Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Hurst

I drove an hour to meet friends at Abuelo's for a Mardi Gras Taco Tuesday event. There were about 20 of us there.

I haven't eaten at Abuelo's for probably at least 15 years, but I'll be honest: the food, at least that I and my friend ordered, was not good at all.

She ordered a couple of things a la carte --- Tortilla soup and a fajita taco --- and because of dietary limitations (I can't eat tomatoes or onions...sucks to be me), I ended up having very limited options and our server helped me settle on the kids' nachos with vegetables.

I barely ate any of my food. The kids' "nachos" were basically 3 halves of taco shells with melted cheese on them. I ate the section with cheese and left the rest (which looked like a kid actually ate them. 😅). I tried the vegetables, but with the first bite, realized they had pepper all over them. Pepper is another thing I've got to stay away from. They had brought me some tortillas, but even the edges of those were dry and overcooked, so like the "nachos," I ate the soft center and left the rest. I wanted the blackberry mint mojito (made it a mocktail since I had a long drive home) and it wasn't good. It had nothing to do with no alcohol, though. It was extremely heavy on the lime, so it was really, really sour. I kept adding water to it and finally gave up at the halfway mark.

My friend's fajita taco came out with a hard taco shell, so she asked for a tortilla. They brought some for her, which was nice. But the chicken on the taco didn't even remotely look like fajita meat. When she ate her soup, it was lukewarm at best. The temperature was so cool the cheese on top wasn't even melted --- it was a pile of shredded cheese sitting on top of the soup.

I usually include photos with my reviews, but nothing even really looked that good. I kind of wish I had at this point for this review, but oh well.

I was excited to go to Abuelo's after not having been there for a long while, but I'm sad to report I'll be just fine if I never go again.

I will say that the waitstaff and management were very nice. Our server got a $5 tip, on top of the 20% gratuity, from both my friend and I. She was super helpful to me with my restrictions (despite there not being many options) and was very accommodating. So service gets 5 stars. That was a winner. We just weren't impressed with the rest...

Haven't been to Abuelo's in years, not since they changed locations after the highway expansion. It's tucked back a bit from the service road but easily found if you're looking for it. Everything about the restaurant was fantastic, the staff was friendly and great, full bar with tasty drinks, the restaurant was modern, clean and very well decorated. The food was outstanding!

For appetizer we had the jalapeno cheddar fritters and they are simply amazing. They are a special and didn't see them on the menu but highly recommend them when they are offering them. For dinner I had the steak fajita chimichanga, it was absolutely delicious! The stuffing was fajita steak mixed with peppers and onions. It was perfectly fried on the outside. The tortilla is perfectly golden brown and very tasty and flaky. It was topped with a queso sauce that complimented it perfectly. The PAPAS CON CHILE was fantastic first ever having them and I can't believe I've been missing out on such a fantastic side dish. It was very good, Looking forward to having it again.

My girlfriend had the Laredo which usually consist of a beef enchilada a cheese enchilada and a beef taco but she swapped out the beef enchilada for a chicken enchilada and they did that happily for her. She enjoyed it very much and look quite tasty but I personally am not a enchilada fan

Overall fantastic place. I forgot to mention they bring three different sauces with the chips in the beginning and all three are very tasty. The green sauce is a little odd to me because it's sweet but it was tasty and I can see how other people would like it alot more than I did but it was not bad at all. The other two sauces are more my style and I liked them very much. The food portions are very large. We left very full and for the price I have no complaints its very nice restaurant for the price and the food...

If you're looking for cold food, this is your place.

Unfortunately, our experience at Abuelo's was not the greatest.

First, we had a large party and attempted to call ahead to make sure a series of tables would be ready. In two attempts in two days, we were never connected with a manager. We decided to go ahead anyway, because we had heard good things, but this kind of service continued into the meal.

It took a very long time to get us seated during a time when only the bar was busy. It was clear that the restaurant was understaffed, but the wait for tables was unusual at best.

When we were finally seated, our server was quickly to attend to us, but this was the last time speed entered into the equation. The manager told us our server was new, and he may have been overwhelmed due to the short-staffed situation, but it was still not a good look for the restaurant.

When the food and drinks finally arrived, we were disappointed to discover that several of our sides were served cold. It took several minutes to flag down the server, and finally we had to ask for assistance from the manager (twice, using two different employees) to get the situation resolved.

To his credit, the manger did assist us and offered us compensation for the poor experience. We appreciated his candor and willingness to assist us, but at that point we were near the end of the meal and basically ready to leave. Without the manager's intervention, this would have been a 1 1/2 star experience at best.

The entries were average to slightly above average. The cheese is a bit like processed cheese, and I would definitely avoid any item with the word "shrimp" in it as well.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Abuelo's at this time. I hope to give them another shot down the road, but it will be a while before...