I so rarely post negative reviews, because sometimes life is just challenging, but to claim to be a Mexican restaurant and sell "Griingo Crunchy Tacos", one should at least be able to master the shell. So incredibly disappointed. When we were here last summer we had a great meal, so we decided to stop in for dinner again. Will not be back. Ordered a crunchy taco and a relleno. My crunchy taco was a corn tortilla obviously soaked in oil, but they forgot about the Crunchy cooking part. That a cook could send that out and a server could actually deliver it was all I need to know about quality. This was all before the dinner rush, so they don't even have that to fall on. read more

I used to be a big fan of Cafe Ole' many years ago. My best friend decided that we would go for lunch last Tuesday. I ordered the lunch chimichanga with black beans. My dish came out with a chimichanga that was half the size of the same one I ate at El Tenampa a month ago. It was sadly missing sour cream and guac. When I asked if I could get a side of each, I was politely told that it would cost another $2.30. I said no (El Tenampa served it with a ton of both condiments). So I poured the rest of the complimentary diluted salsa on top. I am going to recommend going anywhere but Cafe Ole' if you want a decent chimichanga. read more

We came here for happy hour, we got 2 margaritas which in the menu say $9....they charged us $11 dollars. We told the manager Jeff the menu says 9 dollars and he says we raise the price for happy hour and we tell him the menu says 9. He says to bad thats how it is, I asked if he had a menu that had the 11 dollar drink, he says no....we asked him to change the price and he flat out said no! He was beyond rude and dismissive. I told him that is shady that they raise the price without letting us know. He says oh well that is just how it is. Do not come here!! The manager is awful!!! Calling cooperate in the morning. He needs to be fired. read more

Cafe Ole - Mexican Near Me - Boise, Idaho

We occasionally visit Cafe Ole at 210 N Milwaukee in Boise, and always order the Botanas Varias off the appetizer menu. Seriously, it's the BEST and is more than enough food for 3 people.At $23.99 it's a good deal for a delicious lunch that would probably feed 4 on a normal day - it's just that when we show up we're always starving! The self-serve fresh salsa bar is plus, and the service has always been fast and friendly. Two recommendations for improvement: 1) Some of the tables are too big, which makes it difficult to talk with people in your party. When seated at one of these large, irregularly-shaped tables, we always ask to be re-seated; 2) The red tomato (normal) salsa at the self-serve salsa bar is too "watery." Add some chunks and it'll be amazing! read more

Food was so blah, I love carnitas and it was just a serving of dry shredded meat, the fajitas was not freshly done as it was just so so, not authentic carnitas. read more

This review is for catering off-site. I facilitate large quarterly meetings for the state and this place was suggested to me as a lunch option. The ordering process is a little old school, it's done over the phone, but the staff are extremely patient and helpful and very knowledgeable. We ordered an assortment of foods including the enchilada casserole and appetizers and create your own taco/burrito bar. The food was spectacular. Kept warm and packaged easily to set up ourselves. The staff were accommodating with our needs for itemized receipts and meet every other need with flying colors. I highly recommend them if you need an excellent and delicious catering option for meeting or party. read more

Clean and friendly but food was extremely bland. Would not recommend. We paid $40 and didn't eat more than a few bites.

This is in a stand alone building so I had hopes that it was independent in the middle of chain central. And it is but it has the menu, look, and taste of any chain restaurant. They don't even make their own guacamole, who does that? I had an average cheese enchilada. Our young male server was very good though. It was a waste of a meal and time. read more

Food wasn't very good. Guacamole was bland, salsa was water and bland, enchiladas fair, Fiesta chicken salad pretty bad.

