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Arriba Mexican Grill
Category: Restaurants Mexican Mexican [Edit]
15370 W. McDowell RdMcDowell & Pebble Creek
Goodyear, AZ 85395
(623) 223-1735
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
22 reviews for Arriba Mexican Grill
21 reviews in English
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Review from Alicia H.
Chandler, AZ
12/11/2011
Decent food, really good hot salsa, but the prices are RIDIC. We won't be back.
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Review from Shalonda C.
Yuma, AZ
4/26/2012
If I could give this place ZERO stars I could! Listen to the ratings, we should have. My husband has been in the restaurant marketing business for over 20 years. So we said, how bad could it be? We aren't from the area & wasn't sure what else was around.
To start the only way to fix this place is chuck the cooks, staff & managers! The food was absolutely the worst tasting, sorry excuse for food that I have ever eaten in my life. We have eaten at hundreds of restaurants over the years, & I would rather eat at a White Castle then ever eat here again!
We were seated promptly and our waitress was kind. The chips and salsa were ok. It also came with refried beans that were, "stupidly hot", to quote my husband. The salsa was not as spicy but didn't have a lot of flavor. I don't mind spice as long as it's flavorful. This was not! The menu has ratings of peppers, 0-3. I guess if you count Hot/Spicy as a flavor, this place might be for You. The waitress informed is that she enjoys spicy food but 1 pepper is all she can handle & typically only orders 0 pepper meals. She only orders 1 meal & felt it is the best, I regret not picking it!
I ordered the sampler meal, my husband the shrimp fajitas. Let's start with his meal. The nice thing it had 12 shrimp, they were fairly small. The grilled onions and peppers were cut small, cooked to death, & then spread over the plate so it appeared larger. It came with a side of rice, 3 tortillas & a bowl of sour cream, guac, & tomato's. When scraping the shrimp & veggies into a pile there was enough to fill ONE tortilla shell including the guac and sour cream. Price=$16.99!
Now onto my disaster. 1 tamale, a rolled taco (cut in half), 2 mini tacos, some other rolled thing (cut in half), & a blue corn tortilla bowl filled with refried beans. The tamale had, literally, a teaspoon of meat down a crack in the middle. A teaspoon of meat was a theme on my plate. The corn part of the tamale was not moist & the cheese they melted on top had very little flavor! The fried rolled taco was next. Minuscule amount of Meat=No flavor a little crispy but mostly soft and squishy! Two mini tacos: Mostly lettuce, 2 pieces of diced tomato's & again the teaspoon of shredded meat substance. meat was dry & had a jerky-like texture. Finally I came to the other rolled thing on my plate. It resembled the rolled taco but used flour tortillas instead of corn. So it had that puffy, crispy look. I saved it thinking, "That looks good, I'm gonna wait til the end to eat it." YUCK! Ate the first one (reminder it is one whole one cut I half so you feel as if you have two). After the first bite I covered it in guac and a cream cheese mix that came with it....didn't help. It was slightly, & I mean SLIGHTLY crispy in the outside & soggy gross inside. Pulled the other one apart, wondering what was in it. After unrolling this piece of garbage i found a tiny, that is a generous measurement, amount of what looked to be chicken. I picked it up with my thumb & forefinger to show my husband; my fingers touched the portion was so small. They had wrapped the tortilla 4 or 5 times around making it appear larger, this only added to the slimy, smooshy texture on the inside. Needless to say, I didn't eat it! The refried beans in the blue corn tortilla was actually decent & had a nice flavor. The rice on my hubby's plate was alright but was about the size of a small scoop of ice cream. Price=$13.99 NOT worth it!!
Service: the food, actually, came out rather quickly. We went without anything to drink for a good ten minutes as we watched the wait staff walk back & forth chatting. Our server appeared to be the only one working. I a asked for extra lemons & some ketchup before the food was served. She promptly forgot but remembered without me having to remind her later. (Ketchup? You ask. Hey the food was horrible, it needed help!). After that she actually did well with keeping our drinks filled & asking if we were alright. For service I will give her a 2. All others stood around chitchatting when they should have been filling empty drinks. Trust me, the restaurant was not busy & there were plenty of people standing around doing nothing.
We paid $40 for two of us & have eaten $6 dollar meals that stomped this place into the ground! We should have talked to a manager, but had a 3 hour drive.....we were just ready to leave!
