Bandito’s Mexican Grill

Long story short: Save your money and find somewhere else.
Preamble: I am a Southern Californian. I have grown up on Mexican food. It is my favorite. Hands down. Love it. I apologize if this is too «critical» for my East Coast brethren.
Let me fill you in.
We arrived, my wife and small child, early on a Friday night dinner service. The place was halfway filled. In no way was it a «rush» situation nor was it «a bad night» in terms of serving.
We were seated quickly. The ambiance is great. «Pacific Coast Highway» music playing, bright colors, natural light, open door, and friendly staff. We were extremely happy with out choice.
Our server arrived and quickly asked for our drink choices before they brought a chair over for my child. Having stood for a few minutes waiting I had no chance to actually preview the menu, hence asking for another five minutes. He came back twice before the chair arrived.
Having been somewhat hurried, I ordered a classic «staple» of any Mexican joint, the Cadillac Margarita. My wife quickly asked, «Are you sure?» to which I brushed off stating, of course! the server quickly ran away and too my dismay the price was 15 dollars. Yes, 15 dollars for a margarita. This had best be an alcohol fueled adventure!
So we wait. 10 minutes passes. 15. I see our server and ask about our drinks and if we can place our order. He stops and states, «Oh, I haven’t? Ok.» We place our orders. Our drinks come soon after that. Perhaps he is new?
We hear many people shuffling about. A couple complains behind us because they will not «mix» the fajitas (just chicken or just steak, no mixing!).
I also notice something missing. Something huge to me. This place charges for chips and salsa. Yes, NO CHIPS AND SALSA unless you pay.
As I said, this may be critical. No Mexican place, no matter the price or venue, is worth anything without bringing you chips and salsa. None. There is no convincing me or the millions of others brought up on true Baja (or any) style Mexican food.
I was floored.
Our drinks come. My 15 dollar margarita is a fail. All ice. Pure ice an nothing else. It was so bad I thought about sending it back. I am not that type of person though.
TIP: DO NOT ORDER THE CADILLIAC MARGARITA.
Food comes. Except my son’s. He had a quesadilla. Yes, the quesadilla took the longest. What. The. Hell.
The food was excellent. Seafood enchiladas were amazing and my wife’s shrimp tacos were great as well. Not enough food though. No rice. No beans. She got two small corn tortillas with two shrimp a piece. Mine was halfway decent. Again, no extras.
We finished and paid while listening to others complain about the same things.
In the end, we will never be returning. The food was well cooked and tasted great. That was about it. Portions were extremely small, drinks are WAY overpriced and watered down, no extras of any kind, you pay for everything, and the waitstaff is obviously there for their «summer» job (French Canadian I think) and do not really care about anything as they rush off to talk to one another.
Please save your money and avoid.

Massive disappointment. Atmosphere was great. After waiting 15 minutes to have the waiter come to our outdoor seats & waiting another 10+ minutes to get 2 drinks & paying $ 15 for a top shelf margarita that didn’t come with the salted rim I ordered — it looked as though someone had already taken 4 sips out of it! After a question if they were supposed to be served with several ounces missing, a manager showed up to assure us they weren’t ripping us off and there was 1.5 ounces of booze (which we didn’t want more of) and if we wanted it filled to the top she would gladly add EVEN MORE ICE! On a positive note, the drink was in fact delicious. Note: if you want to spend $ 15 on a margarita here– just know you’ll be getting a TON of ice with roughly 6 oz of drink in a 12 – 14 ounce glass.

This place was not good. The food was disappointing. The nachos were over cooked and burnt really. When we told the waiter he said he would put in a new order when it came out they only had a few chips on the plate which were not even the same type of chips and they actually expected us to pick the chicken and toppings off from the other plate that was over cooked. It was a bizarre experience. We ordered a steak quesadilla and received a chicken quesadilla instead. They never asked how everything was and just came by and removed the plates without even checking if we were done. I will never go back!

The food was excellent! The atmosphere is a little bit strange. The day we went it was really really cold inside. The prices were very reasonable and the quality of the food was excellent though. We were surprised that the waitress couldn’t answer very simple questions about the menu though.

