Guido Garcias

I found this place by accident and was so pleased. It wasn’t busy when I was there, because it was early in the afternoon, but the service was great. My food was delicious and flavorful and the chips and salsa were tasty. I look forward to taking my husband there and trying some of the other dishes.

Not bad Mexican and Sicilian food, love the location and atmosphere. I would come back here if in cave creek again

Wow. Just terrible. I was here with my family and it was beyond bad. First of all, the owners aren’t Mexican and the total lack of authenticity can be tasted in the food. The salsa is thick and goopy. The main course literally taste like what I would prepare at home by going to the Mexican section of Bashas and throwing foods together. I’m a white guy who can’t cook. I so love Mexican food and this was a big disappointment.
We have recently been going to Mucha Lucha Taco Shop with unbelievable food. The owners and everyone who works there are Mexican and half the clientele are Mexican. Now that is good Mexican food. This is not that. I will never be back. I’ll stick with Mucha Lucha, Carolinas and Los Dos Molinos.

Really good. Had doubts initially about it being both Italian and Mexican but it was great. Fresh homemade food. The salsa was great. I had the lasagne and my husband the white enchilada. Very good.

Myself and 5 friends and 4 dogs stopped in for dinner during the Enchanted Pumpkin Festival. We had dinner on the patio because of the pups. We just missed the dinner crowd and has most of the patio to ourselves. The fish tacos wee absolutely amazing and all the dogs received water bowls and little cups of diced chicken. Everyone enjoyed their meal, the manager changed the patio music to suit our taste and the margaritas were tasty. Fun place. Good food. Bring your pups. We’ll be back.

Service was great but not impressed by the food! The salsa was bland and you can taste the canned tomato sauce. The black beans taste straight out of the can and the rice was inedible! Will not be back. Over priced for the quality of the food

I don’t like to layer review on review for a single establishment (I seem like a plant!) and I don’t like handing out 5-​stars either. Nonetheless, I’m countering a recent review of GG’s that said «worst Mexican ever», I think that was a bit over-​kill. But I recognize everyone has different tastes — some people think Taco Bell is «best Mexican ever».
So Tuesday night, we took friends from out of town to Guido’s. I had my pork belly tacos, DH had the red enchiladas, one friend had the creamy white enchiladas and the fourth had the red & green lasagna. It was all so good! (The black beans — omgosh! Delish!) Our friends, who are from Tampa and don’t cook so they eat out all the time, raved. We were waited on by Scott and he was great. The storms of the morning had blown out, so it was just a lovely night and a good time was had by all.
Fast forward to Saturday night. Hiked Spur Cross, explored Cave Creek and Carefree, went out to Bartlett Lake for the sunset. Coming home, we gave our guests a choice of restaurants — there’s a lot of good restaurants in Carefree and Cave Creek. They wanted to return to GG’s. Really? We just ate there. Wouldn’t you like to try *** or ***? Nope, Guido’s, please. So we returned.
Sat on the patio, was waited on by the owner, Chris, who managed to be warm and friendy and serve us and the other upper patio tables promptly and professionally. This time, the table ordered the guac and salsa and chip, which was enjoyed by the guys — although I had a house salad with some of that wonderful buttermilk ranch dressing — followed by: red & green lasagna, GG’s lasagna, and another round of creamy white enchilada for the other two.
Excellent! My GG’s lasagna was quite good, although I regretted I didn’t order my favorite pork belly tacos and black beans — just that I LOVE them. DH said he thought his Italian was as good as the red enchiladas he usually orders and our friends chowed their Mexican. I was the only who had leftovers! (Ahouldn’t have had the salad, but that b-​milk dressing is so good!) The at Crhis’s urging, we shared among us a bowl of spumoni to finish That won’t happen again. Next time, everyone gets their own bowl. It was really good ice cream. A great cap to a delicious meal.
So, we think GG’s is really good for food, service and ambiance and recommend!

