Monterrey Restaurant LLC — Restaurant in Abilene

I hate to do this, but people need to know how bad this place is. I am a pretty heavy person. I am known by my wife and kids as the "Human Garbage Disposal" because I eat everything on my plate and all their left overs too. Actually I was raised poor and taught it was wasteful to leave food on your plate. I have eaten everything from monkeys to piranhas and enjoyed it. Needless to say, I am not a picky eater. My wife did not eat breakfast and about lunch we wanted some authentic Mexican Caldo De Res. We were on our way to another restaurant when I spotted the Monterey Restaurant. It looked like a hole in the wall place and that is what I like (Not a chain restaurant person), so we pulled in. My first warning that we were in for a huge disappointment was when the chips and salsa came. The chips were okay, but my first taste of the salsa and I was like "yuck!" It tasted like it was made out of canned stewed tomatoes. I mean I had to stir it around a bit (very watery) to even find a piece of cilantro. I understand that some Americans don't like real salsa and some restaurants serve the bland mild stuff for this reason, so I asked the waitress if they had any spicier salsa. Nope! I have never been to a Mexican restaurant that did not have a second "Hotter" salsa option. I should have walked out right then, but I wanted to give them a chance, and I was very hungry. Then came the Caldo de Res. Me and my wife took a bite at the same time and saw the look on each other's face. My wife was like' What is that awful taste. We had both bit into the cabbage and it tasted like sauerkraut. Next we tasted the beef. OMG! I almost threw up in my mouth. It tasted like old dried musty meat. Like if you hung strips of beef in a moldy basement for a week before making soup out of it. On my third bit I tasted just the broth. I could detect no other seasoning in it other then a tiny bit of salt. That was it! We got up, paid and left. I am 43 years old and never in my life have I have left a bowl of soup unfinished until today. Three bites was all I could handle. I hope I don't get sick and die from those three bites. When I paid, our waitress asked if everything was okay. I said, "Honestly, it was pretty bad." I thought she might ask me what I did not like about it or call the manager, since we did not eat our food. But no, she just smiled on took our money. This told me that this restaurant does not care that it is producing horrible food and that customers are leaving disgusted. So not only if the food horrible, the service is too. Now you know where not to go if you are in...

The wife and I were driving through Abilene on our way back to Dallas and stopped here for dinner. When I go to a true dine-in restaurant, I expect the food to taste better than a Fast Food drive through. Unfortunately this was not my experience. It started with the chips and queso. Chips were off. They were on the thick side, harder, and darker as if over cooked. Queso tasted like the can it probably came out of. It had zero flavor. Red salsa wasn't bad though. I had a combo platter with a Tamal, chicken enchilada, hard taco, and chili relleno and my wife had the chicken chimichanga plate. The flavor of everything was just bland. It all blended together. Even eating the taco first, the bottom had already gone soft and lost it's crunch. The Chicken Enchilada was dry chicken inside a rubbery corn tortilla under the same tasteless queso. The Tamal and Relleno were slightly better as they had some actual cheese over the top. All 3 were pretty small...about the size of a hot dog. The Chimichanga was weird. It was fried with the sour cream and pico de gallo on the inside rather than offered on the top or the side. The chicken was sparse and definitely not the primary flavor or ingredient as you would expect. The rice, was ok..but again, lacking in any distinctive flavor. There was also an excessive amount of shredded lettuce on the plate...presumably to cover up bare spots. It didn't really have any function other than to hold a small dollop of guacamole.

The staff were all friendly and nice, and mostly engaged. The place was older, but clean and presentable. Tables were not crowded together. It took our server a long time to bring our check as she was standing and talking to another table about some of her family drama for about 10-12 minutes. Prices were fairly reasonable, especially when the food size was as small as it was. The food just left us both unsatisfied, wishing we had driven through Taco Bueno or Taco Cabana, or decided to do...

The Monterrey Restaurant is a hidden gem of an old time diner-style restaurant in Abilene. The food is always excellent and the longtime consistency of the fare is uncanny. The Monterrey just delivers great food to your table visit after visit. Located at 3310 North 10th Street (North 10th & Willis), the Monterrey is convenient. The staff is always polite and the service fast. You want some excellent Tex-Mex? Well, the Monterrey has it! While the food is good, the best part is the price. Three people can eat a full breakfast for $15. Yeah, really. Three people can eat lunch or dinner for less than $20. When you want real Mexican food, made from scratch by folks who know Mexican food, you owe it to yourself to head over to the...