Agave Roja — Restaurant in Corolla

Do NOT come here if you’re visiting OBX. Locals only, as other reviews have stated. Came here as a party of 8, received possibly the most horrible service I’ve ever experienced in OBX. Luckily we had an 8:15 reservation and were seated at 8:17. Good sign. We came and sat down and were immediately served chips and water, when we ran out of water in our carafes, the waiter took the empty ones and said he’d bring us more—but we waited like 20 minutes for more water after having to ask for it again since he forgot. The waiter was very nice but we had seen him taking a shot that a table ordered for him just before we sat down. We ordered two drinks to the table, one of which contained a strand of steel wool (metal) which a member of our party sipped through the straw of the drink and spit out. We brought this to the attention of the host and he said “Oh thank you”, took the piece of metal, and immediately walked off with it. We had to call him back over and tell him this was an issue and we wanted a replacement drink, we didn’t want to just keep drinking the contaminated drink. No apology, didn’t take the drink off the bill. We also waited like 20 minutes to get a replacement drink. The owner was present in the restaurant at that time and knew about the metal in the drink (we saw her talking to the guy who we told) yet didn’t even come over and apologize. She was just sitting there chit chatting with the staff and the locals sitting at the bar. In fact most of the staff was talking to the locals instead of doing their job. After all this, they finally took our order, literally 35 minutes after we got there. We got our food about 15-20 minutes after placing our orders, so almost an hour had passed since we’d arrived. At this point the restaurant was empty because it closes at 9. The food actually tasted very good but some of it came out cold. Didn’t send the cold entree back just asked for some hot sauce to heat it up. The rice was ice cold but we didn’t mention it because didn’t feel like starting more of an issue after we sent the drink back. The food that came out hot was delicious. We heard remarks regarding our table from the bartender saying “Everything’s going south over there” to the owner. Yeah maybe they wouldn’t be going south if the food were hot, served in less than an hour, and we weren’t sipping pieces of metal in our drinks. After all of this terrible service we still had to give a 20% tip since we were 5+ people. A true shame. The owner seems to be a terrible person/business owner based on the fact that she had nothing to say to us after one of us nearly swallowed a piece of metal in the drink. Locals get a discount and desserts on the house, yet military members don’t get a discount. This place seems to only care about giving locals good service, don’t come here if you’re just visiting OBX. You are NOT welcome for my...

Let me begin by saying that I have been visiting this restaurant since 2015 and until this last visit, was convinced there was not a better Mexican restaurant in existence. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. First, their hours posted on Google, Facebook, and even their website do not match up with their actual hours. Sometimes they are closed on Mondays, sometimes closed for the season, sometimes closed for other reasons, I would recommend calling ahead of time to make sure they are open, especially if it is in the fall or spring. Secondly, during this visit I noticed that the menu had drastically changed, many of the items were no longer there, even though the menu on their website still showed the older, fuller menu. And now, the food. Everything I mentioned before, I could forgive, as long as the food and drinks were still up to par with where the used to be, but I was again in store for more disappointment. The Pescado Veracruzano was at one time the best piece of salmon I had ever eaten, now the fish was dry, over salted, and overall did not taste like the same quality fish as before. The street corn that accompanies the salmon used to be delicious, now it is a saucy mess that was so salty I had to spit the first bite out. My friend got the shrimp fajitas, which he too, commented on how much salt was present. Normally he would get the Mar Y La Montana, surf and turf, but that had been axed from the menu. Even still, hope remained as I could've washed away all of the salty food with one of their exquisite margaritas, but more disappointment. The one margarita that I have only been able to find at their establishment is the Cucumber Serrano Margarita, now called the Cucumber Jalepeno. When I attempted to order it, I was informed they were out of cucumber. How can they be out of cucumber? They are literally across a parking lot from a grocery store. It is a shame that a place that prided itself on quality and fresh food seems to have given itself to cheaper ingredients and fewer options.

I am extremely sad to say, I will never return to eat at Agave Roja, as they are no longer what...

Made reservations 3 hours in advance ,was glad to get them,going by pictures online it looked like a good place. We had an 815 reservation had to wait 20 min ,was asked if wanted to sit outside said yes but the outside had a bad dumpster smell. We waited for table about 20 min. Finally sat down and waited another 10 min. to get a drink order in ,which dident come for 20 min ,the bar 10 feet away and place emptying out now. After we got the drink one of the margaritas had a clump of Commercial Steel Wool in it ,the kind they clean pots and pans with. After showing the waiter it took a half hour to get the drink replaced. The owner we found out later was working the bar and doing shots with other bar staff and customers and yelling to special customers[I guess} deserts on the house ,she nor anyone else did not have the decency to come over to say sorry about the steel wool in drink. We ordered two sides of guacamole, which was good , but not worth 32 bucks for 2 orders for 7 adults ,took 20 min to what taste like cheap store bought stale chips to get to us after the guac came. ,rest of food was mediocre, Overpriced Burrito served Luke warm and very very sweet which was strange. Owner does not honor US military active service ,but local residents only get discounts ,no tourists or vacationers ,service was terrible and the place was quiet but they still added their 20 percent ,the waiters were slow,but kind and very sorry for the mishaps of boss at the bar. 7 adults 1 baby $290 with forced tip included with only 2 alcoholic drinks. this place really is bad ,do not let the website fool you,the food looks nothing like the pics and the place is filthy, horrible food and service. Thank...