Mexican Radio

It was very expensive for food that was just alright. We were literally the only one is the place, the only redeeming quality was the service.

Great service!
Great location!
Great name!
Great décor!
Horrendous food.
Is there a Half-​Star option?

I have eaten here 3 times and had drinks and starters at the bar on more than 10 occasions.
Most of the negative reviews are from when it first opened or from people with large parties. I cannot speak to large parties; however, the place has improved since it opened.
The bar is a great place to stop, especially with Dos Equis on tap and a great selection of Tequila. The food is very good and has improved. The complaints about small portions are from the chain restaurant or fast food crowd. This is not Chilis with free chips and bottled salsa. The portions are normal size for a higher end ingredient restaurant.
I have enjoyed the carne asada in the past as well as a few of the burrito options.
I would recommend this restaurant for the atmosphere and the bar. I would suggest all negative reviewers try again on the food if it has been more than 6 months.

Please don’t eat here. The service was slow, and the portion was so small, and over priced.
We are all Average to Thin people. Not big eaters. We all were shocked at how small the portion was. The building is beautiful and we all said, wow, the rent must be high, look at all the money in this place. When I got my meal which was 2 very small enchiladas and ½ cup of rice with a ½ cup of beans for $ 16, then I said oh this is how they do it. The meal must have cost them $ 5. Absolutely a terrible place and a ripe off. we went to burger king afterwards because we were all still hungry. Seriously, I can deal with slow service if at least I feel like I had dinner. None of the meal photos are true. they probably put them on there for marketing. The picture of the enchiladas is totally not what you get.

This is a difficult review to write because the food was well cooked and fresh, but lacked the flavors and seasoning you would expect at a Mexican restaurant. If I were blind folded and ate one of their dishes, I don’t think I would have guessed I was at a Mexican restaurant. Everything was overpriced and bland.
The cocktails were rather tasty, especially the muddled jalapeño margarita. However, their house tequila is not that great and the cocktail tasted 100 times better with premium tequila. I mention this because the house margarita is pricey to begin with so you would expect them to use better tequila.
On a positive note, the staff was extremely friendly and helpful.

Got a good seat waiter was ok that’s it… 1^st Menu had old food stuck to it was nasty table was just dirty… 2^nd My $ 10 Margarita was ok but short glass should be $ 6. 3^rd food wasn’t good at all small dried out steak pieces and odd vegetables that shouldn’t be in a $ 20 fajita. So much wrong for the high price they charge. 4^th the inside Decour is bad. Will never go back.

½ Carafe of Sangria delicious… Cazuela — Pollo Azteca really enjoyed this as it’s not served on bread or taco shell which fills me up fast… $ 18 Thick, juicy pieces of chicken breast sauteed with a mix of peppers and onions then topped with melted cheese. Choice of house mole, tomatillo, Suiza or tomato-​jalapeño sauce. All Cazuelas come with a basket of warm tortillas or corn chips and a side of fried plantains or house salad. I got the jalapeño sauce, corn chips and house salad. It was delicious… I like this place it’s huge I think 3 floors, 3 bars lots of room when busy during Proctors show night. They have outdoor seating during warmer weather.

The food was decent, the price was too high. The waitress was very nice, the setting and environment was kind of cool.

Came here for my birthday dinner and we were very happy. The margaritas are well made and the food varied and excellent. Very friendly wait staff too. We will be coming again the next time we are in Schenectady.

