Los Sombreros

A complete dump when it comes to lunch. The location is great, the establishment is cool… but the food… really… Sadly disappointed. Expected so much more… I mean… so much more. WILL NEVER GO BACK!

I came in thinking that this restaurant would be great because of the building and the interior. But, everything was just the opposite. I ordered the chips and salsa, which was weird because chips are always free in Mexican restaurants, even in little fast food restaurants the chips and salsa are free for dine in customers. But, I got the chips and salsa, the lunch chicken enchilada, and a coke. The chips and salsa were beyond bland. The salsa was lack luster, and the chips were overly salty. I was hoping that my entrée would make up for the chips and salsa, but no. It came out looking absolutely stunning (like food porn on Instagram stunning), but was once again bland. The rice was the biggest disappointment (I love Mexican rice)…it was worse than the salsa. Absolutely no flavor at all, even with the green sauce that came with my enchilada. I thought the enchilada would make up for it, since it was my entrée and it looked beautiful, but the chicken was super sketchy and it was dripping in sauce, which made the tortilla soggy and me unhappy.
The only reason I am giving this place 2 stars is because the interior and exterior of the restaurant are beautiful, it has a fantastic drink menu (for when I can drink), and the people at the bar made me laugh with the conversation they were having. They really need to step up their food game if they are going to be charging these prices, because 9.95 for ONE lackluster enchilada makes me never want to come back here.

I had to have Tex-​Mex food during my trip to Arizona. Los Sombreros was so much more than that. It’s actually more gourmet and fancy Mexican food served with delicious sauces and in a variety of non traditional ways. My family and I were pleasantly surprised that they offered a tasting menu because we were able to taste many of their inventive foods. Also, their margaritas are very refreshing.

After walking out of New York’s Best we went to Los Sombreros. Great choice! Their Cadillac Margaritas are delicious. My husband had the the beef tacos which was loaded with large chunks of tender beef. I had the chicken mole, best mole I’ve had. It comes with black beans, rice and mixed vegetables. The tortillas are all hand made with masa. Servings are large, service is good and it is clean. Will return.

Pleasant service, unpleasant dinner. Massive portions belied poorly prepared food. The chicken taco was dry, beef tacos tough, guacamole over salted. Even the margarita was poorly mixed. I would not recommend this place to anyone seeking an expensive Mexican meal.

What a gem, located in airpark just across from EOS fitness. This place serves up some of the most authentic Mexican food in Scottsdale. The bartender is very knowledgable on tequilas and does not mind making custom margaritas to your liking. My favorite is the Chilli Relleno! The absolute best I have ever tasted.

I have been eager to try Los Sombreros for some time. Last night (Cinco de Mayo) was my first visit. I expected it would be busy and that it would take a while to be served.
It wasn’t busy. The staff, however, was running around like mad, accomplishing virtually nothing. Tables were left uncleared throughout the restaurant. Glasses were stacked up at one end of the bar. Soon after I sat at the bar, more people started coming in. They had to wait at the door a good five minutes before anyone showed them to a table. The bartender was friendly, took my order quickly, and I did eventually get my drink. The drinks there are freshly made, which is great, but it’s very labor intensive and time consuming. The man was behind the bar alone trying to take care of the entire restaurant’s orders. On Cinco de Mayo! Also known as Gringo’s Night out for Mexican Food and Margaritas! Very poorly managed. If a Mexican establishment ever needs extra staff, it’s on Cinco de Mayo. Then I ordered a glass of wine. They couldn’t find the bottle. Fine. Ordered another. They couldn’t find the bottle. So I asked him to pour me what did he have available. Luckily, it was a very nice Pinot noir.
Then I approached the hostess stand and asked to be placed on the list for a table on their patio. They didn’t actually have a hostess but the waitstaff who came up to help was very nice and said she’d just come get me when one came available.
A good 20 minutes later she came back to me and asked if I wanted to sit inside. Uncleared, EMPTY tables were on the patio. No, thank you. By that time I was trying to get the bartender’s attention to cash me out. Very disappointed because I really wanted to try the menu, which looked amazing. I just couldn’t wait any longer.
I will go back and try again. I have to wonder if a call to Bar Rescue might help the owners and management figure out that customer service really does matter. We will see.