We will NEVER EVER eat here again & you can guarantee we will tell everyone how absolutely, disgusting their food is! -
Review from Courtney B.
Surprise, AZ
8/12/2011
I wasn't surprised to see the rating when I looked it up. I came with some girlfriends who live in the area yesterday, and left feeling like a poophead for recommending the place.
I always liked the Arrowhead location (but after talking about it, found it was probably cuz I always order a margarita and am a lil tipsy :)...
The waitress was rude, she looked at my friend like she was stupid when asked if the chicken or beef fajita was better. The food was just not that good at all. The fajitas came out overcooked. Some cups and silverware were dirty. My chimi was so-so.
The cheese crisp was yummy though. I will stick with the Arrowhead location for my margaritas and cheese crisps. -
Review from Stacey H.
Updated - 8/11/2011 4 Check-ins Here
We had visited a few times before my last review and 2 times since that review and it has only become worse. Drinks, food, service all terrible. The worst thing for me is when you bring up an issue they seem offended that you dare suggest it's not perfect. For example a margarita with no tequila or a cold appetizer (We've had both happen).
We won't be returning.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/23/2011
This is one of the better Mexican restaurants in the area, which isn't saying a lot but something.
… Read more »
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Review from Daniel B.
Denver, CO
11/28/2011 1 Check-in Here
Could have been the worst Mexican food I have had in a while. You know how they always say "the plate is hot" at Mexican restaurants? Well not this time. The food wasn't hot either. I would avoid this place like the plague.
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Review from Lorri Ann D.
Goodyear, AZ
9/19/2011
Worst service ever....TWICE! Food is fair at best! We were so excited when this restaurant was being built...we couldn't wait to try it once it opened. We gave it a few months after it opened to try it out. We went with another couple and sat outside. We sat outside forever it seemed. No chips, no water ....no waiter/waitress. Finally my husband went in to find someone and it was the hostess who finally brought waters and chips. There were 2 other parties on the patio so it wasn't a matter of the patio being closed. Our wait staff was just no where to be found. UGH! The hostess took our orders finally. Let's just say....the food was fair at best and they never came back to see how it was or to give us the bill. We again....finally just decided to get up and head for the door thinking maybe someone would help us. NOPE....hostess, say's 'bye, thanks for coming". We were like....um, did you want us to pay??? No one has brought us our bill and we've been done with our food for over 15 minutes! We asked for the manager and told her we wanted to pay our bill and that the service was TERRIBLE. She didn't really care. We paid our bill and left. We all thought maybe this was a joke, "funniest hidded videos" since it was beyond bad service. But....alas, it wasn't...it was just bad service.
Well, my husband and I went back a couple months later to try it ONE MORE TIME. To keep this short and sweet, we actually had a waitress this visit...but, this time the service was bad due to the waitressbeing extremely rude.... in her own words, "she's in a bad mood and having a bad day". We felt so lucky to get her....NOT!
Oh yeah...trying to keep this short. We wil NEVER step back into this restaurant again!!! -
Review from Holly B.
Phoenix, AZ
12/8/2010
I don't really eat Mexican food that often. I mean, I like it and all, but it's not my favorite. So, to be fair, maybe this is the way that "good" Mexican food is supposed to taste, and my taste buds have been corrupted by the likes of Filiberto's.
Anyway, my daily errands found me out in the far West Valley and hungry. While driving, we happened to hear an ad for Arriba's touting their $1.99 chimichangas, and (un)lucky for us, it happened to be a Thursday and there was an Arriba's nearby.
*sigh*
We were seated immediately, which was good, but the waitress was immediately annoyed with us when we only ordered water with lemon. That's what I always order when I eat out, just to save empty calories. My friend wanted coffee, but we didn't think the coffee in a virtually deserted Mexican restaurant would be any good.
When the waitress came back with our drinks, we asked her about the $1.99 chimichangas. We wanted to know how big they were, because for the price, we figured they would be on the smaller side, so we needed to know if we should order one or two. With an exasperated sigh she said "it's, like, a regular chimi."
We told her that we had never been to this restaurant before, so we needed to know what that meant. Again, she just said, "it's the size of a regular chimi."
*bites tongue*
We asked her what was in it and she told us that they were filled with beef and topped with either red sauce (hot) or green sauce (not hot).
