Ixtapa

Love this Mexican restaurant! This one is by far the best in Stanwood.
Food: always consistent and fresh.
Service: I’ve always had great customer
Service here
All in all. great place to go! Recommend it to everyone.

My wife and I drove by this place several times and finally decided to give it a try. Wow, were we happy we we did! The staff is excellent and the service was perfect. I ordered the carne asada and my wife ordered a chimichanga. Both were amazing and more food than we souls have eaten. You will not regret eating here! Did I mention the staff? Again, they were amazing!

Good Solid Mexican food at fair prices. The staff is very friendly, attentive, and inviting. Not part of the family, just a long time local who likes the food and welcoming environment. Negative comments are always so interesting, think it tells you more about the reviewer than the restaurant.

Wife & I had dinner on Friday night in the bar. Great service and decent food.

The Mexican food here is excellent. Portions are very generous. Today our server was Brenda. She was helpful with menu advice and was very sweet. I had Carne Asada and it was delicious. Five stars.

My food was simply not edible. Some of the worst Mexican food and service I have ever had. The bus boy waited on us, only seen waitress when she took our order.

We love this restaurant. The atmosphere is inviting and the staff always make us feel like part of the family. They are always walking by and making sure your drinks are refilled if empty. We’ve never had to ask.
We’ve tried many things on the menu and have never been disappointed. The food is very delicious.

We love this place! First off the food is excellent and the portions are huge. The service is of the best I have experienced anywhere. Every staff member from the server’s through the busser’s and the dish washer are the kindest most attentive team of service professionals I have ever experienced. The manager is kind, completely involved and supportive of the staff. That’s a lot to say about just the service, but they are that good. The food is wonderful, just be careful if you order a 3 item combo plate you will have enough for 3 meals (Its Big). The prices are good and you don’t get charged for additional salsa, chips and bean dip. In closing I’ll say you have to try this place it is fantastic!

My husband and I ate there last night. First of all, we were seated to our table and sat down on the sunken seats. The seats were like the springs were broken. It is a large restraunt but was pretty empty. We live in Arlington and wanted to try a different Mexican restraunt .I ordered fajita’s and my husband ordered chicken enchilada’
fahita’s had a tangy flavor, not good at all and had way to many onions. could hardly find any
husband said his enchilad’s had a sweet flavor. The only food we liked were the salsa& chips. The sevice was fine, but will not be back. We will stick to Pariso’s in smokey point.

My family enjoys the food at the Stanwood Ixtapa but we have noticed how inconsistent the service can be. Sometimes the servers act like they don’t know what they’re doing or they just don’t care. Other times they are more attentive, friendly and helpful. It just depends on who you get I guess. I have never been in this restaurant when it has been busy. It always seems to be my party with a couple other dining parties and lots of empty seats. So it’s definitely not that the servers are overwhelmed or anything!
I have to agree with some of the other reviewers that the prices are too high. To be fair, they seem to be on par with other Mexican restaurants regarding their prices, but I think most other Mexican restaurants are overpriced as well.
In conclusion, we think the food is yummy and tasty but we prepare ourselves that the dining experience may be lacking at any given visit. We just leave a lot less tip if we aren’t happy with it. The food is on the expensive side. If they would lower the prices, we would eat here more often.
Chances are if you decide to eat here, you’ll enjoy the food but nothing about your visit will be outstanding or «wow» you.

Not sure where the bad reviews are from… never had a bad experience here. The area has no less than 4 mexican restaurants in the area. Ixtapa has the freshest food bar none. The kitchen is clean, the restaurant and bathrooms are clean… unlike some other restaurants in the area. The salsa is made daily and is a nice combination of fresh tomatoes, cilantro and onions. The fresh corn tortillas that are made Fri, Sat are really delicious. Their carne asada is wonderful, the green burrito lunch special cant be beat. The bar is not much fun… no music, however the drinks are good… i came up with a version of a margarita and martini… a margatini — they are the best. Juanita the bartender is by far one of the best in the area… try her mojito or michelada as well as the margatini sometime. Prices are a little on the high side but very much in line with what other restaurants in town are charging.
Not a great place for happy hour with no music but the management is presenting this as a family restaurant.
Not sure what Lindsay’s beef is to write such an extensive and glaring review… but 5 stars is right for this place. Marcos and his staff will treat you right every time you go… and the food is the best mexican food in Stanwood.

