Las Mananitas Mexican Restaurant

3 star was def not appropriate– it truly deserves a higher rating!!! Great food great service, great drinks !! Great time all around!!!

Overall, this is a nice place to grab so margaritas (they have pitchers: p) The food is a bit underwhelming but the service is good. I’ve been back a few times and it’s totally worth it for those margarita pitchers!

Best margaritas in the city, hands down. The food is above average, while some of the specials are amazing. Service is always top notch. I’m a regular and have been for 12+ years… there are not many places I can say that about.

Best Margaritas in Chicago! The steak tacos were awesome and the refried beans have an awesome flavor. This is a must when you are near Wrigley

Food is great. I haven’t been here in over ten years but today the service wasn’t so good. Maybe it’s just the day, I’ll be back again to confirm that. Either way I come to eat so I base my opinion on the food first.

This is a has-​been restaurant that’s been around for ever. For all those years, it’s just been o.k. Today I stopped in at about 2:00 for something to eat. There were TWO other customers in the entire restaurant, and I have to say that service SUCKED big time. Really? Leave your customers sit and ignore them when there a total of THREE in the entire place?

Oh man, I want to really love this place and the food is solid (from one past experience), but the SERVICE… the service totally lets me down. I came here recently with my partner and two guests from out of town. Granted that we visited on a Friday night when the place was full but we were seated promptly and then the disappointment. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. A full half hour and not even one waiter came by to see how we were doing or take our order. Seriously? At that point I was just sticking around to see if someone, anyone would take our order. Alas… nothing. Thirty five minutes later and we were out the door, not even a goodbye. Needless to say, won’t be back here again. Plenty of other places in the neighborhood that will acknowledge us.

Sad to say, no one comes here for the food! For a town rife with Mexican food, you can get better over on Clark Street in Rogers Park. Food is usually tasteless, and not hot — what we come for? The pitchers of Margaritas and to watch other gay men. So, for that let’s give it an Amen, but the food? Nah! Service — slow, slow, slow — ate dinner here last week, same thing — great drinks, blah food.

Basically the service was slow and the food was not good. I couldn’t even finish my food. I munched on the chips instead maybe I’m too critical since I am Mexican and I know what good Mexican food tastes like. Regardless my experience was ehhh.

We have come here a few times, and last night was the last night that we will return to this place. The food is good, although last nights was just above lukewarm. The service was really bad, the server was not rude in anyway, but very lax in providing refills of drinks or chips, and also salsa. Both my water and soda ran empty, and I ask for more salsa, and did not receive any. The restaurant was not busy, but I did notice that if you were not a table of 6 or more, you were ignored!
Very disappointed! With the many dining options out there, we will take our dining dollars elsewhere… Good bye Las Mananitas… its been fun, its been real, but it has not been real fun!

Straight up– the Mexican food here sucks.
We dropped for a quick bite before going out, but knew we wanted something lighter than the usual burrito. So we ordered a few things: guac, chicken quesadillas, and the queso fundido. The guac was pricy and SMALL… we maybe had one bowl of chips to go with it before it was all gone. The chicken quesadillas were forgettable, and the queso cooled down WAY too fast where the cheese became stale. My mentee, who is a huge queso fan, was definitely not impressed.
However…
What you come here for are the stiff margaritas and quick access to all the other crazy places you’ll find here in Boystown! A large margarita ($ 36+) can be shared between 3 – 4 people, or by yourself of course. They were delicious and strong, so we were all prepared to get hammered esp when the food couldn’t save it.
So what have we learned? Food is meh. Margaritas are EYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

This place absolutely blew. Two other parties that sat after us got their food before us. We asked for a Diet Coke that never came. When my meal finally arrived, the rice was cold. The waiter was incompetent
Never again. Stay as far away from this place as possible.

I love this place. It’s one of only a few Mexican restaurants we frequent. I like the food here, I like the service here. The food has always been served quickly and we are usually in and out within an hour. The queso fundido is insanely delicious. I like their chips and salsa a lot too!