The food is ok but they come in good portions, enough to take home the left overs.As far as the service goes, I like the servers who keeps tab on thier tables. I felt that I had to call my server couple of times for her assistance. Pretty slow service. Coming to the food, I love the chips with salsa and bean dip. The wait for the order is long so by the time my food comes, I eat atleast two rounds of chips and bean dip ( so yum!!). Margaritas are great. Tried the street tacos this time -It was pretty decent. overall it's not that great of a place considering that there are many mexican places in and around boise but it's OK to go once a while. read more

Cafe Ole - Street chicken tacos! - Mexican Near Me - Boise, Idaho

This review is only for happy hour.... however we talk about doing actual dinner there often. We really dig the bar & margs here.... great happy hour too - I believe it's 1/5 price on margs all Tuesday. Their chips & salsa bar with beans is delicious- which makes it hard to order food; I'll review once we do. read more

This was unpleasant AT BEST! Went for lunch with my daughter. The restaurant was not clean. There were chips and napkins all over the floor. Our table we were sat at was wet....yet sticky, we asked the waitress would she please wipe it for us & this seemed to *set her off* soooooooooo.... We odered our food & margaritas and asked for glasses of water. 1. She spilt our drinks ( a lot ) when setting them down.... we were never given napkins or silverware... so we had to ask for napkins to clean up that mess. 2. WATER never arrived until we asked another waitress if she would mind bringing us water. 3. Food arrives NO SILVERWARE we asked her to bring us some, she took another 6 tops oder first. FOOD IS NOW COLD & DRY. 4. I asked for sourcream for my cold chimichanga & was charged 1.29 At no point was this lady gracious or apologetic. Had heard good things about this chain restaurant and now i refer to it as: CAFE...NO WAY OWNERS.....your servers are the face of your buisness. TRAIN THEM and treat them with respect, so we as customers can enjoy your establishments and make it worth spending our money there! read more

Food was mediocre, margaritas were gross, and service was below average. I got the veggie burrito that they forgot to put guacamole and sour cream on. It was fine, but definitely not worth $11. Do not order the house margarita, it is so sweet and so gross. The server was nice enough, but just wasn't around to take food and drink orders even though the restaurant was empty. Our interactions with the rest of the wait staff was unpleasant. read more

Excellent grilled fish tacos. Also, the bean dip and salsa were very tasty. After seeing the reviews I had to try it myself since I'm pretty picky about Mexican food. I would recommend this restaurant. read more

Cafe Ole is close to my office, so when I'm craving Mexican food for lunch it's usually my go-to! The mid-day staff is always extremely friendly,and never give a "put-off" vibe that some wait staff does. Plus, they're always speedy. They start you with chips, salsa, and bean dip - yum! They have a great lunch menu, with discounted entrees. I almost always opt for the chicken fajitas because they're fairly healthy (not loaded with cheese, sauce or carbs). They are always HOT (temp, not spice) and delicious. The chicken is juicy, and they sere you a lot of veggies! Cooked perfectly and plenty flavorful! They come with a side of beans and rice, as well as a plate of toppings so you can spice it up how you like. Still need to pop in for Happy Hour! read more

Cafe Ole - Love the colorful chips with salsa and bean dip! - Mexican Near Me - Boise, Idaho

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I've been eating here for the past 2 years and I'm DONE! I ordered tonight and spent $52. I ordered a couple of dinner meals and a kids cheese quesadilla and I get home to open a quesadilla stuffed with salsa, so much so that the whole thing was soaked! GROSS! My son was starving and had to make him one at home. I live in Nampa so it's not like I could just drive back for being 25 minutes away. They also charged me NOT for a "kids" but for a regular one that is $10. This is NOT the only bad experience I've had at this location. About 6 months ago they charged me $9 over, i called and asked for my money back, they said they would offer me a $15 gift card I told them that didn't work for me. I don't eat out that often I wasn't sure when I'll be back. The manager told me it would be credited back to my credit card and I also had to text them a picture of my receipt. NOTHING showed on my bank... I just gave up. I will no longer be give my hard earned money that I work for to this facility. Horrible, outrageous customer service. read more