Even though I like a little spice to my food, I ordered the green sauce because I thought that even if it wasn't "hot," it would still be flavorful. Besides, as with Thai food, I like to start out by ordering mild versions of the dishes, that way I know how the restaurant calibrates their spiciness meter and I'm not left with a dish that I can't eat, or at least won't enjoy.
While we were waiting for our lunch, we were noshing on chips. We had two options of dip: a medium salsa and a bean dip. The medium salsa was all right. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, either. It was just all right. The bean dip was a little iffy. The waitress told us that they make it fresh there at the restaurant, but the dip had an aftertaste to me, like, beans that had been fermenting in the pot too long and were on the verge of spoiling. You know what I'm talking about? Like, kinda sour-ish. Ugh. I'm making myself a little sick just thinking about it.
Anyway, my chimichanga with a side of rice arrived. My first impression was, "Okay, this chimichanga is larger than I expected," and, "Why is the rice brown?"
Let me tell you about this grossness that they actually have the cajones to market as a "chimichanga."
First, it seemed like one huge tortilla that was wrapped around a little bit of... stuff... like, four times. The outside was a light brown color, but it wasn't fried. The other layers of the tortilla tasted like they were steamed, or something. Ooh! I know! It was like when you nuke leftover Mexican food and the microwave leaves the tortillas kinda soppy and slimy - from the steam or whatever. I can't be the only person who has experienced this, right?
Anyway, ick.
Now, onto the "beef."
I have never seen anything like it! The chimichanga did have something in it that could possibly pass for a meat-like substance, but it wasn't like any beef I had ever seen or tasted. The outer edge of the meat was browned like you'd expect beef to be, but the interior portion was WHITE! It wasn't pork and it had the texture of chicken.
*shudder*
Not that it matters at this point, but the green sauce had absolutely no taste. I didn't know that "mild" = bland.
I'm sure this doesn't come as a surprise, but the rice wasn't good, either. First, it was hard, and second, the only flavor it had was of black pepper.
The only thing edible was the tiny bit of shredded lettuce and the five pieces of diced tomato that they used to garnish the plate.
Maybe it's me; maybe my palate lacks sophistication.
I did, however, bring the food home to feed my dogs and they didn't eat it, either. Seriously.
Just sayin'. -
Review from Chad R.
Goodyear, AZ
11/16/2011 1 Check-in Here
It's okay. Better options around area though.
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Review from stuart j.
Goodyear, AZ
This place is always packed in the evening and we had to go check it out. I was a little afraid honestly while waiting seeing so many reviews of just 1 star. The service could use some work, but they seemed extremely busy. There was several table tops of 6+ coming in while we were waiting to be seated on a Saturday Night. One table top of 11 came in as well while we were waiting.
I don't think they are very expensive compared to Macayo's in the area. The one good thing they do have is the 48oz Margarita's for 2. They definitely don't skip the the alcohol, and their Margarita's are pretty cheap. You can get a 48oz (depending on the style) for at least 11$ which is crazy! I asked if they will serve a 48oz margarita for two for one, and they said they would. I think this could be dangerous for margarita lovers..
I had their mexican abodabba pizza and it was very good I thought. My wife had their chimmy, and I wasnt a fan of it. I think its just OK in the land of mexican food out there, but their drinks definately stand out on their own. -
Review from Scott W.
Goodyear, AZ
3/21/2011 1 Check-in Here
The food was so-so and the service was VERY slow. Need to figure it out if they are going to last here! Taco Tuesday ends at 4pm (kind of a bummer) but the 99 cent margaritas were fairly decent!
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Review from Michelle S.
Goodyear, AZ
8/4/2011 4 Check-ins Here
Tried the fish tacos and they were delicious! Service was also very good tonight!
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Review from Tim O.
Goodyear, AZ
5/27/2011 8 Check-ins Here
If you like it hot, this is your place. It is a bit pricier then other Mexican restaurants but the portions are large and don't taste like it was frozen and just warmed up... cough, cough Macayos! Great specials on the happy hour menu. Friendly staff, nice atmosphere and the hatch chilies are their staple. The salsa is great and the bean dip is a nice change with the chips.
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Review from Angie N.
Buckeye, AZ
7/2/2011 2 Check-ins Here
I will only come here for the house margaritas. I'm not a fan of the food here.
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Review from David A.
