On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
The Blue Agave is our favorite restaurant in all of Tahoe area. The employees recognize us and we are only up there every couple weeks, they are dog friendly, and people friendly.
We love their food, and and their atmosphere is so much fun. Great place to stop in any time.
I would give them 10 stars if I were able!
I've eaten at this place numerous times and I'm just so over it. They have great views of the lake but really, the enjoyment stops there. Their service is so so so bad, I'm talking, wait 10 minutes before anyone talks to you kind of service. The food isn't terrible, although my seafood quesadilla wasn't really all that amazing. Since when do I ask for squash in my quesadilla?! And why isn't that included in the ingredients so I can ask them not to include it?
The one upside to this place is the margarita and they do have a decent Tequila selection, so I recommend coming here to drink, not eat. Order some chips and salsa, drink a lot of margaritas and sit at the bar.
This is the message I received from the "owner" of the Blue Agave.
"I am the owner of the Blue Agave in Tahoe City. I read your review and was shocked. You have accused us of having body parts in our food" All The Time" This goes beyond opinion and is libelous to my business as no such events have ever taken place. You are asked to take this posting down, or I will take legal action.
Additionally, I am the same owner since 1994. We have never been "del logo" as that is another restauirant which is now closed.
Steve Topol"
WELL Steve, if you would read my review over you may be surprised.
"once a nasty Mexican restaurant always a nasty Mexican restaurant.
do you remember the chili finger lawsuit that turned out planned? yeah, well this place has real not faked incidents like this. All the time!!!this place has gone through a few owners and names, Del Lago, Mi Casa too, etc. I grew up in Tahoe and ate there about 3 or 4 times in desperation or because of a function. would i recommend it? only if your there for the bar."
I will admit it is quite rude, but i don't have any regrets, i said do you remember the chili finger scandal, at Wendys, not blue agave. i never accused blue agave of having"body parts" in their food. i just stated that there is confirmed not edible things in the food: plastics, wires, etc.
maybe before 1994 there were other restaurants there. everyone's memory is different & i remember others there. maybe im even mistaken, but no legal actions will be taken against me, it is a waste of your time and money Mr. Steve Topol. Freedom of speech includes reviews.
P.s. does this make you folks want to go there now? i know it doesn't make me have an urge to go there.I don't like being treated like crap from an owner of a restaurant, at least not a respectable one.
once a nasty mexican restaurant always a nasty mexican restaurant.
fo you remember the chili finger…
Read more »
Food was meh. We had calamari steak and the seafood quesadilla. The calamari had an interesting spicy kick, which I guess was ok for a mexican restaurant, but I wouldn't order it again. The quesadilla had too much extra crap like onions and bellpeppers and not enough cheese and seafood, it was a complete mess to eat.
Service was meh, especially since we were wedged into the tinest booth ever, so people kept running by our table with food and dirty dishes, thus we changed tables when another party left. Also, some of the staff, two hostesses in particular, although friendly were very young (maybe 13 yrs old?....), not that that was a problem, but it just seemed odd. Our server seemed friendly, but when she asked us questions such as "Is the food good?" she wouldn't even wait for a response but rather shake her head yes for us and make eye contact while rushing away.
The margaritas, well those were good. I usually go for blended margaritas, but since we were getting the pitcher, I kindly compromised. Anyways we got a pitcher of top shelf tequila, which was of course strong, but thankfully it didn't taste that way so I was able to enjoy my drink on the rocks (I can be somewhat of a girl sometimes when it comes to my drinks).
Service - 4 stars
Location and Convenience - 4 Stars
Food - 2 Stars
Quality - 2 Stars
I have to say... I was really impressed with this restaurant... We showed up with 26 or 27 people and they managed to seat us and serve us and not throw a hissy fit!
We had an insanely long table (think of those tables they show in the Harry Potter movie) and they managed to take our order and deliver each dish to the correct person. I had a pork dish that was so so. It was super bland and I wasn't enjoying it too much. I have to say that the company and the conversation was more interesting than the food.
In terms of feeding such a huge party, the food was better than typical catered - sitting in the hot tray - type of food. Coming from California and living in SD for a good portion of my life... the taste and quality just wasn't there.
Reading the other reviews, maybe I got lucky.
Ordered the carnitas, which I thought were amazing. Got a side of mole, which made them even tastier. Wife got fajitas - veggies were crisp-ish, everything tasted great.
Nice view of the lake. Not crowded.
Me like.
I have no idea why people didn't like this place. I don't know if we just hit them on a good day...but our service was excellent. It was the least overpriced place in the area. The margaritas were great. The salsas that came were too spicy and too bland...so I just mixed them together and viola! Plus...the vegetarian selection was very good.
