Los Girasoles

Very good Mexican food, friendly service, clean, and cute interior. I do think the prices are a bit steep but prime location in Buena Vista.

Budget conscious: stay away from the margaritas, good but out of town pricey!
Seems like there is no difference between burritos and enchiladas. Interesting…
Locals, stay away! Your business is not welcome.
The waitress Zonia was nice. The manager Victoria… Can’t say that much.
So long amigos!

I stop here several times a year on the way to other destinations. The quality of their food is consistently high, and service is always stellar!

Poor poor excuse for a Mexican restaurant. Tried a few tacos (ground beef and shredded beef) that were okay at best. A side of ref ride beans, again just barely okay. 2 margaritas that HAD to be made with powdered Tang and maybe a drop of tequila. The best thing they have going is really good salsa which you can purchase there. Did have a delightful waitress

Ever on the lookout for good Mexican food in BV, we finally found the place! Excellent food — best pollo asado ever, huge portions… Highly recommend!

The place is fine. Nothing special. Flies everywhere. Not well staffed. The food is edible.

we were a hungry group of 4 coming from Denver. we couldn’t decide between Coyote or this restaurant despite the reviews. since there was more cars parked at Los Grilasoles we felt more confident in this selection. the service was legit. all of us were very satisfied with our plates, and the recommended tequila shot was smooth. the reason for not giving 5 stars is because the food prices was a bit pricey. however the house margs were descent and gave me a buzz.

Salsa is to die for! Stopped on te way to a speech an debate meet and it was the best idea! Service for when you sit is bad but I got mine to go and it was good. Very good salsa!!!

We hate to write a bad review, but felt compelled to save anyone else who is actually looking for good food some trouble!
First off… place was busy, we thought that was a good sign. Also run by Mexicans. Yet another good sign right? Well… not so much. One of us made a comment at the table about the fact that the staff seemed so somber. Now after eating the food we have our suspicions as to why… this is absolutely the worst «mexican» food ever.
Absolutely the most bland flavorless low grade mexican food we have ever had. Taco bell would be a step up. We think the reason everyone is so somber there is because they have to know they are selling food they would never eat. Nothing for them as Mexicans to be proud of, that is for sure.
This appears to be more of a case where they have a contract with some low cost provider where they have a pre printed menu and food items that they just heat in the back. I would be surprised to find out if they are actually making any of this.
There is sincerely nothing positive we can say about any of our experience other than it provided a few laughs at just how bad a restaurant can be and still pack the place full. Poor tourists passing by to be severely disappointed!

I can’t comment on the quality of the food here, because we were ignored for too long and had to walk out.
On a recent trip home from the Sand Dunes, we were starving and decided to stop in BV for lunch.
We walked in to Los Girasoles and stood at the hostess desk. And waited. And waited. One waiter repeatedly avoided eye contact with us and we couldn’t get his attention. So we waited some more. We awkwardly thought maybe we were supposed to seat ourselves, and then a gruffy host came over and sat us outside.
As soon as we sat down, he left. No offers to bring water, etc. After another 10 minutes, someone threw some chips and salsa down on our table and again, walked away before we could ask for anything to drink.
We looked around at the other tables which had flies on them and had clearly not been bussed for too long. It’s really unappetizing to look at other people’s messy plates just sitting there.
The menu looked good, so we quickly decided and closed our menu– signaling we were ready to order. Still no one.
Another family came in and sat down. And they waited. And walked out.
We waited about 15 minutes after being brought our chips and salsa (still no waters or someone to take our drink/​food order). So we walked out, hangry and annoyed.
During the course of our wait, I saw two other families that were ignored for so long they also left. What terrible service! I’ll also add this was Labor day weekend when it should be a no-​brainer to have extra staff on hand. Won’t be back!

Stopped for a quick bite on our way from a day in Leadville. Service was great and fast the food good. We enjoyed the chips and salsa. Nothing was over powering, each item had it’s own flavor. They have fried ice cream. It was good but I have tasted better.

