I ordered takeout for myself and another person, we had chicken enchiladas and a chicken…read morequesadilla. The chicken was like a salt lick, it was not even edible, it was horrible, a total waste of money. It was ordered from their location in Hollins.

Tacos Rojas is one of the major family-owned chain Mexican Restaurants here in Roanoke, Virginia. I…read morehave visited several of them, and they have gotten mixed reviews. Today while I was driving down 13th Street looking for a place to have lunch, I drove by this tiny Mexican restaurant that at first seemed like a run down shack, or a hole in the wall eatery, with only two cars parked in its small parking lot. I missed seeing the restaurant's sign with its name. But for one reason or another, I decided I had to turn back to try it out. After being awarded the NC Triad Yelp Squad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, celebrating their contributions and accomplishments throughout the year, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and businesses, and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And this what I first thought was a no name Mexican Restaurant in Roanoke, Virginia, is a perfect example. When I turned around and drove back, as I got closer and closer to the restaurant's sign, I saw it was pretty new, and had a Mexican Hat, a Guitar, and some maracas, and read: "Tacos Rojas Mexican Grill Authentic Mexican Cuisine." Little did I imagine that this place was where it all started. Afterwards, after doing my research I found out the whole story about this place. Primary, that it was that it was the first Taco Rojas Restaurant, and where it all started. How appropriate that to conclude Hispanic Heritage Month, I ended up eating and reviewing this Hispanic Historic Restaurant in the history of Taco Rojas. Tacos Rojas was founded by Octavio Rojas, who moved to America from Pueblo, Mexico, 20 years ago. He opened this first restaurant on 13th Street, 12 years ago which had been a convenience store, and has since then expanded to six locations in the Roanoke Valley, including a location in Salem, which features a party room.The family-run business serves authentic Mexican food and has seen growth, including during the pandemic, partly due to its popularity for takeout. The business is family operated, with Octavio's wife, daughter, brother, and other relatives all involved in the restaurants. As I went inside, even though you can tell the place was once a convenience store because it still contained a wide display refrigerator with bottles of bottled drinks, it was clean and well-maintained, painted with lively colors, and different posters on the wall.The small dining area contained a combination of tables and chairs and some booths.The ambiance was warm and relaxed. One that made you feel at home. A young lady came out to greet me and gave me a warm welcome. I took a seat in the first booth and she handed me the menu and took my drink order. I ordered an Horchata. Afterwards I ordered a Carnitas Burrito as my main entrée. While I waited my server brought a basket of Chips and Salsa. Even though in the menu it was listed as an appetizer, it seemed like the first one was complementary. When the food arrived it was amazingly delicious. The shredded pork inside the burrito was seasoned and cooked to perfection, it was nice and hot, and the sauces on top were very tasty without being too spicy. Now I better understood how the humble beginning of Taco Rojas in this place had taken off and grown so quickly. Octavio's mother's recipes for the food were not only authentic Mexican food but delicious. They gave the cuisine here that special magical touch of satisfaction the first time you came, that made you want to come back and tell your family and friends about it. Sometimes it is in places like these that one can have the most extraordinary dining experiences.

My kids loved the nachos supreme and the enchiladas supreme. The food was great. I had the ACP,…read morethey gave me way too much chicken. The service was great!! They were friendly and sang happy birthday song and fed them cake to some of the customers. The restaurant ambiance was clean and very decorative.

Ok, this is the best Mexican restaurant I've tried! I'm cautious w them as I've felt portions were…read moresmall and options are generally an enchilada or taco something and lots of soupy bean "sauce." New to the area, we went for dinner. It was busy, but we were instantly seated. The vibe was fun, with many families and groups present. The menu is comprehensive with many options. I ordered a Choose Three Combo of chili relleno, enchilada, and chimichanga. She had the Choose Two and had two chili relleno. After munching the standard tortilla chips and very hot thin sauce, our orders came quickly. The entree plates were huge, food was very hot (temperature) and included rice and beans. So here's where I became a convert... helpings were huge, and very yummy! The menu huge with variety! We both gobbled down our dinners, and brought home boxes! The chili relleno are the best we'd ever tasted. My enchilada and chimichanga delicious! I'm definitely humbled by the quality, the portions, the service, and overall experience with this Mexican restaurant! I'll be back...

