Armando’s Dakota Bar & Grill

It seems you either have a good experience or a totally terrible one at Armando’s. We had a atrocious time… I guess we should have left when it started badly. Reserved patio;got a table in corridor to kitchen and bathrooms. Hostess rude and refused to change us. Carnitas dry and cold. Margaritas too strong and made with mix. Spoke to the owner and was yelled at with foul language. An evening with friends spoiled.

We stopped by at happy hour, place was busy but we managed to find a table. Ordered margaritas. Excellent! On smelling the steak fajitas we decided to share a plate, they were absolutely delicious, meat was so tender. Our waiter was great, and even though it was busy he checked on us often. Great place to eat!

Love this place. Excellent chicken chimichanga. The house margarita is just the way I like them.

Haven’t been to Armando’s for a while. Thought we would try it out the other night, so glad we did! The service by Javier was excellent! Never had to wait for a drink, always available, very friendly and professional. The food was outstanding, was there with three other guests and we all loved what we had. Armando was very friendly and gracious, he got us a table that we desired at a busy time. Will definitely be back soon.

We were there last night. It was a large group of 11 people but this is why I give such a bad review.
First things first, we are all getting there in a steady pace. The tables are set up with very little room to sit on one side because of a wall that was outside. I being 7 ½ months pregnant had to push the table out about 4 inches. The opposite side of the table had another large party as well so it was a tight fit as well.
The waitress came over and started with finding out who was paying for who and took down drink orders. We got most of the drinks in a timely manner. The birthday girl and her husband’s drinks took a long time for something so simple. When The last two people came and ordered their drinks, the iced tea came out in a timely manner but the regular on the rock margarita came out really late. The large party behind us got their drinks before he did, and they came in about 10 to 15 minutes after he had ordered his drink. It took about 30 minutes for him to get his drink! The table behind us who got their drinks had the exact same drink as he ordered.
By the time he got his drink our food came about 10 minutes later. I’m not complaining about how long it took to get the food since we were a large group, BUT I’m going to complain about how they forget to order 2 of the entrees. The birthday girl and her husband were forgotten again! Like really!?! Another waiter had to re-​take their order. By the time they got their food everyone else was half way done.
Now the fun part, the crappy food! My mom ordered a carnitas burrito with all beans, no sour cream and no guacamole. It was mega gross! Huge globs of fat from the pork. I say about ¹⁄₃ of the «meat» was just fat. And the taste wasn’t great either. Del Taco could make a better burrito for less than $ 14. I got the beef fajitas with no tortillas, I’m allergic to corn and flour. I told them this and they still but tortillas. I didn’t eat the rice for fear of getting sick. Their beef was like eating rubber. Mega tough to chew. Who uses cube steak for fajitas? Cheap people who don’t know how to cook is the answer! The meat had a weird seasoning on it and the beans were really lacking in flavor and salt. After ¹⁄₃ of them I stopped my jaw was too sore.
About 15 minutes after I was done eating the wait staff decided to come refill the drinks. Um everyone is done eating and now you want to fill the empty cups, yeah right. After they sang happy birthday to my friend it was time to pay. My bill was $ 47.42 I gave 3 $ 20 bills and waited for my change. When the change came she didn’t bring me my coins. I tip base on service, which really sucked. I was not going to leave a tip after how bad everything was but since they like to rip you off by not returning your coins, I just considered that her tip.
If you want to have a crappy meal and be ignored all evening this is your spot!

Sadly the service is below average. Be aware of the hidden up charges. They say grilled or shredded chicken and if you say grilled, they’ll charge you $ 4 and dont tell you its more. We had lunch for 3 and were charge $ 20 for up charges. Go to Fresh Agave Mexican Grill. Food is better and thats where all the ex employees from Armando went to work. #usetolovearmandosbutnomore

Been to Armandos several times. No where else on El Paseo to get good Mexican food really. No worries. Armandos is great. Nothing spectacular to look at but sitting on the somewhat crowded street side patio is fun. Great people watching. We bring our dog and enjoy early evenings. Their margaritas are second to none. Warning: one only or you will have to Über home. Food is very good. Gotta come here when on El Paseo.

