Juanita's Comida Mexicana — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Visit Date: 08/09/23 THE GOOD: Def super cute, and def had a very "welcome home" vibe. A member of the ABQ Foodies page on facebook described it as “…if you don’t have a Mexican grandma, or she lives too far away, this is your spot.” And she wasn’t wrong, it definitely feels like grandmas kitchen. As far as the food, I really enjoyed the rice, great flavor and texture. The beans had good flavor but were super runny/thin. The salsa that came with the chips and salsa for the table had great flavor!

THE REST: I made the mistake of going during lunch. We waited 15 min for a table and sat elbow to elbow, but I think this adds to the feeling of being in someone’s kitchen. The problem is that lunch is so busy that once our order was taken, we waited on food for 45 minutes. So maybe go before or after the lunch rush. I ordered guisado de Bistek Ranchero. The meat was cooked perfectly, tender and juicy. The tomato/Chile Serrano in the bistek added some flavor, but there was no salt/seasoning outside of that. My friend and I split the mole burrito so that we could try the mole sauce, and it definitely did not taste home made. The consistency was off, it was very thin and it tasted very much like canned mole. Again it lacked seasoning/flavor. The most dissapoining part for me was the service. Although the ladies that work here and run the place are very sweet, they only came to our table to take our order and then drop food. That was it. They never returned to check on our table. I had really hoped to ask for corn tortillas to go with my dish, as the plate doesnt come with tortillas. At my abuela's house, there was always corn tortillas. This was not the case at Juanitas. We did everything to get their attention, short of chasing them into the kitchen, and it just didn’t happen.

Overall, I would go back. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't quite Mexican. I'd say 60% of their food is New Mexican (see all of the Green Chile options and Carne Adovada). And New Mexican food is fine when I'm in the mood for that. But labeling this as Comida Mexicana from the motherland is a...

This was our first time trying to eat here yesterday-Saturday . We had been bee-bopping around town and wanted to try a new place to eat. We called this restaurant to make sure they were open as yelp/google shows hours 8am - 3:30pm. We called @ 2:11pm and the lady that answered said they would be open until 2:45pm.

We arrived @2:30pm and as we pulled up i could see movement inside the restaurant and there were couple cars parked there. I went to open the door to go in, and the door is locked. We walked around to the side window and look in and the place is now a ghost town.

It's as if they heard us pull up and scurried to the back to avoid us seeing them inside. I called them and the same lady answered(Juanita?). I asked what happened as i just spoke to her 20 minutes ago and she said "To Go orders only..."

Wait, what??

I suppose restaurants are doing great during corona recovery(think prices $$$) as a few of them dont need to abide by the hours they have listed, hence the closing an hour early....But dont tell someone that calls at 2:11pm that you're closing at 2:45pm and then have the place locked up at 2:30 (twenty minutes later) when they pull up.

I'm sure the food is good, but their Integrity sucks. If they treat potential customers like this, what are they doing with your food behind the kitchen counter before they bring it to you.

First time... LAST TIME here for...

We decided to try a new place for lunch and this was close by. It's a small place with a little parking, but what a little treasure! Homemade chips and salsa at your table, the chips still warm in the basket. My BFF said the salsa was "a little zippy", which means hot in the real world. LOL He got the chicharrones burrito and I chose the 3 rolled cheese enchilada plate. (red on the side) I didn't use much of the red since it had great flavor, but had a punch after a moment. To be fair, my spicy tolerance has lowered, so if yours is average, go for it. The beans were delicious as well. The big surprise was the rice. Layers of seasoning flavor this and I liked it. I normally never like the rice, but this was the first good one I've had. I got the sense this is yummy "grandma-style" cooking. It's only open until 2:45pm, but we'll definitely be back! (I also love those Mexican cokes in the bottle. So...