Espiau’s Restaurant

We stopped here on Tuesday, sat in bar, I ordered the «taco Tuesday» tacos. Server informs me that they are not in season.? ?? Seriously?? She recommended we call ahead to see if the CHICKEN tacos are in season. We have one season in So Cal! However, according to her, I could order those same tacos from the menu!
Food is typically good, server was mediocre at best regardless of the taco Tuesday incident. Good — not great. And this experience was ridiculous and cheap, cheap, cheap!
We have plenty of great Mexican restaurants in the area — so skip this one.

Went here last night for a date night with my wife and we enjoyed it. Chips and salsa were amazing. The salad was a surprise it looked weird but tasted amazing. Side note I never eat salad until last night lol. Our entrée which was the flautas combo was okay like a 6 out of 10. But we would eat here again.

The food is excellent and drinks are huge. Prices are fair and portions are big. Authentic Mexican food. The staff is super friendly and very attentive. The bar is good sized and lots of tvs. There is an outside sitting area with is nice when the weather is good. Lots of colleges kids around. Good people watching.

I’ve been coming here for as long as I can remember. But today was my first time having brunch here. They have a $ 2 off build your own Bloody Mary bar! Soooo good! They give you two choices of tomato juice. One that is spicy and one regular one. They also have all the hot sauces and topping you could ask for. I think after the $ 2 off it came out to $ 6 per Bloody Mary. The offer ended at 2pm which is plenty of time to have a couple of drinks in. Definitely worth it!
As far as food goes, I went with a bean, cheese and rice burrito. I got it wet with the red sauce and it was really good.
I’ll for sure be back for more of those bloody Mary’s.

Service is extreamly slow, but the food makes up for it. Digging the outdoor patio setup.

Best restaurant in the village! Especially nights Neda, Arianna, Allison and Maralyse are working. You’re guaranteed great service and a fun night out. Great priced drinks even better food!

Have been coming here for years! Food is always great and the margaritas.. Holy cow… they pack a punch! I love their happy hour specials. You just can’t go wrong here.

Super yummy chips and salsa, fun atmosphere. Everything else is not so great.
The food and drinks were fairly horrible. Watery drinks and awful food. Their Mexican food quality is somewhere lower than El Torito and maybe higher than Taco Bell. Service is also very spotty. They were nice enough but brought us the wrong food and also forgot the guac my friend ordered. I can’t blame that on it being a busy night because this place is ALWAYS packed on weekend nights. They should be used to it.

Don’t waste your money here.
Service was good.
Nachos were horrible. The cheese was so hard, it ruined the whole dish. Ew! The black olives were like disingrated or something. Why. Expensive af. My boyfriends potato was lame too. No butter. Beer was expensive as hell.

This restaurant has a very awesome atmosphere. Lots of TVs, full bar, indoor/​outdoor seating.
As with anywhere in old town Claremont, parking is limited.
The waitresses are friendly and prompt. They’re helpful with answering questions and giving help.
However, I had to give this restaurant a low rating because of the quality of food. My family and I enjoy authentic Mexican food. Sadly this was not authentic. My husband and I agreed that the food was from a can instead of being fresh. My bean and cheese burrito tastes exactly like Rosarito beans that I had in chili as a kid. Similarly, my husband had an enchilada and the sauce was bottled.
The price was ostentatious for this food. $ 6.00 for the bean and cheese, $ 2.45 for drinks, $ 7.00 for a simple kids meal. One bathroom in a rather large restaurant.
While I love the Claremont area, there are so many other restaurants that are a better worth for your money.

Went here tonight with my wife and my brother & sister in law had a great time. The food was delightful and drinks were always filled. Had drinks and food for under $ 20.00 a person. Thank you Espiau’s

I don’t know why this is a three star average. Maybe the prices? It is in Claremont, people! What do you expect. The tortilla chips are great, we had yummy nachos, and the albondigas soup is as good as I have had anywhere.

Three stars as a whole rating for this place is fair. The food is okay, its not bad just not authentic. The chips and salsa are decent and the location is cool. My favorite thing is the outside/​inside bar. If this was just a bar it would be five stars but because I am not a fan the actual restaurant or food… three it is. Cold ass beer, okay service and a killer bar atmosphere:)

Always a pleasant experience dining at Espiaus. Thank you for accommodating my no salt/​low salt requests.
Kasey & Leo are the best! They are super friendly & accommodating. They make you feel welcome once they see you.
The sizzling fajitas, salad, chips & salsa are super delicious.

Some of the worst Mexican I’ve ever had! This place is more of a sports bar than restaurant… the food is absolutely horrid.
We ordered a chicken burrito and albondigas soup. The chicken burrito was extremely dry and well… it had nothing else in there but chicken. Where’s the sauce, rice, means, cheese??? Better off going to Taco Bell. And the albondigas soup… the most unauthentic thing on the menu. Such a disappoint.
The only upside to this place is the endless free chips and salsa!

