This one is easy, don't eat there! The service was good, but you don't eat the waitress. Microwaved Spanish rice, unseasoned refried beans from the can and an Italian tomato-souse don't make a good Mexican meal. Over all the food was sloppy prepared, without regards to Mexican ingredients and seasoning. read more

Tios Mexican Cafe - Tios Mexican Cafe inside - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Do not come here. I ordered a steak chimichanga and the first time I ordered it, it was just beans. They brought me a new one and I'm still convinced there was no steak in there. I couldn't taste or see any steak. I asked to speak to the manager and he was so incredibly rude and told me to "read the menu next time." I told him I understood beans were in there but that it was ALL beans and he argued with me that there was steak in there. Very unprofessional and even our waitress was snippy and rude. Awful staff and mediocre food. read more

Tios Mexican Cafe - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I'm not going to lie here. Tios is average. It's a small space. Sometimes the service is quick. Sometimes not so quick. I usually always get a chimichanga and most of the time it comes out right. It's super tasty and the pork is very flavorful. What really sells Tios for me is it's not badly priced. I like the salsa. Servers are always super friendly. I also like the drink specials. I get the cheap margaritas on Tuesdays with a group of friends and it keeps me coming back. I will note that I have wanted to eat outside twice because I had my dog with me. It was during the day both times and relatively slow, but the bartender kind of huffed at me and said "I guess I can come out there." I was so glad when she sent someone else, who gave excellent service and brought my pup some water. read more

It's time I update my review, which I avoided for years... The food has always been okay/mediocre. It was mainly the people who worked there that made it worth going. The guy with glasses and brown hair is awesome, most of the women who work there are amazing as well. For a while, the only negative customer service I had was with one woman who got mad over the phone because I politely rechecked to see if I had provided the right address for delivery. That changed. I've now had more negative experiences thanks to one person, who is the reason I will never eat at Tios again. A couple years ago, this guy started working there (I'm assuming he's still there) who had terrible anger issues and rude customer service. I would hear him complain about other workers to staff as well- very dramatic, selfish, and spiteful. I remember how rude he was to me once when I was dining in because two or three other times before, I did pickup orders. He brought my food in a bag and when I kindly told him (as I was sitting at the table where I had ordered the food) that the food was for here, he entered a hysterical fit. "What? But you always get your food to go! Wah!" The funny thing is I wasn't even mad about the mistake and just informed him I was eating in the restaurant, but his rude and over the top reaction was pathetic and ridiculous. I gave the restaurant a few more chances. Anytime he was not there, someone cool would serve me- the brown haired dude with glasses, or one of the women staff, who are always polite, helpful, and nice to talk to! But this guy... this self-absorbed, hateful villain from some 90's WB teen drama with his snarky attitude and uncalled for sneak remarks ruined it for me. So sorry Tios. Sorry that with a staff of mostly cool people who makes so-so food that was worth worth it due to having a kind staff.... one dude messed it up. For now, I'm going to Sabor, San Jose's in West Cola, or Monterrays when I get in the mood for tacos, quesadillas, etc. That guy destroyed everything you once had. read more

Tios. Great place for bland mexican food, a lukewarm marg tower, and fire breathing marinara sauce that will give you the shits for a day. You have to tip extra for a dog bowl of queso. Very mid tier drunkedness. Friend got the beef burrito and hated it. Do not recommend. read more

Worst Mexican restaurant I have ever been to in my life! The service was awful we did not get our drinks until 30 mins after ordering, we had to ask other waitress to bring us chips and salsa after 20 minutes of not having any and when we finally got our food everything was incorrect. I ordered a shrimp quesadilla but when i got it, it had 2 pieces of shrimp and shredded chicken, It was disgusting I couldn't even eat it. After I told the waiter this she still expected me to pay $20 for it. Save your money everything about this restaurant is awful. read more

MACIE! amazing server. so funny, efficient, and so sweet. love her 10/10 food amazing. margs. amazing. beers. amazing.

