This Pepe's reminds me of my childhood experiences at Pepe's. Love it. Portions supersede your average Pepe's. Margaritas are great!!!
(4)
Frank a.
We frequented this Pepe's for years Not anymore. Used to be good food, strong margaritas. Often times we had to wait for tables because of crowds. Now overly sweet and weak margaritas, food presented poorly from the kitchen and when ordering steak fajita tacos my question is "wheres the beef " and why is it so grizzled. And the prices, what are they thinking? It's priced way past the target base of the surrounding communities. I consider these prices to be city prices, far beyond what the price point should be. New owners all about making money I guess. This was second visit under new ownership and our last. Should have been suspicious when on half price margarita night there was only 2 other table occupied.
(1)
Helen P.
Absolutely horrible. We have been going to this pepes for years. It changed owners and went to complete crap. We went in last night we were only ones in restaurant. Took 20 mom's to get menus. Ordered a drink 20 mons later we were served half filled glasses and told that's how my owner made them. Due to the fact our server didn't know how to make them. Ordered my son wanted a chocolate milk. They were out of milk. Chips were stale. Aweful. Ended up getting order to go. Couldn't wait to get out of there.
(1)
Ken H.
This Pepe's is clearly better than any other Pepe's in the area. Service is fast, the food is good, and they make a margarita that's no fooling! (If I go to some Mexican places and order a margarita, I sometimes have to order an additional shot of tequila on the side to make it more than glorified limeade. Not here!) You do find that the specials in flyers for Pepe's aren't accepted at this one, because it's not owned by the same people that own the other Pepe's in the area.
(4)
Michael E.
BEST SERVICE ... Best fajitas ANYWHERE !!! Everyone is friendly and makes you feel right at home. I stop in there often and I highly recommend this restaurant.
(5)
Maya E.
This restaurant has changed for the worse. growing up, I would come here all the time. I knew all the waitresses and the food was amazing. Last year , I was eating my dinner and the table next to mine was complaining that their food was frozen and cold. They didn't want to eat anymore so they left. I remember seeing the new manager or owner sitting with his family completely ignoring the comments. Ever since that day, every single time I went , their food has changed. it tastes different. the new owner got rid of every old waitress / waiter and replaced them with new people. These new people are slow and quiet and don't know the menu well. They always mess up my order. This pepes restaurant has went downhill since the new owner took over. The only reason why I even gave it a star was because they have amazing salsa .
(1)
Hope M.
Disappointed. Food sub par. Drinks watered down. Service was super slow. Will stick to the 159th street location.
(1)
Carmella A.
Went there about a month ago. Place was crowded and waitress was rude. Took her forever to bring us our drinks! Could tell she was unhappy and did not want to be at work. Food was decent-good. Tried this place again yesterday. It was dead noone in the place. Waitress was sooo much better, happy, and attentive. Also there are no free refills on the drinks so drink slowly,lol. Chips n salsa were good. Food was still just decent tho...2 for customer service or would have got a 2.5-3.
(2)
John B.
This pepes used to be great but they now have new owners and the food is horrible... By far the worst pepes that I have ever been to. I highly recommend finding another pepes to go to.
(1)
Emmy S.
Ok so we came here for late afternoon lunch (we didnt know nor was told about a lunch buffet...) ordered guacamole and drinks to start. Noticed this pepes changed up their tomatoe based salsa to a more shredded tomatoe, runny kinda salsa .. Not very good, but not the worst.. Ok! My man ordered enchiladas and was told of a 1.25 surcharge for steak instead of the hamburger or chicken that came with. I ordered stuffed chicken taco, which i tend to stick with at every pepe's... that way i know what to expect, no surprises! well, Our bill turned out to be $32.00 for lunch!!!!! they charged 1.25 EACH enchilada on the plate in addition to the 9.95 cost.... 14.00 for his plate of imitation mexican food. And my go to tacos, came without much chicken & no sour cream! Ughhh. Guac was the best thing we thought, but 5.25 for half order!!!!!! Disappointing food experience for him & I both! Food & beverages are VERY over priced and not even worth it. I can see why the restaurant was empty. Plus, the place needs an updated decor or a wash. We will not be going back.
(1)
Patti F.
What a waste!!! I guess it is under new management -I would say no management. The worst service ever, I felt like I was in a SNL skit. We had to repeat our order several times, adding several times I wanted our appetizer before our meal. Limes dried out and slimy. Appetizer came out same time as food. There are so many things that were wrong I can't even list. I would never give this a chance to steal my money again. What a shame it's been an old stand by for years.
(1)
Wade L.
