Cielito Lindo Mexican Grill

The service horribly rude! It was like, do I really have to refill your chips? Do I really have to fill up your water? DO I REALLY HAVE TO SMILE? I’d never go back. Food was Ok…

I hate to give this place just one star but unfortunately EVERY time I eat here I get sick (for some reason my Grandpa loves going here, even though he always complains about it lol.) They never open on time and keep us waiting outside until about 9:20, 9:30 they then give us stale chips. As I already stated the food always makes me sick, the carne asada always tastes old and I’ve tried many different things and they are all bad unfortunately. I’m a younger person and I always have to ask them to turn the music down because it is so loud. You can definitely tell the owners don’t value their restaurant which is sad. I do want to end this review on a positive note saying that when the waiter does finally arrive to work he is very nice.

The food is always 4 to 5 stars. Excellent food for gringos as well as Hispanics. The service is getting worse. We go in every week or two and the last 3 times it is not good. Tonight took the cake. The food was great but the service is getting worse. They have time to be on their cell phones but never to take care of customers. I didn’t leave a tip tonight. The next time that the service is this lousy we won’t be back. I truly believe that our money is as good as any one else’s.

I like this place much more than the other Mexican restaurant in the Oak Knolls area. The food is good, and the staff is friendly. I will go back again.

I had a bad experience here several years ago, but I tried it again and now things are much better. But, they cook their rice inside a Wal-​Mart plastic shopping bag? Take a quick peek inside the kitchen next time you’re there and you’ll see. The food tastes good and the wait staff is nice, but cooking rice inside a Wal-​Mart plastic shopping bag?

Absolutely the worst Mexican food I have ever had in my life. I will never come here again. I came with my kids, got 2 kids meals, a burrito and enchilada plate. The burritos were soggy and falling apart, the chicken was fatty, the chips tasted like they were made in old oil, the enchilada sauce tasted like there was cinnamon/​nutmeg in it, and the boiled beans tasted like Palmolive dish soap. I took 3 bites and that was it, wasn’t asked if I wanted a take home box or anything (at which point I would’ve said, this is terrible food) worst part is it was over $ 30. I wouldn’t even feed this to my dog, wouldn’t want him to get sick. Seriously, plus it looks dirty in here. Never again. Never.

My family’s «go-​to» for Mexican food. Fresh, fast, authentic and the service is always great. They know what I want from memory (carnitas burrito, wet with green sauce). The spicy salsa from the salsa bar is like meth. One taste and you are hooked for life, so be careful!

While waiting to be seated, we watched the waiter bring the cook a half eaten beef buritto. He scrapped off the meat onto another plate, mixed more meat to it, & then fill tacos & serve them to another customer. GROSS! We will NEVER EAT THERE AGAIN! I wish I could give a negative star!

This is my wife and I’s favorite Mexican restaurant in Santa Maria and Orcutt!

Went here for dinner. We’re still trying to find a mexican food place that we like here in town.
The dinners are sort of expensive, but you get plenty of food.
Also, unlike a bunch of the ones in town, they have fountain sodas, with free refills, which is a huge plus.
Chips and salsa are also provided. The chips were sort of stale, not the best I’ve had, but at least they provide them.
Seating is tables, and they have the football/​sports games on a couple of tvs. Service is really great.
The food was good, but my cheese enchilada tasted sort of off. I also ordered my dinner with no beans. When I got my plate I was happy to see they remembered. Then I looked closer, and they hadn’t. They scraped off the beans and tried to put rice over it. Gross! I don’t like refried beans at all, and they should have replated my food instead of trying to old «just scrape it off» method.
The chicken enchilada was really great. Just not sure about the cheese one. It may have been the queso cheese inside, but it tasted slightly mildewy and it made me lose my appetite.
I’d probably just order the chicken ones from now on and not get the dinner. But if you want a pretty good place for mexican food, this is decent!

Filthy. I saw the waiter get a rag, wet it with hot water from the coffee machine, & wipe off dirty silverware & cups… then re-​stack them in the «clean» pile. No Way, Never Again.

