Rosa’s Cafe

Until today, I was a frequent visitor of this establishment. Their taco Tuesday deal is a STEAL. But when I went to order a margarita, and presented my military ID (since my Texas ID was stolen) I was told this wasn’t an acceptable form. I find this absolutely appalling. When I asked to speak to the manager she told me they only accept TEXAS ID’s. Lubbock, being a college town, has students from all over. I understand being strict on ID’s but not accepting an official form is unacceptable.

If you can manage to squeeze into this place — they can be extremely busy — its well worth a visit. My personal favorite is the #4 cheese enchilada plate, and I’ve heard their tamales are quite good as well. Fun atmosphere, too. The staff is okay; more efficient than friendly, but I can’t really complain. We usually hit the drive-​thru anyway.

Hidden among Rosa’s entrees is their Chile Verde plate. It’s a good change from fajitas. It’s a little spicy from the green chili. It comes with the usual beans, rice, and tortillas. They also give you a taco bowl to put the chile verde in, or you can break it up into chips. They have a decent salsa bar. It’s also great on Taco Tuesday as you can also get soft tacos.

No. No. No. No. hahahehe. No… Just, no.
I moved to Texas a month ago and have this restaurant minutes from me. I’ve seen the lines of cars that extends to the driveway. My girlfriend and I have been curious about it and today decided to stop by and try them. Living in California for 35 years, perhaps i’m used to Mexican food being a certain way. Perhaps this is Texas’s style of Mexican food, or Tex-​Mex food. I don’t know. But I do know we will never set foot in any of this franchise’s restaurants.
In a but shell, pathetic. An embarrassment to Mexican food. And their website’s «About Rosa’s» describes them as «upscale.» You can’t call yourself upscale when you’re offering your customers stale nacho chips. If you can’t get the simplest of things a Mexican restaurant should get right you’re far from calling yourself upscale.
I can forgive if a Mexican restaurant doesn’t offer Jamaica or Horchata to drink, or even Al Pastor or Machaca tacos, but when you do not offer Carne Asada meat (limited to chicken and ground beef on your menu) you have absolutely no right calling yourself a Mexican restaurant. That’s like Domino’s Pizza not having Pepperoni in their toppings list. Insane. I was in the drive thru asking if they had Al Pastor and you’d think I was speaking to them in Farsi or Arabic. They had to pass me to another attendant who also didn’t understand, «do you offer Al Pastor?»
I ordered a beef burrito and when I got home my girlfriend was telling me my order was never bagged. She pulled out her plate, the (stale) nachos we ordered, a stack of flour tortillas and a tiny piece of foil. I open up the foil and see a flour taco. Now again, Mexican food from Tijuana to Los Angeles might be different from what Texas offers, but darn it, that was a taco. Perhaps they messed up my order, and I want to believe that because if these tiny 3-​bites and it’s all gone burritos are actually their burritos then pathetic and embarrassment are not quite describing what comes out of this restaurant’s kitchen. Lastly, there’s my drink. I sat down to eat my TACO and took about 5 sips of my soda before I noticed I was sucking on air. Odd ’cause the cup felt heavy. I removed the lid and, well, I’ll just post a picture and let you folks see for yourselves.
Just chicken and beef on the menu, this has to be Tex-​Mex food. Calling this Mexican is just simply an insult to what Mexican food and Mexican restaurants are.

We were all set for a fajita meal, then my son found a BUG in the chicken!!! OMG! So nasty!!! Seriously!!!

One of the finest fast food Mexican restraints I have been to. Fast service, great food. They process orders more efficiently than many manufacturing firms I have visited. Outstanding.

I generally love Rosa’s. There are better Mexican restaurants that are more expensive. Among the counter-​service, quick-​serve locations, Rosa’s wins. I particularly like the salsa bar with plenty of pico del gallo. Theirs has no lemon or lime so I can eat it!

Let’s try this again… I thought I wrote a review it was a checkin I guess.
I went here tonight after many times before, loved it; and will undoubtedly go again. Tuesday’s the night that I went are usually busy because it’s Taco Tuesday ($ 3.99 for 3tacos, rice, and beans, and 2soft flour tortillas-​add the honey and its makes it even better). Best fast food type plates you’ll taste, with chocolate or cheesecake, water, coffee, soda, or beer; and there ya go all good all the time! Great costumer service and never seen this place not busy. If ya haven’t gone, then go; and if you have; go again! It’s mmm mmm good! Quick, food, and cheap!

Service sucked tonight. The employees were rude when we needed corrections on our order. The rice tasted burnt. We were very disappointed.

I love Rosa’s it’s consistently very good, has a drive thru, is open late, and is very friendly.

Food was so disgusting last time we used take-out…Went in trash. Maybe eating wrong thing Rosa’s on 82^nd.

Cheap and fast gets me excited since I’m on a budget. Rosa’s does the trick on Tuesday nights when I have a lot of studying to do.
Taco plates are $ 3.99 for three tacos, rice, beans, and two fresh flour tortillas. You can choose from beef or chicken and crunchy or soft.
For fast food they do a decent job at fresh ingredients. I am satisfied every time I come here. I leave with a full belly and without any financial regret.
BE AWARE: the drive-​thru line gets nuts on Tuesdays. Go inside and save yourself 5+ minutes. And don’t be like me and look too shabby that you have no choice but drive-​thru.

