Gustavo's Mexican Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Cortez

Wake Up Cortez! Gustavo's is an extremely good Tex-Mex restaurant. It should be jam-packed with glutenous happy patrons every night.

I am visiting from Texas and have experienced many of it's extremely numerous good Tex-Mex restaurants. But very few offer the fresh and great tasting dishes offered by Gustavo"s.

One of my primary tests.of a Tex-Mex restaurant is the availability and quality of their chili Verde. Gustavo's passed the test with flying colors. The side of chili verde that I ordered had a wonderful taste of fresh New Mexico green chilies while also delivering a moderate but not overpowering amount of heat. The pork chunks in the chili were ample and we're perfectly cooked to a delectible texture requiring only a soft but slow chew to stimulate and reward your taste buds.

My next test is how the restaurant prepares the chili rellenos. At Gustavo's, the rellenos are the feature item on the menu. I ordered the crispy version and was not disappointed. Unlike many restaurants, Gustavo's gets the breading right (i.e. light and crisp not damp and heavy). The rellenos are fresh and cooked to a proper texture of being easy to cut with a fork. The cheese stuffing is a Goldilocks experience (i.e. Just Right)

The rellenos are accompanied with nice and tasty portions of Spanish rice, frijoles and guacamole.

Also Gustavo's serves a variety of Mexican beers in large and super large sizes. One super large beer was just right for accompanying the ample meal that I was served.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is warm and friendly. Service is attentive and prompt. And the people that work there appear to enjoy their work as there was a good deal of laughing and positive interaction among the staff.

In summary: Great place...

I had such high hopes for Gustavo's based on the Google rating, but traverlers beware...find another Mexican restaurant! The staff was all very friendly, but that's where my compliments will end. I ordered the carne asada street tacos. I recieved 3 palm sized "corn tortillas" with gristley, flavorless steak, a quarter sized ring of red onion, a cilantro leaf, and some sort of green liquid that they claimed to be guacamole. The corn tortillas smelled absolutely vile. I tried to get past the smell and took a couple of bites, but I just couldn't make myself swallow. It was that bad. My husband who is the least picky eater on earth, was gagging trying to get it down. My husband's taco salad had so much liquid sitting at the bottom, that he couldn't come close to finishing his meal either. We were both so sick to our stomachs and gagging after our "meal." I am not a confrontational person at all, and felt it was best for me to just hide my uneaten meal in a napkin and pay so that we could leave before one of us got sick. I don't recall the price of our meal, but it was far overpriced. I'm so so glad that we were just passing through and we will avoid this place like the plague on our next visit...

Alright, so no kidding. Last year I came here on a road trip. Not to here, but I was on a highway near here and got off at random, saw the place, came in. . .

I’m from Oklahoma. Spend time in many south western states. This place is next level. The staff are amazing, especially Brooklyn, but, yeah. And the place is so clean, you may be able to eat off if the sink in the bathroom.

But the food, oh, my friends. . . The menu is relatively short, which is what you should want. If you wanted the Cheesecake Factory sort of, not quite at all food that is basically the sad, depressed, and not even a little authentic food from there, go there.

The guacamole fresco is wonderful, the perfect combination of avocado, spices, and just enough pico, not close to overwhelming the other flavours, a wonderful accent.

I don’t have time to go over my full order (all three things. I’m on another road trip) but it was all excellent.

Oh, and the salsa is stunning.

Eat here...