Abuelo’s

I’m sad that it’s closed

I loved their food and was going to take my Maid of Honor here for lunch to talk about catering. The day I got there, the driveway wasn’t even plowed!
They disappeared so fast!

My girlfriend and I dined in the bar area here twice, and each time the service was absolutely fantastic. This is hands down the best restaurant we’ve been to in a while, and we’ve dined in several different restaurants in the Metro Detroit area. We’ve also worked in various restaurants, so we know that the workers here are doing their job very well. I highly recommend Abuelo’s if you want excellent service and superb food.

My lovely partner and I were in the mood for something like Mexican. We had never been here before so it seemed liked a good time to try it.
The interior of the restaurant is quite fancy for what I typically think of when I think of Mexican. The staff were all very friendly and helpful and we were seated right away.
The chips are of a thin variety, which I love! With the chips they bring you three different kinds of salsa to enjoy and one extra hot version.
I ordered two enchiladas, one cheese and one spinach. I was craving some Mexican rice, but alas when I asked my waiter he said the Mexican rice was made with chicken stock. The vegetarian friendly version was lime rice, which is what I ordered. I enjoyed the spinach enchilada much more than the cheese as it seemed to have more flavor. The lime rice was good, not a whole lot of flavor. Seemed almost like sticky rice to me. It went ok, with the rest of the meal.
I’m giving the experience an overall rating of three stars because, the food was expected. What I mean by that was; I wasn’t wowed, or particularly in love with any of the food. It had a very «chain restaurant» feel to it, which for me is a draw back because you end up over paying for mediocre, name brand food.

Best Mexican food in the area. Enchiladas are most delicious anywhere. Get the papas con chile. Mashed potatoes with peppers and cheese. Amazing. The Raja con queso for your side dish is an added bonus. The sauces and dips are scrumptious. Never had bad service. They even have trivia in the bar once a week. Full bar, cold beverages. Can’t lose with a meal here.

Well not the best Mex food I have ever had and the portions are small. I ordered a chicken fajita and no I’m not kidding in the mix of topping I got one thin slice of green pepper and two slices of red peppers. Then all onions, that’s it. Wow I guess you could say I was disappointed but when I opened the tortilla with a count of three well I think you can guess my feelings. On the good side the salas was good. So if you want some salsa that’s the place to go.

We came for happy hour, decent bar menu with generous discounts on drinks in a nice atmosphere (bring your ID!) BUT
If you want anything better this you find at Chili’s don’t bother:
1. They use ground beef that tastes like old Ortega seasoning. Kind of like fancy Taco Bell
2. The pulled pork is NOT flavored as carnitas should be. It has the same flavor as the beef.
3. Ok for families, your five year old will love the bland, safe, kraft cheese style
4. Weak drinks, and forgot the salt on my margarita glass
Good:
1. Light, not salty chips with 3 lovely kinds of salsa
2. Music is good, classics and modern. Gypsy Kings are on as I write this masterpiece.

I really enjoyed my first experience. My waitress was great. My drink was delicious. Food was good.
I will be returning

This place is nice. The atmosphere is pretty, and easy on the eyes. I found the food to be good but my husband literally kissed the building on the way out he thought it was so amazing Lol! We drove all the way here from Dearborn Heights, because my husband heard good things about it from a coworker. I didn’t feel it was good enough to take the drive because we have a lot of local Mexican restaurants that are just as good, but as I stated before he literally kissed the outside of the building after he ate. He thinks this place walks on water! My reaction wasn’t as noteworthy as his, however the food was good. It’s more upscale than most Mexican restaurants, and if I’m in the area I would visit again

Took my daughter for lunch a few days ago. I hadn’t been there since they first opened. No complaints. You get three different types of salsa with your chips; the pineapple salsa (the green one) is delicious! Food was good. Service was good. My daughter’s hamburger was a little under-​cooked for our liking, but the flavor was REALLY good. There are at least two places nearby that specialize in burgers but I think Abuelo’s burger was much better than the others’ burgers.

Yep, it’s a chain, something I generally avoid, but good Mexican Food is hard to come by around here. I think that Abuelo’s does a pretty good job of offering some fairly innovative options. We usually go once a month or so, and have never been disappointed. I especially like their Enchiladas, their dip sampler, and their Sangria, which is the best I have had outside of the stuff I make myself.

They have great enchiladas here. I love the spinach enchiladas. The menu offers many choices and the prices are reasonable. No complaints! If you like Mexican food, you’ll love the food here.

First and last visit to this place. Staff is very friendly… but the food is flavorless and extremely over priced. Margaritas are great! Salsa is meh. They call on inferno… for who? Nothing hot about it. There is no authentic taste or smell to this place. Just a pretty building with some microwaved food.

Although it was a very small Thursday Night crowd, which was nice versus the frenetic hubbub that normally is on the Shcoennherr-​Hall Road corridor.
We were promptly greeted & seated in Sarah’s section.
WOW!
5 stars for Sarah on the spot, you know when you know that your server is going to be excellent, as you catch that initial positive vibe.
Caring –Polite-​Genuine– Efficient
Abuelos changed the menu 2 – 3 weeks ago & it will take you a moment to get acclimated .
Sarah brought out the salsa trio & there light fresh chips, the bride is allergic to tomatoes so the green salsa here saves the day. They now have a newer darker-​hotter brownish salsa that is great
The bride loves the chicken /​cheese quesadilla appetizer, it is $ 6.99 & $ 2 for chicken
It is a glorious presentation & grilled perfectly. It came with sour cream & guacamole
I ordered the chile relenois-​enchilada combo for $ 9.25
The chili relenois was a poblano pepper stuffed with shredded beef
& I chose a pork enchilada and came with papas potatoes & refried beans.
The food came out in less than 12 minutes & was beyond piping hot.
The dinner portions were so large, that we both needed togo boxes.

