Uncle Julio's Frontenac

Went in at lunch time, there were maybe 5 tables with people dining in. Immediately ordered our drinks and food at the same time bc we only had an hour before we had to be somewhere. I asked about 25 min later if it was almost ready, the waitress said just a couple min. 20 more minutes go by and the manager comes out and tells me they had a big table before me, just a couple more min. I informed him that the waitress shouldn’t have told us it was coming out then. He said he took $15 off my bill. Waited 10 more min, still no food. He said it’s just 2 more min. I said well I have to leave in 1 minute. I ended up waiting 5 bc my daughter was starving, still no food but they ran my credit card so I ended up leaving with no food. I’m definitely not happy.

Food is incredible. Service the few times we have been here is not. Will be awhile before we will be back.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 1

Based on the reviews, I should’ve looked at first I can only say that I agree the service was incredibly slow. We were not at a peak busy time. We were hours before the dinner rush-hour and it took 20 minutes to get a cup to drink water out of we didn’t order any food because we decided to leave, we had the drink and I can’t say good things about it because the swirl sounds good on paper but did not taste good - sangria and margarita really shouldn’t be mixed.
Don’t recommend; they need to hire more people if what the waiter said was true and he was on the other side of the building for 20 minutes then they definitely need to hire more people.

Please improve your service. The guy who was serving us was hard to handle

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 2

Took my family of 5 adults and one child for lunch yesterday. VERY disappointing-will never go back. The place onky had maybe 6 tables seated-the entire rest was empty-but we had to wait over 20 minutes to be seated. The onky good food item was the table-side guac. Everything else was terribkt bland. Asked for hotsauce and ketsup for fries and didnt get it until we were already done. The items we wanted from the online menu werent available-we were told they recently changed it. The portions were very small for the price. We ordered the $35 chocolate pinata that is supposed to come stuffed with fruit and churros. There were no churros inside (told after we opened it that they were out) and only a few pieces of strawberry with a cup of pineapple. Inside looks nice but overall we felt scammed by the entire experience.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Guacamole

Some food was cold. Even with reservation they didn't have seats prepared. Took sometime for someone to even take drink order. Not asked if wanted another and didn't refill water. Very poor service.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Chips & Salsa, Shrimp Tacos

Waited 30 minutes after being seated before being able to place drink order. The food was marginal at best, server was MIA most of the time, & overpriced for Mexican food.
However the worst was yet to come, later that night I got very sick, bloated stomach, nausea, vomiting & diarrhea. Later my wife also got very sick, same symptoms except she passed out, fell and hit her head. Unconscious I had to revive her and take her to the ER where we spent the next 10 hours having test run, CT scan, I.V. etc... Results: dehydration due the loss of fluids from the vomiting and diarrhea caused by food poisoning.
I reached out to Uncle Julio's to inform them of our experience and so they could try and find the tainted source of the problem, so no one else would get sick. To date I have not received any contact from anyone at Uncle Julio's company. Very disappointing. I will never patronize or refer anyone to Uncle Julio's.
Mark M

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 1

Made a reservation to celebrate my daughter-in-law's 42nd birthday because Uncle Julio's has been a family favorite for many years. See if you can tell what was show-stopping WRONG with last night's service:

7:00 pm Party of six arrives for dinner with a 7 pm reservation.
7:20 pm Party of six finally seated (20 minutes late)
7:30pm First contact with our server, drink orders taken with request for waters all around (no chips, salsa, or water yet) (10 minutes from being seated to seeing our server)
7:35 pm served with bar drinks and chips/salsa; still no water for our table (including two grankids aged 8 and 11).
7:38 pm Water arrives, orders taken. Tableside guac requested with our order.
7:50 pm We needed refills for chips, salsa, water, drinks. Tableside guac delivered, but had to wait longer for more chips and there were no individual appetizer plates for food.
8:20 pm Still no main course food service (an hour after being seated!)
8:25 pm Some of our food arrives; many meals incomplete (e.g. chicken fajitas with chicken only, no tortillas, no cheese, veggies, sour cream, etc) When the food arrived it was wonderful, the wait for food/drink was unacceptible.
8:30 pm The rest of our food arrives with an apology for poor service and a promise to comp us with $50 off. Thank you for that, but too little, too late. Asked for an iced tea refill.
8:35 pm Received an ice water instead of iced tea because "a new pot was being brewed."
8:51 pm Paid our bill and asked for take home boxes
8:53 pm Iced tea refill arrives with left-over boxes as we were preparing to leave.

Total time for our experience: 1 hour, 53 minutes spent mostly waiting for seating (20 mins), food (1 hour), and service (sporatic and infrequent). We are aware that our server Kyra (friendly and apologetic, but not very attentive to our table) was burdened with an adjacent table of 10 or 12 who seemed demanding and requested separate checks.

Here was the info on our receipt: 2/2025 20:50:59, Table 44/1 8/80048, MID: 7675882, TID: 1759894, SEQ: 086969

Bottom line: the last two out of three visits to Uncle Julio's have been negative experiences for my family; the third was outstanding (I wish they all could be that way). When I asked my eight year old grandson what he would do differently if he managed this restaurant, he said, "shut down until we figure out how to do it right." I applaud his assessment. We will not be back anytime soon.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 5

Service: 1

I placed my order online and it said it would be ready in 20 minutes. While I was in route to the restaurant, I received a message letting me know that my order was ready for pick up. Great! I arrived at the restaurant and was told my order was not quite ready, give them a few more minutes. Fine, no problem. 50 minutes later the man comes back to tell me they had not started my order, as there had been some sort of confusion with the ticket. He assured me they were working on it. at 9:27 PM I finally am leaving the restaurant and heading home with my food. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I’ve had this situation happened to me with this restaurant. I placed an online order with them for delivery a little over a year ago, and It was Almost 1 hour late and arriving. The delivery driver told me that that It is a regular occurrence for the delivery driver to arrive and they haven’t even started the order yet. I would advise you to think twice before ordering from this restaurant. I will never return!