Well here we go again, new management/owners and everything goes south. This location ranks even as the worse Pepe's franchise along with the Tinley park one. Place is dirty...... food is bad. Service is worse. Best Pepes is on Bell road in Homer Glen.
(1)
Nathan F.
Heard it was under new management so we decided to try this place again. First impression was the place was very dirty... both floors and tables. Not particularly inviting. Waitresses were rude and inattentive. We sat ourselves and waited quite a while for service... And when we finally got our food we didn't see her again until we got our check! Had to flag down another waitress to refill our drinks and she took an extremely annoyed tone with us as if interrupting whatever she was doing was some sort of taboo! We even heard these waitresses speak rather loudly to each other in their waitress station about one customer's weight! Seriously unacceptable! Food in general just didn't taste as good as other locations, almost as if they were following different recipes. Save yourself the trouble, skip this place and just make the trip down to the Crestwood location if you want to eat at a Pepe's. Much better food and service in comparison.
(1)
Susan G.
My final visit to this restaurant was today. Several times a year for the past10 years, I have stopped after cemetery visits. I have no illusions of grandeur when eating at a Pepe's. It is not "authentic" or by any means upscale, but until recently it has always been dependable. Yes, the salsa is a cold mess. But the chips are usually fresh and as the warmth of a gold margarita does wonders. Today, a Sunday at about 3PM, there was one waitress for the entire restaurant and when I arrived, it was busy. OK, I could see she was struggling, so I was patient as I waited for every step of the dining process. The usually tasty drink was over-sweet and the glass was sticky......and it was the best part of my meal. The waitress admitted she was alone (with one bus girl) and earlier, they had computer problems. She called the restaurant owner, who eventually arrived to fix that issue, but then proceeded to sit in the other room watching sports on TV rather than helping his customers and the staff. Since my last visit, the food was prepared completely differently. The place has always been sort of a 70's time warp dump but now with bad food, bad drinks and prices that are WAY high for the quality? Do yourself a favor and drive on past this excuse for a Mexican restaurant.
(1)
Brian Y.
I am only bumping this up to three stars becaue the food was not terrible, and the server was polite. First the salsa was all kinds of messed up. It was 11:45 and there was only one waitress working, so needless to say we had to wait. A pet peeve of mine is when a place says no, or limits refills on softdrinks.
(3)
Peter S.
Dinner for 4 at about 4:45pm on a Wednesday night. Just a couple of tables occupied when we arrived but pretty full when we left at about 6:30pm. Our server was prompt and very friendly, but we were waiting for our fourth to arrive. When he came our server was struggling with their new POS system and did not come back to our table for a while. After we did order it took longer than expected to get our orders. The chips and salsa were served right away. The chips were very good but the salsa was- well- different. It is apparently run through a food processor. You can shovel it with your chips! So it sticks to the chips, but we all would prefer the natural texture of salsa. We had a variety of entrees which included tacos, enchiladas, flautas, tamales, and Carne Asada. All of those items and the rice that comes with the dinners were just OK. The refried beans were dry. The Carne Asada was tasty but unevenly cooked. We asked for medium and got close to rare on one end and well on the other end. Overall we have had very good experiences at Pepe's restaurants but we will not return to this one.
(2)
Ed N.
Have gone to this Pepes for years and liked it. It is under new ownership. My wife and I went there last night and it was awful. The service has gotten terrible. The salsa had a soapy taste to it and there was a nasty smell to the restaurant. No one bothered to take our drink order. But worst of all were the chips they gave us with the salsa. They were disgusting. They tasted like stale old rancid oil. We also found a twig in the chips. We walked out before placing an order since no one bothered to stop by our table after giving us the salsa and chips. I would avoid this place. Too bad, it used to be a good place to grab a bite to eat.
(1)
Gina D.
This Pepe's has recently undergone some changes. The new owner is pleasant and the seating has improved; however, the prices increased and quality went down compared to before. Salsa is awful. Many of the old locals no longer visit and the atmosphere is not as friendly as it once was for so many years. Changes happen but I wish that he would try to improve the quality of food and stop watering down the drinks. We have stopped visiting for the most part and will like not return until significant improvements are made.
(3)
K N.
I would say out of all the Pepe's in the area, this one is not to impressive. Their salsa just looks weird. The inside of the restaurant could be cleaned better. They do have fast service and food does come out quickly. However, the quality of the food does not impress me.
(3)
Mark G.
