Tee Pee Mexican Food — Restaurant in Phoenix

I absolutely love Teepee. It’s an Arcadia staple and the food is just outstanding. It’s such a treat whenever we have the opportunity to have dinner there. Still hoping to go for lunch and sit on that patio someday soon!

I hate that I’m leaving this review because I really do love everything about TeePee, but last night was a bit of a different story. I ordered the combo plate and got a machaca enchilada, chicken taco, and a pork tamale. After I ate the taco I saw a large black pepper underneath some cheese and was not sure what it was at first. My server came by to check on our meals and I asked him what it was. He informed me that it was Nana’s Relleno. So I let him know that I had asked for the tamale and he responded with “what kind?”. I responded with “chicken”, which was an honest mistake, I had ordered pork but just was confusing it with my taco. Very rudely he responded “we don’t have pork tamales so you must be mistaken”. So I opened the menu again really quick and said “omg my bad it was actually pork, I apologize” keep in mind it was super busy as usual and it was very loud in there, so totally understandable that he would mishear me.

He then looked at me and said something along the lines of “that didn’t happen” or “that’s not possible” (I could not hear exactly what the first thing he said was, that’s on me. But it was something rude like that) and continued to say “when you order the tamale I will have you order that first and then I always follow up with ‘what protein’ afterward, so there must be a mistake”, which is an insane way to try and gaslight someone.

Then he said something a bit quieter but it was basically that he will fix it this once but he wouldn’t usually so that. I tried explaining to him that I don’t necessarily need the tamale if that’s too much work, there is plenty of food here and I would also be ok if he just removed it from the tab, but he walked away too quickly to hear what I said. To be completely clear - I’m not someone to complain about food, ever. I never send plates back no matter the mistake. Most of the time if I get a wrong order, it’s usually something I will still eat so I just rolll with it. The problem here is that I hate chile relleno. I legitimately would have never ordered it, even by mistake or even if I was feeling adventurous this day. I don’t like it and I have never liked it, and I feel like it would have been so much easier to think about the setting we are in and how loud it was before accusing me of lying. I really was not too worried about it, j just wanted what I ordered if for it to be removed from the tab and feel like I asked him very nicely and never once accused him of being wrong, just that there was some miscommunication which was nobody’s fault.

Idk like I said I absolutely love TeePee and will be back 100%. I’m just a little upset and annoyed by this infraction that I had to say something. If you’re reading this review, GO to TeePee, you will not regret it. The Machaca is outstanding and I could eat those enchiladas every day and every meal for the rest of my life, I am obsessed with them. If there needs to be some sort of takeaway from this story - I guess it would just be to speak up if it’s super loud, and maybe ask your server to read your order...

I’ve lived in the Phoenix area since 1981 and had never been here. A friend recently moved to this area and the parking lot was packed at lunch time so I decided to give it a whirl. Wanted to see if it would be worth bringing my husband in; we’ve always lived in the East Valley. Well, now I know: Nope. Sorry. As many have mentioned, the chips and salsa were good, but that was the absolute best thing about the meal. Granted I only got the taco lunch special, but my husband and I eat out A LOT for Mexican food and I always feel like you can tell if a restaurant is good by their refried beans…. Which, my first thought was: good, they’re not dried/pasty…. right amount of “soupy”…. but first taste revealed an odd flavor… unlike any refried beans I’ve ever eaten. Oh well. However, the brown rice also had an unusual texture (too mushy?)/flavor, and the tacos weren’t even Taco Bell quality. On top of all this, I specifically requested “no salt, light ice” for my margarita….. waiter repeated that and wrote it down (it seemed), had to be re-done as it came with salt. And as you’ll see by the picture, definitely NOT light ice. So annoying when a drink is $11 to only get half a glass full. Sigh. The service was fine…. almost TOO quick.

So here’s the bottom line. If you can drive a few extra miles, go to Casa Reynosa in Tempe at Mill and Southern, you won’t be sorry. While Tee Pee is trading on a long-standing Phoenix relationship, and it’s “Ok” if you don’t know any better, Casa Reynosa is an old Globe Az family and their food is far superior. I’d come back to try Tee Pee’s other dishes that some have raved about, and the interior is cute 1960’s vibe, but definitely wouldn’t go out of my...

Service was ok. We were seated quickly and got drinks in about 3 -5 minutes after being seated. The chips and salsa followed after drinks. After we got our food our server did not check in to offer refils for our drinks (which were empty) or see if we needed anything else.

As for the food, GO ELSEWHERE. There is NO authentic flavor. Go try Taco Guild or Mi Patio.

The chips were stale and the salsa had a little flavor. I ordered the 4 Carne Asada Tacos. Two tacos had very little meat - tasting mostly of soy sauce and scallions- and the other two had a decent amount. To make up for the lack of meat there was an inch high layer of basic shredded iceberg lettuce, dice tomatoes, and cheap cheddar cheese out of the Kraft brand bag. I also ordered a side of rice and beans. The rice tasted old and had a sad hint of seasoning. The beans looked old and were dry. The only flavor came from the sad melted cheese. My spouse had a beef burrito. They needed to add a ton of salt to have any flavor beyond the hint of cheap liquid smoke. The only saving grace was sauce on top. They also had the rice and beans which also tasted old. Their soda was almost flat.

Considering the quality, the food is overpriced. It was $4.00 for a side of rice and beans. Our meal was $40.00 total. For an extra $10.00 we could have ordered the family pack at Taco Guild and have enough tortillas, meats, rice, beans, chips, salsa, taco toppings, AND dessert for 4 people.

We were so disappointed given that this place has been around since the 60's and has so many...