Efrain's of Boulder Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Boulder

I've heard from many different people that this place has great and authentic Mexican food, so I had high expectations for this place. The Lafayette location is closer to my mom's house but it had really bad reviews so I went to the Boulder location just to be safe.

First thing, we waited awhile at the front since the hostess was not there to seat us right away. We finally got seated and no one comes for a long time to take our drink orders. Some guy brought us chips and salsa while we waited, long enough to already decide what we wanted. Our waiter finally came and got all of our orders in. Then I noticed this huge chip bucket behind my brothers head, it looks like they just scoop out chips from that bucket to give to each table. I understand this is more efficient but this also tells me that the chips are definitely not fresh at all. It was nearing the bottom of the bucket until they dumped a batch of new chips in. This means that the bottom chips we got, could have been days or even weeks old since they just dump new chips on top of the old ones!! Anyway, I ordered a beef "big burrito" subbing mild vegetarian red sauce with the lean tender pork chili verde instead (which costs $2.50 extra) with a side of lettuce, tomato, onion combo ($1.95) which could easily be shared among two people. The burrito itself was just okay... Not bad but not mouthwatering good either. It was definitely very spicy. The spice was tolerable at first, but the heat really builds!! I am someone that cannot tolerate really spicy food, so this might just be me. Also another thing to note is that usually I prefer ground beef for burritos, but I guess they use beef chunks here instead, which I am not a fan of. I took half of my burrito home because it was just too spicy to finish.

Another thing to mention is that the service here is really bad, even worse than at Asian restaurants. We were all done eating and no one ever came to give us the bill or even fill our waters. I made eye contact with several employees including our own server and they always look away!?!? 15 minutes later the server finally fills our water and we ask for the bill, but of course it did not come right away. We paid cash to avoid waiting any longer. I read reviews of bad service here, which I would expect if they were extremely busy, but they were definitely not busy, since I see them occasionally standing around. Needless to say, I prefer Santiago's burritos and service over Efrain's. I might come back to try something else, but it is not on my list of priorities.

Pros: Definite spice and flavor to the food

Cons: Painfully slow service even when not...

The food was fine--standard Tex mex. The drinks were actually really good. I got the boulders best margarita and it was more than enough. So I'd give food and drinks 3 stars out of 5. The one star comes from the service.

My service experience: Numerous parties came in after me and were served before someone even acknowledged me. When the server finally came I placed my order immediately because I didn't want to have to wait another 10 minutes before he came back. When the waitress brought my drink, she set it on the table and left without saying a word. Kinda odd. I needed a straw for my water, but the one waitress didn't talk and my server seemed like he wasn't returning (and he didn't). So I finally stopped someone else (one of the guys that brings the chips and salsa and water) and he promptly brought over a straw. The only good service I received came from him. Anyway so my server then brought my food and continued on. Soon after I got my food, my fork fell on the floor so I waited for the server to come back and check in... but that never happened. After waiting 5 minutes or so I finally had to ask the guy from earlier to which he again promptly brought more silverware. Not once between bringing the food and clearing the table did the server check by. All the while, I was observing literally everyone else around me getting seemingly prompt service. The remainder of my time at the restaurant was uneventful. After clearing the table, he brought the check, I paid and vowed to myself I'd never return to this restaurant.

tl;dr: don't come to this restaurant if you want good attentive service and don't look like the majority of boulder's population (go to the demographics section of Boulder's...

I love Efrain's! Even though I forget how to spell their name half the time. Been going here for 4 years now, and it is my go-to place for a good chimichanga. I like spicy foods, and their pork green chile is definitely what puts their chimichanga number one on my list. It comes with free chips and salsa, which are pretty delicious and is a very important consideration when ranking Mexican restaurants. Their margaritas have good flavor and good alcohol content.

Their prices are great compared to other Mexican restaurants, and you get a good chunk of decent of food. I always end up boxing half the plate to have for lunch the next day, and it actually reheats pretty well. Not bad for $8 - $10.

The staff has always been friendly and straight to the point, and I really appreciate the dedicated guys and girls who are on drink and chip/salsa duty. They are like ninjas and swoop in immediately when seeing an empty chip bowl or cup.

The actual restaurant is pretty small, and has a pretty decent hole-in-the-wall quality to it. Not a sophisticated dining spot, and can feel a bit claustrophobic during peak hours, but overall is clean and comfortable. If you can avoid peak hours, that is the best as the wait for a table can get pretty long. We make an effort to go a little before the dinner hour (4:30 - 5:15), and we can usually skip the wait.

Overall, definitely recommend the place, especially if you want a good, spicy...