Terrible service right from the start. The interior was nice, very family oriented setting. The restaurant was open till 10pm we arrived around 8pm and it felt as if the place was closing up. No host was present to greet us and we were yelled at from across the room to pick any seat. The price was fine $ 10 a plate. The chorizo was horrid, probably the farthest thing from chorizo I’ve ever eaten. The enchilada was bland and the chalupa pretty much fell apart into pieces the second you touched it. I wouldn’t recommend eating here, maybe stay away from the Mexican food all together in Buena Vista.

Came to BV for vacation. Was told by our BnB host this was a solid place for Mexican. There was a «help wanted» sign outside so we figured the service might be slow. Not only was the service pretty bad but the food was bad as well. Salsa was really mediocre despite the other reviews. We ordered the chipotle burrito and the mole burrito. The mole was seriously bland. No taste of cocoa at all. The chipotle was overpowering to my girlfriend but since I’m Korean and very used to spice, I didn’t feel it was too powerful. Just lacking in flavor compared to heat. Will definitely be coming back to BV but for sure, will not be coming back here.

Pleasant surprise. Service was good once we got started but food was awesome. Love the salsa and chips. Authentic and fresh

Finding good Mexican food is tough in BV. But I think we finally found a decent place that I wouldn’t mind returning to (considering my other options).
First thing I noticed when we walked in was a sign toward the back saying you can buy their salsa by the jar. So it must be incredibly popular. Fresh cut tomatoes, onions and spices. I really liked it.
The menu was extensive. You have more of a problem of figuring out just what you want rather than what you don’t want. I ended up having the super burrito. It didn’t knock my socks off but was a solid basic burrito, which is saying a lot in this town. The rice and beans were marginal. I think next time I would venture off of the «typical» Mexican dishes and try some of their entrees. We saw another table who had order entrees and they looked great.
As other people have pointed out online that they usually have a margarita special, we got two house margaritas for $ 5.95. How on earth do you beat that. And they were good margaritas and even passed mustard with my mom (who is a margarita aficionado).
The environment gets a 1 from me. It’s basically a big room with bad carpeting and cafeteria style tables and chairs. It was pretty bland and bad to say the least. It would be nice to see a welcoming décor but it’s just not happening.

Very fast service! Good food, but not great. More traditional than the tex-​mex I’m used to. Lunch specials are about $ 7. Great salsa! In an old fast food building, but clean & the bathrooms are clean.

Not a shabby Mexican place for a small town.
I love their tamales and chicken tacos. (The #7 lunch combo is one of each with rice & beans and a bowl of chips & salsa.)
The ambiance is on the ugly side. Staff is kind and competent. A solid choice if you’re driving through.

My friend and I stopped in a couple of weeks ago, all because we decided to take a road trip at the last minute.
Having lived in a couple of other states that are famous for their Mexican food, I’m rather critical. Still * by Colorado Mountain Standards * this was some solidly decent food. The margaritas were excellent and available in different sizes. I found the salsa to be more similar to pico de gallo, but it was still quite tasty. The chile con queso was actually made using real cheese, which we appreciated. My dinner, consisting of a chile rellano and a tamale, were both solidly good, though falling shy of great. The red chile tasted remarkably similar to the Hatch Red Enchilada Sauce I keep in the pantry, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it could have tasted a bit more homemade. Still, I know that many decent restaurants used Hatch and Old El Paso, both of which are perfectly fine. I had wanted to try the Chicken Molé, but they were out of that the day we were there.
If you’ve had Mexican food from San Antonio or Santa Fe, you’ll pretty much find any Mexican food in Colorado to be substandard. Still, you’ll be perfectly happy getting any meal from Los Girasoles, especially when considering you’re in the rural mountains.

Being from southern California I’m a little critical of my Mexican food. So far Colorado has let me down in this department, with the exception Los Girasoles (still not as good as CA, but it’s the best I’ve found so far in CO). The restaurant is family run and originally began in Salida. The location in Buena Vista is their second restaurant. The salsa is flavorful without being too hot. My family has been coming here for years and we’ve yet to have anything that wasn’t good. The staff is mostly family still and they remember the regulars.

Food was pretty good. No horchata. I was in the mood for horchata… Friendly staff.