Nope. You aren’t hungry enough to eat this. You’d be better off going to bed without your supper. Weak food with some seriously questionable choices being made in the kitchen. Example, my wife ordered the fish tacos, they came and the fish was breaded and fried and came with a side of… wait for it… tarter sauce. Proceed at your own risk.

Lindsay H is absolutely spot on with her review about this restaurant. The prices for this place are ridiculous. How is this restaurant any different from any other Mexican restaurant that has lower prices and literally the same foods?! The dish that sounded good to me I was hesitant to pick a dish that expensive that might not even taste well so I went with my usual choice of a ground beef enchilada that was actually adorable. Worst dish ever. Ground beef tasted weird and the enchilada sauce was sweet and not appealing. If the affordable dish was awful what would the expensive dish been like? How do you mess up an enchilada?! I will never eat at this place ever again.

Worth the drive from I-​5 if you’re passing by… delicious, different with great service… everything one could hope for. Will be back and we live in Seattle!

Really, how the heck does this place have 5 stars??? Are you sure you ate at Ixtapa? I think the people that rated it so high are either relatives or affiliates of the owners or the reviews are actually from the owners. So this was my 2^nd time eating at an Ixtapa. First time was at the one in Snohomish a year ago and I did not like it. I have lived in Stanwood for a year now and made sure to steer clear of Ixtapa until today. I wanted Mexican for dinner and my husband, for some strange reason, wanted to go to Ixtapa. Even after I told him that I didn’t like the one in Snohomish. I didn’t want to be difficult so I decided to give this location a chance. I must first address a very serious issue I have with this place. You are proud of advertising that you are now serving homemade tortillas. If you’re not doing that as normal business, then why the heck are you a Mexican restaurant. So I was kinda excited to try these «homemade tortillas.» As soon as we walked in the door there was a sign that said homemade tortillas are only made from 6 – 9 Fri-​Sun. Now you’ve really got to be kidding me. The service was horribly slow. The man that greeted us and seated us was very nice and came back several times to refill our drinks and take our plates when we were done. Now mind you, we had a waitress that should’ve been doing this the entire time but instead, the host was. And the crazy part, it was not busy at all. Not that big of a deal. I can look past slow service if the food makes up for it. We ordered queso (cheese dip) as an appetizer. It came about 1 minute before our food came. My husband asked about it and they said it takes some time because they have to make it. I don’t know what all the fuss was about. When it finally came we all tasted it and looked at each other with strange faces. It had a weird taste. Like a, generic processed cheese food taste with a plastic aftertaste. The entire bowl went to waste because nobody ate it. When our dinners arrived, my chimichanga that I ordered was shredded beef and not ground beef (picadillo) like I ordered. Normally I would’ve eaten it but it just down right didn’t taste good. It had a sweet sauce covering the beef. The waitress said she’d have them make it again. When she brought the correct order I was hoping and praying it didn’t have that gross sweet sauce that was in the first one. Unfortunately for me, it did. The ground beef was disgusting. It looked like mushy sloppy joe straight from a can and tasted like it too. Taco Bell ground beef made this stuff look like filet mignon. So with that said, I gave this place a chance but I will never eat there again. Overpriced and flat out disgusting food. The only thing that I liked were the chips and bean dip. Which was probably from a can. If you like this place then all I can say is you don’t know what good Mexican food tastes like. I lived in San Antonio for 5 ½ years so I think I’m a pretty good judge of Mexican Food. For those in Stanwood looking for a descent Mexican meal, skip this place and try Dos Reales or Amigos. They are much better! Question: What does being close to QFC and the Post office matter? Just saying!

Great location, fast service, good food. I asked for the enchilada special without the green sauce, and instead with cheese. Instead of questions or «I’ll check with my manager» I got a «No, problem!» and got my enchiladas the way I asked. Very good, hot, and quick service. Will return!

Very good location near QFC and across from Stanwood Post Office. Restaurant is CLEAN and food is very fresh and tastey. Good portions and fair prices. They have a bar area with some flat screens. Overall, this place deserves your business!