Abuelo’s

The entire menu has been great so far. The best thing on the menu is the ribeye and enchiladas. Drinks are great, especially the margaritas. Check them out.

I’m no stranger to Grandfather’s, as I used to dine here regularly, years ago at their Carmel, IN, Evansville, IN, and Mason, OH (the ‘nati) locations. All of these locations, had one thing in common: consistency. Seriously, the food was always fresh, and the servers took pride in making sure the presentation was impressive. I used to play golf with the Evansville G.M., and he’d tell me about the particulars of the Abuelo’s system. It was very impressive, and obvious to me, that Abuelo’s does things the «right way.» Sure, some will say it’s a chain. Ok, albeit a chain, it’s a chain that «gets it,» and I’ll put this chain, head to head, with any other Tyler Tex Mex restaurant. Even the overly adored, and loved El Charro, which is pure garbage, by the way. (Seriously, why would anyone eat that crap?)
Fast forward 10 years, and somehow, someway, I’m in east Texas (God help me), and I suddenly got giddy when I found out Abuelo’s was opening here. This is, by far, the smallest Abuelo’s that I’ve ever been in, and I think they cut corners on the build out. Usually, they bring in an artist, and have several hand painted murals, and all of the fixtures, are top of the line. The bar also was looked over (some), in my opinion. Most Abuelo’s pride themselves on advertising rare, expensive Tequilas. I don’t see these options here, but I see a strong presence of Milagro, and El Jimador tequilas. (Actually, El Jimador is a damn good tequila, in that price point.)
The food. Seriously, step outside of your typical enchilada, and burrito box. Sure, these options are very tasty here, but go with the medallions, whether it’s filet, or pork medallions, accompany these with Abuelo’s famous papas, and you can’t go wrong. Want to step it up, go with the Los Mejores de la Casa, and slug down a few margaritas, and you’ll leave with a Bill Cosby smile on your face.
This, along with Don Juan’s, are the only two viable options in Tyler.

In a town saturated with Tex Mex on every corner, Tyler gets it’s first higher end Messican establishment. First off, make sure your phone has enough battery to get you through that 30 minute table wait. Now that you are seated and tired of Candy Crush, lets discuss the chip situation. They bring out a small rectangle dish containing 3 salsas. I call it a triple dipper, because after three dips, it’s empty. If you typically «windmill» your chips into the salsa, then you are screwed Big Time. Tell your server to bring you a bowl of «inferno» and «especial.» The heat factor on both is good.
I have dabbled all over the menu. Don’t go the beef fajita route, they are bland and unexciting. The rest of the items I have tried seem to be fine. The food here is a good 25−35% higher priced than your typical Tex Mex. While you pay a premium, you get back in return fresh ingredients and decent portions.
The bar area has a couple TV’s and enough counter space for about 12 patrons. If the wait is too long, sometimes you can bypass the line and dine at the bar top. The tall tables in the bar are NOT first come, first served unlike every other joint in Tyler. Try nabbing an open bar table and your will get bounced by the hostess. And she will make you look like a donkey. The draft selection is very modest, but they offer some decent tequilas.

I am an Abuelo’s veteran, but a newbie to this location. This is my review based on food quality, service and surroundings while dining at the bar. First — my beertenders were great. Fernando and Savanah anchored the service and were friendly/​efficient. Bad news, guys. It was Savannah’s last night. I wish her luck in her bigger, better endeavors!
Abuelo’s serves massive portions. I ordered Shrimp fajitas but asked they serve them without the Mexican Barbecue sauce. They were just as I asked and were great — nicely grilled & not overdone. The peppers & onions were perfectly grilled to carmelization. The potatoes are a great side dish & everything was served efficiently & with a smile.
They had a local pale ale microbrew on tap. Fernando pulled me a sample and I embibed. It was good. Unfiltered and not too hoppy. Mermaids & Unicorns is what they call it. Really too light for a typical pale ale but 22 ounces went down agreeably.
This place was pretty crowded early on a Monday night. Check it out Tyler and denizens of Hampton Inn & Suites South Tyler. It’s walking distance through the new shopping center.

Great food and service. Be sure to sign up for there frequent diner club. Will go back for sure.

Food was okay, the prices are very expensive for the quantity you receive I ordered queso it was almost 7 dollars for a bowl that was wide and with a thin layer of cheese it looked like a ample amount but wasn’t that much at all. the chips are thin and the salsas they give you taste watered Down with no flavor. The place has a good interior and the people here have nice pleasant attitudes it doesn’t seem fake or rehearsed. Food came quickly and was served hot

Always delicious and good service. Not your typical mexican restaurant. The menu has more variety and upscale choices.

Our 2^nd visit.
chips are thin, lousy for salsa
didn’t care for any of the salsa
enchiladas with shredded beef was awesome
chicken enchiladas with queso and sour cream was delicious
papas was the best
service was good

The food was exceptional, the sauces were incredibly wonderful, but the service was horrible, we had to ask for everything we needed, hopefully they will improve.

