5 Rabanitos Hyde Park — Restaurant in Hyde Park Township

We sat down around 2:30pm. The food was excellent. The service was just surprisingly bad. Our waitress laid down the check before we even finished our entrees. Very odd, I thought. I then asked for the dessert menu since I saw the table next to us eating churros. Waitress looked annoyed and I later realized it was likely because her shift was ending or maybe she was wanting a break. Because after we ordered 2 desserts, she never ever returned.

After 20 minutes, I had to inquire about the status though I had seen what ended up being our dessert for 10 minutes on the counter. I hadn't realized it was ours until later. So a nice staff member finally delivered it, but both ice cream parts of the dessert were clearly half-melted. I asked for our waitress, but the manager came over instead and said, "We make these from scratch and that's why it took this long." That was it. No apology for essentially forgetting about our table. And that was clearly not the real reason for the long delay. She was trying to gaslight me. Great meal; awful experience. If the waitress wanted to close out the check, she...

It’s so important to have good service, no matter what the customer looks like, or the number of people, treat everyone as a valued customer. I didn’t receive that coming here, which seemed much like a choice given by the staff as I observed other guests experiencing the restaurant in a different way. Seated myself, waited quite some time to order, ended up ordering to go since the wait was long with only just few customers eating there. Got my food and no words were exchanged, in contrast some customers were chatted with outside the door with staff. I was quite surprised by this experience overall honestly, given being a long time resident of Hyde park and giving this new restaurant a chance. Last but not least, I ordered the vegetarian torta, and it was pretty bland in flavor, it felt as if I was eating greasy filled vegetables between bread. It was pretty disappointing overall, safe to say I won’t be coming back in the future. Best of luck to this Mexican...

Honestly, I expected way more. I walk past this place daily and it’s always slammed—line out the door, people hyped like it’s the second coming of street food. Finally gave in and tried it: 4 tacos, fried plátanos, and a side of guac. The only thing worth it was the carne asada taco. The rest? Straight-up forgettable. Flavorless, uninspired, and lazy.

This place isn’t good—it’s just good enough for a neighborhood starving for options. Let’s be real: if this was dropped into a city with an actual taco scene, it’d fold in a month. The only reason it’s got a line is because UChicago students don’t know any better and they’re desperate for something that isn’t dining hall food. Strip away the hype, and you’re left with a textbook...