I just sat there on the patio with a great view of the water, sippin' my margarita, eating my chips, and enjoying my yummy vegetable quesadilla (which had actual vegetables in it and not just a buncha beans). In fact, I wish I were there right now.
Decent Mexican style food. Had dinner here the other night. I decided to eat in the bar so that I could sit close to their large flat panel HD screen and watch the second half of the USC vs. Stanford game on ESPN HD.
I had to walk to the bar and place my order with the bartender. I ordered the "Special Burrito" Extra Large - filled with Beans, Beef, Topped with Cheese and Mole Sauce and served with Guacamole, Rice and Beans, plus a side order of Queso and a Fat Tire beer.
They have a chips station in the bar - you grab your own bowl of chips (natural, red, and green chips) and then choose one of three spice levels for your salsa. Of course I opted for "Hot." For my money - their "Hot" is not that hot!
Food came out fairly quickly - Queso first so that I could dip my chips in it - then the meal. Burrito overall was okay - there were a couple of unpleasant bites - where I bit into a very fatty piece of beef - the texture was unpleasant. The Guacamole was pretty bland as well.
Service and ambiance and the Fat Tire were all good. I'd eat here again and try something else next time.
Pretty bad. First: no carnitas, no mole. Ok, so it's a no frills joint. Second, in a to go order for 6 with an extra quart of guacamole, they gave us ZERO chips. Seriously? Third, the food was lifeless and lame and needed some serious salt to choke it down.
There was a child in the bar - so we enjoyed the restaurant area instead. There were TVs in the restaurant and big ones in the bar, if you're into catching the game while you eat. Try to get a table by the window. The view looks great.
The Blue Agave Margarita is not blue, and not too good either. Go for the cadillac, it's still cheap and so much better.
The flavor of the fajitas was outstanding. The chimi with mole sauce and the burrito were also yummy.
We were all in the mood for Mexican food today. My cousin recommended Caliente in Kings Beach. She said the food and margaritas were really tasty. Unfortunately a lot of reviewers on Yelp mentioned some negative experiences there with regard to unreasonable wait times. Plus Kings Beach was just a little bit farther than we wanted to drive so we settled on the Blue Agave. It is located in Tahoe City and is across the street from the lake.
We were able to get right in without a wait which was nice. We were served a warm basket of chips with some salsa. The chips were really good, nice and thin and crispy which I like. The salsa was ok, nothing to write home about. I had a margarita which was good.
I ordered a fish taco. It had grilled tilapia which unfortunately tasted really fishy. Yes I know fish is supposed to taste like fish, but tilapia is a very mild fish that should not have a strong fishy flavor. The taco also had a BBQ sauce on it which did not go well with the strong fishy taste of the tilapia. My sister had the chicken fajitas and said they weren't very good. My parents had enchiladas and said that they enjoyed them.
So our party was divided on the overall impression of the restaurant. I split the difference and gave them 3 stars because of 1. location, 2. good service and 3. the yummy chips.
This is the most ginormous Mexican restaurant that I've ever seen. I can highly recommend this place for large groups, and when I say large, I mean I went with a group of 26 people and they were able to get us a table that seated all of us. One long connected table that fit 26 people! That's amazing. And if you have to wait, they got a pretty good sized bar area that people can chill, buy drinks, play pool, or play pinball.
The food is your typical Mexican fare, which I ended up ordering what I call the "base meal" for comparison sake; that is enchilada and chile relleno with rice and beans. My dish was pretty average I thought, where it's not bad, but I've had better elsewhere. Though, I did try out some beef dish that was actually pretty damn good, it's unfortunate that I don't remember the name though. It had your typical Mexican cuisine flavors to it, but what I really liked about it was that it was very tender to the bite. And what's really amazing was that it didn't take overly long to get our food out. I think roughly 30 minutes elapsed after we made our order to get out the first set of dishes and it continued to come out one after another. Sure, the dishes were becoming lukewarm as we waited with courtesy and not start eating until all 26 people got their plates, but we enjoyed ourselves there.
If you have a large group, then this place definitely fits the bill as not many places can accommodate that around Tahoe from my experience. Good service, good bar area to chill, very large group accommodations, and decent food gives a recommendation from me.
Great margs and enchiladas!
Easy spot to sit on the porch and enjoy the views of the lake while drinking margaritas! The guacamole was good, the salsas were tasty, and I really liked the light crunch of the chips. I'd go again if I were in the mood for mexican eats in Tahoe for sure!
I give it 4 stars and heres why.