We went hear 3 times during our short stay. Perfect for a quick bite,walking distance from The Graduate Hotel and very friendly staff. Our Boyz loved it. read more

There was really nothing I could say I really liked about this place. The atmosphere was weird. The server was strange. Being vegan I asked for the vegan cheese on the taco and it was vegan mozzarella??? Who does that?? That is just wrong. It was pricier than I would expect to pay for not so great food. Oh, and who puts cucumbers in Mexican food??? There's just something wrong with this place. read more

Server failed to refill our drinks we had to ask food was awful nothing was authentic margaritas were awful service was terrible awful experience overall read more

I'm from California and I am an owner of a Bakery/Mexican Restaurant the food here is okay but there's definitely a difference from authentic Mexican food vs white washed Mexican food. I'm rating this a 2 reason being that the salsa dip you can tell that it comes from a can and isn't freshly made. The taco meat is a little bare and has little to no flavor. (Real tacos have that juicy meat) Nachos, man I don't know if they get their products from cans only it wasn't as tasty as you'd think. We ordered 2 tacos and a small nachos came out to be $24.00 and for that price I'd rather go elsewhere where they have authentic, freshly made Mexican food. read more

We went to Tios for dinner today with our friends who came from savannah. Service was poor. Servant took 15 minutes to serve chips or to take any order. Food was ordinary. My veggie burrito, I had cucumber which I have never seen in burrito. I guess ,it was not up to my taste and there are better Mexican restaurants in town. PS they don't serve alcohol on Sundays. read more

Was there on 03/12/19. Met a friend and we both parked in their parking lot. As we walked in there was a guy in the front of the building doing a little sweeping and he asks us if we're going to Tio's and we say yes. Luckily we were seated near the window. And this why...I overhear some of the servers asking other tables if they drive a green honda crv. No, cuz that's my friend's car, BUT they did not ask us if we had a crv. So I look out the window and I see a tow truck pulling up, and I overheard the moron we spoke to earlier saying to the tow truck guy, yea, its the green honda crv. Can this idiot not comprehend the fact the sometimes people will drive two cars. So i jump out of my seat, chase down the tow truck guy that my friend is legitimately parked there. So that sucked, and then we get the bill, there's a BS charge of 4% for paying with a debit or credit card. Bottom line, bad experience, meh food, impolite servers...will not be back. read more

I downloaded Yelp just to complain about this joint. This is probably the worst meal I've had in the ten years I've lived in this city. If you order nachos, they mix everything in a big bowl and you dip it, there's basically no cheese, and it's wildly under seasoned. The guacamole tastes like it came prepackaged from a grocery store. I've never had to add cholula hot sauce to a meal from a Mexican restaurant before. Taco Bell is a better choice, I promise. Way cheaper, too. read more

The food doesn't have any flavor. Is very bland and probably one of the worst Mexican food I had.

Worst margaritas ever. Worst chips and salsa ever. Worst queso ever. I recommend not even thinking about eating here.

This place would get fewer stars for environment (kind of dull) and portion size (not enough), but b/c the food was decent and we had a really good server, I'm giving it three. My cheese enchilada tasted great and got inhaled in minutes. I also really liked their tortillas with the pico gallo salsa, was very fresh and tasty. Our server was seriously on top of it and had an amazing memory. He didn't forget a dish or bring food to the wrong person (our group was over 12!). I was especially impressed at the end when he split checks for every single one of us and knew whose check went to whom! Others have said the place is pricey. I don't agree with that. My dinner w/tax came out to $8 and change! I personally don't think that's pricey. read more

Unless you want margaritas, avoid this place entirely. Every single thing we ate tasted like it had just been microwaved from a frozen package. They claimed the guacamole was made 'just this morning' but I am positive that their idea of hand made was to squeeze it out of the pouch and add three pieces of onion to the top. The food was waayyyy overpriced for the quality, and extremely bland. I can't say 'no' enough. Service was OK, and the margarita was actually pretty damn good, which is the saving grace. One star = one decent margarita. read more

Think some old reviews should be overlooked. This place has great food and really spent time with my family to make sure we were taken care of. They offer kids deals all the time too so great for families! Excellent service and really good authentic food at a great price. read more

