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    Zapata's Mexican Restaurant

    3.1 (84 reviews)
    ModerateBars, Mexican
    Open 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

    Zapata's Mexican Restaurant Photos

    Business Info

    ZAPATA'S MEXICAN RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Good for kids
    Outdoor seating
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Zapata's Mexican Restaurant

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    Rice,corn,tacos, and tamale.
    icey i.

    The food was really bland and lacked real Mexican culture. The tacos were bland on a hard shell instead of actual tortillas. My "grilled chicken " tasted like it was was fresh out the freezer and was really watery, the salsa was also sour. My margarita was ok, was supposed so be frozen but was mostly just slush. Only thing that was good was the lettuce and rice. Very dissatisfied and disappointed. The beef for the tacos had no flavor also.

    Mariah H.

    This place is great if you love tacos! I got the Layered Tacos which came in a set of three with beans and rice. The beans a rice were just okay. Not great but not bad. But the tacos were so delicious. The portions are large so you definitely get your money's worth. We also got the taco platter which came with 10 tacos and three types of protein. Those were amazing. I will definitely be going back for those.

    Shrimp nachos?
    Shannon M.

    Not good. Cheese dip is SPICY and it's drowning anything else on the plate with it. The other sauce option was some dark red enchilada sludge. It covered everything including the corn! The chile relleno was clearly pre-fried and inedible. Every plate was a mess. Let's talk about those nachos. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, ridiculously spicy cheese dip on chips. Basically an early 90's primavera mix. Shrimp was well seasoned and prepared. As a bonus, the bottom of the table was so gross that when my leg touched it, there was crusted food on my pants. Don't eat here.

    California Burrito with fries
    Robert C.

    Last Sunday we decided to dine here in the early afternoon. There weren't many others there but this establishment was recommended by our son to have good food so we thought we try them and we were in the mood for Mexican cuisine. We were greeted promptly and offered their buffet or dining, we chose dining, however the buffet did look good and well stocked. We were served chips and salsa and given enough time to view the menu. I chose the California Burrito and it was stuffed! It came with fries and there were very good, hot and crispy on the outside, even the catsup was good. We were well waited on and the food was excellent, we'll be back.

    Steak fajitas with rice and beans, drinking a small frozen mango margarita
    Carson D.

    I love this place! It's one of my personal go-tos of the area. Had a party of 10+ service was quick and efficient. My favorite steak fajitas were on the menu tonight and came out sizzling! On Fridays, it is karaoke night which is always a hit to start off the weekend. I highly recommend this local family owned restaurant!!

    street corn
    Dejori S.

    Came here and was say down immediately and with a smile. Was brung fresh and fast & it was delicious! I love the authentic vibes that i felt sitting in there. I will for sure be back!

    Virginia mango daiquiri. He loved ot
    Jaime L.

    There was plenty of parking at this location which is right off IL 159. We ordered Strawberry Daiquiris, my son had a Virginia mango Daiquiri. Food was delicious. We got the queso with our chips. We ordered the fajitas for 2. Our fajitas had steak, chicKen ad shrimp. We didn't have any leftovers, we usually do. I was so happy with our waiter and service. It wasn't too busy and they had karaoke.

    Cadillac Margarita
    Milly H.

    The food was really good, loved the margarita, but during Covid they were under staffed so service was slow. Our server was friendly and sweet, just seriously overworked. That won't stop me from coming back, there was lots of Interesting stuff on the menu that I still want to try.

    Josh F.

    This was sincerely disappointing. The staff seemed overwhelmed despite having what appeared to be a normal dinner crowd (no wait, and open tables). The food took a long time. And, when it came, it was not impressive. The chips and salsa were the best part of the meal, and they were average at best. I had the fajita taco salad. It was small, and lacked any sort of sour cream or guacamole. So, imagine a super dry steak salad in a huge taco salad shell and you'd be pretty close. My wife had the cheese quesadilla. It was not impressive. Kids had chicken strips and fries. It was below average. Plus, the ketchup was off brand. In short, I do not recommend this restaurant. There are much better places to eat in Fairview Heights.

