Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Waukee

When this first opened, I went twice and was blown away! The prices, while a little higher than most, didn't bother me because the food was incredible!

Fast-forward to now when my daughter chose to eat here for her birthday dinner, which we all looked forward to.

I ordered the #5 combo and took two bites before I found a big long hair hanging out of it. The two bites of the burrito were SUPER salty and not anything like I had previously (no queso sauce). They did offer to remake, but I passed and they took that off the bill.

My wife's steak tacos were like charcoal bits, and my daughter had asked if they could do chicken and shrimp fajitas. They said they only did steak and chicken, which my daughter said no problem and she'd be fine with the chicken. Waitress came back and said they could add the shrimp, which was great! Shortly after, they brought out a massive plate of a grilled chicken breast topped with shrimp - not fajitas. They had to take that back and eventually got the fajitas out.

I don't know what the heck happened between the first month of them opening and now, but I swear it's not even the same food. Even the spicy salsa was way off the mark and looked like chunky vodka spaghetti sauce and tasted completely different from my two previous visits.

For the price, it definitely wasn't worth it and as much as I loved the place initially, I don't think...

My first time at Guadalajara, Food was good but on the saltier side. Prices are a little higher than the typical Mexican restaurant but ok. The worst part of my experience was with the server. He had made mistakes which is not a problem. The problems come when you tell him that you ordered something and you get something else. Example wife ordered the cowboy fajitas, she got the chicken. The waiter was arguing that we put a fork in it. The point was to search for the beef, shrimp, and cheese. He was able to correct it. The second issue was with my burrito. I ordered the Guadalajara burrito and ordered it with shredded chicken. I did not study all the burritos on the menu. All I looked for was the shredded chicken and the cheese sauce. I ate the burrito. The bill said I ordered the California burrito. After the fact the waiter told me and argued that I ate it. That burrito comes with grilled chicken that makes it more expensive, I got the shredded based on the Guadalajara burrito. He did not want to update the bill to reflect the correct order, he just said don’t tip me. I tipped him anyway but not planning on coming back due to the experience with waiter. The atmosphere is very loud due to a lot of reflection of sounds from all the hard surfaces which can make it...

This is the most mid of the middling mid American Mexican restaurants there is. There's nothing wrong here with the food. There's nothing special either. The chips were bought, not made. I think the salsa was fresh, with the leaves of cilantro, but it was ordinary. I got steak burritos with 'spicy tomatillo' sauce. I don't know what I exactly expected, but I was underwhelmed. The burritos weren't even shaped correctly. Not rounded, but plunked down and sticking out like love handles. The sauce was warm, not spicy. The burritos were literally just chopped up steak. I don't know what else I expected to be inside, but something to hold it together. Little bit of beans? Cheese? Nope. Just tortillas filled with loose steak. Most of it tasted good, but some gristly inedible pieces. The rice was fine. It's 66⁰ outside, but inside blasting A/C so hard I was almost shivering; and I'm never cold. Good service. For a few bucks less you can get a better meal at any of the authentic Mexican restaurants around town. If you have to tell people with a slogan that you're "the best Mexican food in town", you probably aren't. And after tasting it: they...