This place is literally so good. Every time I come here it is such a good choice. The service is great, food is great, decorations are great, indoor fountain is great. If I could give it 10 stars I would. Barbacoa used to be my favorite restaurant but honestly now it is cafe ole. The vibes are impeccable. If you are having a bad day literally just come here. Even alone it would be fun. Cafe ole you go girl. read more

We are here from out of state, visiting family, in Boise. It was both ours and our family's first time eating here. Kind of a bummer to say... but the food was really average, if that. Over cooked shrimp with my fajitas and under seasoned steak. Although I didn't have a margarita, both people that ordered one were in agreement that they weren't very good. I didn't even try my beans and rice. :( On a side note - fajitas are usually* served with sour cream and guacamole. No sour cream or guacamole was served with ANY of the entrees ordered. *Based on every Mexican restaurant that I've ordered fajitas from. The positive side - their sodas were large enough to last the entire meal. read more

Had a really good experience here today. All staff is wearing masks. People are spaced out inside well. Food was really yummy- especially the fish tacos! I love the bean dip and salsa provided also! My server was always there when we needed her- they didn't touch our glasses for refills- just brought out pitches and gave soda refills. Would highly recommend. read more

The service was horrible. I had Jess as my server. I sat down. The table was dirty. Only a napkin and fork. Flies flying around. I ordered a burrito. People were sat after me and their food was served first. My burrito was served cold and soggy. I asked Jess for a knife, Napkins refill on ice tea and sugar. The waiter acted like he was doing me a favor. He brought me ice tea no lemon no napkins, no knife and I asked for a knife again. Then he took another big parties order. I got up and asked the busboy for a knife. I was on my hour lunch. I was so unhappy I told the server I wasn't happy with my burrito it was cold and soggy and the lettuce was hard. He said I ate it all and had to pay for it or he would call the cops. I told him I only ate the meat. I told him I was sat first yet he served the next table first that had come after me. He brought my food late and it was cold and soggy. I told him I asked you for a knife and you took the next tables order. I asked for the manager and he said he was the general manager. I asked him if I could pay for half the burrito price and he said okay only so I can get you out of here!! Horrible service! Horrible food! And dirty restaurant. I rather go to Chipotle! Delicious and great service there! Avoid this place. Should be called Cafe Horrible!! I have never been treated so horrible and this is the worst burrito I ever had in my life! I had an upset stomach after. The food was horrible. The bean dip was horrible the salsa watered down the chips old and stale! This man should not be the general manager. It's astonishing to me people eat at this establishment. This isn't Mexican Food! Taco Bell Burrito Supreme is better than this! And their beans have flavor! And their burritos are served hot not cold! And fresh! Or better yet this restaurant should be called Crap Ole!! I rated it 1 star only because I wanted to leave a review to warn people. I would have given 0 stars. read more

So bad... I ordered the queso dip as an appetizer, and it showed up with everyone else's food while I had to wait another twenty-thirty minutes for my meal. The queso was hardly warm, tasted horrible. No flavor and extremely artificial, I sent it back. My carne asada meal was like one long strip of thin, dry jerky. Hardly edible, I picked off the rice and beans and the fried jalapeño, leaving hungry. We had a joiner in our group, who our server ignored for a long time, telling us she "thought she was just visiting from another table." The server made infrequent stops by our table, without clearing empty glasses or replenishing drinks. The other girl seems extremely inconvenienced when we asked her about where my meal could be. The guy at the bar in front of us was maybe 300 pounds and had his entire bottom hanging out, crack and all, while the man at the table next to us had tear drop tattoos. Drinks were okay, nothing you can't get anywhere else. Why would anyone come here? read more

This palce is pretty decent. Nice staff, quick service, and pretty good food. The green salsa in the salsa bar is out of control good. Like take salsa home to drink later good. The actual burritos are lack luster. Not bad but not great either, for Mexican food it lacks flavor and spice. Chips and bean dip omis good though. read more