If horrible service, dirty surroundings, rude employees, and mediocre food is your thing, I recommend this place 100%.

I really wanted to love banditos. The food was quite good, also the margaritas. The service. was. AWFUL. I grew up in Ogunquit. I have spent 2 plus decades of my life in the restaurant business. I understand as a server being busy, out of an item, stressed, having a bad day. Our server was an absolute pill. Pouty, unpleasant. I asked 7 (no exaggeration) times for glass of water and was met with hostility every time. Sour and grumpy. I work hard and have no time for this attitude when dining out. If you are busy, be pleasant and busy. Would try Banditos again because the food was great, the hostess charming, and the setting also enjoyable. In hindsight I wished I had spoken to the manager, but we were trying to catch a movie, and frankly, I just wanted to leave before the vibes got any more negative.

I recently ate here with my mom and our experience was less than satisfactory.
We waited about 10 minutes to be seated, even though the place was dead. From there, the times only got longer and longer and nobody else was there. We ordered the chips and guacamole for an appetizer, and were extremely disappointed. For $ 7, you got a handful of tortilla chips and a little bowl of guacamole. We also split a plate of enchiladas that took a half hour to come out, and were very bland. We waited another twenty minutes to get the check and pay. It took so long we had to go back to the parking lot and pay the attendant for another hour! There are so many great places in Ogunquit, Bandito’s needs to step up it’s game.

The previous Saturday a few friends and I were walking around Ogunquit and decided to try out Banditos for a few drinks. We walked in and were immediately greeted by the hostess who told us we could sit at either the bar or get a table. Since we were just getting drinks we decided to sit at the bar. The bartender was extremely friendly. I ordered a Jefe margarita with Hornitos and it was one of the best I have had. My friend ordered a mojito and thoroughly enjoyed it. My other couple of friends split a beer bucket and had fun mixing and matching the different types of beer. After we had our first round of drinks we saw a plate of nachos come out and knew we had to stay for dinner. The hostess was very accommodating and found us a table outside. The food was excellent. We started off with the nachos Grande and for my meal I had the Bandito’s fish tacos. They were the best fish tacos I ever had. One of my friends ordered the Ajilo Shrimp and I was impressed with the beautiful presentation. Not only was the presentation excellent but the dish itself was as well. My other friends ordered various things and all of them were enjoyed. The staff was friendly and our waiter was excellent. He is originally from Mexico and we had a lot of fun talking to him about Mexico and what it is like. We will certainly be back.

AWFUL EXPERIENCE. Got there at 6pm when they weren’t busy. Asked to sit outside and she said no because all the tables were full. We said we would wait and she said they all just sat so basically no. We sat inside and waited forever to have a single person greet us or bring water. Same woman asked to take one of our chairs for a bigger table. Couple next to us looked miserable as they also were waiting on just water. We nicely asked the girl who wanted our chair to get a waitress. Waitress walked right by us (didn’t say be with you in a minute or anything), we got up and won’t be back. We went next door to the wild blueberry and had some awesome grilled lobster, go there instead!

We visit Ogunquit every summer and always try new things. We’ve also been on a serious burrito kick lately, so this place jumped right out. We went there for lunch and ordered a build you own burrito and a bucket of beers.
The burrito was awesome. Super fresh ingredients and perfect portions. They have a «Diablo» salsa that will blow your mind. Sweetness, heat and great texture.
We also came back later (the same day) and had some cocktails, the staff is young and friendly. We took our family there the next day for lunch and everyone was very pleased with their meal.
We will absolutely be back! Must have Mexican food with a good selection (even for kids) and nice atmosphere. You can even sit outside with fire pits, which is just awesome.
Enjoy!

Had an excellent experience, previous reviews had me a bit worried but the garden seating had a view of the beach and the house margarita was better than average. I was happy to see there was a burrito option (my favorite food) and it was fantastic. The only complaint I had is the tortilla wasn’t steamed. All in all we had an great time and I look forward to going back when we come back to Ogunquit

The food was super yummy, I loved the chips and salsa. The salsa is delish. Our tacos for lunch We’re good and I adore the atmosphere, especially the outdoor dining area. The service was a little slow and they always seemed confused, but they were all very kind, pleasant and happy to help.