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    6 months ago

    Food was very good. Service was excellent. Restaurant was nicely decorated for Christmas.

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    9 months ago

    This place sucks, service, food was horrible and it's expensive for no reason you don't pay for what you get. I don't recommend

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    2 years ago

    Some of the best food and service I've had in a while! The staff were super nice and fast on their feet!

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    Page 1 of 3

    Ask the Community - Zapata's Mexican Restaurant

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    Always a great time at Jazzy 159..Myself, wife, family and friends enjoy every time. Was just there…read morelistening to the Remedy and prior to that was there checking out my potna Dee Smith performance. Food and drinks are always good. Those fried green tomatoes . Our waitress was the bomb. She was very attentive and really awesome. Didn't get her name but it was her first week working there.. kudos!!..#Atmosphere A1#Grown&Sexy#MatureAdults..

    I normally have a great time here but tonight I left disappointed. They advertised that if you…read morepurchased a VIP ticket to see Tony Roberts there would be a meet and greet. The show ended and nobody that worked there had a clue about what we should do next. I asked a couple servers and they were nice and said it's happening after the show but they had no further information. Nobody guided us to where we needed to be or made an announcement. I went to the area where you order food and tried to ask a grown man eating behind the counter who was wearing sunglasses inside a nightclub. Surely he worked there because he was behind the counter, right? He totally ignored me. How rude. I should have known there was a problem when I saw the sunglasses inside a club. Since he ignored me I decided to ask the tall light-skinned lady that's normally working the counter. She could barely hear me and when she finally did she said I guess they are in that back room. "I guess," from someone who works there. Jazzy 159, -stop advertising meet and greets if you're not going to organize them. -be sure all employees know the procedures for events or know how to get the answer. -keep the guy with sunglasses inside a club away from the service area if he's not there to help your customers. Tony was great. He finally came out the back room and we took several pictures. Thanks Tony for being a real gentleman.

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    Jazzy159 - The Summer Just got HOTTER!!!!

    The Summer Just got HOTTER!!!!

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    Shooters - Half rack of ribs home made chips and potato salad. (Yes, yes I know I'm Irish what can I do?)

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    This place isn't terrible, but it's not outstanding either. It's your typical sports bar. It's…read moreusually always super crowded. It's seat-yourself, so you have to kind of stalk a table that looks like it may empty out soon. I sat on the bench side of the tables along the front wall. I was not impressed with the gross that was behind there. It didn't seem to have been swept or mopped in quite awhile. Servers are nice, but you can tell they have regulars that they favorite, which is fair enough. I like special treatment at my regular hang out also. My only complaint with this was that the place was super busy, and I feel like the non-regulars were not being taken care of. Everything is very reasonably priced, and the food is pretty good. I'd come back here again when I'm in the mood for a cheap sports bar and low expectations.

    I read a few reviews of this place before going. They were mostly good ones so I gave it a go…read more First thing I noticed when I walked in was that there was nobody in there trying to tell you where to go, sit where you want, nothing. Few waitresses walked by without a word. They might want to put up a sign or something telling folks what to do. Eventually we seated ourselves and put in the order. We ordered smoked sausage, half slab of ribs, fried ribs, potato salad, and onion rings. Let's start with the sausage. It was flavorful and not overcooked, so that's a good start. The ribs were next. The regular ribs also tasted pretty good and had good flavor. They were also cooked well and not overcooked. I hate "fall off the bone" ribs, and these didn't. They hsdca good bite to them. The only bad thing about them was that they were fairly cool to the touch. Flavor good, temp not so much. The fried ribs were also good and were not cold though. The onion rings were pretty good with tasty dipping sauce. Unfortunately, they were also not hot. The potato salad was pretty good and cold, which I was hoping they would be. LOL. Overall, the food was pretty good, better than I was expecting actually. If they can fix the whole "Welcome to Shooters" thing and ensure that the food was all hot, I'd give it 5 stars easy. But for now it will just be 4 stars. But definitely go check them out and see for yourself.

