Cinco Amigos — Restaurant in Cookeville

I got takeout and did not dine in. I placed my order over the phone, which was easy & fast. They told me that it would be ready in about 10min. I got delayed a little, but the food was still hot and fresh. I saw reviews on here mention the spicy salsa, so I asked for that. I was given two small containers of salsa, one a red color that was a bit milder and tasted a lot more of tomatoes and had more flavor in general to me, the other container being a green color, which usually is the hotter sauce so I assume that was the spicy salsa. It was spicier, but I wasn't as much a fan of the flavor as I'm not huge on tomatillos. That's a personal preference. I will stick with the regular or try the medium next time. But both were good & they gave a lot of chips for an order for 1 person. The price is slightly higher than some of the other Mexican places here, but portions are big and one could easily get three meals out of the dish that I ordered, Parilla Mexicana. The food itself tasted good, well seasoned, fresh, and also the steak was tender. They obviously marinated it to help tenderize it and it shows. Mine also came with beans rice guac, etc, which was good and fresh. Picking it up was quick and easy, I just walked in the door and went right to the little podium there, paid, and grabbed my food off the shelf right there by the door. All staff I interacted with were very friendly. I was in and out in about 90 seconds or less. You can't go wrong eating here. I absolutely prefer it over El Tap, hands down. I'm glad I finally went back, and I look forward to trying more things on the menu in the future. PS I read reviews a lot before I go to a restaurant, and I saw one review claiming they were a "mystery shopper of sorts" and saying they were at the restaurant at that very moment and were charged for three shots instead of the two they had - and waiting on the employee to look into it, giving a 1 star review. 1) It's very easy to typo three instead of two or tap a +1 an extra time, especially if your hand shakes a little, I do it all the time. It could be easy to miss. This person is ridiculous and sounds like a nightmare customer. But... 2) they are absolutely, clearly not only NOT a mystery shopper, they have never mystery shopped before or they would know better than to say what they did. First, mystery shoppers are employed by firms that specifically maintain a database of mystery shoppers and a system where shoppers can assign themselves jobs (and view the info they'll need to collect/how they must perform the shop including any tuning, etc, plus submit the reports), companies will then pay these firms to have their locations mystery shopped. A little non-chain Mexican restaurant in Cookeville would never ever pay to be mystery shopped, that's something chains do or occasionally very, very high-end establishments that may have a single location... like in NYC. But also, when you mystery shop a location, you must sign legal documents saying that you will not discuss or tell anyone outside the company or anyone they give you explicit permission to tell that you are a mystery shopper, that you shopped the location, or any information whatsoever about the actual shopping itself and the report you give/questions you must answer in your report. You cannot discuss it at all or you can be sued, but at minimum you would be blacklisted from ever mystery shopping with that firm again. You certainly don't post about it on Google reviews. This silly person was just being a complete Karen and thought that "threat" would get them special treatment. I actually feel bad for the staff that had to deal with them. Anyway, I would ignore that review if you are reading them trying to decide if you should give this restaurant a try. I can just say that from my experience here, I'm very pleased with the staff, the food, and the ease of takeout pickup/ordering. I would absolutely recommend them! Like the Terminator, I'll...

Cinco amigos is SO rude. I have been there 3 times to try and give this place a chance over and over again. The first time we called ahead 4 hours in advance for a reservation and when we got there, they told us that they didn’t have a table for us and if we wanted one we had to wait over an hour. The second time we were there we were kicked out because we had apparently “been there too long” even though we were continuing ordering drinks and food every 30 minutes. The 3rd time I was there they advertised that they could seat 10 people post COVID-19 quarantine regulations and when we got there there was NOBODY in the restaurant and they refused to seat all 10 of us together saying there was “no room” despite having no other customers there. This place is extremely rude and over priced. I’d much rather have the food and service at El Tapatio. Please do not come here. I promise you it’s disappointing and not worth anyone’s time. I’m not the type to leave reviews so that fact that I am is...

Order the tortilla chips and skip the corn chips! The spicy salsa is nice. Not so hot you can't taste the flavor but spicy enough to have flavor. We had that ate first. The middle salsa is good but not hot at all. Mild is more tomato sauce like. We ordered the steak fajitas for 2 to share and 2 #14 which is a great, cheesy chicken with mushroom. Absolutely delicious. There is enough fajitas for all 4 of us to share. We ate the whole basket of tortilla chips as they were so good. We will know next time to pace ourselves as serving sizes are amazing here.

Server was friendly, recommended 4 dishes (2 we chose), kept our drinks filled, and the food was brought out so quickly. Never had a good Mexican restaurant bring food so fast and we are tickled pink, stuffed and ready for bed! Host was friendly, prompt and greeted us.

My daughter has a service animal and no one spoke to or tried to interact with the dog which is rare lately.

Highly...