Mexican Rock Restaurant — Restaurant in Blowing Rock

This restaurant left a dismissive reply on my previous review, so I decided that maybe I should give the establishment a second shot, since they insisted that prices are fair for the value/quality of food. I want to always be open to the reality that it is possible I went on a bad night where the cooks were overwhelmed and unable to prepare dishes in the best way, so I decided to give this place a second chance while I was meeting with patients in the area.

Sadly, my thoughts remain consistent across both visits: the food here is unseasoned and not well prepared, while simultaneously being WAY overpriced for the area. Yes, portions may be generous, but what's the point if it doesn't taste very good? Boone is a stone's throw away and offers better options that are much more fairly priced.

With that in mind, I will share my original review below again, as nothing has improved between my two visits. In fact, my thoughts are even worse, because there is consistent feedback across reviews that the food quality isn't great, yet it seems the owners want to be defensive with their replies rather than consider reflecting on the constructive feedback being provided.

-----Original Review-----

This restaurant makes for a great gathering spot for dinner with friends or celebrating a special event with family. The atmosphere is extremely inviting, and it's very clean.

My primary reason for not giving this restaurant more than three stars overall is that the food is WAY overpriced for the quality. The menu is admittedly robust and boasts a wide variety of options for both vegetarians and meat eaters, but all items are $4-$8 more expensive than other Mexican (or Tex-Mex) restaurants within a 20 mile radius. And the quality of the food here is NOT necessarily better.

I think if your goal is to dine somewhere for the "vibe" of the restaurant, this place is a winner for group outings or celebrations. But if you're wanting to eat good food that is priced fairly, this shouldn't even be in your top five picks for the area. While the food wasn't horrible by any means, a quesadilla with a small side salad should not be close to $17. Even some very nice Mexican restaurants in Charlotte don't charge this much for something like this, so I'm not sure how the menu for Mexican Rock can be justified given the...

Below is my original review, I returned today for a much better experience by far!!!! I did not however get a margarita. But I can attest to the service and food. The food,....again top notch! The service was outstanding!! Way better! Food came out fast! Our server Francisco was the best waiter we have had anywhere! Great overall experience this time. We plan to come back next week for dinner and give the margaritas another try. Look for my update on that! LOL!

First, so very happy to have this place in Blowing Rock! This review is only a few days after they opened, So keep this in mind as you read. The food was as expected,.... Amazing! Loved the stuffed crab avocado! Beautifully done, and so fresh tasting! The menu is vast, low-end and up scale dishes with true Mexican creativity. The food was a hit with us, and so was our waitress Maria! So much fun and always smiling, she was working as hard as anyone in the restaurant, she did everything she could to keep people happy. She never stopped running!

Now the criticism, I gave this review only 4 stars because of two factors. The kitchen was having a really hard time getting things out to all the tables. The wait was very long! This could be a result of the large menu overloading the kitchen. I'm sure this will improve within a few more weeks. The other thing was the margarita price, $13.00 for a basic margarita and it was extremely weak!!!! I don't mind paying $13.00 for a margarita that has enough tequila in it to taste. But this was nothing but lemonade at best! I hope this can be fixed because I really want this restaurant to succeed!!!! But I can tell you after living in Blowing Rock for 24 years - over priced drinks with no alcohol will shut a place down quick.

If I was only giving a rating on food. It would definitely be 5 star! The taste was spot on. But that alone will not keep people coming back for weak over priced drinks and a super slow kitchen. I'll return soon and hopefully have a...

Our family tried this place for dinner and we should have read the reviews first. I am all for giving places a try, the benefit of the doubt, and seeing for myself. However, the best thing about this place was the Christmas décor inside and out of the building. The food had absolutely no flavor and for the prices you pay that's a shame. The chips were stale and the salsa takes like tomato paste marina sauce. You need cheese sticks for it not chips. The queso was so watery and not good at all. Again no flavor. We joked and anticipated how our entrees would be given all this. The table next to us a party of 10 barely ate and two people beside us sent their food back so it was not looking promising at all. Our sever was over sat too bc she had tables all over the restaurant. We never even got her name and our drinks were never filled. We never even got a chance to order adult beverages bc she never came back except at the end. We got our food finally and it was indeed just as tasteless as the starters. We each got the fajitas and all the children got chicken quesadillas. $12.99 for a half kids quesadilla is steep for a kids meal and really not even edible. The rice was so bland. Our chicken on the fajita was ok, but we had to douse in lime just to make flavor and edible. My husband used Cholula to flavor his. We couldn't even complain bc the poor server was no where in site. So we chalked it up to a one and done. We won't be back bc it seems per reviews the non flavor has been happening a while and same for the watery cheese dip and marina tomato paste for "salsa". The prices are steep too for the quality of food you get. It's not fine...