Food was alright overall, service was very slow but they were very friendly. I really enjoyed the chips and salsa and the cheese nachos were absolutely amazing. If I’m in Ogunquit again I’ll try and stop by again.

If you are looking for a quick and delicious cocktail DONT GO HERE!!! It took thirty minutes to get our drinks. The sangria was red wine poured over ice with a splash of soda water. Never going back!

Nice outdoor seating area with cute tables, music, and fire pit. Our waitress was very nice and attentive, so we didn’t experience the poor service others have mentioned in their reviews.
I had the lobster tacos. While they were good and something different, I have learned that you just shouldn’t mess with lobster. Put some drawn butter on it and call it a day!
Hubs had a steak burrito and it was just ok.
Drinks were good but pricey. Try the mojito!

AVOID! one of the worst restaurant experiences I’ve ever had. Terrible service and awful food. We walked in and the bartender told us to sit ourselves anywhere. sat by the front and waited over 15 min for someone to come by. Waitress walked into room, looked at us and left and didn’t come back for another 5 min. Took our order finally and waited 10 more minutes for our drinks, chips and one of the worst salsas I’ve ever had. Food came and we received stale and soggy tacos. Waitress only came back to deliver food and drop off check. She was rude and unapologic the entire time. So many amazing restaurants in this area, don’t spend your time or your money here!

One star and only one star for this place. We ventured to this colorful restaurant to have dinner for a birthday. Service was so-​so and the drinks were not made that well. We ordered chips and guacamole for the 4 of us and found it impossible to get more chips. After 30 minutes, our meals came. Presentation was nice, but it didn’t prepare me for what was ahead. About half way through my meal, I began to feel nauseous and stopped eating. The waitress removed my plate from the table with no questions, we paid and left. Approximately 30 minutes later, as the rest of the group continued the birthday celebration at the Front Porch, I found myself face first into the toilet at the hotel for several hours missing the entire night.
I had a different meal than my counterparts and work in the food service business myself. This without a doubt can be attributed to a good olé case of food poisoning. Do yourself a favor, with so many restaurants around, bypass this one and try another.

We were walking by Bandito’s Mexican Grill after our walk along the Marginal Way, and decided we wanted Mexican for lunch. The atmosphere was charming, and we chose to sit outside in a pretty garden patio. I could look out across the way and gaze at the ocean. Our server was very nice and accommodating. We were among the first customers, so service was not a problem. We ordered Mojitos and were very pleased at both the taste and the alcohol content — perfectly made, although a little on the small side.
We ordered the chips and guacamole, and had to ask for a small side of salsa to go with it. They were accommodating. The guacamole was on the small side but really really good.
I had the grilled fish tacos (2) and my husband had the fried shrimp tacos (2). We thought our dishes were just great, and for $ 8.95, perfectly priced!

Good food, HORRIBLE service.
Stopped in on a Saturday afternoon during July for a quick lunch. After looking at the menu outside, the lobster tacos lured me in .
There is the option of outside or inside dining, the 3 of us chose to sit inside. And then we sat, and sat, and sat. Almost 15 minutes went by without seeing anyone. We were about to get up and leave when a server finally came. The restaurant was practically empty so it wasn’t like there was a ton of customers that needed to be waited on.
The good came out fast and seemed fresh. The lobster tacos were very good, however I’m not sure if they were quite worth 16.95 for the two with no sides. But something unique to the area that I can’t get at home.
My friends got a quesadilla and burrito. They said good was good. However they also did not come with sides (typically at home you get beans and rice); here it is ala carte.
Ordered piña coladas and margaritas.
Good size for the price and strong.
Basically a cute little Mexican restaurant. Food is good, not great, but if your looking for more authentic Mexican this is not the place.

Meh. Service was awful. We almost walked out when someone finally came to take out order. We saw 2 other tables of people get up and leave they waited so long. Place wasn’t even crowded.
My friend and I just had a margarita which was completely underwhelming. I’m sure there are a million other places around which are better bets.