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    Shooters - Sausage, ribs and onion rings.

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    Charlie’s Place - Grilled salmon pan-seared and oven-finished. Served with garlic confit mashed potatoes and bacon-onion green beans.

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    This place is a hidden gem! My wife and I went to Belleville last weekend for the Christmas Market…read moreand decided to grab a late Lunch. After looking through Yelp we decided on Charlie's Place and I am glad we did. Small corner pub that has food that is delicious. We walked in and not many people were there at the time, it was that weird off time on a Sunday between lunch and dinner so there were a few regulars and staff hanging out and maybe one or two other tables of people finishing lunch. Went we're hesitate for a minute but grabbed a table, the server was quick and helpful as soon as we were seated. She offered recommendations and took our drink orders. I grabbed a cider on tap and my wife grabbed a Kona Big Wave after she was told they didn't have the yuengling she ordered originally. We ordered the Poutine, because I always have to try it of its on a menu. We added the pub roast to it and that was a bonus call. Try it, seriously you like it. My wife had the Trash Chicken sandwich. The sandwich was HUGE! She had to cut it down to quarters to eat it and still only ate half. I tried the pub burger with onion rings on the side. AMAZING. I also could only get through half. I am assuming between the portion sizes and the fact that we hosed the poutine with pub roast beforehand in the reason we had the leftovers. Extremely impressed with this spot, from the outside you'd never guess the food is this damn good. I can't wait to drop back into this spot to try some of the entrees that are served after 4pm I think it was.

    Husband, myself, and one of the kids joined me for dinner here. I was excited to try this place out…read moresince it reopened. ( I never had the chance to try when it was originally open) They were busy! Which I did expect as downtown belleville had a few things going on. They were so busy that sadly they were out of meatloaf and limited on some hoagie type Sandwich. I ordered the pub burger with the garlic mashed potatoes. The burger itself wasn't bad a little too salty than I'm use to. I swore I asked the waitress for the garnishes to be put on the side but they had it all on the burger. ( no big deal) the garlic mashed potatoes was a staple according to a guest that was talking to us as they left. They were good. Mine came out a little on the almost past the Luke warm stage ( I was a little bummed on that). Our oldest ordered the bone in wings buffalo flavor as a meal ( it's an appetizer) she said those were good. We also shared their French onion dip with chips. Husband had the same pub burger but he got his with steak fries. He wast thrilled that he couldn't order the burger in rare form. He too thought the burger itself was a little on the saltier aside. The prices seemed a little steep on some of the menu. ( expected on steaks and fish) I had to give them a bit of grace with all the chaos going on. Our server was kind and attentive. They didn't have much options for the festive drinks. I ordered their thin mint martini. I'd love to give them another shot in the future when it's less chaotic and they have food we want available. I will say th bar itself is cute. Reminds me of cheers. They had their front area setup with fire pits/heat lamps and tables to enjoy some hot chocolate that was only $3 for reg but if you wanted to "boozie" it up it would depend on the alcohol. They had cookies out from The cookie stroll that they offered for free. Then had a nice set up for those interested in making s'mores! Charlie's is located within historic downtown Belleville on the corner of Abend. There is only street side parking available. Keep in mind they do have breakfast or brunch too on weekends.

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    Seating galore.

    Charlie’s Place - Baked Salmon: Pan-seared and oven-finished. Served with garlic confit mashed potatoes and bacon-onion green beans.

    Baked Salmon: Pan-seared and oven-finished. Served with garlic confit mashed potatoes and bacon-onion green beans.

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    Zapata's Mexican Restaurant - bars - Updated June 2026

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