Ancho & Agave — Restaurant in Bloomington

I was honestly more flabbergasted than I was upset with my first experience here. This is a perfect example of one of those restaurants trying really hard to be “fancy”, but that just ends up feeling super pretentious and pompous more than anything. Besides everything being decently overpriced, the main issue was the food being super misleading. First of all, the salsa for the chips and salsa genuinely tasted like pizza sauce. I still ate it, but that was a little odd. Then, our food came. My “nachos” were quite literally four tostadas stacked on top of each other like pancakes, with the nacho toppings layered in between and on top. I was FLOORED. They were still good, and I ate them all, but I was genuinely shocked that they were calling a stack of layered tostadas “nachos”. And then, my girlfriend’s food came out. One of their specials for the month of May is ceviche. It was $13, which seemed a little too good to be true, and it was. First of all, there were supposed to be mangos in it, which were not present. Second, there was quite literally ONE SHRIMP TAIL in the dish. ONE. And four of five scallops. The rest literally just looked like pico de gallo. Luckily, our server was super nice and she brought out a second order of them, but they unfortunately looked the exact same. I can’t remember if she let my gf keep both orders, but I think she did, so that was nice also. She also informed us that the mangos had not been delivered that day (she was not made aware of this prior) like they were supposed to and that’s why they weren’t there. This was the most upsetting thing about the experience, because my gf’s best friend took us out for my gf’s birthday dinner and it was a poor experience for her. She ordered a taco as well, but she wasn’t full after her dinner due to the sad excuse for “ceviche” with an shockingly small portion size. Luckily, her friend paid for her meal since it was her bday, but still. There are no pictures on the menu (call me a child all you want for wanting to look at pictures, but with how misleading their items are, it seems there’s more to it than just an aesthetic choice) and most, if not all of the “descriptions” of the menu items are just listing ingredients. It seems an awful lot like they don’t want you to know exactly what you’re buying before you spend your money. Definitely not going back here any time soon. I wouldn’t rule it out completely, but it was not a good first experience,...

For all of the focus on the restaurant's sophisticated casual vibe, this place was very underwhelming. The staff needs a significant amount of customer service training and the kitchen staff needs training on how to season food and remove grease from cooked meat. The owners put a lot of attention in the design and decor of the place. The atmosphere is beautiful. But the owners /management have not put nearly enough thought and priority on training and food quality. It's a gorgeously wrapped package filled with mediocrity. We visited for the first time last Saturday. We made reservations on Thursday prior to our visit for a large party. Due to the size of our party, the person who took our reservation said they couldn't make it for 5pm but could put us down for 4:45pm. So we made our reservation for 4:45pm. When we showed up, they tried to seat us at a table for 4 because apparently our reservation was put in for only 4 people. When we explained THEIR mistake, we were met with deer in headlights looks by the young and under trained hostess staff. They talked back and forth to each other, looked at us like we were lying, and fumbled in their attempts to fix the situation. They wouldn't talk to us until I questioned what they discussed and whether we were to follow the girl who just walked away again. They eventually got the manager from the back who came out and gave us the appropriate sized table. Our waitress was attentive but some of our orders didn't make it to us in time and we had to ask a few times for them. The food was ok. Some things were tastier than others. My husband and I ordered tacos, each of us ordered different tacos, and we tried each other's. None of them wowed us for as inventive and interesting as they looked in the pictures and sounded in their descriptions. They weren't bad, they just weren't anything to rave about. They were also very greasey as was my son's beef burrito from the kids menu. I couldn't believe the amount of grease that oozed out of every bite he took. I did enjoy my Mango Habanero Margarita. I would eventually like to try this restaurant again. I hope that the longer they are opened the better they'll get at customer and food service. However, when opening a restaurant, especially if you own another established and successful restaurant, customer and food service should be priority and not as much of a mess it...

​An unforgettable Mexican dining experience in the Midwest is about more than just the food; it's a sensory journey that captures the soul of Mexican culture. Here's a description of that perfect experience, culminating in the best tres leches cake you've ever had.

​The Atmosphere: ​The best Mexican restaurant in the Midwest doesn't try to be a theme park. Instead, it feels like a warm, inviting home. The lighting is soft and ambient, casting a gentle glow on rustic wooden tables. The air is alive with the subtle hum of conversation and a curated playlist of cumbia, mariachi, and boleros, not too loud to be distracting but loud enough to add to the vibrant energy. It's a place where families gather, friends laugh, and you feel immediately at ease.

​The Food (Before Dessert): ​The meal begins not with a bland, pre-packaged basket of chips, but with a warm, crisp, and slightly salty batch, served with a salsa that’s freshly made, with a perfect balance of smoky fire-roasted chiles, tangy lime, and bright cilantro. The guacamole is chunky, not a paste, and has a rich, creamy texture with hints of serrano pepper. ​For the main course, the menu showcases regional specialties, a testament to a chef who truly understands Mexican cuisine beyond the usual Tex-Mex fare. You might order carnitas that have been slow-braised to a tender, juicy perfection, with crispy, caramelized edges. Every dish feels like it was prepared with care and an authentic understanding of flavor profiles.

​The Tres Leches: ​And then, the moment you've been waiting for. The best tres leches cake is a work of art. It arrives perfectly chilled, a square of ethereal sponge cake sitting in a small puddle of milky goodness. The first thing you notice is the texture—not soggy, but impossibly moist. The sponge has soaked up the "three milks" (condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream) with grace, making it incredibly tender and rich without...