Espiau’s has been around for a long time and I’ve gone there several times through the years. Although their famous Espiau’s cheese loaded salad isn’t what it use to be, they still do well most of the time. Sure, just like any joint they have their off days. Who doesn’t? But I’m still a fan.
Take the other night for instance…
I was there with a few friends after hiking the Claremont Loop. We were hot, sweaty and thirsty. We knew we smelled bad. It was Taco Tuesday night and we grabbed a table in the patio.
The girls each got three or four one dollar tacos and water to drink. Talk about big spenders. But our server, Arianna, didn’t bat an eye. She was polite, attentive and efficient and didn’t in any way show any kind of irritation that we ordered such piddly meals or dial down the service. And just as impressive, she didn’t sweat us for wanting separate checks.
I at least ordered a fricken beer with my one dollar tacos. But since the tab was so low, I ordered an extra beer and made the girls I was with wait a little while I finished it just so I could give her a proper tip.
But what about the food? As one dollar tacos go, I’d say the the food was pretty dang good and the portion sizes were just right. Plus my two beers were served ice cold, just the way us thirsty hikers want them. All in all, we were all well satisfied.

Stay away from this place if you want to avoid getting sick. I had the shredded beef flautas and got food poisoning. I threw up all morning and felt so horrible that I had to go to urgent care.
I called to let the place know that I got sick from their food. My purpose for writing this review is to warn others and have the restaurant owners make some changes to this place before they really hurt someone.

Anyways let me start off by stating that service is not good here… Wel of course that’s what made it seem by having a waiter like the one I had… Which is this lady that has light eyes, short.
I came in with 4 people and her attitude wasn’t welcoming.
I got the drinks (not alcohol) and I said I want to order now and she wasn’t very happy about that. she actually rolled her eyes !!!
My friend says he wants enchiladas and she doesn’t even ask him which kind, so he tells her well what kind of enchiladas you have? And she said WHATEVER YOU WANT so he is like ok I guess chicken.
Food quality… Too salty for my taste the rice was kinda hard… No salsa to go with the food just the regular chip salsa. Been to better places

This place looks like it needs to be renovated. Probably like several years ago. It’s got odd sections and the trek to the patio takes you through the whole place. Gnarly old booths that make you wonder what kinds of funk could be secretly hiding inside. The bar area looked fun. Small but very lively. The patio was nice and packed with sports lovers and families. Fun atmosphere. Dining inside would have been depressing.
Food was ok. I ordered the pastrami burger but they were out of pastrami. So I made one of the best worse choices I’ve made in a long time. I got the cheesy cheese burger. A cheese filled cheese burger that halfway through turned into a beard coating, saucy, mushy mess. It was sinfully good. I probably consumed close to 2,000 calories and hours later I looked back in disgust of myself. It was a once in a while fling and I know it will be years before I make a choice like that again. Technically, it was my second choice. They should have had the pastrami. It’s Espiau’s fault. She got an a la carte tamale which made me feel like a bigger pig. I think I almost finished my meal before hers too.
Beer was a nice surprise. 25 or so beers on tap filled with the regular crap. I went with the local Claremont Ales Jacaranda IPA. Fantastic. It was 10.50 for a big 32 ouncer. Puts it at 5.25 per pint. Pretty sweet deal.
If you go, sit on the patio. Order the local beer. And fast for a full week before hand.

I’ve been here a couple times with a buddy who works nearby. The first time was about a year ago for happy hour, and the second was last week for lunch.
The surrounding area of Espia’s in Claremont seems to be a bedroom community. There is nearby Claremont College, and that’s about it. The area is surrounded by many offices along with more restaurants. It kind of gives a me a feeling of being in another place away from the hustles of a metropolitan city. Or rather, walking around there gives me a feeling of actually being in an old movie filled with props and it’s fake buildings. I thought it was pretty cool!
It was a bit hard for me to write a review about Espiau’s because I didn’t know what to say. The restaurant is huge with many dining areas, and there is also an outside patio area that connects to the bar. The servers were really nice and accommodating. We were served salsa with chips right when we sat down.
The whole restaurant was quiet and it wasn’t busy. Maybe it was because we came for a late lunch. However, the first time we were here was for happy hour… and it still wasn’t as busy. At least there was a live band there to entertain around patio. Well, enough said. Let’s talk about the food.
The soft tacos we had the first time was good during happy hour. The tacos were freshly made, and they were carne asada. We must of had at least ten tacos since they were tiny, and probably drank a few beers while we were at it.
They second time we went for lunch, we ordered the Cobber Burger, Chicken wings with a dipping sauce, an arugula salad, and had chips and salsa along with a couple more drinks.
Hoping the second time will be a better experience, I was a bit disappointed. The burger wasn’t as good as it sounded. I wish the jalapenos were cooked or at least pickled. I know it’s personal preference, but what we paid for the burger was not worth it. If I had a choice between the jalapeño burger in Carl’s Jr. and this place, I think you’ll know which I will choose.
The salad was good. It was fresh and it was very enjoyable. So no complaints there!
The chicken wings was also okay. I prefer my wings lightly battered or just stir fried. But these wings is just fried chicken. A bit too much batter which ruined the whole concept of buffalo wings. No celery comes with the wings. Oh well.
The chips were good, but only a bit salty. The salsa was delicious though. Just make sure you have a drink handy while you eat the chips.
The mix drinks was good. Pretty consistent with it’s alcohol. So no complaints. And the beer is bottle… so no comment.
My overall experience here was mediocre. That’s why it was so hard to figure out what to write about this place. The first experience I felt was better. Maybe the inconsistent food the second time put a damper in my experience.
I probably won’t be back for awhile. So please improve… until the next time. I will be nice and give it a weak three stars. Even though I was disappointed in my lunch, at least the servers were cool, and the whole place is quite nice as it’s pretty well kept.