We had tickets to see Mel Brooks and Blazing Saddles at Proctors and decided to try for an early dinner at Mexican Radio. They were busy but the hostess made room for us upstairs. I have eaten at the NYC location but never made of to Schenectady. I had the chorizo and shrimp burrito that was huge and flavorful. Paula had the fish tacos and loved them. A small pitcher of transistor margaritas topped everything perfectly.
As a native Of Los Angeles I am picky about my Mexican food and realize the stretch in trying to find «authentic» in upstate NY. The salsas were pretty tame but they did have two types of Horseshoe hot sauce on the table, along with Dave’s garlic so I could spice the salsa up to taste.
It is a little expensive for Mexican food, but a great treat and we finished in plenty of time to head across the street to Proctors for the show. The site is a former department store with a large open space from first to second floors and the restaurant could probably hold twice as many tables if they wanted to crowd the place, but the food is obviously prepared individually, which makes for a casual experience.
Upstairs you will find a multi-​shelf rack that has almost every hot sauce I could imagine, for sale at about $ 6 a bottle. This would be a great way to tailor your meal, but I’d stay away from the Dave’s Insanity, unless you need it to clean oil stains off your driveway (one of many recommended uses).
Downtown Schenectady is looking very vibrant now and we will have to make a return visit before too long, for Mexican Radio, Proctors and more.

Spoiler alert: FOOD POISONING! Came here with a friend for dinner. She got the chimichanga and I ordered fish tacos and boy was that a terrible idea. First off, their guacamole was not spicy enough and just tasted like baby mush. And to top it off I got food poisoning from my fish tacos.
We also ordered sangria to go with out meal and it was absolutely the most disgusting tasting drink I’ve ever had which is sad because sangria is my favorite drink as was fish tacos my favorite meal, but now I can’t enjoy either of those for a while, while I recover from my horrible experience
But on the plus side the staff was friendly and I enjoyed the outdoor seating. I would recommend that they put twinkly lights or something festive outside to liven it up. It was hard to see past 8pm out there.
Last complaint is the prices!!! With those prices you’d think they’d have fresh ingredients and not serving expired fish. Too high! $ 18 for food poison $ 20 for mushy guac and chips $ 8 glass for horrendous sangria.

I had the best gooey, cheesy chimichanga here. The only thing that would’ve made it better was the price. $ 19 for a chimi is kinda steep. I liked that their tequila selection was diverse, and they have a bunch of different hot sauces to choose from (Cholula, mi amor). Their house red salsa was okay; would’ve liked something a little chunkier. Service was attentive, not too hovering.
I think their patio is a little bit plain. They have multicolored tiki umbrellas, but it wasn’t really inviting. Something is missing.

I was visiting family in the Schenectady area and was looking to join them at lunch. I had two little ones with me and needed a place that could accommodate them and had enough space for me to walk in with a stroller. So my family recommended Mexican Radio for lunch. It was with some trepidation though. They warned me the prices were a bit high.
As we were walking in we saw two men walk past the door. One of the men said to the other «oh, this place – I hear it has bad reviews». But then we were greeted warmly by the staff at the door to help me bring in my stroller. As I walked in I was struck by how gorgeous the space is… and spacious. Two bars, upstairs space, huge downstairs space, and outdoor space. This would be perfect for parties and events.
But it was also sadly empty. My family commented that it was a shame. The food was excellent, the location was great, and the staff couldn’t be nicer. But with many of the dishes costing about $ 15 – 20, it was more expensive than any other Mexican place I’ve been to. They handed us a simple lunch menu, where all the dishes were $ 12 and smaller portions (but it was plenty for lunch). So we ordered off of that menu. One of our party commented that they thought the lunch menu was added to address patrons concerns on prices and he worried that word wasn’t getting out. He said he really hopes that the Mexican Radio remains at this location. It is a lovely addition to the Schenectady revitalization.
My food was excellent. Customer service top notch. Just priced a bit high.

One of the best Chimi’s that I have had. Not sue why the low ratings. No mandatory chips and salsa is annoying but in the end I didn’t need the calories and the Chimi was plenty. Dos XX Amber on draught was a bonus. SCH Downtown has really lifted itself up. Dinner and a movie here is money well spent and comparable to Saratoga without the crowd and ‘tudes. Will be back

I have been here three times. The most recent time we dined outside. All three times must have been slow times for this cavernous place. I’d guess it can hold 300 – 400 guests. BIG.
The atmosphere is trendy but gets lost when it’s not busy with diners.
The food seems middle of the road. Fresh ingredients but not special. I did enjoy the lunch size fish tacos. The get an a plus on Guacamole and chips. It’s a big portion and yummy.
Maybe either go on a Friday or Saturday … Or come with three bus loads of fun people???