I should have checked Unilocal before we went to this place. This place had by far the worst Mexican food I have ever had, and I’ve eaten at Mexican restaurants in Michigan! Salsa tasted right out of a can, no hint of heat and had some weird herb flavors going on that didn’t make sense. The chicken tacos were edible, but they really needed pico de gallo. Oh yeah, they came with something that was called pico de gallo but it most certainly wasn’t. They also came with some other sauce that we are guessing was supposed to be some sort of cheese sauce but it just looked and tasted like yellow milk. The rice was horrible! Rice-​a-​roni Mexican or Spanish rice would actually be an improvement for this place. We never tried any of the Italian food. If it is better, then I strongly suggest they drop the «Garcias» and just do Italian food.
Pros:
–waitress was a total sweetheart
— we did get our food quickly (we were the only people in the restaurant though)
— tortilla chips and corn tortillas for tacos were actually really good & fresh, I’m guessing they get them from some local place
— great patio, perfect place to sit and have a beer, but bring your own salsa

My meatballs, onion, and peppers was great, the guys had pork belly tacos and prime rib tacos, they were great too. Serving size was good. Service not very friendly.

Food was good and service was excellent. Having grown up in the restaurant business, I am a little more critical than most, but I give props and extra points for «mom and pop» businesses
Quaint place with an authentic feel.

We were really looking forward to meeting friends here, the menu looked intriguing. We arrived at 6:30 on a Saturday for dinner, and there was only one other couple dining there — not a good sign. We were seated at a small table that was only big enough for two, so I asked if they had a bigger table since there would be four of us and was told that was the biggest table they had. Really??? Two of us had the tamale pie — big mistake. Not only did it lack eye appeal, but it wasn’t even tasty. It looked like dog food, or mush. Our husbands had tacos which were only so so. Only one other couple came in while we were there. So on a Saturday night from 6:30 to 8:00 they only had a total of eight guest. Difficult to serve good fresh food under those circumstances. I don’t predict they can stay open long

My husband and I went here a few weeks back. Really wanted to like the new place in Spanish Village because we’re local and loved Carefree Station that was there before. The pork belly tacos were basically pieces of fat. The black beans were just a watery bowl of black beans. We got an appetizer portion of the tamale pie and it was so uninspiring that we didn’t finish it. My husband had the white enchiladas and said they were bland. Service was good and friendly but food does not warrant a repeat visit, sorry to say.

I was so hoping this place would be great. We live a mile from here and couldn’t wait for it to open. I even gave this place six tries, I wanted to like it so bad and made up every excuse for why each experience was awful. Well, no more excuses, it is just awful.
Food is sooo bland, portion size small and it’s not cheap. Even my 6 year old said the food has no taste. Service is very slow. Last visit, we waited 15 minutes before someone took our drink order and another 5 – 10 to get them. My food never came out and it took the waiter until the rest of my party was finished eating to come back to our table to see how everything tasted. He acted like he had no idea what I was talking about when I told him I didn’t get my entrée and went to check on it and came back to tell me, «that’s weird. It’s just MIA» nobody stopped by to apologize and I would expect the owners or management to do so… or even an offer of dessert for the kids who had to sit there an extra 45 minutes for me to finally get my meal and eat it. Nothing. And every experience there was like this. That’s why we won’t be back. No more excuses. Take your money somewhere else, this place is terrible.

One of the newest, coolest, hipest joints in Carefree (located in the Spanish Village) and this joint might be my newest favorite happy hour place in town.
Think Mexican/​Caribbean beach restaurant with a laid back friendly staff combined with a well rounded menu and many great happy hour appies.
Tonight I tried «Chrissy’s red enchiladas» and they were awesome! $ 13 so this dish is well priced.
One of the cool twists on this joint is fully half the menu is all Italian fare. So if your headed out and one of your complainers says «I don’t care for Mexican food» you can go and take card of them too!
Lots of outside patio dining and they can handle large groups as well.
A relaxed décor that you’ll enjoy … Give them a go, I think you’ll be pleased.

Michele K. nailed it in her review.
The food is inedible. I had the pork tacos which were so greasy, tasteless and disgusting we left and went elsewhere to eat. The management did not charge us for our meal which was nice, but we will never be back. All of our neighbors that have been have said the same.
Too bad, as Carefree is desperate for good restaurants, but not in need of any more bad ones.

I love this place!
What a cool setting in the midst of Carefree. Great outside seating and lovely interior.
We had a margarita and it was DELICIOUS.
Next came an order of guacamole and chips. Yum, hot home made chips guacamole with jalapeños and their salsa was awesome.
We split a Southwest BBQ quesadilla and it was so good.
Service is superb.
A musician showed up and added to the evening.
Not cheap but definitely as many stars as I can award.

