A few months ago I had the privilege to have discovered el Rodeo Chico Mexican Restaurant located…read morein the Daleville Town Center in Daleville, Virginia, and write a Five Star review on this majestic yet colorful Mexican Restaurant that opened in February of 2018 by the Arellano Family. The father of this local family opened his first restaurant, El Rodeo, on Williamson Road, Roanoke, Virginia (this restaurant), along with his brother in law, in 1988. Since then, I have been wanting to visit this Arellano Family's first Mexican Restaurant that started it all, and has become a family legacy. From the outside, El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant, on Williamson Road, doesn't look that fancy, nor is it located in a wealthy location as El Rodeo Chico is. But what makes it so unique is that it's "The Original El Rodeo," and this is the one I set out to explore today. As I walked in on a late afternoon for an early dinner, the first thing that impressed me was that even with its age, the restaurant was neatly decorated and extremely clean and inviting with a very pleasant lighting treatment and elegant atmosphere. The host warmly greeted me and had me take a seat in one of the booths of the main dining area and handed me the menu. It was clean and very well designed with some color photos of some of its popular items. My server arrived with a friendly smile and a basket of tortilla chips and little bowl with salsa, shortly after. He took my order. I ordered a lemonade to drink and from the Pork section of the Specialties of the House page, the Burrito California as the main entrée. As I waited enjoying my chips and salsa, I noticed that even though it was early, customers were already starting to arrive to the dining room and cozy bar area. I also noticed that there was a very clean room with a set-up for a Lunch Buffet they have daily. On the other side of the restaurant, beyond the bar, they also have a large room with pool tables for enjoyment. The chips and salsa tasted very fresh, crispy, and appetizing. The main entrée was a nice size portion Burrito with melted cheese on top and around bowl with green sause inside. The Burrito was filled with carnitas and other exquisite ingredients, all amazingly delicious, but what captured my attention the most were the carnitas themselves. It was the best carnitas I've ever had. You could tell they were fresh pork meat very well marinated, and shredded. They also included the outside of the roasted pork, which is always the tastiest part of the pork meat. You can say I was able to experience first hand the flavor of the Arellano Family Mexican Cuisine that is like none other I have ever had. My server provided me with excellent customer service, coming by at the appropriate times. For dessert, I ordered a Churro Cup, one of my recent popular Mexican desserts. When it arrived, I noticed that it was missing the cherry on top, and mentioned it to my server. He apologized that they had ran out of them. I was somewhat disappointed but from the view of the Churro Cup itself, I decided to dig in the dessert and to my surprise, the crust of the freshly fried Churro Cup, was the best that I have ever had. It was crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. This is achieved by promptly deep frying it and serving it right away so it doesn't turn stale and hard to cut and taste. It was clearly a Masterpiece of a dessert, even without the cherry. I highly recommend this restaurant for its authentic Mexican cuisine, comfortable and pleasant ambiance, excellent customer service, and an extraordinary dining experience.

Thursday night and completely empty! This place deserves more hype and attention, hidden gem for…read moresure. Great service and delicious food.