Goodyear, AZ
1/1/2011
Service was slow (at 3 in the afternoon). Food arrived before our drinks. Request for water went unanswered. Food a bit on the bland side (strange for a restaurant proud of its hatch chilies). This is a new establishment so not sure they have their start-up bugs worked out yet.
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Review from Lisa L.
Goodyear, AZ
12/3/2011
ok if u like green chile its its not that bad its actually good. the service is so so and omg the prices are ridiculous there is nothing under 10 dollars if u want lunch on the weekend.
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Review from Roger P.
Goodyear, AZ
12/27/2010
The poor reviews for this Arriba's are correct. I wish I would have read them before I wasted my time and money eating there. There was a large spill left under our table. It looked like a spilled drink because of the lemon in the middle of the puddle. The table was short of napkins and silverware. We had to beg for more. The service is horrific ! The food is terrible and overpriced. The rice had so much pepper on it that none of us could eat it. The cheese enchiladas were cold and tasteless. The beer was not cold. Don't waste your time and money. You'd get a better mexican meal at Taco Bell or Del Taco.
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Review from Ash T.
Buckeye, AZ
3/15/2011
I have been to this location two times, the first time I believe they had only been open a week, so the service was so so. The second time the server was very attentive and friendly. There chips were fresh and not to salted like some others are. They give you bean dip which is bland to me, but the salsa was good, not loaded with cilantro. I had the trio of enchiladas(chicken,cheese, and beef) beans and rice. The enchiladas were good I really liked the red sauce it had a good flavor. My husband got the tacos carbon after realizing he missed there Taco Tuesday special (it ended at four pm). His steak on the tacos had a good flavor but were a little dry. Overall we enjoyed our meal. I've eaten at many mexican restaraunts, and you could do a lot worse then Arribas.
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Review from K C N.
Goodyear, AZ
11/20/2010
TOTALLY AGREE WITH JULIA G. !!!! I was optimistic when
I tried them again after eating at Arrowhead once.
"This is a poor excuse of a Mexican Restaurant.. and it's is not the location or the decor..it is their employees.... the people they have serving the food and bar tending.. Bar tending.. inattentive, no character..no charisma.. no personality, not hospitable" IS TOTALLY ACCURATE TO DESCRIBE THE BAR WENCHES. I had to order through them for a to-go order and they ignored me completely until I practically yelled at them. TO-GO orders are an afterthough where the hostess sends you into the bar with a hap-hazard wave of the hand in the bar's general direction. When you get to the bar, if the seating is full, you have to step into the two staff station area to order, the waitstaff are annoyed you are in their way and NO ONE ACKNOWLEDGES YOU AT ALL. I was a GM at several restaurants and rule #1, you dont' avoid customers eyes, rather, you greet them, acknowledge their presence and let them know you see them and welcome them.
Besides this GLARING employee problem, I have to tell anyone buying this food who thinks they are getting New Mexico style, Hatch NM food, guess what you are being ripped off!
I grew up in Hatch New Mexico and nearby Las Cruces. We personally knew the farmers and farmhands in the fields tending to the chiles. We had amazing meals at their homes and community events and everything related to this style of food is simple, yet delicious. I consider myself an expert on the subject and I am telling you this food is posing as geniune.
My true test is always at restaurants claiming NM style is the Green Chile and Chili Colorado. Neither here are very good. Actually, the White Sands burrito was so poor I almost called back to get a refund. There was no meat in the burrito, literally 4 pieces of meat. The entire filling was green chile sauce without enough meat. Then, they cover this in a white fundido, which from my experience as a cook was more cornstarch/flour in it than cheese. Bland and boring. It was $13 and when you add sourcream and guacamole, it was $17. The heat from chiles was there, but just making something green chile-hot does not make it geniune NM food.
This is a scam-100%.Another chain trying to cash in on a hip trend and excuted poorly.
Rice is mediocre and I would swear they used a consommé (bouillon ) like Knorr, which has MSG in it. My headache afterward hints at this being a valid assumption.
Beans are 'straight out of can' in taste.
Basically, skip it, overpriced (EXPENSIVE IS MORE LIKE IT )and grossly overrated.
You will know you may have found a true NM style food stop when you see the option of getting any plates "Christmas Style" and Green Chile stew is on the menu along with sopapillas that only cost less than $2.50. -
Review from Julia G.