Cafe Ole - Mexican Near Me - Boise, Idaho

The food was great, the drinks were cold (iced tea) and the service was friendly! The portion sizes were amazing!!! I loved the chips and salsa bar. We will come again! read more

Cafe Ole - Mexican Near Me - Boise, Idaho

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We are traveling medical staff and staying at a locacl hotel with about 50 other medical personal who are here on a Fema Contract for Covid. You bet we will be tell eveeryone and the hotel staff of where we are staying to not go here or recomend it. Yesterday, my husband and I were spending the day together and out on his one day off, we were out shopping for our Anniversary. We first went to cheesecake factory but left because menu is like a book. So we walked across the street and found cafe ole`. thfe guy that sat us was super friendly. There was probably 4 other couples/families in the whole resturant. The waitress who was fairly tall, black hair pulled back with possibly a streak of red in it. glasses and star earrings in, she seemed very annoyed the first time when she first came to the table to get our drink order and when she brought us chips and salsa and my husband asked if they have a hotter salsa. so we then ordered our drinks . I ordered a lemonade, not realizing it was pink but its ok because I like pink too, but it would have been nice if asked if pink lemonade is ok. My husband ordered a bottle of budwiser and a double shot of titos vodka. Waitress comes and take order husband asked a couple questions about a couple items on the menu to narrow down his choice, he also asked if the chef was able to mix a couple things to make up what he wanted, the waitress was like no we are not allowed to change anything on the menu, if someone doesn't like it then we have to throw it out. Then the waitress brought my husbands drinks. As he took limes out of his shot , it took me a second and i was like i'll take your limes for my salad. Then I was like wait why did you get limes in your shot, is that vodka or tequila? He smelled it and said I think it is tequilla, so I was like let me smell it. Sure enough it was tequila. There was an older gentleman that was helping the waitress out, took some food out to another table. As he walked by our table empty handed by our table my husband first hollered at hi in spanish becausee he knowa little bit of spanish and then in english the guy completely ignored him. He was trying to get his attention shince his shot was wrong. he didn't even touch his beer yet either, just poured it in the glass. He made a comment and then I was like while the only person that seems happy here was the host that sat us. so he asked for a 10.00 and I said well all i have is a 20.00 he said ok give it to me and let's go. so we threw a 20.00 to cover his double shot of tequila, a 3.00 bud light and my lemonade. a doduble of of titos is about 8.00. So, the 20.00 ore than covered our drinks. There was a lady waiting by the front and asked if we were leaving and my husbband said yes, then at this point the waitress was like you guy leaving or something to my husband. He said yes and we will not be back. She said something along the lines of OH! well, thankgoodness. read more

2 stars... I think I'm being VERY generous with two. My wife picked C O because we hadn't been there in many years. We found out again why it has been years. BLAND is what hospitals are known for, but C O has them whooped by a mile. The rice is colored red with paprika and I would guess water. I had the Carne Assada that came with the rice and beans from a freshly opened can. My wife had the chimichanga and chicken enchilada. She said the chimi was decent but no prize winner and the enchilada very bland with questionable chicken. Pretty sure you could get at least this well with a stop at any near by grocery store with a frozen food section. The service was sleepy and we had to ask for knives and salt and pepper. By the way I had to unscrew the top of the salt off and free pour it on the chips (stale as all hell) and rice to give it some kind of flavor. It was a great form of 2 ounce curls trying to get anything out of the damned thing. We usually Doggie bag our way out of most the of Mexican restaurants around town but we left at least half our meals on the table. read more

