Rosie's Mexican Cantina — Restaurant in Florence

If I could rate only on the beauty, cleanliness and atmosphere of the restaurant, I'd give 5 stars. Unfortunately I'm unable to do so at this time. This was our first visit. We live in Killen but have never been to Rosie's & we decided to treat ourselves for our 15th wedding anniversary. We arrived around 4:15 pm and we were seated by the window at a table. The restaurant wasn't very busy and we would have much rather had one of the cozy booths that were available. We were no sooner seated when our waiter showed up wanting to get our drink orders. We hadn't even had time to glance at a menu & told him it was our first time at Rosie's. He didn't offer any help or suggestions on drinks or specials and seemed irritated we didn't know immediately what we wanted. We just ended up ordering a tea and cola. He asked if we wanted queso, then disappeared quickly and returned even more quickly with our drinks, and chips, asking for our food order. We were not ready so he left. We decided to try the build it yourself combos, each getting different choices so we could sample some of the menu. We waited awhile and finally spotted our waiter & flagged him down. We ordered the tomatillo enchiladas, the pork tamale, cheese relleno, beef chalupa and beef taco. We ordered a side of sour cream sauce and a side of guacamole sauce to try. The chips, salsa and white queso were delicious. The waiter kept bringing drink refills even though we'd barely touched our drinks. At one point we had 3 colas at the table. Our meals arrived quickly. I looked at my plate and all I saw was the enchilada, rice, a big blob of sour cream and a pile of beans. The waiter had vanished after service. He returned fairly quickly to ask how everything was. I asked the waiter where the other two picks were and found that the relleno was buried under the beans and the chalupa was buried under the blob and all the other stuff. He left again. I tried the beef from the chalupa first and it tasted great. My spouse tried the rice. Waiter is back again with more drink refills and wants to know if we need anything else. We asked for napkins, he got them then we never saw him again. The pork tamale was awful. Very little pork and a huge amount of dense masa. The cheese relleno was a flat piece of green slime under all those soupy beans. The batter a wet, gloppy mess, not even attached to the pepper. Nothing was hot. The tomatillo enchiladas were good anyway, even cold. The beef taco was great. My chalupa seemed more like a wet tostada but the beef part was good. The guac sauce was ok, the sour cream sauce tasted like melted cream cheese gone off. We were constantly on the lookout for our waiter and didn't see him in the restaurant at all. A female server came to our table with more drink refill offers we didn't need and we inquired after our waiter. We were told by her that she was now our server. We noticed that our section was being set up for what looked like a large group for a children's party, and we had felt extremely rushed the entire time so we decided to skip cocktails or dessert & asked for a to-go box and the check. Our new server was wonderful. I wish we would have had her the whole time. She told us to take our time paying and she cleared the glasses & one of the plates while allowing us to box the leftovers we wanted ourselves. She was even so kind as to take photos of us in front of the beautiful mural behind our table, for our anniversary memories. While getting our photos taken the bus staff cleared our...

Had to update this review.

What has happened to Rosie's? Our original 5 star review now a 1 star review! Updated Review

We have been a customer of the Florence, AL Rosie's since they opened. Usually, the food is great and the service too. This past weekend 2.26.2022 we took our daughter-in-law there for lunch for her birthday, her choice over anywhere she wanted to go, were we in for a surprise, things have changed drastically.

The wait was relatively short, once seated we were brought the usual chips and salsa although this time it was more broken burnt crumbs. Like the bottom of the bag of chips. I’m sure the owner would have been completely embarrassed by it. But that’s not what warranted this review. Read on...

When we finished our meal, the waiter came back and asked if we would like desert and even tried to get us to grab the free scoop of ice cream, we declined but told him it was my daughter-in-law’s birthday, he said oh would you like a birthday desert, said it had fried dough with ice-cream, she accepted and he went to put in the order for it.

20 minutes passed and he came back to the table stating the manager would need to come check her ID to make sure it was her birthday. We told him fine, send him on over. We thought this was very strange. Then we started to feel like they were insinuating we wanted to steal a desert even after declining 4 scoops of ice-cream that they give for free. Being a business owner, I would never make my customers feel like they were being dishonest just for the sake of it.

We waited another 20 minutes, still no manager to check her ID. At this point we told him just to forget it to bring the check. I paid with my new business debit card. First time I have ever used it as it had just come in the mail on Friday.

Everything was ok...until that evening when I got a call from my business debit card company asking if was trying to make a purchase in Mexico for $44.50 at a restaurant named CERVECERIA 19. I said no so they declined and locked the card. Imagine that, act like we are stealing a piece of fried dough all the while stealing my debit card info. Be careful using a card at Rosie's someone more than likely an employee is snapping pictures of debit cards and sending info out.

I for one will never do business with Rosie’s Cantina again, and if we do, Ill be sure to bring cash. I will be informing everyone I talk to about the debit card issue for sure and calling the manager Tuesday morning.

Best Mexican Food in Florence. Eat inside in a cozy environment or outside on the patio. Friendly staff and great service. My only complaint is the salsa. Need choices. It's not hot enough. BRING BACK the RED...

First time in Florence and decided to eat there after leaving court. The food was not appetizing at all. First let me start off: the scene inside looked like something out of the movie COCO, they took every color and decoration for day of dead and Christmas and put it all in there. We were sat down rather quickly so that was great (1 of 3 things that were great). I'm Mexican so I expected this establishment to have great food; what a let down.

The menus we were given smelled like they were wiped with a wash cloth that's been balled up in the bathroom for several months. The hostess and waitress were great (2nd great thing). They didn't have aguas frescas, not a great start. Their chips were unsalted and their salsa was pace picante sauce from the store.

My wife got enchiladas that were covered with Velveeta cheese that was flavorless.The meat looked like bean dip. The sweet tea she ordered was gross. My son got a burrito, he said he liked it but he eats anything. His fiance got Maji Maji it was a piece of dried fish on a semi hard tortilla, her rice was white rice with a few flakes of parsley. (Our dog wouldn't eat the leftovers). I got tacos al carbon that had no flavor. Pico de Gallo that was all tomatoes, no chile, no onions, a few flakes of cilantro, no lemon or salt. The sour cream was a big scoop with some paprika sprinkled on top. The guacamole had the flavor of Pedialyte.

They had free ice cream, which tasted great (3rd great thing) and the best tasting part of our meal. We were very disappointed and let down and it was definitely not worth the price paid. I am not really sure where they went to learn to cook Mexican food but they should get their money back. However, this place mostly caters to the local demographics who are not Hispanic and probably don't know what real Mexican food should taste like.

To the locals: If you all actually enjoy this so-called Mexican (flavorless) food, you all are getting robbed and missing out on real a cultural experience because this...