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 2

Service: 1

I’m here right now. Don’t come. It’s bad. Bartenders are high. Servers don’t know what the menu items look like. No one got the right food. Drinks took 20-30 minutes a round. I used to work in restaurants and I always give grace but sheeeeeeesh this is bad.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

The manager greated us when we came in great friendly conversation. He set the stage for what I thought would be an amazing experience. Then to the table crumbs on table, okay I wipe it off. Then we sit and sit waitress drops off water no introduction just places water down runs off. I get her attention to ask if a shrimp quesidilla is possible option she said sure then runs off. Comes back then stated there's an upcharge for like shrimp fajita...ok no problem. Can we have small guac with chips because the salsa is not good green, oily and too earthy in flavor. She runs off yet again. I tell my husband you can't have an entree today...lol she doesn't have time for that!!! Then my husband finally gets her attention to see if he could order an entree. She then took his order for shrimp fajitas...then again runs off. Again we get her attention to order a margarita and me hot water with lemon. Quesidilla comes out cut into toddler friendly portions with only shrimp and minimal cheese charred to the peak of an unpleasant burnt flavor with extremely high hints of salt. So she brings two plates out as if my entree was the appetizer. Finally some of my husbands entree arrives no beans no rice. We had to ask for it. Then I ask about vegetables for my fajita style quesidilla I did speak with the manager because theres obviously a break in communication. I declined his offer to remake it to avoid waste of food and my time. He brings out a side of greasey flavorless peppers and onions. Finally my husband received his margarita. I then told her to cancel the guac which she clearly forgot anyway along with my hot water. Se returns finally with boiling hot water and lime. I ask for bill at this point I had had enough. She brings bill with guac charge on it. I point it out to her she removes it. This was date night for my husband and I. It was ruined not to mention waking up with facial edema from salt and msg overload. Needless to say we will NEVER go back. I suggest you avoid this place. Rosalitas on Manchester is much better. No stars.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 1

I’ve been about a dozen times since it has opened. The food was generally ok. Everyone was nice but the service itself was never great. And tonight we found out they no longer have vegetarian or vegan options so we won’t be back. Yes that is cheese on my drink they brought.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 2

We’ve come here many times and today was my birthday so I wanted to enjoy an amazing meal. But this visit the food was HORRIBLE. The portion size is so small for the price. The drinks are horrible. And I don’t understand how you mess up someone’s meal. We ordered chicken and you bring out beef and make it seem like it’s our fault when YOU were the one who messed up and then bring out the manager who doesn’t know the menu either I guess and can clearly see what we ordered… for the price go ANYWHERE ELSE!!! this is place is trash I literally went home and threw up! Also the waitress pretty much telling me I’m wrong on my marg that it’s suppose to taste that way.. for one hunny I’m Latina I drink tequila more than water I know what a damn marg should and shouldn’t taste like. Also the guac tasted so bad not even my worst enemy I would want to eat that trash!

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Ordered the chicken and steak fajitas last night the meat tasted dry maybe like it was sitting all day the guacamole was not good
I believe I had gotten food poisoning I was extremely sick as soon as I had gotten home I suffered from severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. I will not be going back here again!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 5

Restaurant Review: A Disappointing Experience at Uncle Julio's
My recent visit to Uncle Julio's was nothing short of a disaster, leaving me profoundly disappointed. As a fan of Mexican cuisine, I had high hopes for this establishment, but unfortunately, the experience fell far below expectations. Here’s a breakdown of the evening:
Reservation Woes:
Despite having a reservation for 7:30 PM, our party of 15 wasn’t seated until 8:15 PM. This significant delay set a negative tone for the evening and raised concerns about the restaurant’s ability to manage reservations effectively.

Drink Dilemma:
Upon ordering a Mai Tai, I was informed that they were out of a key ingredient, yet I was served a different cocktail without any prior notice. The substitute was unpalatable, prompting me to return it. A simple communication about the unavailability would have gone a long way.

Managerial Missteps:
Our encounter with the manager, Lewis, was perhaps the most disheartening aspect of the night. Instead of addressing our concerns with professionalism and courtesy, he was unyielding and dismissive, insisting on adhering to policies without considering our situation. His demeanor was far from what one would expect from a hospitality leader.

Menu Confusion:
I ordered the taco Americano plate with a specific request for shrimp tacos. However, I was shocked to learn that this would cost an exorbitant $24, in addition to the $16 for the tacos itself. The server (either Mary or Laney) stated they will add the shrimp on Monday to the menu. Such pricing for a simple dish felt unreasonable, leading me to cancel my entire order in frustration.

Overall Impression:
The timing of service was uncomfortable, the restaurant's cleanliness left much to be desired, and the customer service was sorely lacking. It is evident that a change in management is necessary; Lewis does not embody the qualities of a good manager and is not suited for a role that requires a personable touch.

In summary, my experience at Uncle Julio's was marred by poor service, unprofessional management, and a lack of basic hospitality. I cannot recommend this restaurant and will be seeking alternatives for my future dining experiences.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1