El Bajio — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

We wanted to try a different Mexican restaurant on our visit here. It is authentic as far as we can tell. However, it was not a great dining experience.

We came in and were greeted in a very friendly manner, so that was awesome. We were told to sit wherever we like, so we did. And then we waited and waited and waited. Finally we asked for some menus.

Those were given to us promptly, and our drink order was taken, and I ordered some queso to have with the chips. The waitress then came and took our order for our food about 5 minutes later. Then she brought our drinks, and it had been probably 10 to 15 minutes since I had ordered the queso dip.

My husband was chowing down on the chips with the salsa. I had to ask her about the queso dip, and she said, "Oh yeah," and went to go get it. They brought us some more chips, which was fabulous.

My husband complained that there was hardly any flavor to the chip dip, and it was not the least bit spicy. The queso dip was very runny, and bland. It tasted as if it had been watered down with a flour-based roux. It had kind of a pasty flavor and did not exactly taste like cheese. So that right there was not lovely.

When our food came, it initially looked fabulous. I was really impressed that they put a decent-sized glob of sour cream on top of my salad instead of the little teaspoon that a lot of restaurants provide. So that was awesome.

I started mixing up my salad ingredients to eat them. The menu had not said anything about there being onions and green peppers cooked in with the meat. It was put in the bottom of the taco shell for the taco salad. I'm allergic to Green peppers, so I proceeded to have to pick all of those out of the salad. That's not necessarily something I would ding the star rating for, because that's my own personal issue. However, when they had put in the sauteed meat and vegetables, they included a whole lot of liquid. So the bottom of the taco shell was a swimming pool.

As I proceeded eating, of course the bottom of the taco shell got soggy and started leaking. I always hate when that happens! Not to mention, it's no fun to eat when you get down towards the bottom and everything is sloppy, drippy wet.

The flavor of the food in our main dishes, however, was excellent!

My husband and I both agreed, we will probably not return to this restaurant, because the whole experience seemed rather lackadaisical, and there was no attentiveness to the customers, the details of the dish or in the service. Not to mention having pasty flavored queso is not something I look forward to in a Mexican restaurant!

Overall, It's not bad food. So you may enjoy this restaurant more than we did, and I don't think you would be highly disappointed in your experience. We've just had better, and so we will try some other Mexican restaurant next to go around.

I'm looking for a perfect place that serves those perfect thinly crispy chips along with some really great tasting queso, and has great food. Excellent service is icing on the cake. Unfortunately, this was not what I personally was looking for. When I find that perfect, local Mexican restaurant, I'll post a...

I have lived in Athens for 4 years now, and this place is my all-time favorite!! My girlfriend, and I go here religiously every Tuesday for Taco Tuesday, but we have tried everything else on their menu, and have never been disappointed!!! Coming from South Florida I can say that this is truly authentic, and one of a kind I hope you all take the advice, and give it a try!!! It's a family-owned and operated business and they make you feel special every time you walk...

We are visiting Athens for the first time today, knowing that it's Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, and most of Athens population is out of town. We did basic Google search for best Mexican restaurants in Athens, and this one came up first. We couldn't agree more! It's very clean, food was delicious and fresh, and service was prompt and friendly. It's a small place off the beaten path, and we were skeptical at first, but were...