This El Rodeo on Electric Road is part of the Arellano family's local chain of Mexican restaurants,…read morewhich introduced Tex-Mex to the Roanoke Valley in the late 1980s. The original El Rodeo opened on Williamson Road around that time and due to community demand, the family expanded and operated additional locations across Roanoke and Salem. Their newest and most beautiful of them all, Rodeo Chico, is located at the Daleville Town Center, in Daleville, Virginia. I've had an opportunity of dining and reviewing almost all of them except this one. Today I decided I would go and try this one out. Located at the Brambleton Center, an elevated development in Cave Spring, Virginia, that also includes the Virginia Co-Op Extension, a Recreation Center, and The Bridge Church Roanoke, it is by far their largest restaurant in this area if one includes its extensive outdoor dining area with a solid beautiful gazebo with an amazing view of the surrounding mountains. I invite you to view my photographs accompanying this review to get a better sense of the place, its creative architectural design, its amazing views, and its high-quality food. After driving in my pearl white Lexus up the hill, I parked in their parking lot in the back and walked around the wraparound porch of their building until I found the entrance. But before I went inside I walked around their extensive outdoor dining area with beautiful views. Once inside a friendly gentleman at the Host's station greeted me and showed me to a comfortable booth next to a window in the bar dining area of the restaurant. The perfect location to be able to capture photographs of their food in natural light. Afterwards I visited their main dining room which was already almost full in the late afternoon / early evening. After I was seated, Freddy who had served as my host, would also be my server. I ordered a large Virgin Mango Margarita to drink, which looked wonderful and tasted marvelous. I enjoyed munching on their basket of Tortilla Chips after dipping them in their red and white salsa as well. Few Mexican restaurants serve the white salsa. For my main meal I ordered the Carnitas, which contained tender chunks of pork and their photo in the menu made them look so good. They came with rice, beans, guacamole salad, pico de gallo and flour tortillas. I drank my Mango Margarita and enjoyed my chips with salsas while I waited and it didn't take long for my main entrée to come out. It looked delicious: both in quality, quantity, the way they were cook and presentation. All of a sudden, after just taking a taste of these carnitas, this restaurant had become one of my favorites Mexican restaurants. My server did an excellent job checking on me to see if everything was all right and check if I needed anything. The amount of food was so generous that I asked for a container to take some home with me. For dessert I had a Flan and it was also large and delicious. The prices were so reasonable and the amount of food so generous and good, not to talk about the exceptional service, that I made sure to leave a good tip when I paid with my Harvard Alumni World Mastercard. In conclusion, I highly recommend this Mexican restaurant for such an extraordinary dining experience that I had today and look forward to returning many times more.

The food and the service is always excellent here! If you ask for it they bring it with a smile…read more We love coming here!

On a rainy Sunday evening at around 6:45pm I arrived at this small Mexican restaurant and the first…read morelesson I learned was to "Never judge a book by its cover," for when I entered I found an almost full restaurant with just a couple of empty tables. As I waited in front of the Host's station to be seated, a friendly lady came out from the kitchen, greeted me with a warm welcome, took me to one of the few empty tables and handed me the menu. It was four pages, but designed very colorful and creative with lots of tiny photos of some of the food items. To drink I ordered an Iced Horchata (Sweeten Rice Water). This cold non-alcoholic drink tasted sweet, creamy, and refreshing, with a prominent cinnamon flavor. First time I had it but I immediately fell in love with this very unique and comforting taste. As an appetizer I ordered a dish with shrimps, which I had seen being served to another table. As the main dish I ordered a Chori-Pollo, which was basically a grilled chicken breast filet topped with Mexican sausage and cheese dip. And a side steak taco. And for dessert I had the Churros. Everything tasted delicious with an authentic Mexican cuisine. Even the loud background music gave the place an authentic Mexican flavor and atmosphere. In conclusion, this is a local Mexican family restaurant where you feel at home in a relaxed environment, enjoying genuine Mexican food prepared by natives of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

We went in on a Tuesday when the restaurant was mostly empty. They had $2 Birria taco specials…read morewhich you can't beat. They were pretty big and delicious! The apps were just ok- queso seemed watery , salsa very mild. The corn bowl was good but not out of this world. Service was very friendly , waiter checked in on us multiple times. There was some music and some soccer games on. Would def return for the taco deals.

Tacos Rojas started 14 years ago when Octavio Rojas moved to the United States from Pueblo, Mexico,…read moreand opened the first Tacos Rojas location on 13th Street SW in Roanoke's Mountain View neighborhood. That first location opened around 2012 inside a small, unasuming space that was formally a convenience store. Octavio runs the business with close family members, including his wife, daughters, brother, nephews, and nieces. The business has grown from that single neighborhood spot into a regional favorite with multiple locations across the Roanoke Valley, including restaurants in Salem, Vinton, Keagy Village in Cave Spring Roanoke, Hollins in North Roanoke, and the Roanoke City Market Building. The restaurants are known for homemade, traditional Mexican dishes like street tacos, birria, large burritos, and fresh salsas. And have gain great popularity for combining a casual, welcoming atmosphere with scratch-made food. Today I happened to be in Salem to do some errands and try out the Tropical Sno Hawaiian Shaved Ice, which happened to be located in this restaurant's parking lot. Since it was around lunchtime and the Shaved ice place didn't open until 12 noon, I decided to visit Tacos Rojas and have lunch there. The restaurant was very clean inside and decorated with paintings that I later found out were of family members. It had a nice size main dining room and another spacious one that could be set-up to accommodate larger groups. A young lady greeted and welcomed me at the Host's station and took me to one of the booths. I ordered a Virgin Mango Margarita to drink, and by the time she came back with some freshly made chips and salsa, I was ready to order. I ordered the Lunch Special of the Day which was a California Burrito with Beef. While I waited I enjoyed their amazing salsa with the chips. The Mango Margarita was also delicious with the prefect flavor and consistency to comfortably flow up the straw. The California Burrito was gigantic in size and very good. It filled me up but I still had space for a flan for dessert. Made in-house the Flan tasted amazingly delicious. I invite you to view my photographs and videos accompanying this review to get a better sense of the place and the high-quality of their food and drinks. The restaurant also had a stage setup and I was told it was mainly used for group parties and special occasions. In conclusion, I enjoyed my lunch dining experience there and look forward to returning another day for dinner to try out one of their other larger dinner items on their menu.

