Downtown Trini’s

Food was excellent and up in a flash, as expected. I had the tacos, Benny style. Extra vegetables and spice added a nice depth to the traditional taco. Service was ok but left a little to be desired. I will be back soon!

Great service. Great food. I would recommend this place. Lisa is an amazing server and on the ball. Great place!

Not the best Mexican food I’ve had, but above average. The prices are reasonable, although a tad on the high side. Just a nice Mexican restaurant with a small-​town feel. Be aware, if you sit in the elevated part in the front of the restaurant, it’s very loud.
Biggest negative is that they charge extra for chips and salsa. They ask you if you want it as you sit down, but when your bill comes you realize that it wasn’t free, as it is most Mexican places I’ve been.
All in all, good experience every time I’ve been there.

Mediocre. Prices were fairly high for Mexican cuisine. Wasn’t really impressed with the quality of the ingredients; rather bland tasting. They do have good tasting «hot» salsa. But you have to ask for it.

Trini’s is our favorite Mexican restaurant in the greater Grand Rapids area. We visited a couple weeks ago on a Friday night about 5:15pm. This is the time to go… it was a short wait! We ordered Margarita Joe’s, chicken enchiladas, and a beef burrito. Of course, unlimited fresh warm chips and salsa complete the experience. Great service, great food, and a fun environment! Looking forward to our next visit.

Pretty average place.
1.) When we got there, they had a huge line and we had to wait about 30 minutes. Granted, we did go on a friday night at about 6:30, and I think this is THE place to go in Sparta Michigan.
2.) The ambience is fine, and nicer than the building exterior indicates. The inside was clean and the staff were friendly enough, even though they were somewhat frantic.
3.) The waitstaff was quite slow at the beginning, it took about 10 minutes before we saw our server. Towards the end of the meal, we saw the waitstaff more frequently since I think they wanted our table. They got a little «hovery» at the end.
4.) The prices are pretty good for the entrees; but I do feel a little taken advantage of on some of the upcharges. They charged for the chips and salsa, although they never indicated there was a charge and I didn’t see it on the menu. Also, they did a sneaky upcharge on the kids meals. The kids meals came with a drink. My kids wanted lemonade. Usually, when lemonade is offered at a place that sells Coke products, the lemonade is just the Minute Maid lemonade from the fountain. Here, the lemonade was in a glass bottle. So, that was a $ 2.50 upcharge per drink which we were not told about.
5.) The food was pretty mediocre. Although fresher than, it was basically cafeteria quality mexican food. The only seasoning was a little bit of black pepper here and there. The chips were very hard. I got a chimichanga which was basically just a big mass of boiled chicken inside a shell. I don’t think there was an onion or pepper in the building. The rest of the food was very bland and average. We decided to get the fried ice cream as the kids had never tried it. It was basically just ice cream with what seemed to be hot frosted flakes sprinkled on it.
So, I suppose if you live in Sparta it would be fine, but I wouldn’t drive more than three blocks to go there again.

Maybe it’s the nostalgia of eating endless chips and salsa with friends growing up. Maybe it’s the mural with all the local businesses tugging on my heart strings. Maybe it’s my grad school budget loving the fact that I know that if I eat at trinis I’ll have so much food it’ll be lunch the next day. But whatever it is: it’s true that I cannot come back home to visit my parents without stopping at Trini’s.

It ok not worth the wait. Nothing special about the food. We didn’t get it. So many people waiting and no great place to sit. Your waiting standing around getting in the way of servers or next to people eating. No thanks.

Just had the worst experience there ever. I have eaten there numerous times in the past, however this will be the last. The waitress never checked on us during our meal and the waitress refused to give me a to go cup of water. I asked for the manager, who ended up being the owner as well. He said he did not give to go cups away because he would lose too much money if he gave to go cups after a meal. He was speaking to me extremely rude, and I told him I did not appreciate the way he was speaking to me. However, his response back was he didn’t care, I am the manager and I think you are being rude.
Extremely angry about the service, and will never return. That is no way to treat a customer.

Excellent destination! You might have to wait a bit to be seated, but thats just because evryone wants to eat there! The steak fajitas are incredible, as well as their homemade salsa.

Trini and Jojo, the owners are great guys. We’ve been regulars even before they took over when it was Rosita’s. Menu hasn’t changed much but it is always good. Be prepared for a wait.

Great find. Clean establishment, great wait staff, excellent menu and food. I found the parking to be fine. It seems they always have deals on good menu items.

Great place overall and good food. Can get very busy on Friday and Saturday evenings so expect a wait as it’s a fairly small place. Trini and Joe are both great and often found working alongside their staff and visiting tables making sure everything is going well. Could use some more Mexican beers. All they have is Dos Equis Dark on tap, and Corona and Modelo Negra in bottles. Domestics on tap were Bud Light and a local Perrin Brewery choice. Big selection of Margaritas. Mexican Cheese Sticks are a great unique appetizer.