Tasty but pretty pricey. It’s the same concept of Chipotle; choose a burrito, salad, etc and add your choice of meat and toppings. Basically lettuce and cheese. Tortillas and meat were very good but they loaded my taco with lettuce, taking up the whole thing. Side of rice and beans, which are mediocre. $ 13 for 2 small tacos and a small drink. Employees at McDonald’s are friendlier than here too…

Service & the food wasn’t as great as I thought it would be

Don go here if you’re looking for American Mexican food. Service is ok. We were told to seat ourselves inside and then the host acted all butt hurt when he came in and saw where we sat ourselves!
The guacamole appetizer is $ 6.95 for about ¾ of a cup, so not worth it. BTW, chips and salsa are NOT complimentary, you only get them if you purchasable appetizer. Never heard of this at a Mexican restaurant.
The drink menu is larger than the food menu. We had the carnitas, it was good.
Overall, we wanted to walk out when we first got there and wish we had. The carnitas was good, but not worth the overall experience. We were there while on vacation with another family and they will not split the bill for you and the add gratuity over five people. No Bueno!

Very tasty Southern Mexican food! Had the seafood tacos, rice and beans. No sour cream. Salsa is very good and made from scratch! This place should have more than 3 stars!

This place didn’t stand out on it’s own but I tried it due to the proximity to my hotel and the overall positive Unilocal reviews and I am happy that I did. I went early and solo so I sat at the bar. I didn’t experience any of the service issues that are pervasive in other reviews.
The bartender was a bit less sophisticated that I would have expected. Given the extensive tequila menu, I asked for a recommendation for his best margarita. Despite me telling him that I am not a fan of sweet and a more traditionalist, he suggested a coconut margarita. When he described the ingredients, I passed on his recommendation and went with one from the menu (which was delicious).
As a vegetarian, I also asked for the bartender’s food recommendation. He was very candid and knowledgeable about both the menu and other diners’ preferences. At his recommendation, I ordered the hibiscus enchilada and I am so glad that I did! It looked beautiful and tasted better — a nice blend of tangy and creamy and very substantial. The black beans served with it were good, if not a bit too salty. Fresh steamed veggies and rice added a nice compliment.
I found the prices reasonable for the quality and amount of food. They do offer a limited happy hour menu that had many options at discounted prices. I don’t mind paying for quality food but the one thing that rubbed me the wrong way was charging for chips and salsa, which were just okay — typical offerings at any other Mexican restaurant. The price was modest but it was a strange staple to charge for.

When you arrive ask for Ernesto!
We have never been here before and its a more traditional Mexican restaurant than those i have been at before. I haven’t heard names/​ingredients for some of the food options, and he was very good at explaining each option.
Food was DELICIOUS and the beverages were perfect for a warm sunny day in Scottsdale. For margarita choices, all you gotta do is tell them you desire, more/​less sweet or more/​less fruity and you be set!

Really poor service keeps this place from being 4 or 5-​stars because the food is really good.
We had seen that Los Sombreros was called one of the best Mexican restaurants in Scottsdale by several magazines, newspapers, etc, but we were skeptical of coming here because of the 3-​star rating on Unilocal.When we dug into the ratings it seemed like there were a lot of 1-​star ratings because of bad service. After having dinner here, we could definitely see why.
The joint wasn’t even half-​way full and the waitress was already telling us we should get our order in quickly because there were big parties there that would take a while to make the food for.
We placed our order, had to ask repeatedly for the guacamole we ordered so we could eat it with the chips. We also had trouble getting our waters refilled. After we finally got our food it was lukewarm temperature at best. We considered sending it back but didn’t want to wait any longer. My brother also asked for jalapenos multiple times and we never got them.
The food was actually very good. I got the duck enchilada which was tasty and much more authentic than most Mexican food I had. My brother loved his salad with Oaxaca cheese, chicken and pumpkin seeds. My dad had a Lamb Adobo and the sauce was very tasty and not too rich. My mom loved her Hibiscus Enchilada.
We told our waitress that the food was cold at the end and she gave us a $ 20 gift card for the next time we come but it would expire in a month. This seemed a bit weak given that all of our food was cold.
Overall, I would like to give more than 3-​stars because of the quality of the food but can’t given how bad the service was. Please get a new manager and we will come back!

Sub par. Too expensive for too little mediocre food. Not likely to return. Beans are soupy and taste like dish water, better suited for a straw than fork. Salsa is horrible. One small mediocre enchilada for $ 10. Sat on patio which was very nice. Staff not at all attendant, such as soda glass was empty for more than 5 minutes with them frequently walking by. Finally after waiting almost 10 minutes asked for and got my check.

This ain’t Macayo’s folks. It ain’t Los Dos Molinos, either.
If your only exposure to Mexican food is Tex-​Mex, AZ-​Mex, or NM-​Mex, you will probably find yourself dazed and confused. This is more in line with what you will find in the interior of Mexico.
It’s also delicious. Try the duck enchiladas covered in a smoky mole sauce. The seafood, either as enchiladas or just as a fish entrée is also excellent. The flavors of the ingredients really come through and the food isn’t heavy.
Service is friendly and they have a great patio. Margaritas are top-​notch: even the well margarita uses decent tequila.

