Guadalajara

Food is ok, salsa is good but could use more spice, chips are ok but could be better. Corn tortillas are good, beans are good.
Bathrooms are always clean.
margaritas need more love. Waiters need to learn to multi-​task and to have knowledge of the menu. Most of the male waiters are rude. Management needs improvement.
Windows seats are old and uncomfortable.

This place is decent. Nothing particularly fantastic about it — the food was fairly average as Mexican cuisine goes. It did seem a bit on the pricey side compared to many other Mexican restaurants I’ve been at. Although there is nothing too bad about it, there’s nothing too great either. A standard affair…

We came here with a group of about 35 and the service was excellent despite showing up without reservation and being a rather loud group. The chips and salsa were excellent.
The food was pretty good. Nothing great. A bit mushy.
The prices were good and they even were able to split up multiple checks.
Like I said, excellent service with pretty good food. Would return.

This is one of your typical kitschy Mexican atmosphere places, but it was a very good one! Generous portion sizes for somewhat reasonable prices and the food tasted amazing! I got the cheese dip (queso) and that was also great. I saw in the menu that additional baskets of chips after the first cost a dollar each, which is surprising as most Mexican places have it as unlimited. I only ate the first, but I’m sure if there were more of us we would’ve had to pony up a few extra bucks for chips. Service was quick and painless, but I also went very early Sunday dinner. Will be back again.

Great food, great prices. Best consistent/​authentic Mexican in CVille. Service can be slow during the off hours but that negative is far outweighed by all of the positives.

The Carnitas Special offer tender pork, Pico de gallo and roasted green opinions. The salsa is flavored with garlic and wonderful. Ground beef Burritos are oh so flavorful.

We had a busy day so hubby went to Guadalajara for take out. He had his usual, the enchilada supreme, which he loves. I tried the Burrito California for the first time and I was not disappointed. I had it with chicken, which was moist and tender. I loved the sauce! I wish they delivered, but since hubby volunteered to fetch it, I’m a happy camper.

Good food, decent prices. I will come back. The waiter was slow and forgot things. I ordered the combination 18 and it’s a large plate for the price.

Can’t say enough about this place. Just a good, family-​run business with friendly employees and dang good food. I have been here LITRALLY over 1,000 times so anyone throwing less than 4 stars at this place should not be taken seriously. It is something I am willing to physically fight over. Honestly if you’re writing one star reviews, lets get to steppin’.

Veg quesadilla good. Menu said Special mexico incl. beans/​rice, waiter rudely insisted no. Another waiter said no problem. Forgot soup. Not busy but credit card gone 10 min. Still, seated quickly and food good. Price reasonable.

Employees were nice enough. Food was good. Our order got mixed up for both apps and main course. Seems to be understaffed.

Pretty average Mexican food, but you get a large portion size for the price and excellent service.
I have a complicated relationship with Mexican food — namely, I tend to think all dishes taste pretty much the same. That’s how I felt about Guadalajara II — a perfectly serviceable Mexican chain restaurant, with a large diverse menu, reasonable prices, excellent happy hour prices, great service, and kitschy Mexico-​themed décor.
I ordered the Chimichanga Soft ($ 8.95), which came with two flour tortillas filled with beef tips and topped with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese and guacamole along with an order of beans. It wasn’t bad — the portion size was massive, and the ingredients were all tasty and fresh. However, I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between this and other food on the menu that the other people in my group received. We also ordered the Queso dip ($ 4), which was far too runny.
Overall, a very average Mexican restaurant that gets the fundamentals correct and nothing more. If you want a lot of cheap food and cheap drinks, Guadalajara II is the ideal place for you.

Chile relleno all dayyyyyyyyy
Beautiful decorations, food is delicious and gets to the table quickly, lots of food for a good price.

I might have reviewed this before but I don’t think I have. Basing this off of recent visits here including my most recent one on 10÷15÷14.
I always order the same thing from a Mexican restaurant: a few enchilada’s, rice, and a taco that’s included and of course chow down on the chips and salsa.
I only go to any Gudalajara now if someone else is paying. I refuse to waste my own money here. If someone else likes it and wants to pay then I go to enjoy their company. So this most recent time my mother treated my older sister and I plus Guadlajara has a coupon in the Attractions coupon book for $ 5 off two combination dinner.
The enchilada beef is ALWAYS bland even with salt and my most recent visit my taco tasted stale. Not crunchy like a hard taco should be. The dinner my sister ordered included a taco as well and she said hers was stale too. I should have sent it back but the waitress was very nice and she was super attentive so I didn’t want to seem like a rude customer. They always seem to be busy when I eat at this one so maybe I’m ordering the wrong thing but I’ve had the same meal at other Mexican restaurants and hadn’t had this problem. At least the rice tasted okay.
Pros: FRIENDLY waitress and VERY attentive, free drink refills (I remember seeing a few years ago that they charge. I go through at least two glass fulls of soda with almost any meal), brought out a mild salsa when I asked, chips and salsa were good, and the soda mixes/​syrups were fine. I hate the taste of soda when the syrup has run out and they haven’t replaced the box yet, and food didn’t take long to come out.
Cons: stale tacos, bland meat, overrated.

I have eaten at this Guadalajara twice before. The service is fine — our waitress the second time was very friendly and cheerful. The décor is also very warm and festive. However, the food here is just not as good compared to all of the other Mexican restaurants I have eaten at in Charlottesville. The meat in particular in the burrito I ordered last time was a bit chewy and blander than what I had hoped for. The vegetable fajitas that I ordered on my first visit were definitely better, but still slightly below average. Other Mexican restaurants in town are much more deserving of your time and money than this one.

