Loren & Mari Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Carmel

If I could give no stars, I would. Arrived w party of 6 adults and 1 child. Seating was fairly quick, but had to reiterate how many in the party atleast 6 times. Chips and salsa are not complimentary...which is ok but if paying for chips and salsa, I expect a basket of chips and not a ramiken sized amt of awful watery "salsa puree". Waiter didnt know the menu...kept just handing us the menu when asking basic questions. Out of ground beef so orders had to be changed. Steak tastes like it was boiled in oil and chicken "tacos" are nothing more than onion and cilantro w a hint of chicken cubes. Food arrival time was typical time for our party size. We flagged waiter down for drink refills. Food finally arrives.. one meal was returned, one meal never got the sides/rest of meal delivered (even after asking "manager" and waiter about it several times), child wouldn't touch the chicken fingers (his fav food) bc it was just fatty pieces of chicken plain floured and fried...no seasoning...nothing, and another meal was delivered and waiter said "oh, I forgot to get the rest of the order... what side do you want?" (so rest of meal arrives late). All other meals were not eaten bc food was so awful and bland. And talk about grease! If you order Adobo sauce, prepare for it to not be flavorful spicy/ hot but just "pain hot" w no flavor. Waiter took forever to bring check and never bothered to come back to table after food was delivered. Youre also paying dinner entree prices for lunch combo sizes at any other Mexican eatery. Best part of experience....walking outside while waiting for rest of my party and 3 other families are all outside the door talking about how bad the food was, lack of wait staff experience, and how no one is going back. Literally. This place wont last long. Guaranteed. Spare the headache/ money and find a different established Mexican restaurant in the area. Will also note that 4 people in the party who all had beans and...

We went there as a group during lunch. I specifically ordered an entree knowing that the lunch special has a little portion for ppl w/ big appetite like me. If I could give my quesadilla 0-zero, I'll do it. The presentation was nice but once you cut through it, you can count how many pieces of steak they put in it for that large tortilla - I would say about "1 spoonful". Everything else, they dumped just too many onions & green peppers & I can't even see any gooey cheese like other Mex dishes from around the area. This is your entree? Half of the tortilla is filled, the rest is just tortilla! Taco Bell would have been cheaper & better! Then my friend was served a wrong dish! The correct way to deal w/ this issue IS TO REPLACE IT W/ THE RIGHT DISH! But instead, the waitress explained how she thought it was the order! So my friend hesitantly just accepted what he was served, bec there was no offer to change his dish?! What kind of service is this? Our mojitos are tasteless, too icy, no alcohol, not even a drop of sweet syrup?? Places like this who cheat customers will not make it in this business for a long haul. You may get away w/ it but nobody will go back to patronize you. Remember there are so many competitive Mex restaurants in Carmel prime area w/ better flavor, hearty portions, reasonable prices & great service. Won't be back...

HOLY GUACAMOLE!!! This will be a lengthy review because this establishment deserves all the praise it’s about to receive! I recently held my Baby Shower (fiesta theme: Taco Bout A Baby) and my sister was going to cater Mexican food from Chicago (where I’m originally from) because we are taco snobs! I didn’t want her to have to travel that far with the food so she used trip advisor and discovered awesome reviews about Loren & Mari. Before booking I took it upon myself to taste test some tacos. GLAD I DID! I actually went twice in the same week!! The carne asada & al pastor were my absolute favorite. I always worry about ordering chicken in fear they will be dry but no worries here - they were delicious! So we ordered the taco bar for 25 people. Loren & Mari came a half hour before the party started and set up their food and arranged everything so nicely. Antonio was nice enough to help my husband carry in a keg! Thank you for that Antonio!! Our shower was not co-Ed so we had A TON of food left over. When they came to clean up they allowed us to keep some trays after we condense the food and I took them back at a later time. The people who work for this place are so kind, thoughtful, and hard working. I can’t make one complaint about my experience with Loren & Mari. Thank you so much for being apart of our big day and doing such an...