Alvarez Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Palmetto

My husband wanted to go somewhere different for his birthday. He suggested Alvarez because it is close by and he was craving Mexican food. I reminded him of the previous two visits there and the bad experiences both times; the service was slow, server not personable and the food was mediocre. He said he thought he heard it was under new management and maybe we should give it another go. I agreed to try it once more. We had some friends that were meeting us to help us celebrate. They all wanted to go somewhere else but agreed to go because it was his birthday and, so, his choice....big mistake! Three different staff visited the table before our actual server finally came to take our drink order (the first three just "stopped by to let us know they would send our server over"). We ordered drinks. 15 minutes later our drinks came minus my sweet tea. She said it would be right up. I asked again after waiting 5 mins and she said she would bring it right out as she headed in the other direction. I finally got my tea by walking up to the busboy and asking if I could please have a glass of tea. We asked for limes for our Coronas and were told twice that she would bring them right over. When we asked the third time, we were told they were not cut up yet but she would go do it right away. She never brought them but the busboy brought some lemons when we asked him for limes after the waitress never returned. None of the dirty plates, etc were removed... ever. Our food came one hour and twenty minutes after we were originally seated. An additional couple of friends showed up and sat at a table next to ours and they sat for 25 minutes before they got up and left to eat at a different restaurant...they were never even greeted (even after I let the server know they came in and could she please see about their drink and food order). This server never came to check on us...NOT ONCE. For anything we wanted, we had to track her down and request it and still sometimes never got it. We were one of 3 tables occupied. It was not busy when we arrived. The place filled up, people came and people went and we were still not served. The food? My quesadilla was dry and the tortilla was hard (like stale). The burritos were pretty good but the taco salad was not good. We had to ask twice for silverware and by the time it arrived, the food wasn't hot anymore. Needless to say, three times here was three times too many. We won't be back...

let me preface we sat in the adjacent outside seating area...(more on this later)...not the first time eating here...consistently good food every time. The servers are great...pepsi not coke is to me the only negative but i have started taking it with a slice of lime...that helps! Breakfasts are the bomb...so delicious...the papas...divine. I usually do their daily special lunches. Love the corn tortillas! There is a great variety on thier off menu (also available) to choose from for $5-6.99. - lunch includes the best rice & beans. They also have a platter of finger food - nachos - with tortilla chips individually filled for easy eating...very filling... (only regret this visit sitting outside...while the weather was perfect...the area really needs a good spraywash....so much dirt and dust around...an easy fix with a hose)...try it...you...

Overall, the place has gone downhill. The interior is not great and looks very worn and dirty

Service is great overall and our server was very sweet.

We did ask if the music could be turned down - same as in the past, they have no option to turn off the music. We had our little mom with us and she had a difficult time hearing us The queso is icky and the chips served with it were stale and fries (I'm not mad about the fried part) but it was definitely like fried stale tortillas cut into pieces. The combo plate with the chicken tostada, beef taco and the chicken flauta was delish. However, the margaritas are definitely from a mix and were SO bad. The mole sauce is really bad - very sweet. The nachos are good - instead of piling the nachos up into a stack and then plopping the toppings on, they put the toppings individually on each...