Amigos Mexican Cuisine and Cantina — Restaurant in Cedar Falls

I use to eat here alot befor covid but haven't been there for a few years there food and service was always great. Since its been so long since we have eaten out we decided to try it again. It was early evening it was not very busy. There were plenty of tables and booths open but we were sat way in the back corner at a booth fit for probly 6 people there was just 2 of us. We were also sat by a family celebrating a birthday. The water took our drink order and gave us thr free chip and salsa we also ordered a sind of cheese dip. The salsa was tasteless it was very watery not even a pice of onion, tomato, nothing other then the tomato sauce, the cheese dip was also thined out it was like dining your chip in milk.. We were very disappointed. The water came and took our order at that time I asked for 2 spoons so we could atleast pore a little sauce/cheese onto our chip and enjoy it a bit more. As we wated for our food several employees were hanging around the table of the birthday family. Thay were quite loud. We never did get our spoons. Are meal came it was just as disappointing ir was nothing like the picturs in the menu's. The meats were flavorless they had very little beans most of the plate was tasteless rice, and thay had so so much sauces smothering everything it was like just eating a plate full of sauce and rice the sauce over powerd the meal. Are server never came to replenish our drinks or see if there was anything else we needed. We never got drink refills, never was asked if we needed a Togo box, we didn't even our pay slip. The employes were so preoccupied hanging out at the party table and around the cash register not tending to ther customers. We waited about 30 min. After we finished our meal waiting for our server to bring our pay slip she never came so we just walked up to the frount cashier to pay they didn't even realized we were standing there at first we were asked how many in our party lol I replied no we want to pay for our meal no one brought us our pay slip they all looked at us dumbfounded. They didn't even know were we were seated not even our own server. It wasn't until another server how had passed us several times while serving his tables doing his job the proper way. Knew wher we were seated lol. Needles to say we will not be returning ever again. I also hope that are server enjoyed her .50 cent tip. Because I'm usually a great topper. Just a FYI the Amigos in waterloo is so much better. They have much more higher...

I didn't know what to expect as Texan looking for a Mexican option in Iowa, but chose a place called Amigos over Carlos O' Kelly's for the sheer principle. Amd wouldn't you know, my low expectations were not changed one bit. Here is the low down:

Pros: The atmosphere was nice.

Super friendly staff, they get an A++. They are the reason for the stars I am giving.

The rice was decent.

Pretty good Margaritas.

Cons: Salsa was cold. This is a personal preference, but most (not all) Texas Mexican restaurants do serve warm or heated salsa. ALSO Amigo's Salsa tasted like tomato soup with veggies added to it. It was really not good.

The queso was cream cheese based. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. And most definitely was NOT TexMex queso.

I had fajitas which tasted like the meat wasn't seasoned at all. Straight from the package to the grill, no sprucing up at all. Not even sprinkled with salt.

Also the same with the refried beans... straight from the can to the pot to the plate with no sprucing up. It needed Cumin, chilli powder, garlic, onion powder, salt, bacon grease, or something.

Overall this was like eating at really bad TexMex place in Texas. Not excellent. not good, but I did fix my hunger.

Sorry, you can maybe pull one over on a native Hawkeye but not a pure-blooded Texan.

And again the staff...

Food was amazing. When I went they had a deal of bogo margaritas. The food was good but even though I tipped the waitress (alely) in cash, she without my consent charged my card for (another) ten dollar tip, even though I already tipped her in cash.

Visited again in 2023 the second time I went there and went in two hours before close. The waitress Melissa asked 3 times if we were ready to go, while one of the people in our party was still eating. The 3rd time she came over with her manager and caused everyone in the restaurant to stare at us like we were refusing to pay (which is how the employee made us feel) and she told us "you guys I'm suppose to clock out soon so how much longer" Two of the people from our group went outside while others finished eating. The restaurant manager and another employee followed them outside and watched them while they smoked and then followed them back in. When we were ready to leave The walls were terribly dirty, asked for napkins numerous times and received none. Absolutely terrible terrible customer service. While clearing up some mislead information to the owner he then told us "when I started here a year and a half ago people would just walk out and not pay, so you have to judge based on the way people look" NO that's NOT proper...