We had dinner here on 1/20/24 as our first choice was closed and it was bitter cold so ducked into the next available open place. What a mistake, we should have kept on walking. The chips and salsa were fine, but that is hard to mess up. It took half an hour to get our food, not terrible, but also not impressive as the place was almost empty when we arrived. Every other Mexican restaurant we've been to does it in half the time, even when busy. It was full, with a line, when we left some time later but it is on Franklin Street which is the favorite hangout for all visiting UNC-Chapel Hill. We ordered bean dip for our chips and what we were given was closer to bean broth. How the waiter could even put that in front of us is amazing. We tried it and told our water to take it away as it was the worst bean dip I had ever seen. He did, and the manager soon came by to apologize and told us he'd remove from our bill which he did. There were four of us so two ordered The Works, which allegedly feeds two. We were expecting a lot more for the money and the taste was ok at best. The other two ordered individual meals and one came out overcooked and warm, not hot as every other Mexican restaurant we have been to. Frankly, the service, quality and quantity of food would have been superior had we stopped into a Taco Bell.
Lynx M.
Every year on this day my husband and I go somewhere that offers a food challenge. We came here because we are passing through the area. It was go for the pho food challenge or the burrito challenge. We went for the burrito challenge Customer service: 4 stars: overall friendly Price point: 4 stars: your typical Mexican restaurant pricing. I didn't think it was expensive and I didn't think it was under priced. Food quality: 3.5 stars: its decent... it was neither bad nor exceptionally good. I will say their chips and salsa was good af tho. Cleanliness: 2.5 stars: its a hole in the wall. But nicely painted hole in the wall. Like literally. My husband gets onto me about not giving a place a chance based upon appearance and I wanted to to turn around lol the area is im assuming downtown and you literally have the homeless lurking about and sleeping about everywhere. Overall: it was decent, it was an experience, but I wouldn't come back if I was in the area. It's not that restaurant is bad or I didn't like the food but it had NO wow factor besides the 4.5 lb burrito challenge i came here to do and to celebrate 7/22. If I lived in the area perhaps I would come back. Idk I'm indifferent. My husband said it was just "ok" neither bad or remarkable, he said if you want gringo Mexican food that's exactly what you are about to get. It's worth checking out, you be the judge.
Christian Smedberg
Antonio was awesome, nice guy. Excellent service! I got the fried ice cream and my brother got the Oreo one. They both tasted great! Will definitely come back here to try the other food! Good prices, tasty food. Comes with complementary chips and salsa.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
God of poop
Food was amazing and the waiter was very attentive! shout-out to antonio! The place also had deep fried ice cream which is a very rare sight nowadays, will be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cassandra Serre
Bandido’s is delicious! Our favorite Mexican spot in town. Antoni is so nice! The food is fresh and authentic.
Hayden P.
The host was one of the rudest and impatient people I've ever encountered in the restaurant industry. Yelled at a friend of mine for trying to add 1 more person to our table. If your whole party does not arrive at the same time he will refuse to let you sit at the table. Additionally, if your friends are at another table he will not let you back to join them. He accused another friend of mine of lying about where he was sitting, as if he thinks he's a police officer. Leaving out his name for privacy but the host made a horrible initial dining experience. The redeeming savior of our night was our waiter, Artullo. He is patient, kind, accommodating, and always friendly. Supporting him is the sole reason we stayed and ate here. The host could definitely learn a thing or two from him, if he wants to keep us as customers. Artullo this star is for you.
Lily g
They like to scam drunk college students. Ask for an itemized bill and price conveniently goes down— also they ask for a tip when they auto grat parties of 6 or more. SCAMMY
Sayali K.
Service was great, ambience was also fairly pleasant. Food is okay too - just nothing spectacular. I'd probably go again if I was in the area and hungry but not going out of my way for it either.
David Doughten
Met some friends before the Heels game, my Burrito Supreme was the ? !!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Diane W.
I work at UNC and we come to Bandido's for lunch pretty often. Their chips have this super good seasoning on them and the salsa is made fresh. Sometimes the salsa can be quite spicy but it's always delicious. Pre-Covid they had a salsa bar-I'm not sure if they plan to bring that back. I recommend the chimichanga and the margarita chicken bowl. I have never gotten a bad meal here and the staff our wonderful.
I know great Mexican food. This was fair. Chips and salsa game needs work. The fajita sides tasted from a can/bag. Not very fresh. Now, service was pretty good. Very friendly staff.
