Agave & Rye Centerville — Restaurant in Centerville

After more than a dozen visits, I can comfortably state that Agave & Rye is my favorite restaurant in the Dayton/Springfield area. A unique blend of Mexican, Asian and American comfort food, A&R leans more toward the joy of Mexican cuisine. A wide and weird (in a good way) assortment of taco concoctions reside on the right side of the menu, each with their own fun names as creative as the combination of ingredients (one even has kangaroo!). Each taco is priced about $5-$14, a high price for a single taco to be sure, but each one is double-shelled and overstuffed with hearty ingredients. My wife is a light-to-average eater and she only gets one. I usually get two. The first time we visited, the server recommended three, but that wa too much.

My favorite tacos from their scratch kitchen include The Alderman (I'm a sucker for carne asada steak), The Chef's Kiss (a tangy Italian inspired taco featuring seasoned chicken, big fresh tomato and sharp balsamic), and The Filthy Fajita (carne asada steak and fresh veggies). Pictured with this review is The Chef's Kiss and Grogu (a spicy, Asian inspired creation).

A&R offers more than tacos. They have a selection of gourmet hot dogs loaded like mountains with various unusual ingredients. Smash burgers are offered (I've never tried these). They have pork carnita nachos on the appetizer list, but make sure to ask for the nachos with chips instead of their fries, fries being the default ingredient. The biggest criticism I have of A&R is their french fries are soggy, bland and so far has been the only item I've had there that taste like they've come from frozen bags of cheap reheated food.

A&R also has a minor offering of other Mexican favorites, with the restaurant's own twist. What I have tried thus far has been delicious (quesadilla, burrito). A&R also offers several taco desserts, which we have not tried yet.

Appetizers. A&R offers chips and a variety of salsas and queso that taste fresh each time. I would be very surprised if the chips were not house made, as I've never had anything like them - hearty chips, manly chips (pictured). A favorite of ours is the Elote (pictured), seasoned grilled corn on the cob that is absolutely delicious. The carne asada egg rolls are to die for.

Down to what really counts: adult beverages. I've had a few of their drinks, but my go-to is the Agave Epic Rita (pictured). A&R offers regular margaritas and an EPIC margarita - you want the Epic (even if the larger size is on the pricier side at $28). It's sweet, but not overly so, and still retains the tang of a traditional margarita. It's smooth, yet potent. It's made with a house-made blend and one of the listed ingredients is literally "Secrets". It's the best margarita in town, even if it's not completely traditional. Then again, nothing at Agave & Rye is traditional.

We always go to the Centerville location, which is a trendy and comforting environment for my wife and I to escape to on date night. The restaurant is clean, lively, but the music is turned up just a bit too much. We've never waited more than 15 minutes for a table. The wait staff is always very welcoming. The manager of the Centerville location is extremely friendly and down to earth. He's one of the most welcoming restaurant managers I've ever met. On a side note, my wife and I visited the Troy location once out of curiosity. We were not impressed. The location itself is way too big and felt empty. It seems to occupy multiple store fronts as you pass through disparate feeling rooms for a table at the back. The clientele was older and the wait staff was far less engaged than in Centerville. Notes for the owner in case they're reading. The Centerville location is my and my wife's A&R HQ.

Agave & Rye has one of the most unique menus in the area. A little bit of Mexican, a little Asian, a little American. It comes together as more than the sum of its parts. I have very little to complain about when it comes to the overall experience and highly recommend it. And don't leave without trying the carne asada egg rolls...

