Monterrey Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Knoxville

The last review I read on 6-6-2012 cound not have been talking about the same resturant I ate at on 7-16-12. Being from Latin America, I can tell you this is NOT authentic Mexican and it most definitly is the worst food I have ever had.

My girlfriend and I were looking for something close so we checked Monterry out. We initially got chips and Salsa, the chips were fine, but the Salsa was runny and cheaply made. I do not think I have ever had a place that served Salsa that terrible with no peppers, onions, tomoatoes, etc. All it tasted like was old tomato juice and random pepper seeds.

To make up for the poor Salsa, we ordered guacamole. To my amazement, it was worse than the Salsa! A few weeks ago I was at Roosters off Northshore and ordered guacamole, being a sports bar/resturant I did not expect much. As it turned out, their guacamole was just as bad. When I asked the server where they got their gucamole from, he told me Sysco food products. In other words it came from a can on a truck delivered God knows when. This to say the guacamole at Monterry looked and tasted the exact same! I was very disappointed in the quality because I personlly make guacamole and it does not look like green nasy paste.

We would have walked out when we got the guacamole, but we had already ordered. My girlfirend had two steak tacos and I had three hard shell tacos. She said her tacos were not bad, but for her celantro and hot sauce, Monterry put it all smashed in together. My beef tacos were terrible, there was no seasoning on the beef and the only other topping on the taco was shredded white cheese. I could have made better tacos from home using ground meet and ortega taco seasoning!

As far as service is concerned, it was just as bad as the food. Our server was slow and at one point when we tired to locate him, he was nowhere to be found. My girlfriend literally ran out of water and had to start drinking mine. Meanwhile I went without water until it was almost time to pay for our meal. When the server finally saw we were out of water, I was so frustrated I was just content to wait until we got home to drink something from the tap.

Needless to say neither of us finished our meals. We just did not want to waste what food we had needlessly paid for already. When we got to the registar to pay, the man rang us up and our total was $18.85 (not including the tip she put on her card). Keep in mind this was for literally, two waters, 3 beef tacos ($4.00), 2 steak tacos ($5.00) and guacamole ($4.00). All of which did not amount to $18.85 and furthermore would have probably cost under $10 at any other Mexican resturant. We left, but my girlfriend was so upset we went back and politley asked the manager to review our bill. When he did he hastly shoved $5 into my girlfriends hand and told us to have a good night as it was obvious he did not want us there anymore.

I am usually not one to ever post about bad experiences, but I have to warn others in Knoxville to not go to this resturant. I will never go back to Monterry or any other resturant that is affiliated with it. The food was terrible, the service just as bad and they overcharged us for sub par service and food! Do yourself a favor and check out Soccer Taco, La Palma, Don Pablos, or any other Mexican resturant for...

I have been this restaurant years ago and I remembered it as being pretty good I was not impressed at all the food I found really void of flavor not well seasoned big portions but big portions of bad food it's not impressive I found the service very poor our waiter was okay but just nothing special about the place and they don't make you feel special. The bill was $68 we had a margarita Cabana stuffed peppers with cheese and their dishes just very for that kind of money I could have eaten a really good meal in Knoxville in any kind of way too many Mexican restaurants to choose from to deal with mediocre to bad food I really hate to say something negative about a restaurant those of you who follow my reviews know that but I just not much I can compliment this place on I would say many restaurants I'll go to and if I'm not impressed ,I might say I will give it another chance for this reason .I will never give this one another chance. And really the only thing Mexican about the food is that it's made by Mexican people it is standard tourist Mexican restaurant food I should have known I was in trouble when the place was full of white people. Many of the restaurants I go to now Mexican people will be in there eating. that's when you have possibly hit the jackpot on Mexican food. Sorry management and owners on food quality I will give you a 3 1/2 to a four on service you're about between a three and a four the restaurant did appear clean I will give you that I will give you a $10 on that maybe you can hold on to your business with this type of quality but I can't see how I'm not with all the good Mexican food in Knoxville it's nice meeting...

Yesterday was the 4th of July, 2022….

I am on a new eating schedule where I only eat at 2pm and then at 6pm.

I usually don’t start getting hungry until around 1:30 every afternoon.

Yesterday I got hungry at 10am but we already had loose plans for the morning so I settled for a fairly quick lunch and we went on with our day.

5:45 rolls around and I say to the family, let’s go to Monterey’s!!!

We all load up and as I can see the parking lot going west down cedar lane…. To my horror…. It’s empty!!!

I was heartbroken.

Now I have no clue what to do. So I decide to take us down town. We get all the way down town on the 3rd level of the market square garage and I realize…. I don’t have my wallet with me and neither does my bride….🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

So we had to go all the way back to the house in Fountain City to pick up my wallet.

If you would have been open, Monterey’s, then it would have only been about a 4 minute drive to get my wallet, but noooo…

So, really getting hungry now since I only eat twice a day and it’s well past 6 we just hit Broadway thinking things like… how dare you Monterey’s!!! Well… I was thinking that… maybe not the wife and kids.

And as we pass Fairmont we turn into the bowling alley!!! Victory!!! Another Mexican restaurant that I totally forgot about!!!

Well… there’s a reason that I had forgotten.

It was not terrible but it wasn’t beyond ok.

So… this Independence Day I am grateful to live in a country where people are free! Still, I think we should codify it into law that Monterey’s can’t close down like this. It’s...