I rarely give 5 stars. This one gets close because it is dog friendly and has very good Mexican food, a great heated patio (December visit). Ingredients were fresh and the salsa had kick as it should.

Meh. The location is the only thing it’s got going for it. I ordered two pork enchiladas, I got one pork and one chicken. They were average. My friend ordered two tacos, got three and was charged for three. It’s the little things that add up to better reviews.

Ok 2 stars as the food was eatable not memorable. The problem was customer service. I get it some times you can have an off day, but our experience was not just to isolated to one occurrence, it was the entire dining experience. We will not be back as the our too many good Mexican restaurants in the valley.

What can I say? I agree with all the positive comments. Food and drinks are excellent, with generous portions. All of the drinks have an excellent pour. Staff is very friendly but always busy. You should make a reservation for dinner. This is the best Mexican food in the East part of the Valley and they are busy day and night.
Great bar and patio for people watching on El Paseo.

Afternoon margaritas. No fuss, just how we like them. A recommendation while we were in the area and it didn’t disappoint.

Great service and great food! I was trying the Chimichanga which was OK but the chicken fajitas was amazing!

Not the same as it was before the fire .
Must be a new chef. Even chips are different. Margs still potent and hostess just as rude as before.

I overheard some ladies at the pool talking about the best Mexican food they ever had so I asked them where. This is where they told me to go. And it was DAMN good!!!
The salsa is a little spicy. Perfectly so. I had the ground beef chimichanga because I wanted something kind of junky like that. Man was it delicious!!! What are they putting in that ground beef?! It was ridiculously good. My husband had a shredded beef taco (also fantastic), a tamale, and something else. We both loved it. Wished we had tried a margarita. We were warned about how strong they are though and couldn’t do it today.
We had great service too. Everyone was really welcoming and asked many times how it was.
We can’t wait to come back here. It’s seriously good.

Could not get into Fresh Agave, so we gave this a try. Very happy we did. Don’t let the 3.5 Unilocal fool you. The food was very good and the atmosphere was great. They have a nice outdoor area that’s perfect at night.
The shrimp dishes were very good. The carnitas were perfectly cooked. A must have if you like carnitas. The margaritas kicked. Only drawback was the host at the door.

Love the atmosphere outdoors. The «Armandos» margarita is so strong! Not bad but very strong (and I love tequila!) I ordered a frozen strawberry for my second and enjoyed it much more. Salsa is also too spicy for me, I couldn’t eat it at all.

Is this really a Wednesday? It’s a sizzling summer night in the desert and Armando’s Bar & Grill is packed with guests partying on the patio.
The success of this El Paseo hot spot is largely due to the fabulous food and handcrafted cocktails served by an attentive team; although, the true heartbeat of this establishment are Martha & Armando himself who welcome guests as if inviting them into their own home and once you cross their path… you will discover you have made new friends for a lifetime.

My friend made reservations for dinner and wouldn’t tell me where we going. This restaurant also had misty sprays in the patio area since it was still hot out during this time. We decided to sit inside and were offered complimentary chips and salsa right away. The salsa was surprisingly spicy, yummy, and very addicting. We kept asking for more salsa, and they ended up giving us a giant container of salsa after asking the fourth time LOL.
We shared the mixed fajitas and fish tacos. The fajitas came with tortillas, of course, and had calamari, steak, chicken, and shrimp. I ended up eating most of the meats/​seafood. It was pretty good, but I didn’t like the fish tacos very much. My friend said the margaritas here are popular and strong!
I got a surprise scare when the staff started banging on things and singing «Happy Birthday» to me. They even brought out a huge sombrero for me to wear and a birthday ice cream sundae. They got me good, but too bad it wasn’t on video… I probably looked so funny– I was so scared I was screaming pretty loudly hahaaha… This place is great for celebrations!

Whenever my mom comes to town I enjoy taking her to local restaurants I love, and never the same restaurant twice. Yesterday I took her to Armando’s on El Paseo for lunch and the food was as great as always.
We shared the Chorizo Queso Fundido, Shrimp Cocktail and the Armando’s Tostada.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t introduce her to the famous Armando’s Cadillac Margarita — as we had a day of shopping ahead of us and we couldn’t risk not making it out the door.
The only complaint we had was that our server seemed to be in charge of a large section and was often times unavailable to us.