Excellent food in a great atmosphere. Service was wonderful and our needs were attended to with…read morecareful attention to detail. Highly recommended!

Sometimes a small restaurant business can gives the best dining experience of the country the food…read moreis representing. This is the case of Lupita's Taco. No luxurious building with expensive decorations and furniture. Just a clean, cozy, and comfortable little building with a few tables and chairs, a counter where orders are taken and paid for, and a small kitchen behind where orders are prepared and taken out to your table by one of the servers. When I arrived to the restaurant that is well known in the area for the $1 tacos on Tuesdays, I was impressed by how small it was. The main room where orders are taken and paid for and with a few tables and chairs for customers to seat down and eat, is souranded by large windows where light can come in as well as people can look in from the street and see a very clean restaurant full of people eating and others ordering items to go. There is a second smaller seating area, this one with walls and smaller windows. As I entered the door, there were several signs both on the wall and standing on the floor. There was an enlarged colorful menu on the wall, and a floor sign with the days of operation and special daily menus. Behind the counter a friendly employee greeted me and took my order. To drink I ordered a Mango juice, as an appetizer I ordered 2 Longaniza tacos, as the main course I ordered a steak Milanesa (breaded steak), and for dessert a Pastel de Tres Leches. I paid with a credit card and then went and sat at a table next to a wall with an outlet where I could charge my cellphone that was running low in power. While I was there several people came to pick up orders to go; a couple of groups of workers, and some families as well. After all it was a Friday evening. When my food was ready one of the servers brought it to me. All the items looked and tasted delicious. The Steak Milanesa was a bit thin but tasted good. There was a small table up front with all kinds of sauces to put on your food. This is a comfortable little place where you can enjoy genuine Mexican food, alone or with family and friends. Nothing gourmet, just good home cooking.

Found this gem while visiting Virginia during graduation week at Liberty University. Coming from…read moreCalifornia, we were a little skeptical about trying Hispanic food because we know how authentic Honduran, Salvadoran, Mexican, and other Latin foods should taste but this place did not disappoint. The food was delicious, although I personally prefer a little more spice. ( There is a table with variety of sauces to choose from.) If it's your first time visiting, a little more guidance on how things work would help, like ordering and paying at the counter before sitting down, and that you can leave your plates on the table since the staff clears them for you. Overall, it's a pretty chill spot with great food and a relaxed atmosphere. Definitely worth checking out.

Came here with my entire frisbee team after a tournament, and they sat all 20 of us on about 15…read moreminutes notice, so shoutout them for that to start. As a whole, they handled the logistics of such a large group very well and got food out in time and on schedule. I got the arroz con Pollo, which was decent and a large portion. Also, regarding service, they kept the chips + salsa coming which was awesome. Never had the margaritas yet, but El Rods is pretty solid from what I've seen.

As a true Mexican food lover, I highly recommend El Rodeo in Blacksburg, VA. If you enjoy bold,…read morespicy flavors, you must try the Burritos Texanos with poblano sauce--absolutely delicious. The Tacos Poblanos (also with the poblano sauce) are another top pick and full of flavor. The restaurant is often packed, so expect a bit of a wait for your food. That said, don't hesitate--place your order as soon as you're seated. If you go with either of these dishes, you won't be disappointed and avoid the wait!

