Mad Mex — Restaurant in Robinson Township

Mad Mex has been one of my absolute favorite spots for great food, interesting beers, and delicious margaritas since the first location opened near the Pitt campus in the 90s.

Last night's visit wasn't optimal, hence the 4-star rating. Most of my visits over the years have been in the 3.5 to 5 star zone.

The overall pros: Varied menu with options for vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore diets. Large portions that guarantee you'll have leftovers to heat up for tomorrow's lunch. Numerous beers on tap, with options for all tastes.

The overall cons: ServIce can be spotty, depending on time of day -- avoid Friday and Saturday nights if you want truly solid, conscientious service. This is not a quiet restaurant, which can be a challenge if anyone in your party is hearing-impaired. Seating can be interesting -- if you score a booth, you're golden, but sitting at the tables can be a unique experience if your neighboring tables are loud, nosy, or folks who enjoy telling inappropriate stories in a public setting.

Last night's visit was just OK. Our server was competent but not terribly friendly -- she was likely working too many tables, and it showed. We ordered our appetizer and drinks, then waited about ten minutes to order our entrees. Our first round of drinks -- a soft drink and a draft beer -- took a reasonable amount of time to arrive. Our appetizer took about 25 minutes, which was about 15 minutes longer than apps usually take to arrive at this location.

The entree I wanted to order was "out", according to our server. No attempt at smoothing over the "outage", nor any attempt at suggesting other items that might tempt me. Just "out". And an unspoken "hurry up and choose something else, so I can turn your order in to the kitchen staff NOW". Thus, instead of expanding my horizons and ordering something different, I ordered the same enchilada entree I've ordered dozens of times. It was delicious, and it always is. But I truly wish I could have tried something else.

Three minutes after our appetizer arrived, our entrees arrived. Not great. Again, I realize the kitchen is busy, but having our entrees there at the table, cooling off as we tried to mow through some of the appetizer was not great.

Our server missed two drink opportunities -- a refill on the soft drink was late and only happened when the glass was placed at the edge of the table in an obvious way, and a second beer order was thwarted by the desired beer being unavailable. I even asked for a recommendation on the second beer, and I was given no direction. When the second beer arrived, it was a step in the wrong direction palate-wise (a less hoppy and bitter IPA than the first one I had consumed), which was truly unfortunate given the server's claim that she was at least marginally skilled at beer recommendations.

I will give Mad Mex many opportunities to do a better job creating a fun and unique meal experience in the future. This visit just wasn't a very...

So my mom and I went to the Mad Mex Robinson location today. The food today on this occasion was "Meh to the Max". I got the Nachos and the Nacho Mammas taco platter. My mom got the grilled Mahi salad with Shrimps and a cup of tortilla soup. The nachos were about as cheeseless as they could be and still be considered Nachos bc of the other toppings. The guac and Sour Cream on the nachos were fresh. The salsa was like tomato paste, the black beans soft and unseasoned. I had a chip that tasted heavily like fish, hopefully it was just the chips next to the fryer getting a splash from some fried skrimps or something. My tacos were sad, luke warm to cool and soppy, it turned the tortillas to mush. I only had one bite TBH bc cool food is a big red flag for me. Proper food temps are important for customer safety and good flavor IMHO. Ive been in the industry usually on Sautee for almost 20 years now. If I was a betting man I would wager that the microwave at the Mad Mex Robinson location is the hardest most dilligent worker in the kitchen!! My moms soup was also like paste, I assume it was in a steam table just cooking away all the day long, there was no chicken in it but it did have tortilla strips but it was super thick. Her salad was beautiful and her shrimps were fresh. Sadly she was turned off by all of the hurdles I've tried to accurately describe with our other food. Our waitress was a total ray of sunshine and very helpful and kind I would give her a high 5 RN if I could. The manager removed the tacos from our bill bc we complained and that was professional of her. I'm not sure that I'll be headed back to the Robinson location anytime soon unless its for drinks with friends or something and my momma feels the same. Thanks for trying Mad Mex, you can't...

We used to come here ALL the time (robinson one) and then a couple of years ago it started to go downhill. Please keep in mind that I have never sent anything back at a restaurant.... not once. Came in today because I had a free birthday burrito email and really wish I hadn't. Ordered a regular margarita on the rocks and it tasted like a glass full of lime juice. I've had many margaritas in my lifetime and never had one taste this bad. Sent it back and got a frozen strawberry one and it was okay at first but the more I drank I realized it did not taste like there was any alcohol in it. Anyone who used to come to Madmex a lot knows what their margaritas used to taste like... tequila! Got my burrito and the shrimp turned to liquid in my mouth and some of the rice was crunchy. Again, having cooked and eaten shrimp many times I know what it should taste like. I'm not even sure what could've caused this. Sent that back and got the dance marathon instead which was always my go to. That one was pretty good, but I had completely lost my appetite by the time I got it. If it weren't for the nice waitress we had, I feel like I would have just walked out. She was so patient and said the manager was supposed to come over, but never did. We were still charged for everything except what was sent back and my birthday burrito. Not that I was by any means expecting anything, but it just shows how little management cared about the gross food and drink that they offered no compensation. This is probably why the place was near empty and if they do not fix these problems then they are going to go out of...