Fabi’s Mexican Restaurant

It appears to have closed. It has a large fence all around it with a realtor’s name on it. Shame. I would have liked to try that chunky guac that everyone was raving about!

Fabi’s is a bit different from the other Clark St. Mexican restaurants. The décor is more garish, and – perhaps relevant to your interests – they have a bar. When the oversized teevee is on, it can be distractingly loud, and they frequently have people coming up and down from the banquet hall upstairs, which is kind of cool for people watching. We’ve typically had above-​average service, and the wait time for food is acceptable. While the chunky guacamole gets (rightfully) a lot of love on Unilocal,the smoov guacamole is equally worthwhile. Their entrees are good, though not stellar. Some nights the kitchen is off (or slammed with a party upstairs) and the food can be watery and bland. Other nights it is totally on. The menu is broader than you’ll find at most nearby places, as well. Definitely worth a visit.

Went there this past Saturday night for the first time (³⁄₃₁) and its a great little Mexican Restaurant in Rogers Park Neighborhood of Chicago. The food is authentic — the chunky guacamole is to die for. Real big pieces of avocado /​tomatoes /​garlic. The enchiladas were very tasty and had the right amount of green sauce on it.
Only down side to Fabi’s is their Margaretta’s its just way to sweet and you can’t taste the tequila. But that was the only ‘bad thing’
BUT WILL GO BACK.

YUM!
So, we were searching for a simple Mexican restaurant. We wanted something with a full bar, somewhere that we could sit down and be served, but nothing too upscale. I «Yelped» and found Fabi’s and off we went.…
When we walked in that evening, the first thing I noticed was the florscent lighting above. I winced, as the ambiance created by their sterile glow was not quite what I’d hoped for. This is where the disappointment ends.
The hostess/​waitress greeted us with a pleasant, very real, warm smile. We settled into one of the booths and looked over the fairly extensive menu. One of the firs things that we noticed was that the prices at Fabi are reasonable — generally a couple of dollars less for most entrees than some of the other Mexican restaurants that we’ve tried in the area. The drink prices are also some of the more reasonable ones we’ve seen.
I ordered a margarita, my husband had a couple of beers. The margarita was made form mix, which isn’t my favorite way to go, but was serviceable.
Our meals were delivered piping hot and really very delicious. I tried a combo of one tamale, one enchilada and one chile relleno. All of the items were authentic and delicious. I might not order the tamale again, because it was much more masa than filling, but the flavor was delicious. The chile relleno was exactly as I’d learned to make them from a dear Mexican friend on mine, and I loved the salsa ranchera that it was topped with! It’s hard to mess up an enchilada, but I’ve seen ti done. Not so at Fabi — theirs was delicious!
My husband had a chimichanga, enticed by a picture on the menu. He felt that it was ever so slightly greasy, as if the oil could ahve been just a bot hotter when it was fried, but not greasy enough to dislike. The steak inside was very good.
The portions are tremendous, so be hungry or be prepared to take home leftovers of you’re not!
The service was polite, not pushy, and friendly enough.
The ambiance is lacking a better lighting scheme, and this may not be the best Mexican food I’ve ever had, but it’s the best I’ve found locally, and at a fair price. (Ok — there are a couple of taquerias that I adore.. . but when I want to sit down, eat, share a conversation and enjoy a drink, I’ll head back to Fabi’s.

A hidden jem in the Rogers Park area. Never a bad meal. Favorite dish – Homemade Chicken soup. Likes – Huge portions, fresh veggies, and low price. It’s owned and operated by an amazing chef. He makes the best mole sauce in town! Don’t be intimidated by the area… it’s well worth the stop.

At the recommendation of a coworker, called in an order for pickup. The order may have gotten lost in translation, but who cares… the food was the best Mexican I have eaten in Chicago since Frontera Grill. Not that it is the same, but good in the same way with flavors and taste. Not the same bland, cheesy Mexican food that seems to be everywhere in the city. Chunky Guac was more of a salad (as another Unilocaler mentioned), but was very good. Steak taco and chile relleno were well above average and the beans and rice were compemented with grilled spring onions and potato. Really nothing special in terms of décor but liked the quaint feel, and the fact that the owner/​chef/​cook, (it wasn’t busy so he could have been all) waited to finish off my order till I got there to make sure I had a good taste experience meant my order wasn’t ready, but again, who cares. The food was better when it was prepared when I got there and that showed he cared. I would absolutely recommend and plan on going back to see if I can up the review to 5 stars.

