizona? Sorry C.O. just not a winner for me. Best to you and the customers that are fans.
I’d strongly suggest to spice things up.

I was reading some of these reviews of COB and I have no idea what these loonies are saying? I went here last night and had a fantastic experience. I got the always amazing #13, Bit of everything plate with a beef tamale, no cheese. It was perfect. This food is like family style food made with love. If you are looking for some hole in the wall, found in the bario, this may not be for you as it is food you bite into and your eyes close and you say,“mmmh”. The new place is pretty cool, it had a Blade Runner/​Ski Lodge feel to it. I also had a Hornitos margarita, which was the perfect capper on this lovely evening. Can’t wait to come back and try the desert. I don’t want to forget the service, everyone kept our drinks full, extra napkins, and made sure we were enjoying our meal. Keep up the great work COB. «I’ll be back.»

I wanted SO badly to like Carlos O’Brien’s after many years away from it. (And, remembering being wonderful.) Well, it just gets 3 stars now because it wasn’t awesome as I recall.
The chips were pretty bland, flavorless. The salsa was only so-​so. I got the chicken fundido and it was SO overly covered in cheese sauce and sour cream that I could hardly find my burrito.
The server never refilled iced tea until we were getting ready to leave. He seemed spread too thin.
Disappointed overall. I don’t live in AZ anymore & spent one of my dinners there, eating a Carlos O’Brien’s. Very sad. The company I was with was amazing which is the only saving grace!

I think the owners must take the Unilocal reviews seriously, because I visited this new Carlos O’Briens location for dinner recently and had an excellent experience.
We were greeted right away in a friendly manner by the hostess at the front desk. She seated us and within 10 — 15 seconds, a friendly wait staff member brought chips and salsa to the table. The waitress greeted us about 20 seconds later and took our drink orders. Staff members worked together to keep our beverages filled. Several staff members offered more chips and salsa to us, but we declined, knowing that the entrée portions are huge.
The combination plates were large and satisfying (especially the tacos). The shrimp fajita platter was huge and delicious. The menu is large enough to satisfy most everyone. They even have non-​Mexican food items if you are in the mood for pub food.
The only complaints I would have was my rice was clumpy in spots. Also, while the tables were cleared off quickly, there was a bit of trash on the floor here and there throughout the restaurant.
This location is quite a bit noisier than the old Scottsdale/​Bell Road location, but the noise wasn’t overpowering. I will be back!

nah, son.
we stopped here on the way to our hotel after our flight from NJ. My colleague said to just pick anything out i saw along the way. I somehow expected ANY Mexican place in Arizona to be good, kinda like in San Diego. Apparently I was wrong.
I love carnitas. Our waiter raved about the carnitas there when I expressed my interest. dude was either full of caca or has never had good carnitas in his life. I’ve never had carnitas so dry before. this place is obviously about serving large portions for low prices — but the quality is lower than the prices. i wasn’t even feeling the fried ice cream here. it’s not easy to get me to talk negatively about dessert, yo.
the Cadillac margarita was okay. and if it weren’t for the Frida Kahlo art on the walls I would chalk this experience up as a total loss. Frida gets a star all her own.
Oh, saw the end of the Giants/​49ers game where the Giants won it in the last few minutes. that was good too.

Always loved Carlos OBriens when they were at Scottsdale Road and Bell Road.
I pretty much get the #9 combination with a green burro and substitute the tostada with another taco to give me 2 tacos.
I love their open face cheese crisp and the Pollo Fundido which are 2 chicken chimichangas with sour cream and cheese on top.
Their complementary chips and salsa are great but don’t eat too much before your meal arrives so you.
This is my go to mexican restaurant when my family can’t decide where to go even though my kids don’t care for mexican food a great deal.
I could probably eat here everyday if I could.
Live this place and glad they opened back up in my neighborhood area.
Will be back very soon or when we are near by.

DJ our server was 5 star! The food was good too, but the five stars are more for this service. We ordered Mexican pizza, fajitas, gauc, and spinach dip.
Food was ok– service made up for some of it

Timely seating, timely drinks order.
Then the wait… I think they forgot us.
Had to go find server to come take order.
Ordered.Waited and waited and waited.
Not horrible as in the worst I’ve ever had, but you would think with the time it took from start to finish it would be super.
Overcooked food is what we got. One of the kids wouldn’t eat his burnt mass of «nachos», surprise.
Best thing about it was leaving the place.
(P.S. the O’Briens part of the menu is lacking)

My family and I dined here recently, and we were disappointed to say the least. I ordered the Carne Asada medium rare, and it came out extremely well done. Plus, it tasted awful. The rest of my family was equally unhappy with their dishes. The only dish that was passable was the Carnitas platter.
Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else; there are plenty of great Mexican joints in the Valley.

Went to the new Mayo location. Food and service were very good.
I really don’t like the fact that they left the entire restaurant part open with a cafeteria like feel. The raised stages were left in place. No dividers between any of the tables, way too open, not at all warm or cozy. If you look around, you do not get the feel of a Mexican restaurant, very bare and plain Jane. If you are looking for the typical, average Mexican food without any ambiance or association with being in a Mexican food restaurant, well enjoy…

Keeping an open mind, but knowing how dirty the other/​now closed location was, I get concerned that this new one might follow suit. This is just a friendly warning to the management to please keep up with things, and keep the place clean.
It was concerning that we found a dead fly in our salsa, and let me tell you, this was clearly a fly, wings and all. Our server was not too sympathetic and just simply made a note that she would tell the bus boy to stop doing that. Haha. Flies are no joking matter. Maybe we’ll try them again down the road. MAYBE. But in the meantime we’ll look to see what other reviewers say over the next few months.

I love Carlos O’Briens. We’ve been going here since the 16^th St. & Bethany Home location! When the location closed at Bell and Scottsdale, we were bummed. Then we heard about the new location at Mayo and 101. Woo Hoo!
However, the aesthetics in this location are HORRIBLE. We were seated on the «stage» and it was so loud that we could barely hear each other across the table. It seemed they were short staffed as the tables took a while to get cleaned and getting more chips was a chore.
Hopefully they will work out the kinks.