Habanero Grill — Restaurant in North Carolina

Habanero has moved to the former nunnery freeman bbq restaurant across 158 from its prior, "arsoned" location (formerly waffle house). I perused the menu and asked detailed questions for a carry out order. Out of tamales by 4pm. Tacos available individually, as are tamales, when enough prepared for the day. They offer a variety of "arroz con" dishes aka ACP, ACC, etc. I did not check if they're smothered in queso like so many do now. They offer a variety of milanesa, seafood, chicken, and pork dishes. Ooh, ooh, and ceviche, I've yet to try, one of my favorite dishes.

Habanero Grill really dressed up the interior of the old building, with sturdy wood, clean cut tables, benches, chairs, and rough-hewn log elevated diner at register. Wall of artsy stone shields dining area from kitchen. Bar is smaller, lighter stone under the bar-top. Beautiful center light piece in dining area, and subtle, tasteful decor.

I elected we try 3 varieties of taco, $2.59 each, with only cilantro and onion, classic as served by my Costa Rican and Nicaraguan friends. Chicken (pollo), chorizo (sausage), and pastor (pork) were the meats I selected, but carne asada (steak) and carnitas (marinated pork) are also options. Flour tortilla for chicken, corn tortillas for pork. The chicken was dry, as is common amongst Latin/Mexican restaurants and food trucks, for some reason, but the lime and cilantro/onion helped.

The housemade chorizo was scrumptious. We had this in our surprise queso, also, which disappeared rapidly. I didn't order queso, but had inquired if they had hot queso, and choriqueso when I first arrived. I inquired about 15+ items, but didn't get all those in my bag, thank goodness. Without a receipt, I did not check I was charged for only what I ordered. The total bill I paid indicates I was charged the $6.99 for the queso.

I wanted a plain quesadilla for my sister, and the hostess offered a kid's version since a la carte quesadillas weren't on the menu. For $3.99, we got a 6in. wide folded quesadilla, and 1/2c rice. I'll report on that later, as the little imp took this on the road, headed north, so no tellin what she thought of it. She loved the chorizo taco!

My original, correct order also had a chile relleno. This was not in my bag, so I cannot comment on it. The two styrofoam containers were carefully layered with the bowls of queso, salsa (picante style), and salsa verde. Oh, and 2 bags of warm, fresh corn tortilla chips. These were show stealers, as we all agreed we liked they weren't too thick, held up to heavy dipping, and saltless so we could dip away into salty ingredients without getting puckered salt lips. We've had some excessively salty, too thin, and too thick ones elsewhere.

The total was $20.02, more than 3 tacos, kid's quesadilla, and a chile relleno +tax. I would closely examine to-go/carry out orders in future, even when pressed for time during bad weather like today. I plan to ask about other salsas, as only one of us like picante, try their ceviche and milanesa, finally get at least one tamal, and if they have any infused tequilas soaking with variety of fruits, jalapenos, herbs, and other peppers for my family celebrations. Sign in bar area advertised $5 margaritas, online has $3 special, although I don't know when that special is served.

The lunch menu appeared to be a good value for the money, to try more variety. The hostess, unknown name, was very courteous and helpful with menu item descriptions. Despite repeating my order back to me, I wound up with choriqueso and without my chile relleno. Until next...

Normally when I come to this restaurant, the food and drinks are excellent and I would have a waitress by the name of Morgan. My normal waitress was not there this time. The salsa tasted old/spoil/sour. However, when I went yesterday, we received the wrong order and the drinks were not correct either. The drinks were watered down extremely. I mentioned this three different times with the waiter. Even though the food wasn’t that good, I told them don’t worry about sending the food back ( didn’t want anyone to mess over my food). Mind you I had to repeat my Order to him four times to make sure he had it before he placed it in. Then they were charging me for food I didn’t get and when I tried to speak with the manager to correct the ticket; he said he would speak to me then walked passed me several times and ignored me each time I tried to speak to him. But he finally told me that the waiter was coming. By the way, I had already spoke to the waiter previously who didn’t change my ticket when I explained the situation. I had to go back and forth with the waiter about the charge and he ended up getting help from the manager who wouldn’t speak to me to change it. There were only six people in the building and I’m included in that number so it wasn’t busy. Then I see and hear them talk about me when they messed up the entire order. They didn’t apologize or try to rectify the situation at all. I’m so annoyed, pissed and disappointed in this establishment. I will not...

We have been wanting to try this place out for some time now & we finally did.....The only regret I have is that we didn't go sooner! Wonderful! It's pretty difficult to get a good place to eat in this town AND be able to say it was a great experience but to our surprise it WAS! Great atmosphere, timely service, fresh, hot, authentic, tasty, well cooked food! Some locals may say that it's a bit pricey however the price reflects the food, hence you get what you pay for & if you want great food & the entire great, dining out atmosphere then you want mind paying for it! If your budget doesn't allow room for this then by all means, don't expect something for nothing then complain. If you're on a Taco Bell budget then stick to that. This little town needs a nice place to eat & I hope Habanero Grill will stick around for a while. It's conveniently located right I-85 & not far from US-1. So if you plan on traveling through this area don't wait until you get to the big towns, support this little town's newest, BEST (in a long time) restaurant. You...