I have not been to a Pepe's since there was one in Franklin Park way back when. After hearing so many Pepe's advertisements on the radio which raved about how "authentic" they are, I became intrigued. Since I was a child my last trip to Pepe's & don't remember a whole lot, I figured it was time to relive this moment in history. I visited the website just to browse their menu. Their menu is very impressive, given that it's a chain. Now I'm not expert on decor, but upon walking in, the place seemed very dull. Almost like they could use some remodeling to liven the place up. When ordering, we hit a wall right away, as they apparently stopped serving the chorizo dish my date found on the website & had her sights set on. So she settled for some quesadillas that seemed very "bleh". I ordered the "stuffed" steak tacos which were just OK. The rice & beans were pretty good though. And they have all the Mexican beer favorites which is a plus. I give this place 2 stars. Their menu is nice, but doesn't really come through on the authenticity they claim to possess. Not bad food, but there's much better Mexican out there.
(2)
Kimberly M.
Please don't go here thinking that it is an authentic mexican place. It is probably a little more authentic than taco bell. With that being said, I still like their tacos and spanish rice. Usually, I'll get the beef taco dinner with double rice. I love their rice; it's so flavorful. I have also had their combination plates, they're not too bad. The only downer is the pricing. For the beef taco dinner, it's about $10 and you get 3 tacos, rice and beans. You could probably get steak tacos at an authentic mexican restaurant for that price!
(4)
cher b.
This Pepe's is actually in Chicago Ridge, IL. I started coming this location when I was about 7 years old - over 21 years ago. I'm a huge Pepe's fan in general, but this is the best of the bunch. The portions are gigantic. Their Spanish rice is phenomenal, better than the other locations. The staff are veterans and know all of the regulars by name. I live in Plainfield, IL and I still travel out to Chicago Ridge to eat at this Pepe's.
(5)
Laura C.
Great Carne Asada! Great chips & salsa - they have 2 different kinds of salsa! Great Spanish Rice and Beans! This is one of the best Pepe's.
(5)
Bill B.
I found a cockroach in my carry-out bag once at this location. I brought the lunch back (with the now dead cockroach) and spoke to the manager. No apology or offer to buy me a free lunch. I just asked for my money back and never went back. What a bunch of jagoffs.
(1)
Lisa A.
This is the BEST, i mean BEST Pepes there is in the Chicagoland. The one in Woodridge is good too, they have a better atmosphere. But I definitly have to say I They have the Best Pepes food out of all the locations. If you are ever by 111th and ridgeland make a point of it to stop at this location!
Takes Reservations : Yes Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Parking : Private Lot Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Noise Level : Quiet Alcohol : Full Bar Outdoor Seating : No Wi-Fi : Free Has TV : Yes Waiter Service : Yes Caters : Yes
If you enjoy Taco Tuesday, then you have officially fallen in love with the Mexican Food. The main grain of Mexican cuisine is maize. Also known as corn, maize is grown for the past 9000 years after the crop was discovered by the people in Mayan civilization. Mexican empire flourished when they started growing beans, tomatoes, chili pepper, sweet potato and cactus. Till this date these ingredients are used in cooking authentic Mexican dishes and drinks.
Great use of spices, fresh chili pepper dishes like fajitas, tortilla chips, corn chips, salsa, chimichangas, burritos, nachos and quesadillas are invented in America. But when you are looking for authentic Mexican food then you must find a restaurant in the city that serves Rajas con Queso, Garbanzo in a Guajillo Chile Sauce, Pork Filled Chiles Rellenos, Chiles en Nogada, Molcajete Salsa, Pico de Gallo and Frijoles de la Olla. An eye-opening fact – Mexican don't like their food hot. They use fresh chili and other spices to create a flavor that lingers in your mouth.
Mexican food is great for those who are Gluten Intolerant as they use Corn instead of wheat in most of their dishes. Also, you can easily find many beans based Mexican dishes. Another dish which didn't get similar glory as tacos or nachos is the Mexican hot chocolate. If you love something hot on a chilly day, then go for Mexican Hot Chocolate. On merry days, you can enjoy the authentic Mexican Drinks like Tequila, Mezcal, Tecuí, Sotol, Bacanora, Charanda, Posh O Pox, Puebla and Pulque. Mexican Cuisine is for people who enjoy strong drinks and hearty meals.
Alzetta H.
This Pepe's reminds me of my childhood experiences at Pepe's. Love it. Portions supersede your average Pepe's. Margaritas are great!!!
(4)Frank a.
We frequented this Pepe's for years Not anymore. Used to be good food, strong margaritas. Often times we had to wait for tables because of crowds. Now overly sweet and weak margaritas, food presented poorly from the kitchen and when ordering steak fajita tacos my question is "wheres the beef " and why is it so grizzled. And the prices, what are they thinking? It's priced way past the target base of the surrounding communities. I consider these prices to be city prices, far beyond what the price point should be. New owners all about making money I guess. This was second visit under new ownership and our last. Should have been suspicious when on half price margarita night there was only 2 other table occupied.