I had planned a get together with friends at Cafe Ole, Boise Towne Square for which I called ahead to make reservations for 11 people. It was a group of all ladies and we were chatting and a bit loud. I had asked us to be seated in one of the banquet rooms, however, that didn't happen. Later, the shift manager Carla, told me to keep it down and not be loud. I told her sure - think she misconstrued my niceness as my weakness. While helping our server with handing out our individual dinners, she told one of my guests that she or the server are not supposed to know who ordered what for dinner?? My guest reminded her that is their job to know and not stand around us and yell asking for whose dinner that might be. Our server, Heather, was pretty good - no complaints- however she was overworked while taking care of our party of eleven and four other tables. I informed her that her coworker/ manager was being rude. But I'd talk to Carla, the manager after we were done. Since, Heather had done a good job, given the circumstances, my guest wanted to tip her extra on top of the 18% gratuity. My guest actually went to Heather to offer our thanks and the extra tip, when Carla interrupted my guest suggesting that my guest might be stressing Heather, the server - Carla ended the conversation by calling my guest an "a...hole". I will be calling to talk to the general manger, Jeff, who will be there on this Wednesday. Cafe Ole is a good restaurant with good food, it definitely doesn't need employees who can tarnish their image. read more

Good lunch, nice location, but it was the server that was special. I think this location is much nicer than the Eagle location I would definitely come back here. read more

Looks better online then in person. The wait wasn't long at all but the table wasn't cleaned, no water was offered, the server was pissy, menu was dirty and food was flavorless and bland. Place had no music children were running everywhere and the place was rly just kinda run down and smelled of dust. The drinks were wrong and in dirty glasses and charged 5$ for a side of sour cream!?!!?? The chips were the highlight but the salsa was cold sour and bean dip was cold. And 42$ for two apps and two drinks? Damn. Such a disappointment as it it next to the biggest mall in idaho you think it would have the ability to pull people in. read more

We stopped in April 17th for a quick dinner and I it was perfect. Our server, Griselda, was amazing and deserves recognition for being friendly, knowledgeable, and making sure we had everything we needed. The food and drinks were A+++. Thank you! read more

Waiter had absolutely no personality ..did not engage whatsoever, nothing more than an order taker. We ordered our drinks ordered some food and asked as the menus stated for them to sub veggies for rice and beans on the fiesta bowl... We have a beer and a cocktail and a 1/2 hour later was we were wishing another round as the food had not yet come.. no waiter in sight so I went into the bar and asked for another cocktail..10 min later he dropped off drink.. When food finally came it had rice and beans and veggies and we realized he never asked what dressing we wanted.. We waited for him to return to check on us which was quite a while and let him know we made it one with no rice and beans and that we wanted a particular dressing.. Won the salad came back it had dressing on the side and Was missing the avocado.. I took a few bites and it really wasn't very good so we just gave up.. It was terrible, experience was terrible and it was a waste of $40.. I know that people are short staffed but at least train the guy to engage with his guests a little bit, And give them a menu training so they're making the products correctly as stated on menu. read more

Love the atmosphere good memories at this joint. Today the service is horrible. Food subpar. Got taquitos No sour cream or guacamole big pile of lettuce in the middle of the plat with nothing on it. Again our server was horrible. read more

We tried the one down town a few years ago and it stunk so haven't been back until today and thought we would try this one I was really wanting a good steak fajita but I didn't get it I ordered Steak fajita for two and the meat was so tuff you couldn't hardly chew it I don't know what part of the cow it came from but I have a pretty good guess the food was bland the only thing that had any taste at all and that wasn't much was the rice Very disappointing to say the least a total waist of $29.00 This is twice we have tired this very poor excuse for Mexican food and it will be the last time never again I have learned my lesson read more

I don't know how anyone gave this place three stars - I feel generous giving them two. We waited FOREVER for our food. Observations while waiting: the booth is filthy, dirty silverware, low lighting. Server was slow and inattentive. Tacos were swimming in enchilada sauce - NOBODY likes soggy tacos and if you serve them this way on a combo plate you SUCK! Will not be back. read more