Went for lunch recently. Beautiful place. Sat at the bar. Nice selection of beer on tap. Two Dos Equis and three tacos cost me $ 37 bucks including tip. Yikes! Tacos were good but portions are very small. Place was basically empty on a Friday afternoon and I assume the high prices are the reason.

The good news is that it has a reasonable tequila selection and it seems like a clean restaurant. Everything else is mediocre at best. The prices are not reasonable for what is offered and the service is not speedy.
«Where’d the server go?» That’s a question we asked each other more than once. When the server did check on us, the service was friendly. Maybe too friendly when it came to selling drinks. I felt like I was on a cruise with the way the server kept asking about if we were good on drinks rather than asking about anything else. We were all set on drinks. We just wanted the food to come out already. This was a two hour experience and the majority of that time was not with food in front of us.
We did like having bottles of chilled (tap) water on the table so that we didn’t have to ask for water refills.
Grande guacamole and salsa is $ 16. The guac, salsa, and tortilla chips were all unremarkable. Certainly not bad, but nothing special. The portion wasn’t small, but it wasn’t large enough to prevent a few of us from finishing the entirety of the guac and chips rather quickly. I don’t think any of us thought it was worth ordering again considering the price.
Elotes are delicious! In general, that is. Mexican Radio’s version of the dish wasn’t bad at all. The issue was that it was $ 8 for a singular corn cob. I guess that’s one way to reinvent street food… charge more!
My three mole (the sauce, not the animal) enchiladas were $ 19. In order to figure out my favorites in anticipation for a next time, I got three different meats (chicken, pork, and beef) and three different mole sauces. Not having any idea of what they’d taste like, I had the server pick which sauce went with which meat. They weren’t bad but they were neither very flavorful nor very large. If someone brought them to me for free, I’d eat them again, but I wouldn’t seek them out, especially not for the price. By the way, this dish comes with a choice of salad or rice and beans. This is a legit tiny plate side. Since it’s a Mexican restaurant, I went with the rice and beans. The rice was crunchy, not in a pleasant way. The flavor, as with most other things there, was not something I’ll find myself craving at a future date.
Meh. I’ve experienced better guac at Chipotle, service at Pancho’s, and pulled pork at Bombers. If you find yourself at Bombers and want a mole sauce, try the Rodeo sauce.
Mexican Radio prices are too high for what’s being served, both in quality and quantity. I’d happily pay those prices if I thought I was getting something special. Alas, I found myself wanting to be at one of the many other Mexican places in the area. I might be back for Don Julio at the bar if I happen to be in the area, but I doubt Mexican Radio food will be in my future.

I’ve been here twice. One time was a 5 star experience. Another time was a 3. Averaging out to 4 stars until i can go again and see how they’ve been settling into business over the past year.
My 5 star experience was a weekday lunch, our party of two was seated downstairs with the wonderful Secora as our server. We started by splitting small plate appetizers — Mexican Spring Rolls and Radio Nachos. I loved that most of the appetizers are available in half portions — splitting one spring roll and a tiny plate of nachos between the two of us was the perfect snack before our meal arrived without filling us too much that we wouldn’t have been able to eat our lunch plates and later enjoy splitting an order of fried ice cream, too.
Speaking of plates — my Triple Enchiladas Mole was AMAZING. You can create any combination you’d like for each of the enchiladas, choosing from sixteen fillings [including vegetarian and vegan options] and six sauces. I went with spicy ground beef with salsa verde, spicy shredded chicken with a Raspberry-​Chipotle Mole, and pulled pork with the House Mole and each choice included perfectly seasoned meat and flavorful sauces.
I couldn’t wait to go try more combinations ASAP [I’m looking at you mushroom mix!]which brings us to our 3-​star experience. My dad came to town and i decided he had to try the new place i couldn’t stop raving out. What a let down.
I knew the margaritas are known for being 100% chemical free, using fresh juices in place of the ‘rita mix you find at many other locations in town. I ordered a coconut marg and it was perfect. My dad ordered a mojito, and the «search for mint» lead to his drink arriving well over 20 minutes after mine, even though our orders were placed together.
The chips and gauc we ordered was good, but not the greatest we’ve had out. And dinner. Oh dinner. My dad’s paella was cold in several spots, and Nick’s mac n cheese wasn’t really warm either, but he didn’t mention it until after eating because he was enjoying the dish so much. I ordered a different trio, as i was so excited to do, and the sauces and filings i had ordered together were swapped and mismatched and not at all pleasant. Womp.womp.
We were seated upstairs and it seemed like it took
. to not only get our food and drinks, but also improve to get the attention of our waitress — or any staff, really… even though the place wasn’t busy. I LOVE the beautiful open space, but it’s not a great layout for servers to be easily accessible when needed. I will def. request downstairs seating from better on out. I’m also looking forward to trying patio seating come summer.
No dessert during my dinner trip, but we split fried ice cream at the 5-​star lunch and the wonderful dish pushed the meal from 4.5 up to 5, for sure.