For a moment there, Garcia's Bistro had its regular customers heartbroken at the news that it had…read more"closed down permanently," but fortunately, not long after, the beloved spot pulled off a miraculous comeback, returning to the neighborhood better than ever before. This popular family-owned restaurant is well known for its blend of Mexican and American cuisine, welcoming atmosphere and excellent service. It's amazingly designed menu has a very creative selection of entrées, like none that I've ever seen before in any restaurant. Its flavorful food is served in generous portions, by cooks dressed in black professional attire, that together wirh its elegant presentation, help create that unique "bistro" experience in a warm and friendly atmosphere with a diner-like feel. As soon as I found out the good news that the place had opened once again, I had to be one of the first ones to go visit and dine there. It seems that the two partners had split up. One stayed running this restaurant and the other chose to remain with their food truck. The only changes that I noticed were that some of the signs in front of the building were torn down and temporary homemade ones were put up. They had changed their business logo although their name remained the same, with the addition of the numbers 581. They already had menus with the new logo printed out, and their cooks remained the same, maintaining their elegant black professional attire. I was warmly greeted by a friendly lady employee as soon as I walked in. She remembered me from the last time I had dined there, and immediately detected my happy feelings of seeing the restaurant opened again. After being seated at one of the booths, she took my order. I had a Coke to drink, the Cancun Shrimp Chorizo Dip with Tortilla Chips as appetizer, and the California Burrito with added Chorizo as my main entrée. It was all very well presented and amazingly delicious, as always. I invite you to view my photographs accompanying this review to get a better sense of the place and the high-quality of their food. The server did an excellent job checking on me to see if everything was of my liking and to see if I needed anything, including a softdrink refill. All the customers that came in expressed great joy at the re-opening of this well-liked restaurants. For dessert I had a slice of their Coconut Cake. It was amazing. At the end the owner who had stayed with the restaurant arrived and I expressed my gratitude and well wishes for the restaurant's future success. I highly recommend this Bistro to all. If I lived closer, I would be here dining more than once a week. It's that good!

Was close to hotel and had good ratings. Staff were really nice. Food was not good at all. Got…read morethe turkey ruben and buddy got a burger. It looked like they split one order of fries in half for us, ruben was very basic like you could get at a Wawa and way too much sauce which i think was just thousand island dressing. Fries we had were greasy and not much flavor. Restaurant itself im generally OK with dinner or local dives because they tend to have great food but this one needs to improve on everything. Food just meh, Restaurant looks like a converted waffle house. They can do a lot with what they have but really needs work.

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!

We drifted off the beaten path to check out this place out traveling between Atlanta and Lexington,…read moreVA. It's a fair bit away from the Interstate, but I can tell you that it's worth the trek. When we got here for lunch, there was a line out the door and the smokers out back hard at work told us this was the place to be. We got served pretty quickly and found a table. The place is neat and clean with a decent amount of seating both inside and out. The missus had a brisket sandwich and I got the pulled pork with slaw, pinto beans and mac&cheese for the sides. The servings are HUGE and that smoke ring isn't just for looks. The meat was done perfectly with the smoky flavor and not dried out. I also tried one of their homemade sausages. Absolutely fantastic! Snappy casing with a filling that included creamy cheese hunks and a level of spicy that was just right. We pride ourselves in having high standards when it comes to BBQ, and this joint didn't disappoint! We've been to numerous BBQ joints including the famous award-winning Big Bob Gibsons in Northern Alabama and this place comes in well over that. We visited with the owner (Kelly) and had a great experience. The staff we interfaced with were both friendly and engaging. I would give this place 6 stars if I could. Highly recommended!

