Tito and Pep — Restaurant in Tucson

The service here was fantastic. They accommodated our 20 person group with a one day warning. The staff recognized one of our members that came a few days before.

The Jamaica lemonade was too sour for my taste (and not sweet enough to balance that sourness).

The queso fundido was very greasy and heavy, but if you share it and just eat one taco, it was pretty good. The cheesy is nice and crisped against the pan, with lots of mushrooms and a tiny bit of stewed beef chunks.

The hamachi special was fantastic. It had like a cantaloupe sauce served with the slices of fish, and together, they were fantastic.

The steak skewers were a little bit mixed -- some chunks had a nice heavy char, while others were cooked but not really charred. The parmesan cheese worked surprisingly well with it, and the sauce was good with it, though a little salty.

The cucumber salad special wasn't my thing.

There was a crudo or tartare that they brought out by accident, and it looked fantastic. I now wish I had gotten that, haha.

There was a charred octopus that was lacking that springy chewiness I enjoy from octopus tentacles. Theirs was tender, which I can understand that others may like more. Eaten together with the cherry tomatoes and avocado with a squirt of lime is the best way!

Me and three companions did not like the pozole, but one of our companions liked it. It didn't really taste yummy or special to me.

The striped sea bass was okay. It was cooked well, with a nice crispiness to the skin with tender fillet meat, but the sauce was way too salty, and without the sauce, it was plain. The mushrooms were way too salty. I liked the crispy things on top, but if you ordered this as an entree, it would just be a salt overload. I unfortunately can't recommend this dish.

The chicken was okay. The sauce it was served with was good. I like the creamed corn thing and Swiss chard served with it.

The Panna Cotta dessert was amazing. It's got like a greek yogurt flavor, but it's very smooth and silky. It's served with a sour and sweet passionfruit sauce that's fantastic when eaten with all of the desserts.

The chocolate and cream ganache was interesting. It was a very dark chocolate with semi sweetness. By itself, I wouldn't have liked it much, but if you dip it in the passionfruit sauce served with the Panna cotta, then it has a nice balance of heavy, dark, flavors with the intensely sour and sweet passionfruit.

The olive oil orange cake was okay. It did have a heavy orange zesty flavor, but it just didn't really hit the spot for me.

Overall, the flavors and service here were solid, and they had the best food of the limited foods I've tried in my...

I have always said Tito & Pep is my absolute favorite restaurant in Tucson. I tell all my friends to go there. We went last night was greeted by the host we had arrived early for our reservation. I said totally understand if you can’t seat us early just thought we would see if it’s possible. His response was “It’s not ideal…” Then he said, “Right this way.” Off to a rocky start but I didn’t care because the food here is just so good! Our waitress was amazing. I was so excited because my favorite appetizer of the carrots were back on the menu for the night. Our order: Carrots Calamari Steak skewers Entree of the sea bass Entree of the pork Earl grey tea for me And 2 cocktails for my husband Chocolate ganache

We absolutely loved our meal, we paid our bill and tipped 25% to our waitress. We got into our car and proceeded to drive home. I started complaining to my husband I was having sharp pains. Got to our home and immediately fell ill-I will spare details. My husband then started getting sick. We had decided to go out for dinner last night after my work shift.

An hour later I was finally able to stand and called Tito & Pep sure enough it was the host. I said, “Hey there just wanted to let you guys know my husband and I both got sick we were there tonight.” He asked for my name and time of reservation I gave him the info. He then said, “Huh I don’t know what could’ve gotten you sick…” I said, “Okay I love you guys but wanted to let you know and will keep you updated.” He just mumbled okay and hung up.

My husband then says no I’m going to call them. He called about 15 minutes after I talked to the host. So he proceeded to tell the host, you just talked to my wife is their a manager I can speak to. The host said I can take the call. My husband explained how we are both sick and the host very snarky responded, “What do you want me to do?” My husband proceeded to explain this is up to you to make it right. Needless to say the call ended and my husband and I couldn’t believe that our favorite restaurant treated us this way. We are so saddened because we have never had a bad experience here. I have always loved the atmosphere here and the customer service. However , if you have two patrons complaining about getting sick I would hope you would go above and beyond...

After a couple of years of wanting to try this place out, Tito & Pep did and didn’t disappoint.

The ambiance is wonderful. Simple, classy, and elegant. Plants everywhere and simple southwest touches throughout. It has a very intimate feel, without being “cramped” like a lot of cocktail bars in town.

The drinks are high quality and seem to incorporate a lot of local sourcing without being ridiculously expensive.

After being seated our server was sweet and told us the specials. After having a couple of cocktails we decided to split a couple appetizers since we were still waiting to build up an appetite after having just gotten off work.

When the server took our orders, she then blankly stared at us for a moment and then curtly said “Aaand for the entrees?”

Slightly surprised, we responded stating we were “fine with appetizers for now” and were shown blatant offense. From that point forward the service was terrible. Silent quick water bottle refills and someone else brought us the food. We hardly saw our server from that point forward aside from standing behind the bar chatting with her co-workers. Which, working in the service industry I could understand if she was slammed, but after observing I’m pretty sure we were only one of two tables on a very slow night.

Evidently she assumed we weren’t a money maker table and dropped all efforts. I’ve never felt quite so dismissed as I did in this situation. After deciding that we didn’t want to spend more money on that kind of service, we politely asked for our check and it was dropped at the table with haste.

Needless to say, the service was a pretty big damper on an otherwise great experience. The food was delicious and the drinks were exceptional, but it will probably be awhile before I give the place...