We love Mexican food. In a bad way. Why does a place with amazing food (espinaca queso, crispy potato tacos, steak tacos) less than 10 minutes away from our house with a beautiful (albeit overlooking Gold’s Gym) patio get 2 stars?
No water. Requested multiple times from both server and food runner. Server clearly remembered I had asked for water about 10 minutes before and got really weird. Just apologize and bring water! Don’t stay silent and awkward and avoid us!
I’m a habitual 20% tipper to a fault… not this time. This place lost me as a potential regular.

Los Sombreros (downtown Scottsdale) is one of my husband’s favorite restaurants but due to its location and small parking lot, it wasn’t one of our frequent dining destinations. Now that a location opened up down the street from us in North Scottsdale, we are so happy! We came here opening weekend and were surprised to find it wasn’t packed. There were a few diners outside enjoying the lovely patio and a smattering of folks inside. The actual inside has tons of room — a front dining area that leads into the bar, a side dining area, and a back dining area. We originally wanted to sit outside, but after finding it a bit chilly we decided to move inside. We sat at a nice booth that faced the bar and open kitchen. This location’s design choices seem drastically different from the Downtown location — more of a family friendly/​Mexican chain feeling. This isn’t bad in anyway, just different. It is still very nicely decorated and I loved the tables and large glass mirrors.
To start, I ordered the margarita de coco (a coconut margarita) and my husband ordered La Damiana (a margarita with Damiana liquer). Since it was opening weekend, it took a long time for our drinks to arrive. My husband wasn’t too impressed with his drink, but he wanted to try something new so that’s on him. I knew perfectly well how a coconut margarita should taste and mine wasn’t very coconutty. The pineapple juice really overpowered the drink. It was good, but not what I was expecting. After our drinks arrived, complimentary chips and salsa arrived. They were good to munch on, since we were hungry and couldn’t wait for our meals to arrive.
Halfway through our drinks (and we are slow drinkers) our meals finally arrived. I ordered the Puerco en Chipotle because that is my favorite — slow cooked pork in a chipotle sauce with a sprinkling of cheese on top. Simple, yet oh-​so delicious. Normally, my husband and I would order this and split but we decided to get our own dishes that night. Good thing we did because the portions were much smaller than the portions served up at the downtown Los Sombreros location. It was still delicious. My husband ordered the Camarones Al Tequila — which are shrimps in a chipotle cream sauce and some bacon. It was über yummy. My husband really enjoyed his meal.
Overall, our food was fantastic and tasted the same as the Downtown location. Taste-​wise, it met our expectations. The drinks and service could use some improvement, but it was opening weekend. Our server was extremely nice and constantly smiling. She even apologized for the slowness and gave us a coupon to use for our next visit. It was a very nice touch and we will definitely be back.

The ten courses for two special is PHENOMENAL and just might be as good as it gets for Mexican Cuisine in this area. You can’t help being delighted with all the bountiful flavorful tasty plates that give you the feeling you were on a tour along Central Mexico. Everything we tried was delicious and our dining companions were also thrilled and impressed with the well crafted food. (This now is a new favorite of theirs too.) Many other great Mexican cuisine can be found around town but what’s here at Los Sombreros it’s a finer dining experience with a very comfortable attractive dining room and shaded patio and very attentive service.
I thought a few things to go wrong since this was their first weekend open and the multi course menu requires above average service but to my surprise things went well like clockwork.
For $ 75. the menu per couple went like this.
Chips and salsa
(2) Corn Chowder Soups
(2) Crispy Hibiscus Tacos
Fig and Panela Cheese Salad
Crab and Mango Salad
Snapper and Corn in Chipotle Balsamic honey sauce
Trout and Cauliflower in lemon butter caper sauce
Chicken Breast stuffed with goat cheese, huitlacohe in chipotle tomato sauce
Chile Rellenos
Pork Chop with tamarind mole
House Made Ice Cream
You should plan the ten course event to take over two hours to enjoy.

I am so excited that Los Sombreros has opened a new location closer to me in North Scottsdale. For years they have been serving the best upscale Mexican food in the Valley and with the new location I can enjoy it more often.
I was here today for lunch and everything was great. The salsa for the chips was amazing. My chiliquiles were delicious and the service was fantastic.
I can’t wait to come back for happy hour and dinner in the very near future.