Yes--the main upgrade is adding the restaurant's no-frills character from your photo, sharpening…read morethe texture description, and giving the collards a more memorable moment. Here's the elite version: One look at Mama Jean's handwritten chalkboard menu told me this was a place that lets the food do the talking--and the fried ribs backed it up. The fried-rib special was the undeniable star. Topped with Buffalo sauce, hot honey, Gorgonzola cream sauce, Gorgonzola crumbles and green onion, these ribs were an absolute revelation. They were fried hard--the right way--giving the outside a satisfying bite while the meat remained tender inside. Sweet, spicy, tangy, creamy and savory, it was a bold combination that somehow worked beautifully from every angle. The pulled-pork sandwich refused to be overshadowed. The pork was moist, tender, well-seasoned and piled ridiculously high on a soft bun. This was a serious portion of properly cooked pork--not a sandwich relying on sauce to carry it. Then came the collard greens, which unexpectedly became the star of the sides. I expected them to play backup, but they had enough presence to stand beside the barbecue. The mac and cheese was good, but those collards were the side I kept returning to. Mama Jean's is not a barbecue spot you want to miss if you're anywhere near Roanoke. The setting is casual, the portions are generous and the flavors are unapologetically big. If the fried ribs are written on that chalkboard, don't overthink it--order them before they're gone. Top-notch barbecue

Missing the food photos because we ate it too fast, but this tap room is excellent! The location is…read moreright by a river overlook near the tracks, housed in a beautifully refurbished industrial building that nails the rustic-modern aesthetic. We sat on the patio, and I loved that our server, Lauren, greeted us with a smile and let us pick our own table. Patio seating can be a gamble with the direct sun, but they have plenty of great shaded options here. Lauren was wonderful--she walked us through the specials and happy hour (can't beat $4 drafts!), and even shared her personal favorites from the tap list. As a cider drinker, I was also thrilled to see they had two distinct options available instead of just the usual Angry Orchard. For lunch, my husband ordered the crab cake sandwich with sweet potato fries, my mom got the chicken tenders and fries, and I went with the tender wrap and fries. Everything was spot-on. The fries were perfectly seasoned, and the portions were just right--filling and satisfying without leaving you feeling heavy or bloated. This is definitely going on our list of regular spots to revisit when we visit the area again!

I had not been there in years but aways like going there. I went today and the Fish & Chips were…read moreawesome. I will be back soon!

I'm from out of town DMV area! Here to visit friends!!…read more Rodeo Grande was awesome! The food was delicious, and the customer service was great from start to finish. The women's bathroom was PRISTINE -- super clean and well maintained, which I definitely appreciate! And most importantly... my cup stayed FULL! The Diet Coke was BANGING. Y'all are definitely changing those filters because it was crisp, fresh, and hitting exactly how it was supposed to! Great food, great service, clean restaurant, and top-tier Diet Coke. I'll definitely be back!

It was my second time here. Friendly and quick seating. The menu is much smaller than I recall it…read morebeing but we got the chimichangas. They are much smaller than they were but still good. The rice was a bit bland and the salsa tasted jarred. Overall it wasn't a bad visit, just not my first choice of mexican in this area. It's a lovely restaurant but the food didn't match the prices. I would come again. Would try something different next time. Plenty of parking and room to use a walker or wheelchair. I forgot to mention that table had been cleaned but you can see food bits embedded onto the tables that won't wipe off unless you scrub it.

Delicious, authentic Mexican food at Cilantro last night. We're from Northern Virginia where there…read moreare tons of great restaurants, but limited options for Mexican food and really wish they had a location near us. I had the Birria tacos which can be hit or miss at restaurants, but these were so flavorful. My kids had carne asada tacos and taquitos - the carne asada tacos were tender and Smokey and delicious. The taquitos were pretty good, but nothing out of the ordinary. The service was fast and friendly and the prices were super reasonable. The decor was a little tired and there were several fruit flies buzzing around our table, but neither were enough to distract us from the food. Highly recommend this place!

This restaurant is located in a tiny strip mall that is very close to the Moneta library…read more The restaurant/bar is cute. The meals are reasonably priced (you can "build" your own meal starting at $10.99 for two items). My plate was barely warm but the manager reheated it. Temperature really improves flavor. The read sauce was delicious. I wouldn't order a quesadilla again but I will try other items on another visited. The burrito was yummy. One of my guests had the chicken fajita. There was only one tiny piece of broccoli in her veggies. She only orders this item and it was the first time it was just passable and not extraordinary. (Her four time winning streak ended) The place is comfy. If you get chilly, pick a table not directly beside the doors. The staff is nice. Even in chilly weather, the place was filling up during "rush hour." I can only imagine how crowded this place gets in the summer. I rate this place a B. There is something for everyone. You can order decent Mexican food that isn't as great as Cancun Restaurant. (But we don't have to travel as far)