Ernesto’s Mexican Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Owensboro

We went to Ernesto's at 8:30pm Friday night and the restaurant was empty, we thought we'd go ahead and try it since we've never been here before. Well needless to say I wish we would've went to Papa Grande's instead. As soon as we walked in the waiter pointed to a booth, we asked politely for a table and he pointed to a table and his friendly smile went away, he stood in front of us as soon as we sat down and waited for us to order our drinks and then put in order for our margaritas and rushed right back and stood over us and repeatedly asked us if we were ready to order yet just rushing us. Now they don't close until 10pm. So when our food was brought out to us it was like everyone from the kitchen kept coming out and looking at us. Why?? We don't know unless they were ready to close at 8:30 instead of 10. And as we were our food, it took every thing I had to keep it down. I've never had sweet enchiladas with Thai sauce, my boyfriend's fajita meal which had everything in. It was so hard he could not chew it. It only had four pieces of shrimp in it a bunch of vegetables and I mean a bunch. What little bit of meat there was? He couldn't chew it. The margaritas tasted like dirty soap water. We threw those away cuz we could not drink them and when my boyfriend asked for some more tortillas because I had to eat some of his vegetables cuz my enchiladas were so gross and the waiter got mad because he asked for more and before going to get the tortillas he ran straight to the register and added them on the bill real quick first and then everybody just kept coming out and looking at us and looking at us and saying stuff and seeing if we were done eating and just like rushing us out of there which the food. I am highly dissatisfied with the drinks. The margaritas highly dissatisfied. I wanted to give zero Stars. I will never go back to this place ever again. They made me feel so uncomfortable and for $45 it is not worth it to me and then we decided not to tip him because he never came to our table. Not one time after sitting there over top of us waiting for us to order so we didn't tip him because he never once came to our table to check on us to see if the food was okay to see if we were okay or nothing. They just waited around for us to hurry up and eat and pay. So we decided not to tip the guy and we got the look s could kill. We would have been dead and we always tip our waders and waitresses because of their hard work but not this time. I do not suggest this place for anyone to ever go to just bad experience. I don't know they were having something going on in their life. I do not know but they did not have to take it out on us and plus there was gnats flying around our food gnats that is really gross. We kept shooing them away and shoeing them away.... Zero stars for...

Five months after first review: this is my usual Mexican restaurant now. Sometimes I meet my sister. 11 am to 4 pm special $8 or $9 as the final charge despite the $8 plus tax expected from the menu. I know to say no chips when seated. The salsa is hotter than I like. I don’t like the chips either. I continue to get great service. I had the shrimp fajita last several times. I get a steak special when hungry for steak. The portion size is right for me for lunch. The price is right as it includes a soft drink.

Other places have increased their prices to the point I no longer go there. My last foot long sub was $13 and made me sick. I cook more at home now. I have a toaster oven with a lot of control. I get eye of round. A1 steak sauce and mashed potatoes. Soft drink from a $2 liter at $1.48. That is what Ernesto’s is competing against, not two quarter pounders and fries that were great forty years ago.

Three weeks later: I had the $8 lunch special #4 chimichanga pork or chicken plus soft drink. There was an extra charge of $1 for pork that was not noted on the menu. They charge $7.49 or $8.49 with no notice on the menu. They charge for using a credit card with no notice. I stopped using my previous Mexican restaurant for such undisclosed overcharges.

Good and service still excellent.

First time at Ernesto’s. I drove up and down Emory Dr but could not find it. I even searched two strip malls on Emory Dr. As I was about to drive off, I saw a tall sign in Wesleyan Park Plaza shopping center.

I had #17 steak and shrimp with mushrooms and onions, rice and beans. The rice was the best I ever had. The salsa was hotter than I like, but I ate it. They had functional straws, not a half inch peeking over the rim of the glass. Excellent service. The ones I met all had good English. They did try to charge a credit card fee without notice on the menu or a sign at the cashier. Ernesto himself canceled the charge and I paid in cash. I...

Usually Ernesto's is my favorite place. I suggested it to a friend for our night out on Saturday. We arrived pretty early, around 6. It was busy and we were seated next to a table of 4 to my left and empty tables to my right. We sat there for 10 minutes and then a large party was seated at the tables to my right. We had been given our chips and salsa and that's it. Nobody asked for our drink order, nothing. The party to my right received drinks and their orders of queso. Still, nobody came to us. I finally flagged down the waitress and she immediately had an attitude. She told me the large party had been there before us and even said it 3 times. Well, Ernesto himself seated us but I wasn't going to argue with this angry little person. She went on to tell me how busy she was and that I was just going to have to "wait my turn". She grudgingly took our drink order. She brought my margarita with no salt on the rim, I had to have it put into another glass with salt. Sorry, but that's pretty much standard issue at any of the hundreds of Mexican restaurants I've been to. We then sat there for another 20 minutes for her to come back and ask in a very irritated tone which even included a huff..."do you know what you want yet?" I have never been so embarrassed about recommending a place to eat. The food was obviously good...it always is but I'm just not sure it'll ever be the same for me. What a shame that one miserable little person could ruin my opinion. And, to top it off...she refused to give me a cup of ice to go....