I was disappointed with our visit here. The servers were certainly friendly, but everything took forever. They took our order and drinks quickly, but after that it all slowed to a snail’s pace. They warned us, as we were ready to order, that it would take about 45 minutes to get our food because the kitchen was slow. At that point we had already been seated and made our selections, so we stayed.
Well, they weren’t lying, after our waiter disappeared it took every bit of 45 minutes, if not longer. But I figured, my meal was about $ 15 for a burrito so that, coupled with the cooking time, made me think that it would at least be amazing food. It wasn’t. My food was barely hot and the burrito was just as generic Mexican as any other — just over-​priced and slow. I would have much rather gone to Chipotle, paid $ 8 out the door, and had a much more impressive meal…(and would have been spared that terrible artwork, haha).
The Margarita sure was delicious though! I probably won’t be back, unless I was oddly craving another of their house margarita.

Great experience for my husband and my date night! This is a local neighborhood favorite for many, always busy and fun atmosphere. The staff is so friendly and attentive. Get the pitcher of margaritas, quesadilla appetizer, enchiladas roja, and chimichanga Cancun. Mmm!!! Be back soon, they have patio seating for summer!

I thought this place was fine. My boyfriend and I were craving mexican food so we came here one night. They seated us right away, and our food also came very fast. The food was great-​no problems there. The wait staff was slightly absent but they were PACKED so I understand. It wasn’t enough to sour our experience, we got what we wanted, and again our food was timely so that’s really all that matters. Everyone was friendly, and the place was clean and decorated fun!
I would say, give it a try :)

The Mexican food was good, the margaritas were great, and the waitstaff was horrible. I don’t know if they forgot about us, or what the case was, but seeing as how we were sitting there for at least 20 min with no one coming to take our order I’m going to pass on this place in the future.
Besides the margaritas, there wasn’t anything special enough to make me recommend it or come back.

I have been a regular at Mananitas for a long time like so many.
The food, if you stray beyond tacos and burritos, is really good. And the lime margaritas pack a punch!
I am updating my review, however, as the service here now varies greatly. There are several fine servers but if you get the wrong one, the experience is sure to disappoint. What is more disappointing is that management knows this and doesn’t hold the poor servers accountable.
I don’t say this easily but the service here needs to improve and focus on the customer. Or this customer will try other places more frequently.

From the outside this place looks like your everyday neighborhood Mexican restaurant. And it is, in a sense, based on its location in Boystown. Have some frozen margaritas, enjoy some typical Mexican food, and head out to the bars and clubs. Right?
Wrong. This place is a destination in itself. It serves some first-​class regional Mexican cuisine, alongside the typical Mexican dishes everyone seems to like. Seafood is impressive. There is tilapia with guajillo peppers. The firm white fish is cooked perfectly, and sits on a layer of olive oil infused with black peppers, mild and sweet. A heap of roasted garlic is sliced and stacked on top of the fish, along with rings of grilled peppers and cilantro. The dish was beautiful to look at and full of flavor. Another winner was a special one night – red snapper fillets steamed in foil with onions and olives. Brought to the table in the tin foil package and then opened, the fish was swimming in a well seasoned sauce. This type of presentation is something you don’t often see in restaurants today. Another great dish is shrimp veracruzana – 6 large butterflied shrimp sauteed perfectly and served in a tangy tomato, onion and olive sauce.
I also have to mention the guacamole – creamy, smooth, almost a purée, it’s delicious and addictive. By contrast, the nachos are completely forgettable. I think this is the message at Las Mananitas – order something special and unfamiliar that the chef is promoting and chances are you will be pleased. Order something ordinary and it’s hit or miss.
The main dining room has low lights and is well decorated. The waiter introduced himself after dinner, which is cool, as opposed to before dinner, which is lame. Service is friendly and efficient, except on weekends when things get hectic. In my book, this place is hard to beat for regional Mexican cuisine. Thanks to Phil for turning me on to this place.

I don’t know who the lightweight is that said «a pitcher of margarita’s will make a group of 4 tipsy» but I don’t agree. Granted, I don’t remember much about my meal after ordering a pitcher for 2 of us, but one sip of that fresh lime juice and you’ll be hooked. Did we order 2 pitchers or just 1? Who can remember?
Besides a weakness for margarita’s, I also have an obsession with chips and salsa. When they’re put in front of me, I can’t NOT eat them. When they’re on it (like Las Mananitas is) on refilling them, I might as well not even order an entrée. Excellent salsa. not your typical pico that is usually served. No sir, this had some excellent flavor to it!
My entrée was a trio of chicken street tacos. I really think lime, chicken and cilantro go well together, so these suckers were devoured in minutes.
I’ll be back. especially for the margarita!