The Original Blue Adobe Grille — Restaurant in Mesa

My recent third visit to the Blue Adobe Grill in Mesa has solidified this New Mexican Style eatery as one of the best. After having eaten at hundreds of different Mexican restaurants in my life it takes a lot to impress me. But impress Blue Adobe has. The stellar entrees, delightful & efficient staff, and cosy cantina setting make Blue Adobe my new favorite destination for Mexican food.

Every great restaurant needs an iconic dish that becomes its signature for both what makes it great and what makes it unique. For Blue Adobe, it has two- the spooning rellenos, and the carne adovada. The spooning relleno is an amazing Anaheim pepper stuffed with a beef tenderloin and two cheeses and crusted with amazing chorizo. The carne adovada is red sauced and simmered chunks of pork that are the perfect combination of chile adobo "bite" and juicy pork savor. In addition to these great dishes, there are more than a dozen other excellent features from meatloaf to seafood enchiladas (which are, themselves, excellent) to juicy chicken tacos. This is New Mexican style food, so there are excellent chips and salsa, as well. The salsa is worthy of its own accolades- featuring a beautiful burnt pepper churn that pairs amazing with the crisp, hot tortilla chips.

The staff that I have experience at the Original Blue Adobe grill in Mesa have been nothing but amazing each visit. Smiles and kind words are nice, but when combined with efficient service and attentiveness makes the whole experience perfect. I can't say enough about how pleased I was with the good service here.

This small eatery on Country Club Drive (just quarter mile north of Main) is easy to miss from the road, but once you are inside, the relatively narrow corridor of its sitting area feels much larger by the visual layout and segmented panels spaced between edge tables. The bar, decor, music and warmth of the place sits you in a cantina that feels like sitting down in a relatives home. I loved the experience.

I am not sure why I had not tried this place before. But it has now become one of my favorite destinations! I will see you there!!

Kim's Mexican Restaurant Entree Hall of Fame

The Blue Adobe Spooning Relleno is a delight of flavor, texture and presentation, and sets it in my Arizona hall of fame alongside the Casa Reynoso (family restaurants) Gollo Burro, New Mexican Grill (Gilbert) Green Chile Pork Burrito and the El Charro Downtown Cafe (Tucson) Carne...

I have been in the industry for 20 years so I know my expectations are high but I had the worst experience I've had dining out at this place. My family lived going here at least twice a month because the food is usually outstanding despite the unwelcoming service. My son and I went here before the weekend rush two Fridays ago around 2pm. We sat at one of the front two booths, where they have put us every time we arrive. Waitress wasn't busy as she was sitting at the bar with co-workers looked like making the seating chart. She was visibly bothered she had to wait on us. We ordered shrimp coctail because it is bomb and ordered our dinner. Like I said apps were great. When our orders came she just sat them down and ran off without a word. Now I like my steak m/r but the steak she brought wasn't even blue...it was frozen in the middle and slightly seared outside. I couldn't even cut it so I waited for our server to return and or catching someone walking by to let them know. After my son was done eating I finally got the attention of another employee and asked for the manager. Waiting again my server came up to us so I told her my problem and she just took it away. She came back with a box for my son and the bill and did say she was very sorry that she looked at it and said it wasn't even cooked and she couldn't cut it either so she took it off the bill. We had already planned our dessert but she left the bill and just walked away. So now I haven't eaten except for half a shrimp cocktail and now we won't be getting our dessert either? So at this point I wasn't going to chase someone down again to get dessert so we paid and walked to the front. I asked the hostess for a manager and started to tell her how bad our experience was and she just said her manager would be in later and walked away. I have always trained any help I have on staff is a customer service representative. Everyone listens and then tries to fix the problem and I know that at any time of the day someone is in charge. Why were we just ignored? In so disappointed and will NEVER be back. I have left my number for the owner or manager and haven't heard back yet, 2 weeks later.

Just an update. Nobody ever called me or even commented on this review. I guess they just don't really...

We were first greeted by an older woman with short gray hair, and unfortunately, her attitude set a negative tone right away. Arriving shortly after 5 PM on a Wednesday, the restaurant wasn’t too busy, yet we were met with visible frustration for not having a reservation. Rather than a warm welcome, we were chastised, and I even overheard her venting to a server before returning to inform us—rather curtly—that we’d have to wait 30-45 minutes while they put tables together for our party of 6.

Noticing several open tables, I politely asked if splitting our group would be easier. She responded with an eye roll, walked away, and proceeded to drag tables and chairs around with clear annoyance, making it obvious how much of an inconvenience we were. The group of 4 behind us, also without a reservation, immediately left after witnessing this. I wish we had done the same! I would have preferred if they had simply said they couldn’t accommodate us rather than making a scene.

As for the food, it was underwhelming. The salsa was the highlight, but the enchiladas were mediocre, and the carne adovada was disappointing—more like dry pot roast covered in an overly sweet, mole-like sauce. The green chile corn chowder was barely touched. Thankfully, our waitress was friendly and attentive, which helped salvage the experience, but overall, the food fell short of representing true New Mexican cuisine.

On a positive note, the women’s restroom was clean.

Life’s too short for just ok food, and unfortunately, this spot didn’t live up to...