Agave Tequila Bar & Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in Saint Thomas

I'm so disappointed to leave an unhappy review... my husband and I visited in August and had the most wonderful experience- so wonderful, that when planning a short 3 day trip this past week, it was added to our list of 'must-do's.' We chose to sit at the bar, and were served by Daniel. We ordered happy hour drinks, a shot of tequila, happy hour tacos & nachos (to which we were given the option to add protein and chose shrimp,) and then fajitas and two more appetizers as our entrees. We waited an extremely long time to receive the first round of food, only to find out the nachos had been delivered to the wrong table. We literally watched them pick them off of that table and set them down briefly in the window and then bring the plate directly back to us. We were starving, so my husband said just sit them down. They were cold already from all the sitting and passing. We then had to wait for silverware... then again for plates... thus making the food even more cold. We were offered house made hot sauce and obliged, but were then informed that they were out. Each time we were brought more items, I stacked our dirty dishes to the side myself, but not a single one was ever cleared. Our drinks were empty by this time, but we were never offered another round or even a glass of water. By this point, we were increasingly frustrated and just asked for boxes. I stacked the remainder of the dishes, and those just joined the previous pile. We were handed the bill, which totaled $93. No issue, except for its not a terrible idea sometimes to inform people when they are paying certain premiums. The shot my husband was recommended was $15, and the protein upsell on the $7 nachos was $15 as well. We were aware that neither was going to be free, but that literally ended up being a third of the bill. It's definitely worth informing the customer sometimes when it's that large of an increase. On top of everything else, there were only two other tables and one other group at the bar this entire time, and we rarely had Daniel's attention. He didn't seem bothered by us per say, but he was out of sight for a good portion of our visit, leading us to believe some of our cold food could have been avoided if he had been more attentive. In all honesty, I left a terrible tip. First time in my life I left less than 20-plus percent. My husband typically leaves 30-plus percent. There's a difference in unintentional bad service/experiences and avoidable indifference. A dinner that we were looking so forward to was lackluster and left us feeling unimportant and overlooked. My point is not to be a tattle tale, but rather to point out that when you choose the service industry as a profession, it's important to strive to give your guests an experience to remember... ESPECIALLY when you're in such a tourism dependant area. We would have been happy to spend much more money if we were made to feel our money mattered. I'm hoping this was a fluke, and that on our next visit, we have a great time like we did...

The squad and I decided to hit the town. Traveled from restaurant to restaurant ordering tapas and a single drink from place to place. To really take in the cuisine and see what the local area had to offer. 1st stop:

Agave Tequila Bar (Red Hook area, Thomas, VI)

1st. We were greeted by the most awesome waitress named Pri. Guys... please ask for Pri. She is awesome. She really is.

Now...

Atmosphere. - 2.5 / 5

Music was okay, but the music was so loud we could not here the person sitting to the right or left of us. Terrible.

Drinks. - 3 / 5

Pri literally brought us our food before we got our drinks from bartender. There only 4 of us and the restaurant was only 1/4 full. So there was no reason why we should have gotten drinks so late. Unacceptable. When I asked Pri what happened, she answered "I have no idea. Please don't shoot the messenger.!!" LOL True!! Not her fault guys. It really was the bartenders fault. But the drinks were phenomenal though. LeGIT!!!

Agave Poppers. - 2.5 / 5 They were alright but... they served us 3 poppers. Uhhh. Are you effing kidding me. "3"??? And the jalapeños were tiny... like for real. Poppers were like $4.00 a pop? Oh hell no!! Guys, not worth it! Do not order the poppers. Smh!! Disappointment.

Carnita Nachos. 4.5 / 5 Phenomenal. Our friend who is actually a well known Chef in Kiawah, SC (Charleston) said he would love to learn how to make carnitas like that. The flavor was just Phenomenal. We were all in agreement. A hell yeah on this guys. Two thumbs up.

Now we're are off to another restaurant. Stayed...

We just ate at Agave tonight. Our server Amy was very nice and extremely attentive. We asked about portion sizes for the guacamole and were told it was a good size. It turned out it was quite small for the cost. (Strange considering avocados grow all over the island) It was tasty and came with a lot of tortilla chips though. The tacos came with two. They were good but tiny for the cost ($14) My salad with Mahi Mahi was excellent and the portion size was good. Cost $21 which is a little pricey for a salad. The fajitas came with too few sides to put into the flour tortillas which weren't grilled. The steak and peppers were an ok portion. We told our waitress we needed a little more rice and when the bill came, we were charged $5 for a small bowl. We wouldn't have asked for more if there was enough to begin with. The margarita was very tasty, but small. I've lived and traveled around the world and have had much larger, tasty Margaritas in tourist destinations. The local IPA beer was cheap, only $5. The ambiance was very nice. It would have felt moore authentic to have Mexican music playing instead of 80s,90s and 2000s dance music. There was parking across the street but only one spot left when we arrived (around 7pm) and we are in the off season. I can't imagine trying to park during the busy season. All in all, Agave was just ok for the cost. I realize things on the island are more expensive but some things can be made better for little to no cost like rice, guacamole...