El Albanil

I’m from California and like to claim that I know good Mexican food… this was not good food. What appears to be an old Denny’s restaurant should have been left that way, that way we would have known we were going to walk away with a stomach ache.
Tables had napkins with a fork and knife, shakers of salt and pepper, and a container of sugar. No hot sauces in sight.
Chips and salsa — the chips were cold and stale, obviously not house made. Salsa couldn’t have been house made either, runny as if water was added — something was off.
For $ 13.99 — I had the chicken fajitas, which seemed to be boiled pieces of chicken with some seasoning tossed on top served with undercooked onions and green bell pepper on a hot skillet. Beans and rice were on a hot plate with another smaller plate on top of that which held the lettuce shredded cheese and guacamole. Within an hour my tummy was bloated and gurgling.
Tortillas were thick, Mission brand, and instead of being served in a tortilla warmer they were wrapped up in foil like a burrito.
Guayaba margarita tasted yummy and had the right amount of alcohol, however, it was nowhere near worth the nearly $ 10 price tag.
Bottom line: while the wait staff was pleasant, our poor stomachs and wallet wish we would have just driven past this restaurant, as the food was not worth the price charged and caused pain.

Please do not go here. I am not posting because of «a bad experience.» I am posting here to tell you that the food here just isn’t worth paying for. The staff was pleasant sure but what I think people should judge a place by is the actual FOOD. The cheese was old, the guacamole was brown, the chips were stale and cheap. Not worth 11.99 dollars per meal.

To start, their chips and salsa were disappointing. The chips were thick and stale, not light and crispy. The watery salsa was all heat without flavor. I got the lunch combo plate of ground beef taco and enchilada with beans and rice. When the waiter set down my plate, the enchilada was so flat I thought they had forgotten the beef. It was literally like a tri-​folded tortilla, but I cut it in half and lifted it up with my fork and there was actually a tiny meat layer equal to a single grain of ground beef in thickness. The taco was also without much meat. The staff was friendly and service was good though, and the price was right. But next time, I’ll go to Taco Time across the street. I grew up in Texas, so I don’t expect «authentic» in Washington, but this place didn’t even meet Washington standards I’ve had elsewhere.
Also, the place was empty except for three tables, and oddly, the host had sat us all adjacent to each other. I was seated first in the empty restaurant, then a couple was sat next to me, and another couple next to them a few minutes later. How about spreading us out… the place is empty! Geeez!

AWFUL! This place doesn’t even deserve 1 star.
Frozen, unseasoned, microwaved garbage.
Forget this place, even the margaritas were bad.

Great food, good service. Reminded me of an eatery at home in California.
Had cheese & onion enchilada & a Budweiser. Yum yum !!

Love this place! Hidden treasure. Great service and staff with good authentic food! Must try it. Their happy hour is really good! Sangria is homemade and delicious. Micheladas and Mojitos are also great!

I write this with the hope the owners will look at it as constructive critism. I doubt I will be back but your servers were very nice and I would like to see you succeed. We eat out a lot and this is at our end of town but it is just not good enough to spend $ 50 for two for dinner there.
Seat your guests by the window unless they request not to be. Just because the seats closest to the kitchen are more convenient for you, this does not mean it is a nicer atmosphere for your patrons.
Immediately offer your guests drinks. We sat for a while before this part was accomplished. My fruit margarita was not blended, rather there is a nasty syrup in the drink over ice. It irritated me to pay $ 8 for a small sized, headache in a glass. Use real ingredients, especially in your drinks.
I ordered a shreaded beef burrito. It was mostly full of rice and refried beans. If you insist on giving me those fillers, put them on the side or use vegetables.
Husband was okay with his food but when we go out we each have veto power and I will likely use mine in the future if this place was suggested.

I should have known better. About 6 months ago I had lunch at El Albanil and found it to be bland and disappointing.
Today, I was in the area and thought I would give it another try, thinking maybe they have improved, and it turned out to be just as bland and disappointing as I remembered.
It had lunch and I ordered the lunch pork carnitas for $ 8.95. The rice and beans were not very warm. The pork was mush, not tender, and it had the texture and flavor of something out of a can rather than what I have seen with pork carnitas in the past.
My recommendation if you want good Mexican food would be to try any other Mexican restaurant in Bellingham. Even Taco Time across the street would have been better.
I will not be back.

