Abuelos - Abilene Texas

Abuelo's in Abilene, Texas has been a standby for us for a few years and yet I've never done a full review on the restaurant. Today we had an opportunity to enjoy some food and fellowship with the rest of the Rockies. My initial issue with today's visit is that we called a good while before we went out because they don't take reservations. We had 30+ people to go with us and when we got there the restaurant was packed and yet they had no tables set up or anywhere near ready for us when we got there. One of my friends talked to a manager about the long wait because we had already notified them with plenty of time for them to make preparations. By the time we were seated we ended up at 3 different tables in the big, back room with some families being separated (mine included) and sitting far apart. I wasn't particularly happy with this. With that being said, however, the normal wait time here usually isn't very long. Most times you can get in very quickly if you are in a small group.

Atmosphere at Abuelo's is festive. There are murals on the majority of the walls and there are fountains and statues in the restaurant. In fact my son got on top of one of the top-hatted statues and stated: "I'm sitting on abuelo's lap!" The statue looked like an older gentleman with the aformentioned top hat, spectacles and an old style suit. The colors in the murals are very vibrant and play in stark contrast with the base sand-colored walls. Most of the murals contain different caricatures of many different types of Latinos in various types of dress and doing a number of activities. The ambiance of the restaurant was thrown off a bit because if I'm not mistaken this is a Mexican restaurant and yet I heard top 40 pop music blaring throughout the place. Not exactly authentic. Scenery great. Music not so much.

My first experience with the food today was staring at some neatly placed bowls and jiggers and bowls of 2 different salsas. The containers of salsa sat on the table a good while before any chips were placed in front of us. I was tempted to stick my finger in for a taste of the salsa but I held back for the sake of my friends and because I had no idea how much capsacin was contained therein. They finally got some chips out there that were sort of lukewarm but were light and crisp. I personally love this style of chip. Thin, light, and crispy are really great attributes for a chip. If they had been totally warm they would have been phenomenal. Both salsas had interesting flavors. I challenged my buddy across the table to try the orange-colored salsa in the jigger and he had a little taste. He didn't want to at first but once he did he had a hard time stopping. He double dog dared me to drink a jigger full of it down and to that I said: "For 20 bucks I will!" He wasn't going to fork over any cash. I had already had a bit and it wasn't terribly scorching and I was surprised to find out that it was a Habanero pepper salsa. It was balanced and not over powering in the least bit, in my opinion. The other salsa was an unremarkable tomato based sauce with very little bite to it and more akin to a spaghetti sauce than a true Mexican hot sauce. It was very pleasing to the eyes but didn't do much in my taste bud department. This standard appetizer of chips and salsa went over well for the most part. I think I personally ate at least 3 0r 4 jiggers full of the Habanero salsa. After those jiggers were downed the waiter brought this out to me:















A few different plates were ordered around me. Here are a few of them:

Cheese Enchiladas w/Green Chile Sauce Pescado Guerrero
















Beef and Shrimp "Fajitas"

Fajita Fixin's
















Quesadilla Al Horno

My fajitas came out on a cast iron skillet but it wasn't sizzling in fact the fajitas were not very hot at all. The meat flavor was good at best but with the addition of some Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, and shredded cheese it was much better. These fajitas alone are not much to write home about but with the addition of the condiments they do end up being a bit more palatable. The shrimp eye candy on my plate was begging to be eaten but these shrimp were in fact more like candy (sickly sweet flavor) and had less of the authentic wood smoke/wood grilled flavor I was expecting. Put either one of these on the poor quality tortillas and the only thing that really saved them was the guacamole and the pico. The star of the Fajita plate is actually the Charro beans. Loaded with bits of thick pork (possibly bacon) and onions, a little tomato, and jalapenos these Frijoles were worthy of a second helping. Why yes, yes I did get a second helping.

My wife ordered the Cheese Enchiladas with the Green Chile Sauce. These were simply to die for. The flavor was well balanced with a slight tinge of heat. The combination of the cheese and the green chiles was excellent. Her rice was also moist and flavorful. I think this place was a better choice than what I had.

My daughter was not the least big impressed with their Mojo de Ajo, according to their website is: "Angel hair pasta topped with your choice of chicken, shrimp or a combination, sautéed in a Mexican-style garlic sauce and tossed with steamed vegetables." Apparently the combination of Mexican flavors with Italian Pasta wasn't her ideal combination.

My children's Godmother had a fish plate called Pescado Guerrero. This fish is native to Asia and is called the Barramundi. She let me try a little taste of it and it was very rich. The fish was grilled perfectly and the spinach along with the white wine sauce was very tasty. This is more of a Mexican adaptation of an Italian style dish. This is one of the lighter fare dishes that were on the menu.

Another thing I tried that I thought was very tasty was Papas Con Chile TM. For all of our Caucasian brethren this is Potatoes with Peppers. These mashed potatoes contain a little Jalapeno, some red and green bell peppers and four cheeses. One of the best things I had here today.

Normally $14.99 for a combo fajita plate is not bad but the amount of food you get for what you pay is very little. I've had $12.99 fajita plate and gotten a lot more meat for the money and tortillas that weren't straight out of a bag from the grocery store. A friend's son asked for one and I was all too happy to part with it. The rest of the food was priced off the lunch menu and was fairly priced in my opinion. All in all prices were in the medium range. So the rating is:

out of

Food was good (except the tortillas, they should invest in making tortillas in house.) Best things I had today at Abuelo's were the sides: Charro Beans and Papas Con Chile TM. As far as Tex Mex is concerned this is a great place for food geared toward the Caucasian palate. Those of us who have grown up on true Tex-Mex aren't very impressed with the majority of this food. Authenticity of this cuisine is also lacking. Presentation on some of the food is also lacking. So the rating on the food is:

out of

As far as atmosphere this is a beautiful place and aside from the pop music which throws this place out of whack Abuelo's would have received the highest rating possible:

out of

The one thing that stood out to me today was service. The waitstaff we had (in my opinion) was top notch. They kept my tea filled. They constantly asked if we needed anything else. They knew exactly where the food was supposed to go and they brought more chips out constantly. I have more of a problem with their management than I do with them because of our initial delay.
So the rating for the waitstaff is:

out of

I'd eat here again but I'd steer clear of the fajitas and maybe go for something else. I've had better food than we had during today's visit in the past here. It may be an anomaly due to being with a large group but regardless of that the food should be good no matter what.

The best part of today was spending time with my good friends and family. Regardless of the circumstances there's no place I'd rather be than with them.