Hacienda Colorado — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

We have been fans of Hacienda Colorado for almost 15 years. The food has always been excellent and we enjoy the atmosphere. The Colorado Springs location is extra special because of their awesome patio and mountain views. However, we visited last week and they made a huge overhaul of the menu. The changes were REALLY disappointing. My daughter loves their kids meals that are supposed to serve up to age 12. They completely changed the kids meals and what used to be a large bean and cheese burrito smothered with queso and served with a side of beans and rice now is one small fajita tortilla rolled up and served in a bento style box with a side of rice, some chips and guac, and a few pieces of fruit. My daughter LOVES Hacienda and was so disappointed with her meal. It didn't even look appetizing and the bean and cheese burrito was NOT a burrito. Unless your 10-12 year old eats like a bird, there is no way that would be enough food to satisfy them. The kids meals used to be a great value, but now they are overpriced. The fajitas are our favorite menu item and while they were just as delicious as always, rice and beans no longer come with the fajitas but are a $1 upcharge. Granted, $1 is not a lot. However, when you are paying $50 for a plate of fajitas and rice and beans are two of the cheapest filler foods at a Mexican restaurant, it feels like they are nickel and diming you to charge you for rice and beans. I also wanted to share a food allergy update for anyone with food allergies that has enjoyed Hacienda in the past. We have a family member with extensive food allergies, and we have appreciated in the past that Hacienda was allergy aware with good protocols in place, could prepare a safe option, and had more options than many other restaurants! With the changes to the menu, hardly any items are allergy friendly anymore. If you are gluten free, you can't even eat the rice now because there is wheat in the rice?! The mango salsa used to be dairy and soy free, but is no longer. Many of the menu items that could be prepared safely for those will allergies are now contaminated and are no longer safe. The first plate they brought to the table had an item that I was pretty sure was not safe. We told the family member to not eat yet and checked with our server. She went back to the kitchen and sure enough, the chef had mistakenly given us an item on our allergy free that was not safe. She apologized and returned the plate to the kitchen. Thankfully, we are always diligent about double checking our food in restaurants, but this was the first time we were served an item that was not safe at Hacienda. Our family member with allergies was super disappointed by their meal when they used to love Hacienda. We will no longer be able to bring our family member with allergies to Hacienda for a delicious meal. With more and more people experiencing food allergies, it's extremely disappointing for a restaurant to take a huge step backwards to become less able to accommodate allergies! Our server even acknowledged that she has had other people come in who used to be able to order safely and now no longer had safe options and that with the menu changes, they really limited safe options for people with allergies and dietary restrictions. We went on a Sunday evening after 7 and there was no wait. However, the service was really lacking. It took an hour and ten minutes for our food to arrive after ordering! They forgot one of our appetizers and after quite some time of waiting for it, we had to ask them for it. After years of exceptional visits to Hacienda Colorado, this visit was really disappointing. We will likely be visiting less often due to the poor changes...

I am hoping the Owner finds this review. ATTN: If you are diagnosed with celiac disease or are sensitive with food allergies - avoid this restaurant. The kitchen staff is sloppy and careless. In all fairness, I am not sure what this restaurant is like when you dine-in. Once or twice per month, I order grilled shrimp tacos to-go when I’m on my home from north academy. One time, a piece of a plastic glove was underneath one of the tacos. The manager asked me to text her a picture of it. I was worried it was a condom, but she assured me it was a glove because it looked exactly like their brand of kitchen gloves. She refunded me and promised it wouldn’t happen again. Thankfully, it didn’t. I continued getting to-go orders with no issues. However, today, I ordered the same shrimp tacos with a side cup of queso. The queso looked normal, it always comes topped with jalapeños. I seen a chunk of something but figured it was a piece of jalapeno. As I kept eating, I realized it was not jalapeños, but instead, beef (or something else, no one knows). I’m not totally sure what it is, but it looks like uncooked beef. Immediately, I called the restaurant to inform them. I wanted to know if it was chorizo or beef, or something else, and if I should prepare to get sick because I did eat part the queso surrounding it. This is when they informed me that I did “not pay enough” for my to-go order. Baro, the bartender, told me the order was $22.09. I gave him $23.00. He said, “I will be right back with your change.” I replied, “no change, thank you!” When I spoke with management, Kiera, I was told I didn’t pay him enough. I’m like, what? Why would he tell me $22.09 then tell me that he’s going to get change? They recently changed their menu and no longer serve black beans or white rice (which I always ordered) so I didn’t know if the price changed. I didn’t even think to question it since he accepted my money, then offered to get change - the remaining 91 cents. It was beyond inappropriate and insulting considering I am sitting here in a state of panic over uncooked meat in my queso. The same state of panic I was in when I found a piece of plastic glove under my taco. Not to mention, I have stage one CKD and try to avoid meat. Avoid this restaurant if you have food allergies or are celiac because I can’t imagine any requests taken seriously in the kitchen. Management needs to take a course on customer service. UCCS is nearby, perhaps the Owner can pay for...

Hacienda Colorado Is a Disgrace to Mexican Cuisine

If bland, corporate cafeteria fare masquerading as “Mountain Mex” sounds appealing, then by all means, waste your money and time at Hacienda Colorado. For the rest of us who actually know what Mexican food should taste like, this place is an insult—both to the cuisine and to anyone who walks through its doors expecting quality.

Let’s start with the chicken fajitas. Dry. Lifeless. A graveyard of flavor. Three limp strips of pepper swam in a sea of overcooked, oily onions. The “homemade” flour tortillas? More like thick, stale discs with dry, crusty edges—clearly churned out in bulk and tossed in a warmer until they hardened into edible cardboard. The chicken tasted like it had just been defrosted from a Sysco bag five minutes before being dumped onto the skillet. And what’s with the random pinto bean soup and plastic-cheese accoutrements? Bagged cheese, sad sour cream, and guac that tasted like it died in a factory.

I ordered the “Pablo” tamale plate—or so I thought. The server, more preoccupied with training a new hire than actually taking care of the table, got it wrong. I ended up with a generic three-tamale plate, which was a culinary punchline. The carnitas were almost nonexistent inside the masa, and the sauces were a joke. The green one was barely spicy and about as memorable as canned enchilada sauce from Safeway. The red sauce had zero flavor. I mean zero. Like someone tried to flavor hot water and gave up.

Speaking of the server—she didn’t care. At all. More focused on her trainee than the customers, she botched the order and barely seemed to register we were there. This is basic hospitality, not rocket science.

But the kicker? The menu on their website doesn't even match what’s served in-house. Total bait-and-switch. And their so-called “tableside guac” station? Left unrefrigerated, uncovered, and unmonitored for hours. That’s not just unprofessional, it’s a potential health violation.

They comped the meal and gave us a gift card. We handed it to a homeless man. It felt more ethical than ever returning to this farce of a restaurant.

If you’re after real Mexican food with soul, flavor, and dignity—run the other way. This place is to Mexican cuisine what Olive Garden is to Tuscany: a theme park...