Imagine a mild green pepper stuffed with two kinds of melted cheese, surrounded by a perfectly made, very thin omelette, all covered with a superbly spiced light Mexican sauce. El Albanil chili rellenos are perfect — no deep-​frying or breading or heavy tomato sauce in this dish. Other outstanding options here include Tacos al Carbon (tiny chunks of pleasantly spiced beef served with soft tortillas and a homemade salsa and lettuce) and Pollo A la Crema (pieces of chicken breast, onions and crispy green pepper slices in a flavorful cream sauce). Wonderful rice (again without a heavy tomato base) and beans and tortillas accompany most dishes. We’ve never found anything on the menu which isn’t top-​notch. All dishes have an authentic Mexican flavor without being overly spicy hot.
Although we live in Southern Oregon, if our travels take us within 100 miles of Bellingham, we head for El Albanil. We are never disappointed. The family provides a warm welcome and swift service. The restaurant is clean and non-​pretentious. A recent addition is an intimate, though modern, industrial-​designed bar area — check it out — you’ll be tickled!
If, like us, you don’t live nearby — El Albanil is just minutes off of I-​5, and if you happen to be driving an RV — there is easy access to a large parking lot behind the restaurant.
We eagerly look forward to our next visit.

Barf.
At first this place was tolerable mostly because it was being ordered from Viking Food Delivery, so I never saw the inside of the restaurant, and we were usually slightly intoxicated while eating it, so what does it matter?
My husband and I thought we would go in, since the delivery wasn’t terrible, and it was not good. We could hear them using the microwave, which I’m pretty sure was for my husband’s quesadilla; which looked like something I would make my niece in the microwave as a quick snack. Not crispy at all and the cheese seemed more like Kraft Singles.
I ordered the Camarones a la Crema, and my shrimp tasted boiled. It was strange. The sauce was really runny, too.
The place doesn’t look great on the inside, and just all around disappointing. We thought we could go back to ordering, but after my girl friend bit into what looked like part of a really small stick last night in her quesadilla, we’re officially over this place.

Bland. Nothing special. I won’t be going back.

It was a dark and stormy night. We wanted to go somewhere where the food was good and we wouldn’t have to wait an hour to be seated. This place didn’t disappoint. My husband was very pleasantly surprised to see colorado burrito on the menu, and said he would order it again! I enjoyed the chile verde. Service was great and the restaurant was warm and inviting. Must be a pretty well kept secret, though, as there was only one other couple in the restaurant the entire time. We’ll make sure to tell all our friends about this place!

the best thing about this place is taco time is right across the street

Food was good. Staff was extremely friendly. Definitely gonna come back whenever I’m in town.

After the last few times I have eaten here back a few months ago, I thought this would be a great place to bring my family for my brother and I’s birthday dinner. We were very unsatisfied and I was ASHAMED to bring them here. They were very slow at servicing us, even though the restaurant had only 4 other tables max. We kept having to get their attention to ask them to refill our drinks, chips and salsa. When we received our food most of the food was barely warm and the rice was cold. The salsa also tasted a little bland and the pico de gallo did not taste fresh. Towards the end of our meal my brother asked for deep fried jalapenos and the waiter said it would take 10 minutes to make just a few jalapenos. Also when we told them it was both our birthdays he said he could give us some sopaopillas (deep fried tortillas with cinnamon, sugar and whip cream) which I thought were complementary at the end of the meal anyways. I was just disappointed about not get anything special like the rest of the Mexican food restaurants around.

With all of the mexican restaurants in town, the folks at El Albanil need to do a little more work to keep up. I’ve been a couple of times, and the food isn’t bad, but it’s not exceptional. The staff is kind of the same way. It’s the first Mexican restaurant we’ve been to where my 9 year old said he didn’t like it very much.
Both visits, (one for dinner, and one for lunch) we were one of 2 or 3 occupied tables. They charge for soda and iced tea refills, didn’t offer to refill our chip or salsa… those kinds of things. It would be valuable for the manager/​owners to walk down the street and have a meal at the mexican place down the road, (also to notice how crowded that place is), and take some notes.
Not a bad place, just not a great place.
Update 12−17−12
Gave it another try, we were in the neighborhood, and I always figure there’s a change of improvement. Alas, I was again disappointed. The place was empty, people were friendly, but slow, and the food was underwhelming. Just not worth going. El Agave, (just up the road) is a much better choice. The service is faster, even though they’re usually crowded.

Awesome food. Friendly staff. Clean restaurant. Every item we ordered was delicious.