We are former Californios, so like to think we know our restaurantes from our taquerias, so we approached Mexican Radio with expectations tempered but palates hungry for comida autentico. I am pleased to report that while this is definitely a gabacho establishment, it’s excellent for what it is, Americano Mexicano with good ingredients and some attention to what may pass for mildly authentic non-​Taco-​truck preparation.
Another way of looking at the whole package: this is a test for you, Schenectady. If you can’t support this elegant two-​level, three-​bar, five-​dining-​nook establishment with its wonderful faux dia de los muertos and santaurios, you may never get another shot at it. Because the combination of ambiance, food, excellent service, and anejo tequilas makes this the destination restaurant in downtown, and its convenience to Bowtie and Proctors and the newish companies (Quirky employees, I’m lookin’ at ya) downtown leave y’all with no excuses if it goes under.
In perusing earlier reviews, it’s clear they had some breakin problems when opening here, so if you had problems in an earlier visit i urge you to come back. We picked lunch during a holiday period to test the waters, and we had almost no problem (see below) given the traffic. It proved to be kid-​friendly during the day (visually appealing, accomodating service, a small niños menu) at least, so take that for what it’s worth.
We probably should withhold the fifth star until we get further into the menu — we only tried every kind of taco and a few sides thus far — but when they made a relatively minor mistake (letting us order a dessert they were out of), without complaint on my part, they comp’d us on a replacement dessert and gave us a certificate towards a future visit. This may or may not last, by way of making amends, but otherwise the whole experience was so unrelentingly positive, from the door to the table to the restrooms, that I would be seriously remiss in withholding the fifth star (with which we’re usually quite stingy) just to see if the mole is as good as the quesadilla. I promise to take off stars in the future if this turns out to be incorrect.
In any event, there you have it: a pretty decent imitation of a decent Mexican restaurant with lots of aura and well-​delivered service for relatively reasonable (area-​adjusted) prices. And seriously, this is not a hip town. This is the coolest large bar/​nightspot/​restaurant you’re going to get in Schenectady. Give it another go.

We went here for my gf’s bday with a group of about ten. I was excited when I first heard they were building a Mexican Radio nearby because I’d heard alot of great things about the other location in Hudson. Then when the bad reviews started popping up I lost interest. But we decided to give it a shot with low expectations.
Our waitress was nice but a complete scatterbrain. The prices are ridiculously high and the service was soooo slow. When the main dishes finally came out half of them were cold and arrived about 10 mins apart. Sounds like either poor management in the kitchen or the waitress didn’t put the order in right. I wasn’t impressed by my tacos but my gf really liked her enchiladas (once they remade them and they were hot). To make up for the service and cold food they offered us all dessert which was pretty impressive and probably the best part of the meal. It seems like most of the complaints on here are about the lack of free chips and salsa, high prices, and slow service. All of which can easily be corrected if they want to succeed.