We stopped in a couple of time while shopping to get sodas for the kids. Great Shirley Temples with lots and lots of cherries, that with the free chips and salsa; while sitting in comfy chairs looking out onto the lake and feeding a well stocked juke box...excellent....(hint, the juke box had a binder on top with pages of more music selections.
We went there once for lunch, I had fajitas, they were good but my sister had the Carne Asada which blew us away.... I asked for the recipe and they gave it up...score!!!!!
We will go again next year
The Califonia burrito was bland. They couldn't even get the refried beans and rice right. Those were bland also. That is sort of disappointing. The beans and rice are the staples of Mexican cuisine. You can't eff with that. You JUST CAN'T.
I have always thought the food was pretty tasty....never really had a problem.
Great place to catch a game on Sunday during the season.
On Further Review:
We stopped by this past weekend after a killer hike up Squaw. We ordered the food. It's hit or miss at any restaurant. Miss was the fish tacos.....then I looked across at my buddy carinatas plate. Yikes!! It looked great....and was Very very good! Damn!! Missed that one. Next time!!!
Believe it or not....wasn't in much of mood for a Margaritas....maybe because we drank to our heart content at the Octoberfest celebration at Squaw earlier in the day. So I relented and ordered a Cazadorses Anjeo Margarita. Not too good...... Sorry guys...for $10....you lost a star.
Not to say, I haven't had really good margaritas here before. But not this time.....bummer.
We ate there on tuesday night, we got sitted on a table by the window great lake view, our waiter came over with chips and salsa they were really tasty, we oder a couple margaritas one was a mango really good, the other one was a peach I should of had the mango, I had the sea food enchiladas wich were recomended by our waiter they were really good, my mom had the fish tacos she say they were really fishy, I know is fish but it had this fishy taste, my brother had nachos wich had a pound of cheese,, so this is how we came up with the score one good service two good margaritas, and decent food.
Very mediocre. The girl at the front counter never acknowledged that we were standing there waiting to be seated. It took a waiter to come up and show us to a table. No idea what her problem was.
Carne asada fajitas were good. Service thereafter was ok. Margarita mix was wayyyyy too sweet.
Everything was just ok.
Average, touristy Mexican food. A great stop when you want to sit on the patio, sip on a margarita and watch the world float by on Lake Tahoe. Other than that, the ho-hum food was paired with ho-hum service. The hostess was either dense or just plain rude. Our server was mostly absent and most definitely gruff when he did grace us with his presence.
Think Chevy's, but with a better view.
The best part of this place was the chips and salsa.
The service was pretty good too!
The food was not the best but I have had much worse. The tamale was very good. The beef in my wifes chimichanga was very salty. The beans and rice were average or a bit below average in taste. Parking was a bit jammed, but we managed. If the prices were lower this place might be an option.
I guess there aren't too many options in North Lake Tahoe for good Mexican food. If you find it let me know!
What do you expect? It's Mexican food on Lake Tahoe.
Get a Margarita and stop whining.
Where do I start?
Do I start with how our tortilla chips had a twist tie baked into one of the chips?
Or do I start with my friend's flautas? He complained to the table that his flautas tasted like Windex and we all laughed. Until he later broke open his flauta to reveal a piece of mold the size of a Mento. Green, white, fuzzy, blue MOLD. I have never seen a table of six stop eating so quickly. The restaurant comped our entire meal (after only offering to comp the dish, I might add), but seriously.
I think I'll start by reporting this place to the health department. Just repulsive.
let me get this out of the way:the service is atrocious
the food on the other hand is awesome.I had a fajita taco salad that was to die for.all my friends seemed to really be stoked on their food as well
This place is way to expensive for the food quality. I don't mind an expensive restaurant but when the food doesn't match the price that's not good. If your looking for an over priced below average mexican restaurant then this is the place to be.
Probably the worst margaritas I've ever had. Mix came from a bottle and was way too sweet and not enough lime. Bleh! Mexican food was all around below par - really below par. Only one star because they have decent salsa. I used to live in Houston and cook Tex-Mex/Mexican food at home, so yes, I do know.
The only reason they get so much business is because they have a captive audience with only a handful of other restaurants in the area including a pizza hut and a rather pricey restaurant.
I would never go there again.
I think their food is actually pretty decent. An endless flow of hot chips, including RED ones, hell yeah, those are my favorite, and not one, but 2 salsas. I prefer the HOT one in a blue dish. They also have every tequila imaginable here and you can get top shelf margaritas or pitchers of beer. Now that Hacienda del Lago is gone, this place is your go-to cheap Mexican joint in Tahoe City.
