Salt and Lime Modern Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Phoenix

Disappointing Experience – Needs Improvement

We really wanted to love this new local Mexican restaurant, but unfortunately, our experience was frustrating and disappointing.

First, the good: It has a nice vibe and ambiance. The tortillas were delicious, and the chips and salsa were good (though they charge extra for them).

Now, the bad: Service was a disaster. We waited 40 minutes just to have our drink order taken. Our food arrived cold, and half our party was served seven minutes before the rest. When it was time to pay, we had to go inside and ask for the bill, and even then, it took 20 minutes to receive it.

The food was a mixed bag. The tamales are deep-fried, which wasn’t noted on the menu. Instead of a traditional tamale, we got a smushed, fried piece of masa. The green chili pork had good flavor, but we had to pick out large chunks of fat. The chilaquiles were served with salad on top, which was an odd and unappetizing choice. Our eggs were inconsistent—mine were cooked correctly, but my friend’s were completely overcooked despite ordering the same style.

Pricing and upcharges also didn’t make sense. A friend ordered a salad with salmon but substituted shrimp—and was charged an extra $5. And one margarita came out a neon green color while the others looked normal.

The lack of attention to detail continued outside. While the patio was great, there was zero shade, and we had to go inside to ask someone to put up an umbrella.

Overall, we hope they figure out their service issues and make menu descriptions clearer. There’s potential here, but as of now, we...

We've been to this spot 3-4 times since the new owner took over and it became Salt and Lime. This time was easily the best.

Every new business (especially the restaurant business) is incredibly difficult to make successful the first year, so it was easy for us to give some grace the first few times we went there and had a few mishaps with orders, service. I'm so glad we returned.

Dropped by on a Saturday during brunch (till 2:00 pm) and the food was AWESOME. And filling. We both ordered the skillet and it was SILENT while we ate because it was so darn good.

The drinks? Even more awesome. Thank you Aubrey for the suggestion to use St. George chili vodka in my Moscow Mule. It was a GREAT drink. What's even cooler is that you credited one of your customers for giving you the idea - a lot of people would've just claimed it as their own. Very cool, my friend. Very cool.

Last but not least, let's talk about our server, Carli C. Talk about a good human being. My husband and I left there like we'd been served by an old friend. We'd never met, and yet, I left there feeling like Norm from Cheers. Thank you for being authentically kind and really making sure we were taken care of. She was always two steps ahead of us and we never had to ask for a thing before she was already at our table with a refill.

Real Talk: this spot is more expensive than we'd usually spend on a casual Saturday meal. But the warmth of the staff, the flavorfulness of the food and the relaxed vibe have been hard to find these days around town. For our money, definitely...

We've have been looking forward to the Cave Creek location opening for months and finally got a chance to go. We’ve gone to the location in Scottsdale for years now, and were hoping that it would be as good as the location on Shea. Unfortunately, it just didn't live up to the expectation. First, the menu at the cave creek location is only a fraction of what is available at Shea. After we ordered our food, it all came out at different times. One of the kids quesadillas didn't arrive until almost 15 minutes after the rest of the food was brought out. The tacos were ok, but we all agreed that we would try something else next time. The drinks were ok, but the margarita seemed to be pretty heavily mixed with a sugary premade mix. The bill was incorrect when we received it, and had to be corrected after noticing they tried to charge us for two drinks we didn't order. The staff was friendly but it just felt like things were out of sync. I hope this is just growing pains for a new restaurant as we were really hoping for it to match the quality of the Shea location but it's just...