Driving down from Pennsylvania and stopped for lunch. My husband and I had the the chicken tamales…read moreand beef burritos with beans and rice and red mole sauce. I had a pome rita drink and my husband had a Modelo. The food was pretty good especially with the green pepper sauce. The ambiance was fine, nothing fancy. I will say however, the woman's room has peculiar doors to the stalls, you have to straddle the toilet in order to get in to close the door, which is obviously too big. Anyway, it's a nice place.

This is one of Roanoke's must beautiful architectural designed Mexican restaurants…read more A third generation family-owned and operated restaurant from the first family to bring Mexican cuisine to Roanoke in 1986. It is well known for its authentic Mexican cuisine, including fajitas, tacos, and margaritas. Agave Azul originally opened as El Rodeo in 2001. Then in 2019 the Lopez family rebranded the restaurant, changing its name and design but retaining their style and original recipes. The change in redesign was made to better reflect the way one should experience Mexican Food in contemporary society, and to honor the vibrant, evolving culture of contemporary Mexican cuisine. As I arrived today in my pearl white Lexus and parked it in their very convenient parking lot, I couldn't help but to admire the beautiful structure of the restaurant's architectural design of its building. Once inside, a welcoming gentleman greeted me and took me to one of the booths next to the windows of the dining room and handed me a copy of the menu. Shortly after a friendly young lady came by and introduced herself as my server and took my drink order. I ordered a virgin mango margarita. While she went to request it at the bar, one of their employees brought me their complimentary basket of chips along with the tiny bowl of salsa. What can I say, they were irresistible and amazingly delicious. I found myself looking at the menu and at the same time dipping my chips in the salsa and eating them. When the margarita arrived it looked amazing. So fresh that one could see the lime slices juice dripping onto the table. To dine I ordered the Parrillada Fajitas and asked her to also include chorizo for an extra charge. She acknowledged that could be arranged and went to the kitchen to place my order. She then disappeared. I suspect they had given her a large table in the other dining room because the restaurant was not so full and yet she took so long to bring me my fajitas that when they arrived they were not sizzling hot with smoke coming out of the cast iron skillet. Before I had time to mention this to her, she had quickly disappeared again. I tasted the fajitas and they were so good that I ate them and didn't bother complaining. Besides I was so hungry that I couldn't wait for them to remake them just to see the smoke coming out of the skillet when served. But this was a bit disappointing because it was the first time it had happened at any Mexican restaurant before, and I felt it took away from the excitement of watching your fajitas being served sizzling hot. A side plate came with delicious Mexican rice, refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and guacamole. Also I received some hot flower tortillas wrapped inside a piece of aluminum paper. The time went by and I had finished with my meal and my server hadn't showed up. I was looking forward to having a dessert. When she shows up she does so with my bill. I told her I was planning on having a dessert if it was possible, and that if she could please clear my table. I ordered a Xango Cheese Cake that was supposed to come drizzled with caramel and chocolate. But instead it came drizzled with sugar and honey. After having a bite of it I didn't seem to mind because it tasted so good like this as well. Then another long wait to get the bill. Luckily in this restaurant you paid the bill at the cashier's counter. It's a pity that I let my dining experience escalate up to this point. I hope the owner and manager of the restaurant reads my review and takes action so this doesn't happen again. Next time I will definitely not allow this to happen again. In conclusion the food tasted very good but did not arrive sizzling hot; the ambiance was pleasant but lacked the Mexican background music, and the service was definitely lacking, but I'm willing to give this restaurant another try honoring its generational history.

My buddy and I were heading back from a golf tournament on a Monday night and we were desperate for…read moresome margs and a couple of Dos Equis. I recognize that "a couple of" and "dos Equis" is repetitive. We read the one star reviews and we pulled into a parking lot with no other cars (not one). But it was 8pm on a Monday in Bedford so we continued with our plan. It sure seemed like the server wanted to close and he may not have wanted to serve us, but serve us he did. He served us like Serena Williams in her prime. He wasn't as big, but I digress. Food, 10/10. Margs 10/10. Beer 10/10. We'll be back next time we randomly pass through Bedford.

My family and I went there arrived at 5:45 pm at 6:30 I was hunting someone down to take our order…read morenever refilled our drinks finally got to order at 7:05 got our food at 7:10 hmmmm yea it was a god awful experience will never be going back there again that place has gone downhill big time! Not to mention was way over charged for the lack of service we received...