The Cantina is fun. Always lots of men to chat with and music to play on the jukebox. Pool table if you feel the need to play. Bartenders do not ask you if you want a drink though! I guess they don't want to make money.
After a long day of Snowboarding food I didn't have to cook is what I wanted. With a party of 10 we had to wait about a half hour. We were able to wait in the bar, eat chips and salsa, and order drinks while we waited.
When we were seated, we had 2 booths near the kitchen. It was really loud, and we could hear everyone talking in the kitchen. Our server was nice, and she had a good sense of humor, so that was OK.
The food was more like Tex-Mex than actual authentic Mexican food. The carnitas was more like a steak. The quesadilla wasn't what I was expecting. The food was good, just not what I was really craving!
Alcoholic beverages were good.
Our first night in Tahoe City and we were famished. Got there late, and tooled around looking for a place we could get into easily (it was a Friday night), and we stumbled upon the agave. Got in within 5 minutes, the beer was ice cold, had a great large booth, and the carnitas were incredible.
I loved it, and will come back again. In fact, my son wanted to go there the next day. :)
HORRIBLE...stay away from this dump...bad (overpriced) food, margaritas, service and management.
Biting into a plastic object in your taco is never good but then showing that to the management and having them object to comping your meal is horrible! The management comped the plate w. the taco con plastic piece but refused to comp the remainder of food even though they ruined our entire lunch and our bill was only $50, not too much to take care of in my opinion. I am always leery of mexican food in the mountains and now I know why. This place is awful...you are better off going to safeway and buying frozen burritos and getting a margarita at a real bar (elsewhere).
Probably a step up from Taco Bell in authenticity. Probably.
Thanks Yelp!! Based on the reviews we tried this place. Since it was off-season in Tahoe we got right in. Great location. Right across from the public beach so good view of the lake.
We went for dinner. While the menu is mostly traditional Mexican, the menu was large and had a number of well prepared items. I started with the albondigas soup. Its was fantastic. The meat was tasty, the vegetables fresh and the broth flavorful. Get a cup, you won't be disappointed. The rest of the meal was very good. Everything was tasty and fresh. Maybe a little higher than some cheapo Mexican food place, the food is MUCH better than some cheapo Mexican food place -- so good value!!
Not great save your money Bad food bad liquor .
Really, I am not super-picky about the service or the wait time at casual restaurants - esp. if I'm with a large group and the company is good... but Blue Agave pissed me off, pure and simple. It was a Saturday night, my 8 friends and I waited in the bar for at least an hour before being seated, in the back corner of the restaurant which was FREEZING, by the way, and then the staff proceeded to ignore us for a good half-hour. 2 stars because the food, when it came, was pretty good - but I won't go back - and the rest of my housemates are protesting as well. Although dining options in Tahoe City are limited, I would take Bridgetender over this any day of the week. Or next time we will even try the novel notion of cooking at our cabin instead of dining out.
I can't say much about the food, but the bar at this place is fantastic. It's separate from the restaurant, so you don't have to worry about keeping it down if a game is on. The staff is really friendly and treat you like a local even if you are just visiting. The 15 TVs and a couple pool tables make this a great place to hang out.
after a long day on the slopes of northstar this is a great place to eat
decent mexican food, really good chips, even better margaritas, and a very attractive waitstaff round it out
kind of odd though, there's no real decorations otherwise to suggest that it's a mexican restaurant, more like a chevy's relocated to an old hungry hunter building and didn't change a thing
Mmmmm, Carnitas quesadilla. Very yummy. Blue Agave says it has the largest tequila selection on the lake. I don't know if that's true, but the margharita I had was just OK. Good guacamole, self serve Salsa bar, though the mild salsa tastes like Prego. No table service outside sucked because it was such a fabulous day, and after riding 18 miles on a bicycle, I really wanted to be waited on if you know what I mean. Stella Artois on tap!
Very festive for a group at dinner -- kinda weak at lunch. Food's just okay but there's a gorgeous view of the lake and if it's nice out, you can sit in front.
Stopped for dinner after skiing. Nothing special, food was good, beer was wet. The history of the building is interesting as are the photos on the wall.
Nothing special here. I had a taco and enchilada and the taco was good. Our waiter appeared to be the owner or manager and would have done well to let his staff do their jobs. He forgot my soup and seemed a bit flustered taking our order. We had 4 adults and 3 kids and the kids did fine with the crayons and food. I'd probably go there again but wouldn't make a point of it.
Kings Beach, CA
Category: Mexican
Tahoe City, CA
Category: Restaurants
Tahoe City, CA
Category: Spanish
Kings Beach, CA
Category: Mexican
Tahoe City, CA
Category: Restaurants
Loading...
