Cinco De Mayo

Wanted to try this place and when my nephew came to visit I thought it would be a perfect time. However, there were 5 of us and apparently they do not have any tables to accommodate 5 people??? Mind you it was August, the SLOWEST month of the year! They said they could not accommodate us, and I thought it was a joke. So we stood there waiting for someone else to seat us, but a second person approached us and said they were sorry but they only had 4 tops and if they put a chair on the end of a 4 top it would block the pathway… so I said you only seat 4 tops? No we could seat 6 or 8 by putting two tables together, but not for 5… how ridiculous! So the five of us headed to Mattisons where seating 5 was not a problem. I hope this place goes out of business.

The only Mexican eatery on Downtown Main Street, The décor is more typical hacienda style where you feel a sense of place and not some clone that you place you find in any other city in America with dos xx posters, giant inflatable corona bottles hanging in the ceiling and the TVs tuned to soccer, not of that at CDM.
I enjoyed the piñata combo off the traditional dishes menu. The pork tamale was a little dry for my taste but I still had some salsa left from the complimentary nacho chips so I drenched it and it was 10x better; but the chimichanga with the ranchera white sauce was moist and succulent and possible the best thing on the menu, maybe except for the gourmet entrees that hovers around the $ 20 mark, next time if Rick Bayless is cooking sign me up for the Mariscada, but till then I’ll stick with simple, honest, fresh, well prepared valued rice and refried beans at Cinco de Mayo.

We wandered in last night and were pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere was cozy and after numerous evening meals being treated like” we were lucky to eat there”, this staff was a bonus. They made it fun and sometimes entertaining. The food was fresh and timely. About what you would expect. Yet the prices were beyond reasonably compared to what we had been experiencing. All in all, I give it «two thumbs up» overall. It was our last night together and we were able to enjoy ourselves and carry on a conversations!

We used to LOVE this place but 2 things have happened to change that.
1. they allow a certain elderly couple to ‘reign’ over the restaurant. The female is always drunk, apparently deaf and VERY LOUD. The male is just deaf, as he gave up trying to compete with his wife long ago. It is REALLY SERIOUSLY ANNOYING to be there when they are holding ‘court, which has been on any given Friday or Saturday night. They come in from Longboat Key. The woman is SO Loud and annoying, my 84-​year old, hard of hearing father, who was not wearing his hearing aids said he couldn’t stand to hear her loud, stupid voice any more.
But the wait staff pays homage to them, our waitress was busy kissing their asses, and even brought another servers over to kiss up to them. I sure hope that couple buys a lot and are good tippers, because they piss off everyone else who is speaking in normal voices. That woman is a loud-​mouthed idiot. We get to hear all about her life, and now that we know where she lives, she is a bully, and that her grandson is on Facebook, we are SO glad we don’t live near her.
2. The chef has CHANGED in the last month. My husband and I used to love and order certain dishes BUT they are NOT the same anymore. The fish tacos are boring boring boring as hell — no lime marinade or cilantro any more. the Tacos Al Pastor are seriously different and spicier than they used to be, but not as good. The waiter very obviously lied to us when we asked about a change in cooking staff.
We USED TO LOVE this place, now it’s just boring and irritating because of those idiots. Too bad, makes us sad. STAY AWAY.

Great food, great price, and great staff. Mexican food really isn’t too hard to come by in Sarasota, so there really has to be something else that makes a place stand out for me, and at Cinco De Mayo it is the wait staff, they are fun, and only add to the experience.
The food is fresh and comes out fast and the waitstaff really makes it a pleasnt experience. There are Million of places to eat downtown that are too stuffy, so relax, sit outside and have fun at Cinco De Mayo!

how can this place not have more reviews???/ oh thats right… its located in sarasota, and people here are just well… idiots mostly… everyone that talks about mexican downtown talks about 2 senoritas… well screw that… their food is mediocre and the service is terrible… but at cinco de mayo is the exact opposite! amazing friendly service and great food at a great price, the décor is so cute too, best mexican in town!

cinco de mayo, right on main st downtown, has a lotta charm and tasty mexican fare, to boot.
sure, it’s ‘americanized’ – what full-​serve american-​mexican joint isn’t to some extent?? – but the quality is top notch and prices extremely reasonable.
it gets a bit hot inside… dunno if their a/​c doesn’t work well, or what, but it’s still fun to sit and people watch while chowing the chips and tongue-​tingling fresh salsa. there’s also outdoor tables if one chooses.
they have extensive meal selections, yet nothing’s priced over ~$ 15, with most $ 10 or under. we love this one spirited waiter who’s really funny – always jokes with us about something or other, but is also competently unobtrusive when necessary.
cinco de mayo is a great ‘fun date’ place with a brightly painted, cheery interior and tasty/​tastefully-​prepared meals, including vegetarian.
another plus: frequent coupons! :)

The other day I was going to go to lunch with co-​workers at Bella Gente, and I found out they had closed. I was so despondent I let them drag me into Cinco De Mayo. I knew what this place was about, basically americanized mexican food, I had been there before a couple of years back and was in no rush to go again. But time was short and we had to get back to the office and other places on the block were packed with snowbirds.
For what it is, this place is perfectly fine and a bit better than two senoritas down at the other end of main street. But if you like eating at taco wagons, as I do, or places like Mr. Tequila this is not going to do it for you.
I had a lunch special that had two tamales. They were fine, but not real character. The service was very good, so that was a plus and the prices are reasonable. I do have to give it to them, they know what the population that frequents main street is like and they’ve geared things to suit them. So they are smart business wise and I can’t fault them for that. They know what the score is and work toward that.
But any place that has «mexican lasagna» on the menu is not really for me. Two starts if you are a taco wagon follower, three if you are the demographic/​market for this place. Still better than that «other» place on the west end of main street.