The Loco Frijole — Restaurant in Mammoth Lakes

BEWARE DO NOT EAT HERE. I have never left a review on any business, but I felt I have to warn other people who are thinking of eating here. When my wife and I pull in to the parking lot at 8:00 at night there are kids running around in the street. I am guessing ten to twelve years old. I almost hit them. Turns out they are children of the staff working at the restaurant. We get seated by a teenage girl. Our waitress was about thirteen years old. We saw a sign for the special that says two enchiladas meal/ chicken burrito $9.99. So I order chicken enchiladas and my wife ordered the cheese enchiladas. We waited about thirty minutes for the food. In the meantime we are watching a thirteen year old girl serve alcoholic beverages and wait tables. I am pretty sure this is illegal. I guess they condone child labor. Then we get the privilege of watching the cook eat in the kitchen. All their kids running in and out of the kitchen eating food. Six or seven kids I would say. Then after a half hour here comes the food. Holy smokes what a disaster. I have never seen so much grease on a plate in my life. Enchiladas soaked in about an inch of red sauce and oil. I told my wife not to eat the enchiladas because I did not want us to get sick. The beans looked like they came out of a can. The rice looked somewhat safe so we ate that. The thirteen year old waitress asked if it was ok. I said no and asked for the check. When we get the check we are charged $12.99 for the enchiladas plate. I go up to the counter and ask her to get an adult because I don’t feel like arguing with a child. WARNING WARNING HERE WE GO ANOTHER SIGHTING FROM THE FOO FILES. SACA LA BOLSITA. Here comes some little smoked out tweaking looking foo. Head to toe in the latest Mexico flag clothing. I tell him we are overcharged. He says no. I point to the special board on the wall. He says that price is for the chicken burrito. I tell him that the food is horrible and we did not eat it and that it is still on the table. He says that if I would have told him something he could have fixed it. This foo. I told him I didn’t see you anywhere. (Probably out back smoking that stuff.) We go round and round and finally I just want to get out of there so I just pay the bill. First we try with the debit card. But this foo could not figure out how to work the machine. Are you kidding me. So I pay cash. I am offered 10% of my next visit. Yeah right I would rather eat dog food then go back to that place. Save yourself some trouble and go somewhere else. Your stomach will...

Top worst dining out experience. Only two other tables had patrons - so not at all busy. Something very off about them supposedly being under new ownership per the "previous owner's" response below, yet ext signage is "Lopez's The Loco Frijole," and my Venmo receipt shows I paid a "Calletano Lopez. No exterior notice that their system is down & aren't taking debit cards (notice on tables only to pay with cash, Venmo or Zelle). When I first got in, the table over from me said food good, but 1.5 hrs to get. TRUE! Only 2 servers, one there for a week and so nervous couldn't remember anything. Orders incorrect at the other tables . Food ok, BUT NOT REMOTELY NEAR QUALITY or portion size to Roberto's in town (they were closed, thus the try at TLF); best part was salsa with warm chips. Then time to pay: Zelle - wouldn't go through (name on table pay-list to use was OLD owner! SUPPOSED NEW OWNER comes out, says use HER PERSONAL name- still won't work, so she starts with the exasperated sighs and huffs, then walks away - no consideration shown in spite of how screwed up her service and wait times were... So...I download Venmo and get them paid (over 20% tip to server in spite of issues...), nevertheless, treated poorly by (new?) owner who's venue is a mess, and who, btw, lets her Chihuahua roam the place, including the kitchen! I could have put down the cash I had, said i'd atm bal, bring in the remainder - but then jolt them instead - well, that's NOT who I am - so i went through whatever it took to pay them and to tip not just min, but over 20%. Dear Ms New Owner-E Lopez - think about that as tourist season comes into full-swing & you start getting jilted or the health & safety board comes in and sees your dog in the kitchen! Check...

The food was pretty good but everything else about the restaurant was sub par. I got the Lobster burrito and would give it a 7/10. Biggest problem was that they put way too many bell peppers in it. Like probably more bell peppers than bread. Now onto the negatives (spoiler alert: there are a lot): For one, my mom got some tamale thing which was AFUWL. It tasted like the chicken in it had been seasoned with fish juice and I instantly regretted putting it into my mouth. I didn't really like the atmosphere, but that's mostly unimportant. The service was mediocre at best since the waitress gave off "I could care less about this job" vibes. There were little kids who I'm pretty sure were the owner's kids (since they were going in and out of the kitchen) just messing around and one kid was even sleeping at a table, so that was pretty unprofessional. But probably the worst thing was that no one, and I mean no one at the restaurant was wearing their mask properly. They all had it below their nose which really gave me OCD. The menu I got was also extremely dirty with food seemingly from that same night still on it. Now I am anything but a germaphobe, but this stuff really got on my nerves, although I guess it shouldn't since the chef wasn't even wearing a mask at all. The only time I'd recommend this over Roberto's is if it's completely booked (which it often is). Otherwise, just go to Roberto's. Bigger portions for (I think) the same price, better atmosphere, and slightly better service. Probably even recommend Gomez’s at the village over this place and that place has tons of its own...