Los Mariachis Mexican Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Rockingham

I am not one to post reviews however, this was the worst experience I have ever had at this restaurant. Me and my fiancé have eaten here numerous times and never had any complaints on our part. Tonight my daughter and I decided to take my mother out to eat after my daughter’s concert. We placed our order with a waitress that was not friendly at all me and my mother ordered a taco salad. I ordered mine the same way I always do which is fajita steak meat, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and cheese sauce in the bottom. I know the difference in between shredded cheese and cheese sauce I did not need anyone explaining that to me. Me and my mother both asked for no beans. The waitress brought our taco salads out, and she had no cheese sauce in the bottom, and it was loaded with beans and mine was the same way. The waitress did not give us any silverware as well. My daughter who ordered the barbecue chicken wings and a side order of fries didn’t get hers until 10 minutes after we had ours and then they still did not bring out her side order of fries at that point. Fast forward we re-ordered our taco salads and A gentleman from the kitchen got involved this time. We explained to him what we wanted he told my mother it would take 10 minutes and it would be right out. Lord and behold, it came out with no cheese sauce and this time my mother had no condiments on top of her taco salad. Mine is always plain and simple hers is not she likes tomatoes, guacamole, but I don’t. At this point, my daughter is finished eating. My mom is so frustrated. She doesn’t even want to eat it anymore and neither did I. The waitress never returned to the table, not once other than to give us our food and we never got a refill on our drinks. At this point a manager tries to come out and explain the menu to me and my mother, which is hilarious because we both know the difference in between shredded cheese and cheese sauce. I tried to tell him that the mixup was in between what the waitress was telling them and what we were telling the waitress. Being the type of people we are, we still left a tip. They removed two drinks from our order and we didn’t ask for them to remove anything. At this point, we were just ready to go, and I had decided after going to this restaurant since it has opened That would definitely be my last trip. What made the final decision for me that that would be my last trip Was while we were ringing out one of the managers was standing beside of the lady that was ringing us out as if we were not going to pay. Honestly, I don’t know anyone in their right mind that would even have left a tip or not complained yet we did not We just kept requesting that our food be made to order the way we ordered it. I was so livid. I literally called my fiancé on the phone so he could speak to the manager because we go to that restaurant so often that honestly I get tired of eating Mexican food because he loves it so much lol I don’t know which manager was on duty tonight on March 11, 2025 But it definitely was not the gentleman that we normally see in the restaurant and he runs it...

I came to eat at Los Mariachis on 8/9/25 and arrived at 9pm. Almost every booth inside the restaurant was available but they decided to seat us right by the door of the kitchen which had people constantly going in and out. Fine, I could deal with that. I had a friend meeting us there & they were running a few minutes behind us. I let the waitress know that I wanted to wait to order my food until my friends arrived. My friend finally arrives and we waited 15 minutes for our waitress to come back to take the order. She never returned. I had to go to the front check out desk where the woman was too busy looking at her phone to notice me standing there. When she finally looked up I had to tell her our waitress never came back and that we would like to order food. At that time another waitress came and took the order; acting as if she was in a rush and seemed frustrated with us. We ordered 2 frozen watermelon margaritas with salt and lime. They brought us 2 watermelon margaritas but didn’t include the salt or the lime. Didn’t provide chips & salsa (something that is supposed to be complimentary with every meal) for my friend upon her arrival. We waited maybe 20 more minutes & the food still hadn’t arrived. We asked yet another waitress where our food was. She brought out half the meals and when we asked where the other part was she rolled her eyes at our question and let us know the kitchen was closed, even though we had already ordered it after I had to track down a waitress. She finally brought the rest of the food. At the end, I had left overs to take home. I barley ate half my plate. I’m not sure of the exact name of the dish but it was the dish served in the sizzling volcanic rock bowl. (It was missing the pico when served might I add) I asked for a box and packed my food to go. I walked to the restroom and when I came back my food was gone. Thrown away. So much wasted food and my hard earned money gone to waste because they wanted to rush us out of the building. The food was great. Wish I had my left overs. Service? Not anything I would want to experience again and not anything I would recommend to anyone. This used to be my favorite place to eat in Rockingham but not anymore. One horrible experience will ruin it for a lifetime. They’ve lost multiple returning customers by providing this type of experience to us tonight....

Overall, the food is decent for the Rockingham, NC area (which is severely lacking in variety when it comes to dining establishments). Rockingham has a plethora of Mexican restaurants with various degrees of waxing and waning popularity...My first time eating here was ok, maybe a 3-3.5? So, I come back.This evening my experience was not very pleasant. I ordered a taco salad, to-go, without meat, and received one with meat. I discovered this (luckily) before eating it, drove back to the restaurant, and the hostess stated that she would have a new salad made (she was pleasant). I inspected most of the salad, found no meat, and drove away satisfied...however, once I started eating my salad, and nearing the bottom of the taco shell, I discovered a large, red, hot pepper. The pepper was approximately 2 inches long and NOT an ingredient in the salad. It appeared to be "hidden" beneath the other items, at the bottom of the salad...I would like to think that it somehow accidentally made its way into my taco salad bowl, without a cook noticing, before they placed the beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and other APPROPRIATE and INCLUDED items in my taco salad. A 2 inch long red pepper seems like a thing that would be easy to spot... I would not like to think that this pepper was, perhaps, intentionally placed there. As I write this review, and the pangs of heartburn-induced-by-pepper set in, I am reflecting on how to best summarize my opinion of Los Mariachi's. Is the food bad? No, it is not "bad" but it is lacking in attention to detail and it is certainly not my favorite Mexican restaurant. Is the food good? It is "good enough" if you are hungry and too tired to jump back in your car a 2nd time, after working 14 hrs, to return your 2nd taco salad. So I give it "2" stars for "2nd"...