SO many people just love Trini’s…I think they are pretty good but I have to say I don’t like them as much as everyone else.
Maybe because I feel like the nickel & dime everything you get. I ate ½ a burrito & asked for a little extra sauce to take home with my 2^nd half for lunch the next day — it was $ 1 for some extra sauce. I have never had any other restaurant charge for a little extra sauce. Seemed odd to me but to each their own I guess.
They have a fun taco challenge — eating 13 tacos to get your name on their wall and they have a «big nasty» burrito that is huge and filled with beans, rice, chicken, beef. steak… I think it could feed a small country.
I like it ok, just isn’t my «go to» Mexican choice!

Never eat there… it will open up more space for us when we go :)
Seriously, we have gone there to eat since they opened and were a little one room resturant. Even today– Best staff, best food, BEST SALSA. We drive almost an hour to eat there. Fantastic.

Trini’s is a great great place to eat. Every time I think of Trinis I can almost taste that white cheese they have. It is awesome. Very good personal service, they’re very involved in supporting the local community, and wonderful prices!

I’ve heard nothing but good things about DTMJ aka Trini’s.
The starter of chips and salsa are at best average, normal bulk white chips with a average salsa.
We got queso as an appetizer, average tasting — reminded us of valveta and salsa mix.
The tacos were also average, store bought shells, rice, beans. Nothing that really set them apart from other Mexican restaurants. For the area some of the best food you can get however.
overall, I would go back if I were in the area. No special trips just for DTMJ though.

I had dinner at Trini’s tonight what a great little place right downtown Sparta. It was about 6:30 and they were plenty busy which is a great thing to see. They said we had about a 10 min wait we were in before that. The service staff was friendly and made being busy look easy. Thursday is all you can eat taco night and they looked good. I had a burrito called the BIG NASTY it was indeed big full of chicken, beef, rice, beans and so on I bet it was a good 12in long and close to two pounds. Big portions and good food If I’m in the area I’ll make a point of going back.

Having lived on the U.S.-Mexican border for 8 years and eaten in Juarez a zillion times, I am always on the lookout for fabulous Mexican food here in Michigan. People have raved about Trini’s to me often, and I finally made it up there last night. We got there a bit after six, and were seated within a few minutues. I was pretty surprised since we had a group of six and it was a Saturday night. There were about a dozen people waiting when we left around 7:30pm.
I asked for the «hot» salsa with the chips, and a side order of guacamole. The guacamole was bland, but homemade with nice chunks of avocado in it. The salsa was pretty tasty, though not really hot. it had a little kick though. The chips were just… chips.
I ordered the bean burrito, after asking what the refried bean filling was refried in (i.e. what kind of oil). I was surprised to hear that they are fat free — bonus! My husband ordered the Big Nasty burrito, which is a massive concoction of beef, chicken, rice, and perhaps beans covered in sauce and cheese. My tablemates ordered the fajita burrito and chicken fajitas (3 ordered fajitas). I was surprised that the fajitas came out on a plate rather than a sizzling skillet, and the amount of meat seemed kind of skimpy compared to other area restaurants. All of them liked the food though. My dh liked his burrito, but said the chicken half was much better than the beef.
I liked my burrito, though I ate only about ¹⁄₃ of it before I was really full. I had ordered the mini, but there was nothing mini about it. I wish I’d ordered the green chicken enchiladas though, because the burrito was nothing special really.
I’d try Trini’s again and order something more adventurous. The service was friendly and quick. The three flies buzzing on the window next to us added a note of ick, but my dh dispatched them with my napkin. Let’s hope they don’t often have buzzy visitors.

I am always in «PURSUIT» of Solid Mexican or Tex– Mex Food.
well my pursuit was conquered Saturday Night in, Sparta Michigan
I was visiting friends in Rockford, MI and we thought Mexican food sounded Great. Ed said we could eat in Rockford as that Mexican Restaurant was good, But the food at TRINIS was Great
why settle for good, when GREAT is available ?
So we took the 13 minute drive Northwest to Sparta, arrived at 6:30 pm and the place was jumping & packed.
the hostess said it would be 45 minutes to seat our group of 6
Note:
I normally do not stand in line & wait for food at any restaurant
BUT, the smell was that good & watching the plates shoot out of the kitchen, we had to stay.
TRINIS gets bonus points for handling a crowd
we were down on the list, but in front of us was a group of
10
6
2
2
4
and we were promptly seated at 7:10 [ not bad ]
Ryan was our server and he truly did a A+ effort, plus Baliey, she kept us knee deep in both salsa’s & chips and removing stray plates
The Owner even stopped by to deliver food & fetch refills
I ordered the Big Nasty Burrito
Trini’s Big Nasty — Over stuffed with seasoned steak, marinated chicken, taco meat, beans, rice, lettuce and tomato; topped with burrito sauce, and mounds of melted cheese.
8.99
+Jalapenos & extra Cilantro, per Ryans Recommendation
A++
the very first time in my life that I did not, could not finish my food
I ate ¹⁄₃ of it & took the rest home
notice the $ 8.99 price
Wow factor HUGE!
$ 4.50 for Margaritas
and they have a All you Can eat Taco Night on Thursdays, with a Taco Wall of Fame
current record 39 TACOS
check out there menu
I am now looking forward to future trips in the Grand Rapids Area!