El Molinito

Our friends like this better than we do. It’s another standard Sonoran restaurant in OV. What differentiates this from the others is it is more expensive. Try it once and move on.

Strange is just the beginning of our experience at El Molinito! My boyfriend and I went during lunch and when we asked our server what was his favorite, he said he is forbidden by the owners to try anything because its a small business. (?) Very weird. But my green corn tamales were good. My boyfriend’s quesadilla was nasty as it was literally american cheese which is weird to put on a quesadilla. Don’t recommend it.

Amazing food, great service (we had John)! Staying at the state park and we stopped in for a quick meal. Pleasantly surprised at how tasty the food was. Previous reviews were mixed so we almost didnt go.
Highly recommended!

Just had dinner on cinco de mayo 2016 and had horrible service at El Molinito. We were regular guest of this restaurant, however our experience today was extremely unacceptable and unprofessional.
Once our waiter delivered our food he was know where to be found including missing items we requested.
I had requested tortillas and another beer and he never showed up. I waited 15 minutes while we ate dinner as the food got cold. When the waiter showed up he was apologetic, but claimed he had a large party on the other side of the dining room. Hmm??? I called for the manager and when he arrived I explained my dissatisfaction as I was refusing to pay for my half eaten meal. Sergio, The general manager threatened my wife and I explaining if We didn’t pay the bill he would call the cops! Flabbergasted at the response especially from the GM, we immediately left our unfinished dinner and payed our bill. We will never eat their again as we will happily take our business elsewhere…
As for Sergio, this mafioso bully ruined an Oro valley citizens perception for 11.99.

Always very freindly waiters and very good quality for the price. Shredded beef is the best.

This place always seems busy, so we decided to try them out. Food is good and we’re obsessed with the refried beans. Prices are OK, service is OK. My only complaint is every time we’ve eaten here (about 5 times now) we always have difficulty with the language barrier between the staff and ourselves. Can be confusing and slightly annoying.

Salsa and guac were fresh! Great prices for lunch menu, plus had leftovers for another day. Loved it.

We enjoyed our experience here. The hostessing here was excellent, so the moment you walked in the door, a positive impression was created. The restaurant offers a full bar and a very broad menu. I had albondigas soup which was great, and a salad. Our server was a very young man, named Ruben, very friendly and dedicated to making sure we got everything to make us happy. I ordered a dry vodka martini with a twist, and the bartender came to our booth to confirm our drink order and check to see which brand of spirits was preferred. After a satisfying dinner we repaired to the bar, where there was a dynamic duo working together: Juan, a native of Tucson, and Ali, a very experienced mixologist who described himself as «The First Persian Cowboy.» Very engaging, very hospitable place, from the minute we walked in the door for dinner: this is particularly special as it is next door to a big hotel and has a lot of through traffic.

Delicious food, comfortable atmosphere, quick service, and great prices for a lot of food! They also have a really nice patio that gives mountain views.

The worst food I have had in years. And don’t bother ordering the margaritas, they were disgusting pre– mixed and not drinkable. Go somewhere else… anywhere! We will never return.

I normally go to the one on Ina and I have not been here at this location for awhile but I have to say I was quite disappointed in the level of service and appearance of the place.
But when I got there are hostess could not understand me but I could not understand her clearly it was not very busy it took 10 minutes for me to get my drink and another 10 minutes for us to be asked if we wanted to order that when we did order the waiters never came back to our table but once
it took about 40 minutes for a food to get out the food was in good condition tasted great the bathroom for horrible they had air fresheners all over the place and the smell still permeate through

Great chicken enchilada with white sauce. Get it. Probably the best one I’ve had. Also tried basically everyone else’s food and this was the best thing on the table.

Halfway decent food but not as good as the Ina location. Attempt to convert the restaurant from a Chicago-​style pizza joint was done kinda halfway which makes for a weird atmosphere. It’s like a restaurant with an identity crisis.
Make the effort, burst out of the Oro Valley bubble, and drive further south for good Mexican food! Our city is full of it!

I don’t venture to oro valley that much but thought i would give this little place a try given its proximity to El Conquistador. I know this building has changed restaurant types several times, wonder if it is because of the location.
Anywho, stopped for a quick bite to eat on a Saturday at 1-​ish. Maybe two tables in side. the décor was decent, the people friendly, but honestly the food left something to be desired.
I guess with all the options that are super awesome in Tucson, i thought the sentiment would continue to the northern suburb. I was wrong. Very plain jane «Mexican» style food. It looked great and the portions were great size, it just did not compare to even the chain offerings a little further south.
The staff was friendly and although did not make any suggestions were always there when needed. I guess when it comes to eating out at a local Mexican place, I will stick to the southern city limits.

I ordered the molinito thinking it was their specialty cause of their name… I was mistaken. The steak was overcooked. The chilaquiles were mush. The sauce was okay. Rice was old. The beans were actually good.
Service was good.

This restaurant gets 5 stars for the delicious food. The staff is courteous, efficient, and prompt.
I have yet to try the margaritas but I hear they are delicious!

They seriously need to do something here with their restrooms. I have no idea what the problem is or why it even is, but the hung air fresheners simply are not doing the trick. The smell is horrible and I believe it has something to do with the venting on the floors, but even being seated back nearby, it’s enough to make me not want to return ever. Is this why so many restaurants seem to come and go from this location? It needs to get fixed.

I love the beans at this place, but now I have had the best chimichanga of my life! Went here with a large party (13 people including kids) and we were seated in the side area with no problems. Service was pretty good especially with keeping our chips and salsa refilled. The salsa was so good and spicy which seems to be lacking in so many restaurants in NC. Spicy in AZ means SPICY!
We started with the cheese crisps, very greasy but very cheesy and good! Can’t have too much though, but good for an appetizer. Now, the chimichanga… I got the shredded beef chimi topped with enchilada sauce, cheese and sour cream. It was a thing of beauty and was just as good as it looked! I will be craving this thing until I make another trip back to AZ. Take it from 5 in our party. this is the thing to get!
A star got knocked off because some of the silverware that was wrapped in the napkins were filthy, like not cleaned at all and my Dad got completely the wrong order. He didn’t send it back because he didn’t want to have to wait for it to be made again. He ended up getting the same thing as my stepmom which was the Ranchero steak chimi (or something like that) and they both said it was gross. They tasted mine and loved it of course.
I was a happy camper, too bad all of our party wasn’t.

Every time when we visit Tucson we go to El Molinito, we have even catered food for parties from the original El Molinito.
This time we tried the new place on Oracle. Our family and friends, party of 13 looked forward to this dinner the entire day. Unfortunately both food and service were a major disappointment. My husband order was all wrong, he wanted shredded beef chimichanga with red sauce on top and he got the steak chimichanga with no sauce. My steak chimichanga was all runny and hardly any meat inside. The chips were cold, it took forever to get more chips and salsa. Salsa very runny… Someone ordered one more beer that was delivered at the end of the meal. Not going to this place again.

This is the latest spawning of the Molinito chain and after it irons out its just opened bugs and jitters I think it will be one of their better locations. Its standard Tucson family Mexican food place fare, no glitz no glamour just solid tasty offerings of many local style favorites. The décor was not changed at all from the building last incarnation «The Loop» So this is one factor in me not giving it higher marks. The place just has an unfinished feel about it as if” we will wait and see before we make it home”. I will re-​evaluate my review after this place takes root and finds its way.
Till then I think is worth a visit if you are in the area.