Del Carmen Mexican Store & Restaurant — Restaurant in Dade City

If there as a way to leave less then 1 star I would, we came at around 1 pm didn’t leave until 4. We put in our appetizers when the sever came over for the first time along with our drinks. Drinks took 20 mins, appetizers came out 2 hours later then 5 mins later the food. Appetizers had obviously been sitting around for a while as the hot cheese was cold and thick, wings cold. We didn’t complain initially, because they were a little busy. However, once we had a wing, we realize they were pink inside and tasted horrible/ old. The food wasn’t even that good. We asked our waiter for boxes as we had to get going (at the 3 hour mark) she ignored us and we ended up getting them from behind the bar ourselfs. We asked for the manger and he spoke with her, looked at us and walked away. She brought our checks after we asked twice and they were all wrong. Manger still had not come over. After paying we asked again for him. He finally came up and stated he ‘was busy’. We explained everything simply asking that Mandy he should check on the kitchen and the servers as they might be over loaded. He asked us “so what do you want?” Then continued to state if the food was good then we’re good to go and they will ‘try better next time’. Will never come back to this restaurant, they obviously havw way more tables then...

Excellent atmosphere, fun place to go! We visited on Sunday evening with family and friends, but they recently changed their closing time to 5pm Sundays - so we almost didn’t make it after driving an hour, which is the secondary reason for the 4 stars instead of 5. I had the Filete de Pescado a la Veracruzana. Excellent dinner. I would definitely order that dish again if we make it out here in the future.

However, the main reason for the 4 stars, my husband chose a shrimp dish that wasn’t quite what anyone of us expected. The Aguachile, described as per the menu, “Marinated shrimps drizzled in a spicy homemade lime-chile sauce. Served with cucumbers and onions.” Nothing in the description led us to think this would be a cold dish... like from the refrigerator - cold. It was spicy and there were a ton of shrimp, but he didn’t enjoy it much because he was expecting a hot dinner. It was weird. We took the rest home and were going to heat it up to see what it was like hot, but there was so much liquid in the container, the bag flooded and everything was drenched in cold spicy green juice when we got home:-(

All that said, we would go again - because it was a really nice place, very fun decorations, and we did have a great time - he will just be ordering...

This is a great place to enjoy some pretty awesome Mexican food. In a way its a litte bit of both Authentic Mexican food and a hint of tex-mex.

Location: Inside a shopping strip parking in front on road and a full lot around back. Restaurant is attached to Mexican mini mart. Restaurant is pretty big can accommodate both large families and smaller parties. Probably the nicest decor you will see in a mexican restaurant. Everything screams authentic Mexico!

Service: always top notch! Quick greeting when arrival and seating. Waiters are quick to place orders and follow up on your table.

Food: so far all food we’ve enjoyed on our many visits have been absolutely awesome. I am big on the mexican beans its the first thing i try if they suck most likely the rest of the food will. Its my make or break. Well the beans here are 100% fire! Breakfast burrito with...