This place is very much of a time. The service is prompt and friendly, there’s some good veggie options, but local meat just ain’t happening here, and those with funky diets are going to have a hard time. If you want a good experience with a locally owned Mexican style restaurant and a fun atmosphere, this is a fine choice.

Ordered fish tacos to go. I walked in unsure where to pick up my order and asked the hostess who told me to ‘wait over there” and pointed. So I did. 20 minutes later, someone walked up to me and asked if I ordered some fish tacos. I said, «Yes.» She said, «Well you should let someone know you’re here; they’ve been sitting here for some time.» I wasn’t in the mood to get into it, so I didn’t say anything. Got home — the fish tacos were deep fried, breaded, value-​style grocery store frozen fish cut into thirds shoved inside of very small store bought tortillas. No filling other than that. I got a small container of lettuce/​cilantro, and a small salsa container. Tasted as bad as it looked. How Guadalajara wins best Mexican in Charlottesville is beyond me. Maybe management should walk across the street to El Tepeyac and see how it’s supposed to be done.

We had dinner there. Sunday night, middle of the evening. Busy, good friendly service. Gaudy, fun surroundings. I ordered one of my Mexican restaurant favorites, carnitas. My wife ordered the vegetarian quesadilla.
First out came the chips and salsa; the chips were fine, no hint of sogginess; the salsa was great. It had bite and that great cilantro fresh flavor. The carnitas plate included beans (good, nothing special), salad (fresh, tasty), guacamole (good), a few fried (?) green onions that were tasty, a jalapeño (mild jalapeño) and the cooked pork which was plentiful, nicely spiced and moist. As you can see the plate offered a variety of flavors to complement the pork. I enjoyed it immensely. My wife liked her quesadilla, which was much larger than she’s used to.
For the quality we had I feel the price was right, too.
I don’t know when I’ll be back this way but when I am I hope I remember to get back to Guadalajara 2.

I was in Charlottesville, Virginia for a conference and I took the time to explore the local cuisine. I hadn’t really planned to, but when is saw this unassuming Mexican restaurant near my hotel, I felt compelled to try it out.
I searched Google high and low for any information I could about the restaurant, but only came up with reviews and references — no official website. The up side to this is that all of the reviews I came across raved about the food, drinks and service; people seem to like this place and it’s got a lot of repeat customers. (They do have a website,
)
The most striking thing about the restaurant is, as I mentioned before, how unassuming it appears from outside. I really expected it to be completely empty, with its staff sitting around doing nothing. I was shocked to walk inside the brightly appointed dining room to see a good sized crowd inside. I went around 5:30 pm, which probably explains why the hostess was able to seat me immediately (score 2 points for beating the dinner crowd). The interior of the restaurant, which you can see from above, is completely the opposite of what I expected. It features brick and lime green walls, which are covered in paintings. The seat backs are adorned with brightly, hand-​painted tropical-​themed cutouts for headrests. I appreciated that the dining room was spacious; it’s easy for places to fill the space instead of letting folks enjoy the openness.
On to the food. When I was seated, the waiter brought out some freshly fried tortilla chips and a small container of salsa with a bowl so I could pour it myself. The chips were delicious, and the salsa had a nice kick to it without being overpowering. I also opted for a small mango margarita since one website raved about them. Sadly, I was disappointed because the mango flavor was too delicate and borderline unnoticeable. I would have been more pleased if it were a plain margarita.
The expansive menu was a strength and a drawback. I can appreciate a place that offers many options, but there is a thin line between that and too much. It took me a while to look at the entire menu, but I finally settled on a combination dinner of an beef enchilada and chicken tamal (e), which were served with refried beans and rice. In a word, it was delicious! Everything was flavorful and you could tell it was handmade (with love). I’m a huge fan of Mexican food and when I order out, I typically get chicken enchiladas and pork tamales, so I was skeptical. But I loved the combination and new textures. There really isn’t much more that needs to be said about the food — it’s very tasty.
The service was wonderful. From the second I walked in until the moment I left, I felt tended to without being hovered over. The prices were pretty good, too. I spent $ 18 for the entire meal and gratuity and felt it was worth every penny.

My first time to go out to eat in Charlottesville was at this restaurant with my mother two years ago, and boy were we disappointed. We shared a plate of nachos, that were soggy and well, not appetizing. Due to the cheap prices, I have gone there a number of times with friends, and each time left feeling full at best. The only thing I can that is good here, is the queso, which is really hard to mess up!!!
I am embarrassed that so many Virginians think this is decent Mexican food. It’s not even Tex-​Mex! Sadly, out of all of the Mexican places I have tried in Charlottesville, Guad comes the closest to traditional Tex-​Mex cuisine. I have tried Continental Divide, and Mono Loco, and was met with an only slightly less disappointing meal, albeit significantly more expensive. If you are looking for Mexican/​Tex-​Mex, Charlottesville is not your city!

After reading many a Unilocal!review, I have to say my expectations were low, but I really just wanted my in-​authentic Mexican American dinner, complete with a Margarita and chips/​salsa on the table and this location delivered!
I had a ‘new’ menu item (or so it said in the description) — the burrito de carnitas! It was filled with carnitas, rice and black beans, served with fresh salsa + guacamole. Hubs had one of the combo meals and enjoyed his, too.
We decided to get sopapilas for dessert and were not disappointed.
The service was fast and friendly and we had a very nice experience.

I don’t go to this Guadalajara location often simply because of geography, but it’s as good as the others. Extensive menu. Priced right. Fast service. Great food. And they have Negra Modello. What more could you want?