Great variety of Mexican food from traditional enchilada/​burrito to seafood. They have habanero hot sauce (really spicy) that I loved. My Chile relent was delicious!

The chicken grande burrito is very tasty and awesome. Chips and salsas are legit. All three salsas are great in my opinion. They put crispy tacos on top of a large tortilla chip to keep them from getting soggy from any sauces that might get on your tacos. Very smart idea. This place blows On the Border and Jalepeno Tree away.

We went to this new location to give it a try since we had eaten at several of Dallas locations. The service started out slow and got pathetically worse. When our waitress finally arrived she brought nothing but excuses and they only got worse as the night progressed. We got chips and salsa but only a sampling and not the usual bowl’s that we get in Dallas. We ran out of drinks before our queso arrived but refills were nowhere to be found. Our waitress and a number of other staff members were infatuated with two couples sitting two booths down from us. I don’t know what was so special about these people but every server that passed by had to stop and kiss their ass. Our waitress couldn’t stay away flitting back each time she came by. Our food was good and hot but the crappy service ruined it all. Every patron of a restaurant should be treated equally but in this case we were ignored while the two got couples got their asses kissed.

After a lot of searching for a great Mexican food place after moving to Tyler. My wife and I love TexMex and we have found the best at Abuelos. I have eaten cheese enchiladas in at least 15 countries and all over the US from Los Angeles to NYC and these are the best I have ever had bar none (carne sauce). The environment is fantastic and we now go there once a week for dinner! Highly recommend! The margaritas are also fantastic.

Delicious!!! The wait was about 20 – 25 minutes long but it is Christmas week so that was to be expected. We ordered our usual and it was so good. My husband had the Grande and I had Chicken Medallions from the lunch menu. It was plenty of food so don’t let the lunch size portions fool you. Why 4 stars? Well, the papa’s con chile (potatoes with chile) were not so good. Next time I’ll opt for rice instead. Other than that this place rocks.

We went to this restaurant two weeks ago on lunch hour, it’s busy, 20 minutes wait. Very nice and clean and the waiter very friendly and food coming and really sizzling hot, that’s the way we like it. Their margarita was nice not to sweet.
We definitely be back.

Service was excellent!!! Food was superb! I absolutely loved this Abuelos! I’ve only been to the Abeulo’s i The DFW area and have been not always been impressed, but this Abuelos was great!!!

First thing I noticed is it’s really pretty inside, clean, nice staff. The way they do the chips and salsa is weird. Chips were fine but, the salsa was in these little tiny divided sampling dishes. Our table of three people got one of these tiny divided dishes of salsa, 3 flavors. Enough salsa in each little dish for about 6 chips. It was ridiculous and pretentious. I want a bowl of salsa not a dab of salsa. Not impressed by that. The salsa at On the Border is way better and in a bowl. The prices were ridiculously high. I got a meal of one beef taco, one tamale, one beef enchilada with papas and beans. It was ok but not any better than any other Tex mex place in Tyler. My husband ordered a crazy expensive meal with little bacon wrapped medallions of pork or something and other stuff. I guess it was okay but way too pricey. My daughter had a chimichanga. This meal was $ 60 before the tip. I love Mexican food but we all could have ordered about the same thing for much less money at On the border or Jalapeño tree. Save your money, eat somewhere else. Why pay more money for the same quality food you can eat at any other chain Tex mex place in Tyler? Go ahead throw your money away if you want. I’m gonna go eat at, On The Border. I really wanted this place to be good, but I was a bit disappointed. The restrooms were clean. We did not order dessert so I can’t comment on that.
In Response to the GM saying just ask the server for a bowl of salsa, I did ask Jessica for a bowl of the Roja salsa and she never brought it. It was the first day of business so I guess it was busy and she must have forgotten. She was nice and friendly btw. I probably would have given you a slight better review if the server had brought the Salsa.

Good food, wasn’t expensive. It was quite busy on a Saturday night as should be expected. I had the ribeye steak with a spinach enchilada and a guacamole enchilada. It was pretty good!

I went there with the wife on a Saturday. It was early and we were seated within about fifteen minutes. The server was a nice young man and very prompt. I noticed that Cheryl who complained on a review here about the three different salsas. Our server told us to choose the sauce (s) we preferred. We did and he brought us two BOWLS of our choice. We also ordered a pitcher of margaritas for $ 19.95 and it was plenty and they were delicious.
I ordered the Pork Tenderloin Abrigado and it too was delicious. It came withe two enchiladas which were also very good served with charro beans and mashed potatoes. You of course can order the rice or other sides.
My wife ordered enchiladas, spinach and chicken. I tasted the spinach one and it was devine.
As for some of the other comments comparing Abuelos to the Jalapeño Tree is absurd. This restaurant is far superior to Jalapeño Tree and On The Border. I recommend that you check it out.

Good service except bar area stay away from there if possible it will make you cranky. Food was eh ok. Basically non spicy Mexican. The salsa is awful bring your own… seriously. would we return… sure but wont be our first choice.