Yeyo's Mezcaleria y Taqueria — Restaurant in Rogers

I am disappointed to say that this is not the second closest if not the worst dining experience I have ever had.

The drinks were horrible, the food was horrible, and the service was horrible.

What I hated:

Their shrimp tacos - they did not taste fresh. They were very fishy. Myself and my two friends ordered them. We all concluded the same opinion, and we all took only one bite before deciding not to eat our meal.

Their service - our waiter did not bring us silverware, and after dropping off our food, he didn’t return for 30 - 45 minutes. He never came to our table again before we left. Im sorry, he did trip over my friend’s crutches and apologize for it, but he never asked how we were, if we needed anything, or refilled our drinks after that point. I eventually had to ask for a manager who went to the wrong table before stopping at ours and when I was able to address the food and service issues, she argued that the “sauce” they put on the tacos gave it the fishy flavor we were experiencing and only “discounted” our meals after I specifically asked her to remove them from the bill since we each only took a bite and didn’t touch the beans and rice.

The drinks - I ordered a spicy margarita. It tasted like tequila, club soda, and like an entire fresh jalapeño had been dropped in it. I ordered a Paloma afterwards, it was decent, but it needed more flavor. One of my friends does not drink and asked for diet soda. It was not an option. They do not offer “draft” soft drinks or diet sodas. They have very limited options like bottled Fanta and Mexican Coke.

The atmosphere - their patio was closed on a day we had absolutely beautiful weather. Their poor waiter (just the one I think) was running up and down the stairs, when he could have probably provided better service ground level outdoors. Another friend of mine was on crutches, and they only had 1 - 2 tables open ground level. I also think that it’s important to add that it was her birthday. I made our waiter aware when I sat down. He said they didn’t do anything to celebrate birthdays other than maybe sing and said he’d grab a couple people to sing to her later on, but he never acknowledged it or came back. Granted he did say he was new, and he was probably the only one working. I did have Grace for him until he tripped over my friend’s crutches and didn’t acknowledge us otherwise. I am also upset that the manager got an attitude with me and told me she’d only discount the price. I even apologized to her a second time because it’s not normal for me to speak up. I try to avoid it, but I didn’t want to pay $18 for food that was bad and I wasn’t going to eat.

This is an establishment I won’t...

Amazing. As great as the food was, I’m just as impressed with the setting. We originally showed up with just two of us and they set us at a table that I would almost call a chef’s table for the bar. It was right beside the bar well so we could watch the bartender work. I really like to see the production of food and drinks so I really enjoyed setting there for a few minutes before our third showed up. We moved to the table in the center of the bottom floor dining room where we could watch the kitchen work. I didn’t make it up stairs, but it provided much more seating. The decor is very welcoming. I loved the art work on the hall way to the restrooms and coffee bar (which was closed- it was 8pm). The food was the reason we came, and it was certainly impressive. We ordered their dip Extravaganza. It had all the dips, red salsa, verde salsa, guacamole, queso, and a white dip that I can only describe as a ranch type dip but definitely not ranch (it was really good and possibly my favorite). I enjoyed the carne asada steak, and it was the best Mexican style steak I’ve ever had. My other two guest both had the carne asada tacos that they raved about. We all enjoyed beverages. I had the margarita. It was made with all fresh ingredients right in front of us. Before we left, we ordered some chicken wings to take home to a friend. I tried one when we made it home and I don’t know if I’d call it Buffalo sauce, they did, but it was great. Very unique wing sauce with a sweetness to it that really complimented the spicy. I’m craving the wings now as I write this. Stuff we didn’t enjoy but I’m looking forward to: the patio. Although it was covered in ice and snow, it looks like a great spot to enjoy the summer evenings. I will say though, seeing how entering through the patio, I would have expected them to have it clear of snow and ice.

The only knock I have is the parking. The address listed will lead you to a storefront on Walnut, but you actually enter through the west side of the building through the patio. So finding a parking spot on that side of the building would be ideal when you visit.

This is a great place. I will highly recommend it to everyone I can and can’t wait to come back. I should have taken more pics. I’ll add to this review after...

The chilaquiles are amazing and let me tell you why! This restaurant uses non GMO corn 🌽 flour to make their own tortillas!!! It gets better…….then they use their own tortillas to make the homemade non GMO chips!!!!! To me this is huge because the main ingredient in chilaquiles is the chips. Then I am sure they use an egg from the Rios Family Farm to top it off with. Yes, they have their own farm!!!!!

You ask me how I know this………I have been there. We also tried the Steak 🥩 tacos 🌮 Excellent!!!! Guess what…….they also raise their own beef! Yes, this restaurant group is serious about the ingredients they use.

It gets better…………Chef Rafael Rios was a James Beard nominated chef………that is huge to a chef like me.

They also offer a $200 annual membership if you would like to join the Mezcalitos. This includes all kinds of special dinners, events and there is even rumors of invite only dinners at the Rios Farm.

Other things we tried that were fabulous: El Pastor Tacos, Shrimp Torta, Red Pozole “Hominy Soup”, we tried all the dips with homemade chips, and this really delicious bean meets tortillas topped with chorizo and crema fresca (so yummy!!!!).

The chef ordered me a margarita made with a double clay mezcal, it went so well with the selections we ordered.

This outfit also runs a food truck (when it is not so cold) and has their flagship restaurant called Yeyo's El Alma de Mexico that sits right next to the awesome culinary school Brightwater in Bentonville Arkansas “The Beverly Hills of America” I call this region.

I have to give a personal note to the Rios brothers: “Thank you so much for caring about your ingredients, and thank you for caring about your community. We as a community are...