Rosas is always a good dining experience.
Quick service, free tortillas (with most meals), and light food.
I go there on taco Tuesdays and get a good bang for my buck while keeping it light with tacos that aren’t greasy.
Why 3 stars? It’s tex-​mex that tastes like your average tex-​mex.

Not bad but not great.
The Tortillas are the best thing here. The rest of the menu needs the input of the actual Hispanic Americans working there because the food is way off base.
The staff also needed to learn some people skills because the were very short and rude with me.

One of my go to places when I go to Lubbock. Love the taco plate with a side of queso. Not the most «authentic» Mexican food, but they have a nice variety of options and are fairly priced for their items.

I have to say, Rosa’s is the only thing I miss about Lubbock! I really loved their chicken fajitas — their chicken is marinated in something amazingly delicious, and it really makes the dish. I also liked that they had a whole fixings bar with various types of salsa and peppers. Really great Mexican for a «fast food» place.

I didn’t like Mexican food until I ate at Rosa’s. I’m from Missouri — Taco Bell is about as authentic as our Mexican food gets. I was really dubious about trying anything because, back home, Mexican food is really stigmatized. However, out of sheer boredom, my fiancé and I decided on a complete whim to give Rosa’s a whirl.
Now that I have lived in Texas and Nevada, I can’t say that Rosa’s is the finest Mexican cuisine I’ve had. It’s definitely not. However, the delicious tortillas (with warm honey… mmmm…) and flavorful (albeit sodium-​laden) dishes pulled me in like a gateway drug. Since that first Rosa’s experience I have gone out of my way to try new Mexican restaurants rather than avoid them.

I want to start out by saying I don’t hardly give 5 stars to anyone unless they blow my socks off. 3 stars is definitely worth giving a try; now on to the review.
Like someone else mentioned, I have been a patron here multiple times, so I figure it’s about time I put a review up for them. Let’s be clear: this is fast food. It’s not gonna be the most elegant or the most exotic. It’s all really basic, really normal Tex-​Mex. But that’s not a problem for me, especially when all I want is a good taco.
In case you haven’t heard, they make their own tortilla shells here, so if you get a choice get some! I recommend the burritos and the soft tacos. Downside of the food is the chips. Sadly, they let the chips sit there all day and get stale. If you get a fresh batch, not too bad at all; good, even. Also, the salsa bar inside is a big plus for those ADHD eaters that can’t just get one sauce (like me). Overall, not bad; just not that great either.

Worst food I ever had. If people driving through Texas use this place as an example of Tex-​Mex, then it’ll make us Texans look bad.
The service was terrible, no one speaks English or even seems to know what anything is on their own menu. They don’t call your number for your food to pick up, they just place it on the counter and you have to either stand their the whole time or make sure you remember to get up from the chairs to get your order.
The little salsa, condiment bar they have is ridiculous. The spiciest salsa tasted like old milk, was really gross. Yea, sure you can say that you have to take this place for what it just, just a half-​butt fast food style Mexican place, but for $ 17 for an order of stale chips and chewy beef fajitas, that’s pretty ridiculous.
I could get 10 times better «Mexican» food at taco bell than this crap, and that’s pretty bad

Though this was not my first exposure to the quintessential fast/​casual Mexican restaurant known as Rosa’s, I decided that I owe it a review. Does this place serve the best Mexican or Tex-​Mex food you’ll ever have in your life? I would certainly hope not. Is it a fancy place to go for a nice dinner out? Well, that’s going to depend on you and maybe some sociological factors and perspectives, but again hopefully not. Does this place have a plethora of choices of great food, by the standards of any place where you order at a counter, at very inexpensive prices? Absolutely. What I rather eat here than at a Chipotle? Are you kidding me with this question because my answer, without hesitation, is without question. Am I impressed at the fact that I can see the freshly made tortillas rolling out of the ovens in the background? Of course I am and the tortillas might just be the best part of it all.
Now that I am through playing questions and answers with myself, I will move onto the food. Rosa’s has all of the basic Mexican and Tex-​Mex dishes covered. Whether you’re talking about any type of taco, burrito or enchilada or nachos, fajitas or tamales, they have them all. From my experience here, it seems that just about every meal comes with fresh made tortillas which are a treat in themselves. You may want to think about ordering extras as the tortillas never seem to last the course of the meal. I am particularly partial to the nachos here as they are unique from probably any that you’ll encounter anywhere else. I can’t quite pin point where the nachos a different, but hello delicious. Then there is the side option of chips and queso. The queso is like a perfect blend of cheese with chunks of flavorful peppers that you can see mixed in. The peppers give it a nice flavor, but do not make it hot to the point that you couldn’t feed it to a four year old even.
In closing, Rosa’s is everything you could want in fast/​casual Mexican. I am just glad that I do not live anywhere near one because I would probably find myself there more often than I should.