Madeleine Austin
I purchased the Sonora Shrimp under their "On the Lighter Side" section of the menu while at the nextdoor brewery. Bandido's provided the menu and brought over the food. I had not planned on ordering, but had missed lunch and dinner and needed something to hit my protein goal. I ordered the Sonora Shrimp.I have to say, with great hesitation because I don't want to drag anyone down, that this was the worst Mexican food I have ever eaten. There were five dime sized shrimp buried in sauce and cheese. I would have been better off microwaving shrimp at home, which is a shame because I was ravenous. I was disappointed and could practically see my $15 burning in front of me. I tried, but after I picked out the few shrimp I really couldn't eat anything else. It was certainly not a "light" meal nor anything that I imagined. They sure weren't as shy with the sauce, cheese, and rice as they were with the shrimp.I would have spoken up, but they were serving from across the street and I was not in their restaurant. I pray that the quality is better if you are physically there. I felt compelled to write this review so that somebody with a lick of sense can change things. However, I will not be giving them my business again.Please note that I was not IN their restaurant. The attached photos are my leftovers from the evening prior. So they don't look like they did in their prime, but I assure you it wasn't much different. This is after I sifted through to find my five baby shrimp. They were buried in the sauce graveyard. "On the lighter side" my tail.I hate to see Mexican food disrespected like this. I hope things improve. They at least have to change their menu description. This was not "seasoned shrimp (...) grilled to perfection." It tasted reheated and totally unseasoned. You can't hide the fact that you gave five measly shrimp by covering it in cheap filler. Especially for almost $20.
Sara
Employees were friendly but food was terrible. Absolutely the worst food I've had in a very long time. Mostly inedible. Also, there was a strong odor or fumes that were really offensive. Not a good experience.
Brittany L.
the only 2 reasons this gets 4 instead of 5 stars is bc the mojito is SO strong. i'm dr*nk typing this and my buddys carnitas in the chimichanga are on the dryer side. if you like a strong drink, heck ya order this strawberry mojito. also, these spicy frijoles charros are 10/10. they're not too spicy but PACKED with flavor.
Travis Rives
A UNC and Chapel Hill staple. Have been going here for many many years and will continue going for many more to come. If you want good Mexican on campus, this is it!
We had dinner here on 1/20/24 as our first choice was closed and it was bitter cold so ducked into the next available open place. What a mistake, we should have kept on walking. The chips and salsa were fine, but that is hard to mess up. It took half an hour to get our food, not terrible, but also not impressive as the place was almost empty when we arrived. Every other Mexican restaurant we've been to does it in half the time, even when busy. It was full, with a line, when we left some time later but it is on Franklin Street which is the favorite hangout for all visiting UNC-Chapel Hill. We ordered bean dip for our chips and what we were given was closer to bean broth. How the waiter could even put that in front of us is amazing. We tried it and told our water to take it away as it was the worst bean dip I had ever seen. He did, and the manager soon came by to apologize and told us he'd remove from our bill which he did. There were four of us so two ordered The Works, which allegedly feeds two. We were expecting a lot more for the money and the taste was ok at best. The other two ordered individual meals and one came out overcooked and warm, not hot as every other Mexican restaurant we have been to. Frankly, the service, quality and quantity of food would have been superior had we stopped into a Taco Bell.
Every year on this day my husband and I go somewhere that offers a food challenge. We came here because we are passing through the area. It was go for the pho food challenge or the burrito challenge. We went for the burrito challenge Customer service: 4 stars: overall friendly Price point: 4 stars: your typical Mexican restaurant pricing. I didn't think it was expensive and I didn't think it was under priced. Food quality: 3.5 stars: its decent... it was neither bad nor exceptionally good. I will say their chips and salsa was good af tho. Cleanliness: 2.5 stars: its a hole in the wall. But nicely painted hole in the wall. Like literally. My husband gets onto me about not giving a place a chance based upon appearance and I wanted to to turn around lol the area is im assuming downtown and you literally have the homeless lurking about and sleeping about everywhere. Overall: it was decent, it was an experience, but I wouldn't come back if I was in the area. It's not that restaurant is bad or I didn't like the food but it had NO wow factor besides the 4.5 lb burrito challenge i came here to do and to celebrate 7/22. If I lived in the area perhaps I would come back. Idk I'm indifferent. My husband said it was just "ok" neither bad or remarkable, he said if you want gringo Mexican food that's exactly what you are about to get. It's worth checking out, you be the judge.