Goodyear, AZ
11/18/2010
2nd attempt.. trying these Restaurants.... --1st time was a total disappointment.. 2nd time the same feeling..
Arriba Mexican Grill- Goodyear, AZ..
Location ----Brand New.. nice.. colorful.. clean.. it has to be.. they just opened..
Employees-- over staffed...
Food---nothing exciting same menu's and prices.. as you all know..
Food Presentation..--Poor.. don't they check their entrees before they deliver them? Salsa bowls were given to us with all the salsa overflowing and not looked clean.
Customer volume----It was full.. since it was happy hour and they had their tempting .99 cents Margarita..
Overall comment---
This is a poor excuse of a Mexican Restaurant.. and it's is not the location or the decor..it is their employees.... the people they have serving the food and bar tending.. Geesh.. my Daughters have better manners than these girls Bar tending.. inattentive, no character..no charisma.. no personality, not hospitable.. gross!!! This is why:
They had 3 bartenders serving.. young girls..ok..
------They looked liked they had just woken up.. messy hair and not made up to look nice or presentable.. not very pretty to look at or conversate with. And this is what we go for.. because we need to un-stress and look for a pleasant time..
----------One of them was scratching her cleavage while tending the bar--which later sneezed and covered her mouth..but did not wash her hands..and continued to serve food and drinks.. (at that point I just wanted to leave).. but I didn't.. I wanted to see what the food was like..
-------------The other young girl bartender... did not know her happy hour specials..and was going to over charge us while readjusting her top area in front of us.. I guess she was not comfortably dress for the day..Oh... and we did complain when she wanted to overcharge us.. she had to look at the menu and our receipt for 5 minutes to make sure for what we were asking was legit....?????
I am sorry.. I know this Goodyear community needs a nice place to go.. but if you don't care about any of the above.. go ..enjoy overly priced food and don't care if you are called "Hey you Guys"..... I do care and won't go back... it is all about service and they definitely don't have it here..
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Review from Nicole V.
Goodyear, AZ
9/4/2011
We went there for the first time and I have to say that I was not impressed with the service. The food was actually pretty good. I purchased a Groupon for $10 that gave you $20 off any food purchase. I double checked the fine print and all that was stipulated was "one per table, dine in only". So we ordered the Fajita special for two. After all was said and done they argued with me that the Groupon could not be used on any "specials". I explained that I specifically checked the fine print and no where does it say that. Well, after arguing with the waitress, she send over the manager in training to argue some more. Then finally after she went back the the manager, manager they accepted the offer and took off the $20. Rightfully so, but I had to be embarrased and made to feel like a criminal over using one of their offers.
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Review from Gil G.
Avondale, AZ
2/19/2011
Horrible!! If your still curios, keep reading.
Been to this location on two separate occasions.
First time, soon after they opened. We were seated in the bar area. Drinks and chips came out quick and that was the best part of the night. I had to flag down our waitress several times to get a refill. Chips weren't refilled. Although at the door leading to the patio were about 6 of the "kids" that refill drinks and refill chips just standing around not doing a lick of work. Our dinner took about 1/2 hour to come out, and it was just eghhhh.... i chalked this experience up to grand opening issues.
Waited about 3 weeks before heading back. This time around it was 9pm on a Saturday night. Again we were seated in the bar area. One of the appetizer plates on our table had a thick glob of dried cheese on it. The hostess took it back and then brought me a "clean" plate. As she approached i saw her scraping something off it. She dropped it off and and i pushed it to the side and walked over to 3 empty table before i found plates w/ no dried on food on them. They must have issues w/ their dishwasher albeit human or machine. We sat there for 15 minutes, in that time, no one ever took our drink order or ever brought chips or water. As I looked around, again there were people standing around by the door leading to the patio doing NOTHING....just standing around chit chatting. At this point i had enough. As we walked out, i turned around and decided to speak to the manager. When he finally came out, i told him that we had been there for 15 minutes and no one took our drink order, that he had a staff of people standing at the door doing absolutely nothing. He kinda of just stared at me w/ a deer in the headlights look. He never apologized, just stood there looking around.
As you read other posts about this location, you will read about the other service issue. You would think this place being so new, they would want to hit it out of the park with every customer that walks thru their door. Save your aggravation and money and head down the street to Manuel's or Macayos!
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