La Mariposa Restaurant & Margarita House — Restaurant in Boulder

First time experience at La Mariposa and on Valentine’s Day too! From the moment we walked in, we knew we were pushing our luck—Valentine’s Day, last-minute plans, no reservation. But the host didn’t even blink when we admitted it, despite his long list. He seated us at the table I had read about in the reviews—the one right by the kitchen door.

To be fair, the door only slammed against our table once all night (shoutout to the manager for that one). But after that, the staff was super mindful, keeping an eye on it so it didn’t bother us. We got a good laugh out of it—they clearly know better by now.

Our waitress, Alicia, was fantastic! Attentive, kind, and thoughtful, she made sure we got our order in just in time to take full advantage of the happy hour menu. She never hovered but was always there right when we needed her.

The food was good—not the most memorable meal we’ve ever had, but we also didn’t order their specialties. We stuck to the happy hour menu since we had already splurged on a babysitter and chocolates for each other. The margaritas were great, and you could tell they put care into how everything was presented.

The one presentation I did feel was lacking was the bathroom. 2 stalls out of order and 1 of 2 sinks too, and it appeared it wasn’t for funsies based on the odor. Not pleasant, but it did the trick. I’m sure it will be fixed soon enough!

The atmosphere was a nice balance of spacious yet cozy—I don’t know how they pull that off, but they do.

We’ll definitely be back....

Absolutely horrendous staff, rude, discourteous, dismissive managers when complaining. This place was recommended to me but I will never return. Stay away!

The hostess also mentioned about only accepting reservations because it's Cinco de mayo, even though the entire restaurant was empty. I recommended posting that somewhere to which she completely dismissed me and said "you don't have to be a bitvh about it" to which I tried to correct by calmly explaining i wasn't trying to come off that way, but just trying to give a courtesy to other customers as the entire restaurant was empty and you'd think you'd be able to have something to eat. Her response to that was "you're not Mexican so you wouldn't fickimg understand" which I have no idea how that has to pertain to anything I said. I was merely making a calm suggestion to try and help the business out, to which could have just fallen on deaf ears and we could've moved along and I wouldn't have been the wiser. Instead this employee was rude for no apparent reason. I don't know if she was having a bad day or what, but that's no way to treat a customer, especially when they are just trying to make a kind suggestion. And to bring ethnicity into this for no reason I could find is very upsetting. Especially in a place like Boulder.

Edit, I misspelled the swears on purpose, but still left them there to make sure her exact quote...

I came in on a week day and had to stand for a while at the door and no hostess around. I finally spotted her talking to another employee. I approached and asked if I can get a table. She was friendly and apologetic. I appreciated that and was excited to order food as I was hungry. I went for a meal in the hot stone (don’t remember the name!). The food was pretty good. But then the waiter brings me a check and the price for my meal was $4 more than on the menu. I tell him that he must have mixed up with another meal, to which he tells me that they increased prices but haven’t yet updated menus. I was very shocked by this response as I think they should let their customers know the real prices before we order. So I asked him to honor the price on the menu, to which he said okay. He left and came back with a discount of $2.50. I didn’t want to argue or ask him to bring the menu so I could show him the price. I just paid and left. Honestly, I was excited about trying this place, but this kind of service left a negative aftertaste for me so I am not sure if I will be back here. Also, I recommend check with the waiter if their prices are correct on the menu so you are not surprised when you get your check, especially if you have a large group or order...