Sucked. Burrito looked like a soggy Mexican diaper. Couldn't pick it up and since they didn't give me a knife, had to hack it apart with a plastic fork. Can't believe I paid $10 for this. Boo hooter! read more

Tios Mexican Cafe - This is their $10 "burrito." Yum right? - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I am updating this review that I wrote back a year or so ago --- Tio's used to be a favorite! see below. But in January of this year I ordered delivery via grub hub. when the food arrived (it took over an hour - it was a Friday, but it was over the specified delivery time when i placed the order) - i took SEVERAL bites of my VEGAN nachos and discovered that what i thought was diya cheese was CHICKEN. I was super upset as I have been a strict vegeterian for 11+ years. Also - and not as importantly - i was also STARVING (see earlier note about wait time). I chatted with grub hub and was refunded only for the price of the nachos --- not even the entire order!! really disappointing. (also, when i went to redeem this $15 refund, it had expired. so, annoyed all over again.) leaving my original review below b/c i understand mistakes happen but this was a SUPER BIG ONE and i think it could have been handled better. ======== TIo's is so delicious, and especially if you're a vegetarian or vegan. I've eaten at Tio's for the last 5 years+ and it's consistently delicious. This food is 100% homemade. The owner and chef is always checking in to see how the food is. I would be suspicious of anyone who didn't like Tio's, especially some of these one-star reviewers who absolutely aren't saying anything that's true. if you're looking for healthier mex, this is definitely the place. read more

Tios is great for casual Mexican food and drinks! It's inexpensive and I've enjoyed every meal I've had from there. They have some unique specialties, such as the wet burrito. They also have vegan options for most of their menu items, including vegan cheese substitutes and their refried beans. The food comes out fast, but service can otherwise be a bit slow. My only major complaint is that I'm in a wheelchair and the bathroom stalls are too tight for me to fit in and close the door. read more

Dear Tio's , Your tacos are pretty solid, but charging $8.99 for a small guacamole that clearly comes from a bag is ridiculous. Thou art shamed! As an aside, you may want to consider buying your salsa from Aldi. It's delicious and nowhere near as insipid as yours. Sincerely yours, Peter read more

Great value at lunch. The wet burrito is delicious and only $6.99 for lunch. Having a carnitas option (not just chicken or beef) is nice. Free chips and salsa is a plus, too. read more

Had the lunch Enchiladas, pork and chicken. Both were very good, chips and salsa were excellent as was the sangria. Only disappointment was the guacamole which must have been in the fridge, it was very cold... read more

The restaurant is conveniently located and I have ordered and enjoyed their guacamole (truly is good) but that's where the positive remarks must end for me. I inquired about whether or not they make their salsa in house. I was told, "well, sort of -- we use the jar salsa and add some things to it." Uh, no thanks guys, I'll pass. I ordered a "lunch size" pork/bean wet burrito and I bit into, wait for it, a rock. Yes, a rock about the size of a dime and black in color. I was rather shocked as I've never had a rock in my food before. I asked for another wet burrito and they were kind and apologized about the scenario. I was told that because they use fresh beans, sometimes rocks get in the beans. I'm not sure I believe that explanation but I really don't want to think about the other ways a rock may have ended up in the burrito either. The food also just lacks flavor and I have a difficult time finding a good reason to recommend this place to anyone. read more

Great good! One of the best chilli con caso's ive bee had. I got the chicken enchiladas and they were really good! Will def be ordering from here again! read more

Worst mexican food ever. Expensive place for a college town mexican joint, but the food doesn't reflect. Small portions and bad food. I went once and will never go again. Save your money and walk over to beezers. read more

I love that they offer vegan options but, for what they offer, the price tends to be a little high and the food doesn't always taste all that great. Also their salsa with horseradish in it? Tastes like cocktail sauce! But their guacamole is probably second best in Columbia so kudos there! read more