Like others, I had high hopes. Not too many restaurants in Cave Creek/​Carefree so there is opportunity, but only the strong will survive. Honestly, I would leave less stars, but I feel bad because they’ve been open for a month and still HAVE THE CHANCE to make changes! I don’t really write reviews on this site, but let’s just say I felt highly compelled…
Went there for dinner, placed looked quant, tucked away, didn’t know it was there until my hair stylist told me that evening, so I wanted to give it a whirl. I liked the concept of Italian meets Mexican, but like they say, some things are just good on paper.
Here it goes–
Apps and dinner extremely bland. I mean, shock-​ing-​ly bland. The entire time we were eating I had to restrain my inner Robert Irvine and spit my food out with disappointment.
Our starter was the guac from the happy hour menu, it had ZERO flavor, zilch, nothing. No salt, pepper, garlic, it was smashed avocado with other diced raw veggies on TOP of it. I’m super healthy by nature, but I couldn’t stomach it. I kept thinking maybe the next bite will have taste, or the next, or the next, no dice. A little sea salt and garlic go a LONG way!
We wanted the loaded fries as well but the waitress said she had no idea what was on the loaded fries because she started a week ago. So, we opted not to get them because I do not eat red meat, too risky. She went to ask the chef, but he ‘stepped out for a bit’ she said, so it is still an unsolved mystery.
I also ordered a caesar salad from the happy hour menu, it was a garden salad, heavily loaded with those cheap store-​bought croutons, and a side cup of ceaser dressing. Ceaser salad should be tossed, no? It’s not that hard to make a good homemade caesar.
Main meals, I ordered the veggie tacos, my mom the smashed chicken. Mine was soooo-​ooo-​ooo NOT good, it was a VERY hard to bite into, the shell was VERY tough, maybe over cooked, a very tough taco shell filled with watery tomato sauce, very bland, watery tomato sauce. It was soooo sad. There was not even a full bite size of one REAL, vegetable in my taco. Just the chunks of can tomato in the sauce. It was meant to put on a pasta I’m guessing, maybe served a dual purpose at the restaurant? That should really be fixed or totally taken off the menu. Come on, grilled vegetables, you can’t go wrong? They desperately need to re-​invent asap.
My mom’s chicken also had ZERO flavor, not even the taste of being grilled. Anything, We would take anything! We both had a side of fries, they were prepared with rosemary and parm, great concept on paper except our fries were not only NOT crispy, they were nearly raw and rubbery. I tied a long oily french fry in a knot and showed my mom; I am actually not exaggerating. No flavor other than Rosemary oil, no salt, again.
So if you hadn’t gathered, we wished our table set up came with salt and pepper, but our waitress did not bring it and it was too late by the time she checked on us, we were done eating. By done, I mean not able to eat anymore of our meal, though we were still VERY hungry. And BTW, I never put salt on my food, but after tonight I see how important the ingredient is to a recipe. God Bless Salt.
Bottom line, the chef/​owner should try each dish and think ‘would I actually eat that?’ or ‘would I PAY for that?’ Or ‘Can I physically bite into that?‘
You only have one chance to make a good first impression. I really hope they can fix themselves.

Bad food, iced tea watery, service polite but incompetent. Don’t waste your time and money.

5 of us dined @ Guido Garcia’s last night… service was GREAT, drinks were good but my dish was just average. This was my second time here and again my dish had little flavor. I ordered the beef tacos and the time before white enchiladas. My friends had the raviolis which seemed like the better choice. They’re cheese covered bread was not warmed or toasted which I find odd. I plan to go back but will stick with the Italian menu instead :)

Over priced and don’t come hungry unless you plan on buying two entrees per person. My husband and I came here for dinner on a Friday. Cute little restaurant and not busy (probably because it’s new).
I had the white, chicken enchilada (notice not plural) and my husband had Guido’s chicken. Both bland and again small portions. For $ 15 a plate, $ 5 for chips and salsa (which I believe should be free) and $ 7 margarita (happy hour price), we left still hungry and disappointed.
Two stars for service and hospitality. Other than that, we don’t plan on going back.