wow. why haven’t I come here before? I have waited inside their double doors in the winter while waiting for a bus – but never ventured in. I think the ambiance kind of threw me off a bit. I thought it would be really expensive and have bad mexican american food. (i don’t know why, but I always think the less decorations on the wall, the better the food). But this place totally changed my mind :) Thanks to many of the Unilocalpers awesome reviews, my girlfriend and I decided to go here tonight for dinner. We got the chunky guacamole (more like a wonderful avocado salad with oil and limon, YUM), the carne asada dinner (it came with thing slices of potatoes that were lightly pan fried and so yummy), and frien strawberry ice cream. Everything was really really tasty. and the prices weren’t to bad. All of that only cost us 25 dollars. Oh, and we had an Horchata. One more thing– the chips were so fresh and warm and flaky and good. I can’t wait to go back and try more things. P. S most of their tacos are only 1.50 and their fajita burrito is only 6.50 :)

Yum! I took the advice in the other reviews and ordered the Chunky Guacamole and Chile Relleno which was nice and cheesy. They serve an interesting Pico de Gallo with chips at the beginning of the meal. I also ordered the Margarita was solid. I didn’t really care fro the Chicken taco which basically tasted a little bland. I’m used to cubed chicken with cilantro and onion on a corn tortilla.

Recently moved to Rogers Park from Florida and I’m used to the same processed Mexican food you can see on any menu in the US. Fabis was a very fresh change of pace. The Tacos were ridonculously good. Fresh tortillas with savory pork loaded into them. The beans were great and we ate, my wife and I, for less than 25 bucks with tip! The portions were plentiful and it’s a nice, quaint neighborhood joint we can walk to. Really liked this place.

Fabi’s is the only place I will ever order Chiles Rellenos. Too many places under cook the chiles before preparing them and they are crunchy and hard, not Fabi’s. I can always cut them with a fork. It is a true mom and pop operation and she makes a wonderful ORGANIC blend of pickled peppers and veggies you can enjoy on chips and anything else you’d like to add them too. The prices are great for the lovely atmosphere and quality of the food. One friend of mine did not like the guacamole because it had too many onions. They make it fresh to order so you can tell her your preferences if you are particular about your guac. Also, I have noticed that many of the places where I order freshly squeezed orange juice are juicing large batches at once. If you are like me and basically get a fresh juice every chance you find it, ask a lot of questions before you order, like when did they squeeze the juice? I went to the Heartland, La Choza and Fabi’s and found it was freshly squeezed, but in the morning or some time earlier at all three places. I even tried Charmer’s, not my cup of Joe at all, same thing, squeezed all at once earlier in the day. If you are like me and can’t stand oxidized OJ make sure you ask if they can make it right before they serve it. Hope you get a chance to enjoy Fabi’s!

I love this place! The food it superior to typical Mexican restaurants and the friendly service and hospitable owners are fantastic! The salsas they serve with the chips are fantastic and you can tell they are homemade and very fresh. Everything we had was tasty and fresh. I highly recommend this restaurant!

My gf and I went to this place to try
Mexican place in our neighborhood. Not bad not bad. The ambiance was nice inside and held a good amount of tables. The walls were decorated nice. Full bar inside.
The service was great! That might be because we were the only patrons in there. The only other people there I think was the Mexican family who owned the place, and they were watching a crazy dance show on Telemundo on a huge flat screen tv that was in the middle of the restaurant.
The food was hot and authentic. You could choose to get the guacamole chunky or in dip form… both are good. I ordered the fajitas. The only thing that makes this place just okay is the quality of their meats. I didn’t think the quality of the steak or shrimp was anything to write home about. This place could be a gem if they got better quality meats in there including steak, white chicken, and shrimp.
I hope this place does okay. It looked like a good place for a family bday party.

The style of Mexican food they have here is definitely different from the Jalisco style restaurants I was used to when I lived in Texas, but it’s excellent in its own right. I ordered the combination with Chili Rellenos and Carne Asada. The Asada was awesome, but I wasn’t a big fan of the rellenos – a little soggy for my taste and the tomato rich sauce didn’t really jive well with the asada.
The waitress who served me was very nice and friendly.
The prices are pretty reasonable too, I’ll definitely be coming here again.

This is a colorful, cheerful, friendly place. We really enjoyed the food. The chunky guacamole was especially good. Christopher enjoyed his steak tacos a lot. The only thing I was not crazy about was the ceviche. It wasn’t bad, but I have had better.
They put a huge container of marinated veggies on the table that contained things like carrot slices, cauliflower and jalapenos. It was very good as was the pico de gallo.
The prices are reasonable and the waitstaff is attentive. The décor is like a delightfully over the top fiesta. We will be back for sure!!!

Yummy food, nice atmosphere, decent prices. A++ will dine again!

Update: They seem to be closed on some Friday nights… make sure you check ahead.
Also… Extra baskets of chips 75 cents? Que pasa, Fabi’s?