Let me preface this by saying I worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years. I was a chef at Salazar, Mita’s, and Goose and Elder- a string of fine dining restaurants in downtown Cincinnati. I am legitimately the last person on the planet who would write something like this, I understand what it’s like to be on the other side of things better than most, but this place pushed me past my limit today. If I could leave 0 stars I would have. This was the worst dining experience I’ve had in my entire life. Let’s start with the last time I went here ~a month ago. My order (not complex at all just a taco flight no sour cream) was messed up 2 times the same meal. It took them 3 tries to finally figure out how to put no sour cream on 3 tacos. I was told they had new kitchen employees and I completely understood,although thought to myself it was a little ridiculous to mess up something so minimal so many times, stuff happens maybe they were having a rough day. Our server was more than apologetic and gave us all the tacos for free! Great server that time. Now I’ll fast forward to today. My mother in law met myself, my wife, and my 7 month old baby there for lunch. She arrived 15 minutes before us and was sat immediately. She had to leave early for work from the lunch so she was getting there early to put food in, nobody came and talked to her about food or drinks until we arrived. Off to a great start! I could tell from the jump our server was probably new and I sympathized with her situation because they were clearly understaffed and busy with what seemed to be an above average lunch rush. We had my mother in law put her whole order in quickly so she could get her food out before she had to leave then she came back to take my wife and I’s orders. My 7 month old son has an extreme intolerance to dairy, soy, and eggs. My wife ordered the birria burrito with no cheese, no crema, and no cilantro (soap gene). I was feeling hungry so I ordered 3 swipe right tacos no sour cream (regular sized tacos not flights). Everything with my mother in laws food was perfect! Woohoo good job, unfortunately that didn’t last long. 15 minutes after my mother in laws food came out and she was already gone our server came back to the table for the first time since dropping off the food & told us somehow our food “didn’t go through” so she needed to take our orders again and ring it in. Clearly she forgot to ring it in but whatever I foolishly was still sympathetic saying “no problem it happens!” Our food comes out. My wife’s burrito has cheese in it. My tacos are flight sized not regular sized. We send my wife’s burrito back after she has taken 2 bites (you couldn’t see the cheese until she got a bite in). So not only did they mess up her food but she consumed dairy which if anyone has a baby with allergies who relies solely on breastfeeding would understand, is detrimental to the amount of sleep we will get for the next 3 nights. Anyways we send her food back and they are making her a new one! All good whatever it is what it is. I talk to our server and bring up the fact I ordered big tacos not flight tacos and she said oh sorry I must have misheard. Again I said no worries! And asked to buy another flight because I was still hungry after eating the first one. She then came back with my wife’s “fixed” burrito. This time no cheese no crema! But they failed to put any bacon and they put cilantro in it. Here’s the thing. We didn’t complain, we didn’t ask to speak to a manager, we didn’t ask for anything free. That’s not the type of people we are but man I really wish I had because not only was this meal a complete waste of money. But after the combined past 2 experiences I’ve had at this location I will never return. By far the worst dining experience I’ve ever had and I don’t recommend anyone going here. Agave and rye is great, this...

My boyfriend and I went to dinner tonight, Friday 1/24/25, around 7:45pm. We happened to be in Centerville and we hadn’t been to Agave & Rye since it opened, so we decided to give it a go. My boyfriend had never been to one before, but I had been to one in a different state and it was good. We got told that our wait was going to be about 15 minutes, which was not a big deal with it being Friday night. We then actually got sat after about 5 minutes, which was great! Our waitress came and took our drink orders and shortly after our food orders. We both got waters, and order the chips and queso for an app. It was decent, the chips were pretty thick, but it was fine.

Then we got our dinner. We each got a flight of tacos and a side. I got fries as a side and my boyfriend got the Spanish rice. When the food arrived I took a bite of a fry and it was actually cold. The fries tasted like they had been sitting out for a long time and were actually cold to the touch. We also noticed that my boyfriend didn’t get his side of rice. Our waitress came to check on us and I explained what happened with the fries & that my boyfriend didn’t get his side. She apologized and asked if I wanted to have them make another batch of fries. I declined and just asked that it be taken off the bill. She said she would take care of that and went to get his side of rice. During this time my boyfriend started eating his first taco which he said was cold, but okay. It was at this time too that I noticed one of my tacos had corn on it that I had asked when ordering it to be removed due to dietary restrictions. I let the waitress know and she again apologized and took the tacos back to the kitchen. She said they were making new ones and that the manager would have them out shortly. They came out a little while longer (not by the manager though) and I tried a bite of each. The first two weren’t bad, but were not really good either. The third taco was cold and tasted like it had just been pulled from the fridge. Our waitress came back asking how things were & if we would like a box. I declined and just stated that I wasn’t a fan of the first two taco and the third was very cold. The waitress was kind and took my tacos off the bill.

We then got the bill and one thing I noted that was kind of funny, but a bit shocking was that where the items were shown having been taken off the bill, the comments as to why were listed as: “Guest did not like” and for name it just said “Ew” (picture below). Was definitely interesting to get your bill with notes on it like that, but not sure if that is normal?

I do want to note that the issues with our dinner were not with our waitress, but with the food the kitchen was sending out. It was like the chef was on vacation and they were reheating leftovers. Definitely not the “made from scratch kitchen” that the waitress stated when we first sat down. It is sad as I have been to other Agave and Rye’s in other states that were good. So disappointed, but there were just too many things wrong from start to finish with the dinner and it was a bummer for sure. We definitely won’t be back for a long...