Antonio was awesome, nice guy. Excellent service! I got the fried ice cream and my brother got the Oreo one. They both tasted great! Will definitely come back here to try the other food! Good prices, tasty food. Comes with complementary chips and salsa.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was amazing and the waiter was very attentive! shout-out to antonio! The place also had deep fried ice cream which is a very rare sight nowadays, will be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Bandido’s is delicious! Our favorite Mexican spot in town. Antoni is so nice! The food is fresh and authentic.
The host was one of the rudest and impatient people I've ever encountered in the restaurant industry. Yelled at a friend of mine for trying to add 1 more person to our table. If your whole party does not arrive at the same time he will refuse to let you sit at the table. Additionally, if your friends are at another table he will not let you back to join them. He accused another friend of mine of lying about where he was sitting, as if he thinks he's a police officer. Leaving out his name for privacy but the host made a horrible initial dining experience. The redeeming savior of our night was our waiter, Artullo. He is patient, kind, accommodating, and always friendly. Supporting him is the sole reason we stayed and ate here. The host could definitely learn a thing or two from him, if he wants to keep us as customers. Artullo this star is for you.
They like to scam drunk college students. Ask for an itemized bill and price conveniently goes down— also they ask for a tip when they auto grat parties of 6 or more. SCAMMY
Service was great, ambience was also fairly pleasant. Food is okay too - just nothing spectacular. I'd probably go again if I was in the area and hungry but not going out of my way for it either.
Met some friends before the Heels game, my Burrito Supreme was the ? !!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I work at UNC and we come to Bandido's for lunch pretty often. Their chips have this super good seasoning on them and the salsa is made fresh. Sometimes the salsa can be quite spicy but it's always delicious. Pre-Covid they had a salsa bar-I'm not sure if they plan to bring that back. I recommend the chimichanga and the margarita chicken bowl. I have never gotten a bad meal here and the staff our wonderful.
Restaurantji Recommends
I know great Mexican food. This was fair. Chips and salsa game needs work. The fajita sides tasted from a can/bag. Not very fresh. Now, service was pretty good. Very friendly staff.
I purchased the Sonora Shrimp under their "On the Lighter Side" section of the menu while at the nextdoor brewery. Bandido's provided the menu and brought over the food. I had not planned on ordering, but had missed lunch and dinner and needed something to hit my protein goal. I ordered the Sonora Shrimp.I have to say, with great hesitation because I don't want to drag anyone down, that this was the worst Mexican food I have ever eaten. There were five dime sized shrimp buried in sauce and cheese. I would have been better off microwaving shrimp at home, which is a shame because I was ravenous. I was disappointed and could practically see my $15 burning in front of me. I tried, but after I picked out the few shrimp I really couldn't eat anything else. It was certainly not a "light" meal nor anything that I imagined. They sure weren't as shy with the sauce, cheese, and rice as they were with the shrimp.I would have spoken up, but they were serving from across the street and I was not in their restaurant. I pray that the quality is better if you are physically there. I felt compelled to write this review so that somebody with a lick of sense can change things. However, I will not be giving them my business again.Please note that I was not IN their restaurant. The attached photos are my leftovers from the evening prior. So they don't look like they did in their prime, but I assure you it wasn't much different. This is after I sifted through to find my five baby shrimp. They were buried in the sauce graveyard. "On the lighter side" my tail.I hate to see Mexican food disrespected like this. I hope things improve. They at least have to change their menu description. This was not "seasoned shrimp (...) grilled to perfection." It tasted reheated and totally unseasoned. You can't hide the fact that you gave five measly shrimp by covering it in cheap filler. Especially for almost $20.
Employees were friendly but food was terrible. Absolutely the worst food I've had in a very long time. Mostly inedible. Also, there was a strong odor or fumes that were really offensive. Not a good experience.
the only 2 reasons this gets 4 instead of 5 stars is bc the mojito is SO strong. i'm dr*nk typing this and my buddys carnitas in the chimichanga are on the dryer side. if you like a strong drink, heck ya order this strawberry mojito. also, these spicy frijoles charros are 10/10. they're not too spicy but PACKED with flavor.
A UNC and Chapel Hill staple. Have been going here for many many years and will continue going for many more to come. If you want good Mexican on campus, this is it!