Los Arcos Kitchen & Cantina-North — Restaurant in Rochester

This was my first time visiting Los Arcos Cantina. I’ve heard only positive about it and have been eager to try it. It definitely lives up to the reputation- yummm. It’s honestly the best Mexican food I’ve had in Rochester. We went on a quiet Monday night, but at 5:20pm it was already packed. I can’t even imagine how busy it is on a weekend, It’s that good of food. We got the last booth. They have a combination of booths & tables. The booths are mostly along the outside wall. The booths are large- easily holding 3 adults on each side, 4 if you squish or have kids. The menu us huge. The longer I read it, the more dishes I wanted to try. The best part- the menu had multiple photos and descriptions of the dish. This helped me to narrow down my choices. The serve was quick to take our drink order. They have nearly 20 types of beer, full bar options, highly recommend the margaritas. Coke products are also served with several types of juice and bottled Mexican sodas too. The orange is a favorite for kids. While I dove into the menu deeper trying to narrow my choices, we were served black bean dip, a side of mild salsa and chips. The bean dip was my favorite. So good and something different. I was FINALLY ready to order. Our server was very sweet & patient while we all tried to decide. We set and nibbled on chips while we waited for our food. The food is brought out HOT by the kitchen staff. When I say HOT, the plate was very warm. The cheese was all melted, it looked as good as it tasted. I got the chalupa and beef burrito with rice and beans. My husband got four different burritos (bean, beef, chicken, & cheese). It was all served hot and perfect. Their are lots of hot sauces, to add and customize your dish at the table with your desired level of spices. The flavors were very fresh, and nothing was greasy or oily. I didn’t even get half of my meal eaten and I was over full. Knowing this, I would split with someone next time. But being able to try multiple dishes is half the fun. I guess I will need to go with a large group. Our server was extremely attentive to our table and needs. It was a very full room of customers, but they had the staff to handle this. It’s literally one of the first restaurants in years that I can say this about. I’m used to them always having just 2-3 servers for a whole restaurant anymore, but there were at least 7-8 I counted. As we were completing our meal, the servers came out clapping singing. They had a large sombrero they put on a man near our table. I’m assuming they were singing happy birthday. I don’t want to spoil the surprise- for anyone going to celebrate a birthday 🥳 , but it WILL be one they long remember. The staff make it special. I do t want to give away WHAT, but we’re already planning who we will be bringing there to celebrate with. I can find NOTHING negative to say about our entire experience. Great food, service, and reasonably priced. Especially when you consider how many servings you will get from the single dish. We all three took home over half our food. Highly recommend this...

Been to Los arcos before and it's one of the more popular Mexican places in the area, even though it's Tex Mex, not authentic Mexican. I've enjoyed their dishes before. Tonight I got shrimp fajitas and they are completely flavorless. The vegetables and shrimp were marinated in what tasted like vegetable water. You can see in the photo that they are lacking flavor. Need more garlic, salt, lime, cajun, oil. Was not a real marinade. I actually sent them back and talked to the manager, but when they came back they tasted the same, just hotter. I asked for shredded cheese and that was a $3 surcharge. Did not get the complementary chips and salsa. The manager never came back to check on me and the waitress said so sorry and walked away. Granted, I told them Id take the food home but was dissatisfied with the taste and would probably make a marinade at home to make them more flavorful. Having said that, they did not make any effort to comp my food. The manager never came to follow up, blamed it on new cooks. I paid full price for the meal and drinks that I complained about, which isn't great customer service.

Had they made an effort to comp something, I wouldn't write a negative review, but felt like I got very bland food for full price even after complaining about it and sending it back. Normally had a good experience here, but tonight was disappointing. I've worked in the restaurant business before and it would have been appropriate to comp something out of good will.

Will go to Los Dos...

I have both good and bad to share about Los Arcos. We live in the twin cities. We traveled to Rochester for an event and to have dinner with our grandson and his girlfriend. We stayed at Americinn, which is just across the parking lot from the hotel.

We walked over from the hotel and the place was packed. Front of house handed us a pager telling us a 30 to 40 min wait. An hour another couple and I approached the front desk to learn they never wrote our pager numbers down. The other comple ask for a free beer for their mistake. The person at the desk gave us a lackluster apology and told him sorry nothing she could do.

I am not looking for a free meal but we should have been offered something. Give that gentleman his beer, a discount, a free desert, something, but all we heard was "sorry".

Now the good. With the place being very busy. The tables were cleared fast and people seated. I would also say the quality of food was very good.

Next time we come Rochester we will probably eat some place else.

Been 4 days since my Google review. Los Arcos either don't read their reviews or don't care. Very much like them not caring they made a mistake with our pagers. We will be going back to Rochester and staying at the Americinn, but NOT...