El Tequileno family Mexican restaurant — Restaurant in Colorado

This restaurant has recently reopened under new owners and with a new name. We were pleased to see that many of the staff from the old restaurant were around to greet us, as we were regulars. Though the food has changed, I was pleased to say that I generally found the new restaurant's food to be quite good, though I will have to eat around a bit before I will find a dish I like as much as the one I loved at the old place.

Fresh chips, salsa and a spicy curtido (a Mexican cabbage slaw) arrived just after we sat down. The chips were fresh and excellent, but the house salsa is always my first measure of the authenticity and quality of a Mexican restaurant. I'm pleased to say the salsa was fairly good. It was nicely spicy and hot enough to compensate for the fact I found it just a touch too tomato-saucey. The curtido, on the other hand was excellent, and its acidic bite was the perfect antidote to the extra tomatoey salsa. All in all, my hopes were up even before I finished reading the menu.

My dining companion and I ordered a carne asada burrito and a pollo asado plate, and both meats were flavorful, well marinated and the best part of the meal. I ordered the burrito smothered in their green chili, which was nicely picante but didn't have as much green chili flavor as I expected. The plates were enormous and came filled out with with refried beans, rice, a delicious pico de gallo and fresh guacamole; one nice touch is that the dishes now come with a side of tortillas. All together, I found it easy to put aside a second meal to take home from the enormous plate of food. My palate's only small complaint was that I found the Spanish rice a little too salty when eaten on its own, though it was less noticeable when scooped into tortilla along with beans, pico and other fixings.

While there are clearly differences, we were pleased enough that we'll be back. Sure, some dishes are done differently, and maybe some could be done better, but it is still pretty darn good Mexican food. I'm looking forward to trying some new dishes in the...

We go almost every week to one of the Tequilenos or the Tequilas in Arvada and Golden, so we are very familiar with the menu and the food/drink quality. Today (a Sunday), my husband and I were out finishing Christmas shopping and were by the new El Tequileno's on Colfax in Golden. We were in the mood for the Chicken Mole. As we entered, we noticed that the Chicken Mole was the special of the day. We ordered it, as we had planned, and ordered two Margaritas (showing the waitress the coupon that we had for buy one margarita, get one free - as it was Sunday and there was no happy hour). She looked at the coupon and said we could get the 16 oz margaritas with the coupon. Now the trouble starts. 1. Everything was very, very spicy (cabbage salad, salsa, and even the mole - what's up with that?), more so than we've ever had at any Tequilenos or Tequilas (Arvada, Lakewood, Golden, or Evergreen). 2. The bill comes and the waitress tells us because we got the special (with a BIG $1 savings) we couldn't get the 2 for 1 margaritas (which she had approved when we ordered) - so we paid $5.75 for what was supposed to be a free margarita. Save $1 and pay $5.75!!! Now we can afford the $4.75 difference, but it's the principle of the thing. We will NEVER return to this Tequineno (on Colfax, in Golden) and recommend that you...

Rude, insensitive, racist staff on my last visit. Waitress charged $21 on a meal advertised for $12.50. We ordered a chicken quesadilla off of the lunch menu, the server asked grilled or shredded. We said grilled. They proceeded to upcharge 8.50 for grilled chicken. When we asked about the price, the server, rather than being an understanding and explanatory human being, was rude and childish. We asked to speak to a manager; we were sent over another server who obviously doesn't understand the meaning of customer service. They ridiculed us for having a coupon...that they offer on every King Soopers' receipt...and refused to discount the full price of the meal. We used to come here every Sunday, spend well over $100 each time and tip generously over 20%. After Edna, and all the other quality employees left, Tequila's has gone down hill. Bad management? The rat problem?We were hopeful in this visit; however, for an 8.50 upcharge, we should have gotten the whole chicken, not some gummy meat that we couldn't finish. Had it been quality, the extra money wouldn't have been a big deal. We asked a question about a meal, not instigate a war with people who obviously don't care that this location is failing. Also, shake your margaritas. When you lazily build them in the glass, they don't...