We love the food and atmosphere! Friendly service too. Our only complaint is that our take out wasn’t ready when they told us it would be more than once. Other than that we love this place!

An update. I was the first person to review. I have eaten here many many times since my first review. Lunch and dinner. Weekend and mid week. Here is my udate — an average of all those times.
Food — still crazy delish. My fav salsa EVER. It’s the perfect blend of cilantro, salt, garlic, heat. Just the best. Hands down.
I always order the shredded chicken tacos. I also really like the flavor here. My hubby generally gets the torta, regular burrito or tacos. The torta comes with «French fries» They are weird. More like home fries maybe. He normally leaves them on his plate, but still orders the dish because the torta is so yummy.
Service #1 this is where my stars have been removed. It is confusing if you have a server or not. We go enough that I no longer wonder. I just assume someone will take my order and that is it, and I no longer expect them to get me more chips, a drink refill, a box for my leftovers. I just get frustrated if I focus on where they fall short. I just help myself with these things and think about how yummy the food was.
Service #2 There are two server/​workers I see in there every time. One guy does not even smile — mustache man. He almost gives me attitude when I only order tacos. The other guy is one step better. Minimal pleasant, but not a good server personality.
Service #3 I had one experience like another reviewer about our wrong food coming to the table. The mustache man tried to tell me I was wrong — what he made was correct and I did not remember what I ordered. We were eating with our friends and they agreed what I was served was not what I ordered, and on top of if the confrontation with the server was VERY awkward. He ended up fixing the problem, but I left feeling uncomfortable. I don’t think a server should make me feel that way.
Wait time — we found out the hard way that phone to go orders take priority. For example: on a random Wed night, restaurant not busy, we arrived at 6:30, we are regulars so we did not look at the menu long, we ended up telling them at 7:40 that we needed our order to go. Finally left at 7:50 not even eating any of our food :(They did not apologize, but just said they had so many to go orders they had to do before ours :(
Sometimes wait time is appropriate, and other times it is crazy! like this example
Summary — even with the awkward service and potential lonnng wait times I still go because it is my fav Mex flavors.

They have the best enchiladas. sauce is excellent. .great for kids too and not too pricey

We love it here but I’m sure it might not be for everyone. Salsa is awesome; fresh and very flavorful. It’s a great place for lunch on a lazy day

I am a local and a single mom who works full time. Going out is a special treat to my kids and I, and we put a lot of thought into where we choose to spend our money and precious time. As Cielito Lindo is very close to our home we have tried it several times. However, each time is always the same. Poor service. 9 times out of 10 we are seated promptly but then wait, and wait, and wait. The food is good but the neglect has turned me away for good. And, sadly, the worst part is, that as we wait, other’s are served before us, every time and I feel we are treated unfairly.

This place was so unfulfilled)= Haven’t been here in years and I should have just cooked at home. It was Taco Tuesday and you had to by a drink I so taught the Tacos would be amazing but I could have made better tacos at home such a letdown. PLUS!!! The service was terrible! My server didn’t even get the order right what a failure! And plus it was messy and Packed like sardines. This is my hometown and for this type of service is so upsetting… GROSS

I’ve gone a couple times and I have to say the last time was not how I remembered it! We were a party of 4 and all felt sick afterwards, I suspect it was the beans?
The staff was nice, its a cute place but we will not be going back.

To expensive! I went in for a two taco combo plate with one order of flour tortillas, and a ice tea. Cost me 18 dollars.
Service is also very strange. Its as if they try to do as little as possible to wait on you. They will take your order, bring your food, and give you a check. For example they gave me chips and took my order then when I asked for salsa for the chips they pointed to the back of the room and told me to get it myself. They brought the food to me, but then I had to go get my own drink refilled.
I wont be going back, there are many more Mexican restaurants to go to, that cost much less and has full service.

Was working near Orcutt today and found this nice little place on the way out. They had fast service and a great salsa to start out. My co-​worker grabbed the chili verde and I had a carnita burrito mexicano. The burrito looked so nice when it arrived I almost didn’t want to destroy it. But i did. :)