Illegal Pete's - Fort Collins — Restaurant in Fort Collins

I’ve been a fan of the veggie burrito from ‘Pete’s since I started eating them in Boulder over 15 years ago. I’d drive in to Boulder on the weekend and Illegal Pete’s was always my first stop—refueling and carbo-loading on tacos before friends and I would commence the much-anticipated serial ingress into the dozen used bookshops there were around Pearl Street Mall in Boulder.

When a ‘Pete’s came to Fort Collins it should have been pure happiness for hapoinrrrr, but that happiness was confused by friends and neighbors raising valid concerns about the word “Illegal” adorning the front sign of a Mexican restaurant, as the word itself grew steadily more charged in a time where elected leaders used charged language that compared people to vermin as easily as the Nazis dehumanized whole classes of people by cartooning them as rats. I noticed that gentle adjective “iIllegal” grew far more visible when the president happily used it as a pejorative and even a noun to describe Central and South American, brown-skinned people fleeing national crises and personal death threats, the former sometimes fomented by the USA’s advice and aid. Good people who are friends talked about the name as one more daily micro aggression directed at people from Mexico or Central America and their descendants, and the Old Town debate reverberated around the whole country and even in newspapers in the U.K. I was swept up in the conversations about Illegal Pete’s needing to change its name because of its echo of some ugly political and personal rhetoric.

But I decided to come back and eat here for many reasons that outweighed an adjective chosen decades before immigrants became such a target.

I came back not just because IP continues its traditions of great food served by friendly people. It’s far more because of the good conditions I understand the workers here are entitled to and receive, jobs with reliable health insurance and a living wage. All people who work here and eat here are treated by co-workers with equal courtesy and friendliness. The crowd is composed of mostly young white students from Colorado attending the local university—just as it is in most of Old Town Fort Collins. Compared to many local fast food restaurants, though, Illegal Pete’s treats its workers very well, and participates in supporting local causes like the arts, literacy campaigns, and more. Its social justice and action for many good causes is a visible riposte to those good friends who promised to boycott.

But I guess my personal tale of returning to Pete’s food isn’t relevant unless others of you are holding back because of the restaurant’s name. I urge everyone to look beyond the name to what is being done here: good food made by hand from locally sourced vegetables and meats. Quesadillas, hot sauces, tacos and flutes—the food is abundant and not expensive.

There’s word and then there’s action. Words like “illegal” in this context absolutely are a micro aggression. Do I wish it had a different name? Hellya. But the actions I see being done in the name of the taco stand turned restaurant today seem good to me! And did I mention its burritos are A+++? They are. You can eat one in summer right near the street when wide, very sturdy garage doors rise, allowing fresh air in to cool the customers too. And by the way, a burrito and a strawberry 🍓 soda from Mexico at Illegal Pete’s anytime of day will turn your frown...

What a cool and casual little spot. We stopped in on our way to Cheyenne. I'm sure glad we did. You order your food on one side. The guys running the kitchen side are friendly and pretty generous. We ordered drinks from the bar on the other side. My margarita was better than most and I'm pretty particular about my margs. Best bartender is my husband and he's generally ruined me for margaritas. So, we waited around for our name to be called (kitchen side) then we took our lunch upstairs to eat. The rooftop area is great. It's mostly covered. The metal chairs were surprisingly comfortable. We both had the tempura fried fish; my husband had a burrito and I had a bowl. The fish was cooked absolutely beautifully. It was so crisp and the fish was tender and delicious. The salsas were memorably tasty. We got the perfect level of heat with incredible flavor. Their tortilla chips were thick, crunchy and tasty. We didn't eat them all and would never be so insulting as to toss them. We asked them for a bag and they happily provided one for our late night munchies. We loved everything about this place, accept for the plastic utensils. I let them know in a friendly and positive way as we left. It was a bit difficult to cut through that big boy burrito with that flimsy fork and knife. But everything else was so delightful, I'm sure...

I am very disappointed to write this review, but I'm hoping it will provoke improvement. I usually have a fantastic experience here. I order out frequently and I love when our family has the time to enjoy the patio. The patio is the best in town, the food is simple, but good, and the margs are great. But, the service was so terrible from my visit last night (Sunday, 3/8/21) both my husband and I talked about no longer giving them business.

First, the white rice was not just a little undercooked, it was almost raw. For the high price of the food, this is unacceptable. It made both my husband's bowl and my nachos inedible. The male bartender and one of the male employees on the food line were so incredibly rude, it was honestly shocking. We were polite and neutral, simply placing our order, but their tone of voice and their responses were enough for us to not want to return. We even asked our two friends that joined us for dinner if they had a similar experience to make sure we weren't just being too critical.

We do hope that the customer service and quality of food improves over time and that this was just a one time deal; however, this experience was so bad, I think it is important to write this review. I have many great memories here and I hope to continue that...