I wish I could give Fabi’s 6 stars!
We went to Fabi’s with a group of 11 people for my boyfriend’s recent birthday. We were warmly greeted by the staff at Fabi’s (including a young girl who immediately took on the role of DJ for the night and began playing a very peppy Birthday song).
Throughout the night I cannot tell you how fabulous everyone was… making us feel like we were part of the Fabi’s family. The servers were extremely friendly and responsive, the little dj made sure she played all our favorite songs, we got a personal dance show from the server’s young (4 or 5 years) son, and to top things off the young girl gave my boyfriend a Tweety bird stuffed animal as a birthday present along with fried ice cream.
Needless to say, the service was fantastic but the food was just as amazing!!! Everyone ordered something different and absolutely loved. I would definitely say this is some of the BEST Mexican food in Chicago!
WE LOVE FABIS!!!

I had dinner at Fabi’s tonight with my son and sampled the salsa which I did not like so I decided to opt out of my usual enchilada. Instead I tried their shrimp quesadilla with rice and beans. I received my dish along with the worst dead fish aroma I’ve ever smelled!
I know what bad seafood smells like. My son even knows what bad food smells like, by the way, so I am sure we all do, right?
I declined to eat that because, to be quite honest, I was afraid of it. I sent it back and explained to the waitress that it had gone bad but that everything else was fine. She came back within minutes and dropped the check without taking the bad seafood off the check.
I was a bit surprised! I wasn’t worried about the amount of money due to the fact that it was pretty cheap but the principle of charging someone for something they aren’t satisfied with is beyond me. I explained to the server that I would pay for the nasty food but that it was wrong to charge me for it. She explained that the owner insisted that I pay for it. WEIRD, RIGHT??? I asked to speak with him about it .
He came out and tried to burden me with his excuses for his rank food. He was actually hostile about it. I couldn’t believe it so I just offered him luck with that behavior in running his business and told him I would not return in the future! YUK!!! TERRIBLE FOOD AND A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OVERALL! Never again willI go to this place they call a restaurant!

Fabi’s was #17 on our journey up clark, between devon and howard.
Mind you, I have a raging cold which affected my experience, I’m sure.
But even considering the stuffed head, Fabi’s was a pretty positive experience.
The interior, and menu, are more tex-​mex than anything else we’ve seen on clark.
there’s a bar area, tons of kitch and color and music and mexican tiles.
there are items on the menu we saw for the first time, like ‘bean dip’ and ‘chimichangas.‘
indeed, we ordered ‘mini-​chimis’ as an appatizer, mixed meats. out came a plate with 5 baby fried chimichangas, 2 chicken and 3 ground beef, along with sour cream and some guac. pretty tasty. especially when coupled with the free pico and salsas that came out earlier with chips.
for the main dish i got posole, a big bowl of soup filled with pork and hominy. the soup comes with a plate of chilis, radishes, cabbage and limes that you can add at will. oh, and a pile of corn tortillas. the soup was lovely, hot and tasty. the hominy is chewy. Be wary of the pork if you’re delicate. Because it’s stewing meat there are big chunks of fat and even some bone. But the pork attached is tender and flavorful. julie got the same thing, and ate it til it was gone.
jeremy was left to try the meats, then. so he got a trio of tacos. pastor, carne asada and picadillo. they got an average score from jeremy. he’s had better. but he’s also had worse. meh.
my horchada was great. you could taste the rice pudding, in all its glory.
we thought about a dessert. particulary something that involves a fried tortilla wrapped around pineapple and drizzled with mexican caramel. but we were too stuffed.
when i get well again i’ll go back for the full bar, the tex-​mex items not available at other taquerias on clark, the comfortable atmosphere, and the really friendly service.
thanks, Fabi’s.

Listen up Rogers Park! Fabi’s is awesome!!!
I don’t know where the hell I have been! I have passed this place all the time and never thought anything of it.
Then this year, my friend Dennis and I decided we would try as many mexican restaurants in the RoPa neighborhood looking for the perfect Taco’s Al Pastor. (You know they really are hard to find)
When we walk in I think it’s a super tiny place. then you walk past a little cut out in the front and LOW AND BEHOLD they have a pretty good size sit down place!!! AND A BAR!!!
We order chips and she brings us 3 kinds of salsa and chips. Chips were good and salsa’s were good!
We order the Pastor and YEP they are maybe the best in RoPa (well, as far as I have had anyway) I still love Los Comales the best for Pastor but Fabi’s comes in a close, close 2^nd.
The only reason I take off 1 star is because the margarita could have been better. If she nails the margarita, I bet she could be a gold mine!
Check it out if you are in RoPa! I am pretty happy!