I don't usually take the time to write reviews but my last experience here was horrible enough to take the time to rate it. I used to go to Cafe Ole as a kid all of the time - this was my first time back in over 10 years and it was absolutely disappointing. I am a vegetarian so I asked for a bean, cheese, rice, and sour cream burrito. I took a bite of the burrito not thinking I needed to cut into it to examine it beforehand, and the first bite I took was full of shredded meat. I was disgusted as you would think a vegetarian would be when they bite into meat. The waiter sent it back to the kitchen and 5 minutes later I was given a new burrito ... I cut into this time and sure enough, meat in the burrito again. I was over it at this point so I didn't eat anything. I took home both of the burritos to my fiancé so the meat didn't go to waste and when he ate the first burrito that was given to me, he chomped down onto a bone halfway through the burrito. As well, my mom doesn't like onions and specifically asked for no onions in her enchilada and it still came out with raw onions inside of the enchilada. Needless to say, we will not be returning. read more

Omg this place is the WORST! The atmosphere sucks, it's super dirty, and the service is crappy. We ordered an appetizer and dinner on a rainy Monday non-busy night and it took forever to get our food. They brought the COLD appetizer out at the same time as our food after waiting an eternity. The food was bland and generic; literally a taco meal would be better than this crap. read more

Quite honestly, this is probably the worst restaurant I have tried in a long time. Our waiter was SO slow, forgot our drinks, and the food was disgusting. I ordered a shrimp platter, there was roughly an inch of oil sitting on top of the sauce and the shrimp were overcooked. The tortilla soup was cold, the margarita was watery and tasteless. Overall, if I could give this place a zero, sadly I would. I will never be back. read more

At some point, I am going to stop being lured by the word "Cantina" on signage...but not for this vist...if I hit too many more like this, I'm going to have to find Marty Robbins' grave to beseech the headstone with a tersely screamed "whyyyyyy"...if I find a place called Rosie's Cantina, I'm still sunk, though. The atmosphere is correct on the bar side, but sort of woeful everywhere else...but again, white people place, so I get it. Service was also horribly slow, definitely unreasonably so, but servers were friendly. This is yet another very heavily Americanized joint and the bar seems like somewhere that the locals come to get schnockered. I guess that part of the cantina isn't too far off and their beer selection is nice. The food, though...chips, salsa and bean dip were off to a poor stop...unless you like bean dip with the consistency of pancake syrup. I don't particularly. I also made a mistake letting the staff choose for me. I got some enchiladas with ungodly salty sauce. The beans were a mess and not the black beans that were supposed to come with. The rice was...there. As to the enchiladas, the chicken was mush and mostly tolerable. The cheese was arguably the hardest and stiffest of the lot, which I found consistently confusing. The shredded beef tasted a lot like vegetable beef soup, so lots of stray elements in there besides the actual meat. This is not a positive. I wound up abandoning the thing as it was not worth sorting through and the heavily oversalted nature was quickly becoming wearing. By far the best thing is their Ole beer from Sockeye and if I return (not likely), it would be just for that. I was going to give this a 3, bumped from more like a 2.5, as I suppose it is an option for less demanding palates, but it was a far cry from enjoyable overall and I can't, in good conscience, give it the bump and don't foresee a return at any point in the future. read more

Unlimited free beans, extensive cocktail menu, warm homey atmosphere. All of which would not be possible without Boises hidden gem, and no I'm not talkin about those Mel Gibson sized margaritas. I'm talking about the modern day Robin Hood, that goes by the name Kacey. K-knight A-astronaut C-chameleon breeder E-eternal Y-yodeler read more

We're new here and love Mexican food!! Decided to try this place out! I'm so disappointed that a lot of Mexican restaurants here don't have spicy salsa but instead offer "TABASCO"?! The worst part was that my husband ate half of his entree and ended up pulling a big piece of plastic out of his mouth... which was stuffed inside his food!! Wtf??! Very unsanitary and unsafe in food handling! Never going back! read more

Good service and food in restaurant at all locations. My favorite is the one on Eagle, the atmosphere is much better -- more open and inviting. When it comes to having food delivered or order for pick up they can be hit and miss with both accuracy and quality. read more