I went on Friday night with my girlfriend and my parents. I ordered The Monterrey — one chicken taco, one chili con calle, four enchiladas, Mexican potatoes and Mexican rice. Yes, I finished all of it – with a large frozen margarita on top of it. I regretted that a couple hours later for sure because it was about three times my normal meal size, but I highly enjoyed it. I like how they give you choices for enchiladas, including sauce and what is inside (the spinach enchilada with cream sauce is mmmazing).
The draft beer list is pretty short, but then again, most people order margaritas at Mexican restaurants anyway. I will go again for sure.

What happened to this place? When it first opened, everything was great. When you walked in you could smell the food (thats how you knew everything wasn’t microwaved) Food tasted fresh. Now it seems that they went Microwaved! ugh. I can say the chips, salsa and guacamole is good. But sadly how it went downhill.

Abuelo’s does a good job, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that it’s shackled by that chain philosophy that well… chains it down. My entire meal I was struck by that feeling that I’m experiencing «Commercial Mexican» rather than authentic, almost as if the restaurant is a cartoon version of what real Mexican food is. It’s enjoyable, it’s good, but it just isn’t the real thing. In the end, that costs points. I wasn’t too crazy about the chips, though after a carafe of sangria disappeared, the chips went like hot cakes.
Slowly but surely, I’m coming to the realization that there is no stand out stellar dining experiences to be had on Hall Road, but rather just fancy corporate meals to fill your stomach while you are out shopping.
But Abuelo’s stands out as one of the better spots on Hall Road, and if you have to stop and eat somewhere after the mall, you can’t go wrong here.

Mexican food with incredibly large portions and incredibly large puddles of grease — just the way grandpa would have liked.
Abuelos was a far drive for a work lunch but worth it. While the menu usually has more expensive options for Mexican, they are with reason. The food is higher quality and there is more of it. The free chips for example, come with four separate salsas including a super spicy variety and even a green chile salsa.
For the record, green chile salsa is the greatest green sauce in the world — go ahead and prove me wrong Unilocalers, PROVE ME WRONG.
Abuelos also has lunch specials and even those are a lot of food. The burrito was more than enough for me as was the chicken chimichanga I ordered the first time I was there.
The chicken chimichanga at Abuelos was the best I had ever had, but the second time around I wanted something healthier. The waitress easily accommodated me by suggesting a chicken burrito with avocado. It was great.
If you love Mexican food, or restaurants named after grandparents, you should visit this place. Also, it has a convenient location in the parking lot of Lakeside Mall in front of JC Penney. No one ever goes to JC Penney so you will never have to fight parking or traffic.
BONUS: When you visit, try counting the stereotypes on the traditional Mexican mural on the wall. It is amazing.

I left here offended, angry, and felt like my heritage and palette were both insulted.
I should share that I am from Albuquerque. We are absolutely at the heart of the the Mex food environment. We tend to dress up our food but absolutely have a knack for making things really spicy with authentic flavors of both mexico and native American culture.
I came in on a slow Sunday at around 11:30AM. I sat in the bar area, and noted that a lot of the menu items were not authentic at all. For the first course I was served three different types of salsa with some chips. The chips were thin, but the real downer of the experience is that the chips were served cold. It would do a lot more for the flavor of the chips if they had been thrown into a microwave for about 20 seconds or so before being served.
The next item is the salsas. The three that were offered were a ‘tropical’ mix I had never heard of that *looked* like it could be a Salsa Verde that had a definite fruity twang to it. The second was a very poor and uninspired picante. The third was a hot (well, by Michigan standards I assume) sauce with a twinge to it and a peppery bite.
My bartender was kind enough to suggest I mix the salsas together to go with my chips… That idea fell flat as two bad salsas don’t really mix together to make a good one.
The main course was truly a trumph of insulting food. I was served a «chille Relenno» which was a deep fried (Ahem, unstuffed…) Anaheim chili with CHEEZE WHIZ on top. Cheeze whiz. It was at this point that I decided to simply take some of my remaining chips and mixed the thing together and hoped for something resembling a mildly appetizing version of taco bell.
To the management: What were you thinking? This isn’t even close to Mexican food nor Tex mex. This is at best a carribean spin on Mexican food with food that has been severely altered to appease a clientele that finds cod offensively spicy. It was undercooked, it was bland, and frankly it was insulting.
Lastly: DO NOT take my beverage, and refill the same class with a used lemon and watered down ice and refill it. How tough is it to screw up a diet coke?
Chili’s is less offensive…

It was 3pm and I had not ate a thing all day. I was ready for a nice meal so I went to my favorite, nearby Mexican restaurant… Abuello’s!
I was in the mood to try something different. I explained to the server that the last time I tried something different that had avocado, spinaches and a cream sauce that I loved it. She said that if I enjoyed that meal I should really enjoy the Pescado Guerro, boy was she ever right! This meal was prepared to perfection and was so tasty. There was a large piece of mahi-​mahi with shrimp, asparagus, spinach and mushrooms on top. There was a delicious, light, butter cream sauce poured over everything. It hit the spot. The rice was very good to include with each bite I took. I enjoyed this meal with a glass of St. Francis Red wine.
Although I was stuffed I decided to try a piece of the white cake. I loved it and despite my 48yr old waste line that is every growing, I ate every light, delicious bite.
My server provided top-​notch service.
Regarding the Pescado Guerro it was very tasty. This meal was prepared to perfection and was so tasty. There was a large piece of mahi-​mahi with shrimp, asparagus, spinach and mushrooms on top. There was a delicious, light, butter cream sauce poured over everything. It hit the spot. The rice was very good to include with each bite I took.