I contacted this resturant yesterday to see if all my special instructions was on their end and the guy stated they were and instead of him reading the receipt he was more concerned about whether I paid for the extra beef and sour cream that he didn't reread the receipt to make sure everything was correct for the order. The burrito that I ordered was totally wrong and when I called back the same employee and their manager did not have great customer service and advised to contact grubhub for the issue but I felt it was not a grubhub issue. The manager didn't acknowledge me when she took over the phone. She just start stating the same information that the employee advised before getting on the phone. Then when I explained that she was not professional she apologize but then repeatedly state "I already apologized what else do you want to talk about or for me to say" not even offered to fix the order. I won't ever order from them again because they didn't have any concern that my order wasn't right. THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE HAD IN A LONG TIME. read more

I came here on a Tuesday night. There were a few people sitting outside and only one person dining inside. Our service was slow considering that factor. Chips aren't impressive. Salsa isn't good. I came here for a shrimp dish, but shrimp is not on the menu. My chicken fajitas tasted like a microwaved frozen dinner. NOT real mexican food. Only thing I would come back here for is a margarita. I had the golden margarita and it was decent. read more

Ok never been to the restaurant but I used the grub hub app twice when I was confined to the room to study while going to USC. They delivered SUPER fast and the food was good! I will use them again and again! read more

I was hesitant to try this place because of all the bad reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the tortilla chips and salsa taste like they came from the grocery store, but they tasted fine. My husband and I are vegan, and it was nice to find a Mexican restaurant with vegan options! Usually there is lard in the beans or chicken stock in the rice, but both are vegan here. I had a tofu taco and an avocado taco, both were good, but the tofu taco was my favorite! The tofu actually had a nice flavor. My husband tried the veggie wet burrito, and they even had vegan cheese! So this really isn't an authentic tasting Mexican restaurant, so for taste alone I'd probably give it 3 1/2 stars. But because it was so vegan friendly, the food was still good, and the prices were very reasonable, I'll give them 4. Will definitely be back. read more

Tios Mexican Cafe - Tofu taco, avocado taco, and veggie wet burrito. - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

If I could give tios 0 stars I would. I usually get decent service from here but tonight was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. To start, my friends and I came in for trivia night and told the hostess this and she sits us in the back room where you can't hear ANYTHING for trivia night. Then we wait 20 minutes before I HAD TO PERSONALLY ASK SOMEONE to wait us. At this point we are all annoyed and the waitress finally comes up to us but asks who sat us and then begins to spend 10 minutes trying to search for her before even asking us for drinks. Mind you, we never even got water until at least an hour and a half being there after I had to ask. Finally she gets our drink order and food order and goes on her way to put it in (I ordered nachos keep that in mind). When she comes back with the food we get barely any chips in our basket and then I get my nachos and they are literally chips with melted shredded microwaved cheese that I could've made at home in my microwave, thinking I ordered the grande nachos with ground beef and jalapeños and anything. I told the waitress this and she goes "oh well you needed to specify, the grande nachos are more expensive. I can bring you jalapeños" with the rudest attitude. EXCUSE ME? So completely rude. So then my friend orders a drink, remember that. She finally comes out with jalapeños and ground beef, THAT I DID NOT ASK FOR, and goes "I'll pay for your beef baby" um okay? Thanks? We then wait 45 MINUTES for my friends drink and she comes to our table and we go, she still hasn't not gotten her drink. And she goes "oh my gosh I totally forgot to put in, I'm not even going to lie" and then we wait another 30 minutes and my friend still hasn't gotten a drink so We ask her like where is it. And she's like you still have not gotten it? And then she's like it came do you know who got it instead? And then proceeds to go on a wild goose chase to try to find this missing drink instead of putting in a new order for the drink for my friend. Completely ridiculous. Finally my friend gets her drink. Also we got there at 9:50 pm and by the time her got her drink it was 11:30 pm. At this point we ask for our checks. When we get our checks the waitress goes "I wasn't going to charge you for the chips and salsa but my manager made me" first off honey, I'm in the food industry and I know for a FACT the manager would be the first person to say not to charge someone. And we were like okay? I get my check and see that I was charged for the jalapeños and the trash nachos were almost $6. So ridiculous. So we give her our money and cards and she goes on her way. I then ask another waitress that's by us to go get he manager because at this point I'm fed up. This waitress then sits down and asks what the issue is and says she wants to try to fix it before getting a manager. Which I completely understand. But then says "girl with the bandana?" LIKE SHE ALREADY KNEW WHO WE WERE TALKING ABOUT. That's the first issue. And doesn't help at all. So then she says she'll go talk to her and my friend is saying she doesn't want her coming back with attitude like she had the whole night, so she's like no she won't. Our waitress COMES BACK WITH THE UTTER MOST DISRESPECTFUL ATTITUDE. she goes "I heard you want to talk to a manager" and then goes on listing a bunch of excuses for her horrible service not taking responsibility for ANYTHING. NOTHING. So then I start saying very maturely and calmly everything that went wrong tonight and she starts throwing insults and excuses everywhere again and starts slamming our receipts onto the table. She then goes "well I didn't need to serve you. If the chips are the issue that's not my problem." And we are all like are you kidding me at this point. And then she goes "I mean I paid for your ground beef girl friend." Well girl friend, I never asked for that. AND THEN SHE GOES "But fine don't tip me, I get it. I don't need it." EXCUUUUUSE ME???????? I WORK IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY AND YOU N E V E R TALK TO A CUSTOMER LIKE THIS. If I listed everything rude she said to us this review would be two pages long. The customer is ALWAYS right no matter what. Absolutely no matter what. So we then ask FOR THE THIRD TIME FOR A MANAGER and he comes up to our table and my friend goes off about what happened and all he says over and over again is "I completely understand it will be handled" not even offering any compensation. Which he should have. So completely ridiculous. At the end I literally said "at this point she needs to be fired that's how bad it was." I am so ashamed to be associated with tios in my town. I am disgusted by this service and then in my life have I had worst service and food before at a restaurant. I want my money to be reimbursed. I want all my friends money reimbursed. That was a complete waste of my time and money. And I'm very upset I spent my money there. I will be contacting the general manager tomorrow to let them know the situation. read more

