Dos Loco Gringos — Restaurant in Hope

After a long day of traveling and digging for diamonds at the diamond park, my teenage grandchildren and I decided to try out this restaurant. Choices are limited in Hope and as the name of the town, we hoped this was a good decision. It was not.

We were greeted and seated promptly. However, we were seated at a table under a leaking ceiling. There was a water puddle on the table and you could see the splash when another drip fell.

When the server came back we asked to be seated at another table. You could see a look of annoyance on the servers face when we pointed out the leaking ceiling. We figured we were doing her a service letting her know about it so it could be fixed properly.

When we ordered our drinks, sweet tea and water, we ordered queso for the chips the server brought.

The queso was brought out. It had two rows of what appeared to be paprika across the top. This queso tasted like watered down white cheese. There was no flavor and it was very thin and runny. While reviewing the menu, we noticed that the menu was lacking in adding what their sides are. Apparently the sides are a choice of potatoes we found out, and the loaded baked potato is anything but loaded.

We ordered our food, and when it came it was tasteless. NOT ONE DROP OF SEASONING. My ribeye was undercooked and tasteless, my grandsons grilled chicken was tasteless and overcooked, my granddaughters nachos were inedible, and my other granddaughters some kind of salad was also inedible.

I was charged $103. plus change for this dinner that we could not eat. I did leave a $20.00, as that is the least I leave for poor food and service. Had the food been edible she would have gotten between $50.00 and $103.

I do not recommend...

I don't know how anyone could rate this place 5 stars unless they are related to the owner. I'll start with that. However, the ONLY reason I give 2 stars is because our server was very good. I didn't catch his name, but he very attentive and fast with our order. Ok. Now, my main complaint is that the margaritas are horrible. It was like trying to drink a frozen bottle of softsoap hand soap with smoke flavoring and sugar added. The Quesadilla was pretty good. My wife had the taco dinner and it was good enough to pass for the end of a long day, but you could probably make better at home. The real kicker is, and my wife and I laughed pretty hard at this, when we were paying for our $52 meal of a quesidilla, 2 terrible margaritas, 3 tacos and a beer to wash away that frozen shame, the hostess asked "was everything good?" and I said "yes except the margaritas, they were horrible." and she replied "Oh you didn't like them?" and to that I replied "no, they were pretty bad. I don't mean to be rude though." and she said "Well, that's OK...because we don't ask for your opinion anyway". HAHAHA. WOW. Yes sweetheart, you actually LITERALLY just asked me for my opinion. But...keep on with your profession. Do not eat here if you like Mexican food. It's somewhere between taco bell, and Del Taco quality at 5 times the price. But you do get a witty hostess...so there's that. Oh, the Queso and Quac were pretty good, but chips were stale. 2 stars for these reasons...1 for the prices when compared to quality...

3 stars because it's Arkansas. That's right. Location can affect the popularity of a business, but it can also affect your expectations. I'm from California, where our Mexican food is as Mexican as the people who cook it. I didn't expect much going into a place that couldn't even formulate its name properly in Spanish...(should be 'Dos Gringos Locos)

I'm not going to give you some fluffy, bullcrap review about ambiance and the way the staff made me "feel".(I hate when other reviewers do this. It's all about the food)

The chips were thin, crisp, and warm. Not salty like some places. The salsa is very plain, heavy on tomato, and a bit too salty for my liking; but it'll do.

I ordered combo fajitas opting for just steak and shrimp(never been a chicken fan). The steak is cooked well done, which is a no-no in my opinion. It's not a great cut of meat to begin with. Over cooking just makes it chewy. However, the flavor of it was REALLY good. The shrimp was actually cooked perfectly, which is nice because most restaurants over cook shrimp. It also tasted great. The bell peppers were way too soft. The onions were just perfect. The accompaniments(pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, shredded cheese and lettuce) were standard fare.

I also ordered a cheese enchilada a la carte. $2.49 isn't a bad price. It was the best thing I ate. I opted to have it covered in their chili sauce, which is meaty and has decent spice. Very good!

Everything tasted pretty good to great. I'd...