Tios Mexican Cafe - Like, I can literally make this at home. In my microwave. - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Yea I don't really like this place. They call themselves a Mexican restaurant yet they don't give you chips and salsa upon arriving and if you pay for them (which you shouldn't) they will be cold, generic bagged tortilla chips. Yuck. Otherwise if you want Mexican food that you could have easily made at home come on down! Three stars because they have a decent tequila selection. read more

Tios has been around for a while, and with that and me living in Columbia my entire life I've still not tried it. I've also not known of anyone to eat there either. Today I found out why. The chips are Tostitos, and I'm pretty sure one of the salsas was Pace Picante. Even for a more Americanized Tex Mex style the food was so bad that I felt like I needed a refund. They did have vegan and vegetarian options aplenty, I will give them that. But you'd probably rather eat a cardboard box than eat this mess. Go ahead and avoid this one. read more

I make it to Tio's a couple times a year. The service has always been fast and friendly. The food has always been very good. Recently I had the avocado tacos for the first time, which could only have been better if they were on corn tortillas instead of flour. The menu selection is pretty wide. I'll keep stopping by Tio's when I'm in town. read more

I'm not hard to please, and frankly I don't enjoy giving bad reviews. That said, I ordered a chicken chimichanga that turned out to be 95% beans. I'd rather be told they don't have chicken and order something else than be given such a lazy $11 entree. The chili con queso wasn't awful but nothing special. Basically rotel dip. The chips felt store bought like Tostitos, not typical of a Mex place. The previous reviews seem fairly split so I suppose it hits a niche for some folks, personally I'd never recommend this place based on my experience. read more

The tacos I ordered were super bland and boring, and the rice tasted like one of those microwavable packets. Just really sad flavors. The chips and salsa were not good either. I wish I'd walked a couple more blocks and gone to Moe's. read more

I always order delivery and maybe twice they got my order right, they always forget something (my drink, etc.) or they make my burrito wrong. Bad customer service and the manager, he is rude! read more