(1)Helen P.
Absolutely horrible. We have been going to this pepes for years. It changed owners and went to complete crap. We went in last night we were only ones in restaurant. Took 20 mom's to get menus. Ordered a drink 20 mons later we were served half filled glasses and told that's how my owner made them. Due to the fact our server didn't know how to make them. Ordered my son wanted a chocolate milk. They were out of milk. Chips were stale. Aweful. Ended up getting order to go. Couldn't wait to get out of there.
(1)Ken H.
This Pepe's is clearly better than any other Pepe's in the area. Service is fast, the food is good, and they make a margarita that's no fooling! (If I go to some Mexican places and order a margarita, I sometimes have to order an additional shot of tequila on the side to make it more than glorified limeade. Not here!) You do find that the specials in flyers for Pepe's aren't accepted at this one, because it's not owned by the same people that own the other Pepe's in the area.
(4)Michael E.
BEST SERVICE ... Best fajitas ANYWHERE !!! Everyone is friendly and makes you feel right at home. I stop in there often and I highly recommend this restaurant.
(5)Maya E.
This restaurant has changed for the worse. growing up, I would come here all the time. I knew all the waitresses and the food was amazing. Last year , I was eating my dinner and the table next to mine was complaining that their food was frozen and cold. They didn't want to eat anymore so they left. I remember seeing the new manager or owner sitting with his family completely ignoring the comments. Ever since that day, every single time I went , their food has changed. it tastes different. the new owner got rid of every old waitress / waiter and replaced them with new people. These new people are slow and quiet and don't know the menu well. They always mess up my order. This pepes restaurant has went downhill since the new owner took over. The only reason why I even gave it a star was because they have amazing salsa .
(1)Hope M.
Disappointed. Food sub par. Drinks watered down. Service was super slow. Will stick to the 159th street location.
(1)Carmella A.
Went there about a month ago. Place was crowded and waitress was rude. Took her forever to bring us our drinks! Could tell she was unhappy and did not want to be at work. Food was decent-good. Tried this place again yesterday. It was dead noone in the place. Waitress was sooo much better, happy, and attentive. Also there are no free refills on the drinks so drink slowly,lol. Chips n salsa were good. Food was still just decent tho...2 for customer service or would have got a 2.5-3.
(2)John B.
This pepes used to be great but they now have new owners and the food is horrible... By far the worst pepes that I have ever been to. I highly recommend finding another pepes to go to.
(1)Emmy S.
Ok so we came here for late afternoon lunch (we didnt know nor was told about a lunch buffet...) ordered guacamole and drinks to start. Noticed this pepes changed up their tomatoe based salsa to a more shredded tomatoe, runny kinda salsa .. Not very good, but not the worst.. Ok! My man ordered enchiladas and was told of a 1.25 surcharge for steak instead of the hamburger or chicken that came with. I ordered stuffed chicken taco, which i tend to stick with at every pepe's... that way i know what to expect, no surprises! well, Our bill turned out to be $32.00 for lunch!!!!! they charged 1.25 EACH enchilada on the plate in addition to the 9.95 cost.... 14.00 for his plate of imitation mexican food. And my go to tacos, came without much chicken & no sour cream! Ughhh. Guac was the best thing we thought, but 5.25 for half order!!!!!! Disappointing food experience for him & I both! Food & beverages are VERY over priced and not even worth it. I can see why the restaurant was empty. Plus, the place needs an updated decor or a wash. We will not be going back.
(1)Patti F.
What a waste!!! I guess it is under new management -I would say no management. The worst service ever, I felt like I was in a SNL skit. We had to repeat our order several times, adding several times I wanted our appetizer before our meal. Limes dried out and slimy. Appetizer came out same time as food. There are so many things that were wrong I can't even list. I would never give this a chance to steal my money again. What a shame it's been an old stand by for years.
(1)Wade L.
Well here we go again, new management/owners and everything goes south. This location ranks even as the worse Pepe's franchise along with the Tinley park one. Place is dirty...... food is bad. Service is worse. Best Pepes is on Bell road in Homer Glen.
(1)Nathan F.
Heard it was under new management so we decided to try this place again. First impression was the place was very dirty... both floors and tables. Not particularly inviting. Waitresses were rude and inattentive. We sat ourselves and waited quite a while for service... And when we finally got our food we didn't see her again until we got our check! Had to flag down another waitress to refill our drinks and she took an extremely annoyed tone with us as if interrupting whatever she was doing was some sort of taboo! We even heard these waitresses speak rather loudly to each other in their waitress station about one customer's weight! Seriously unacceptable! Food in general just didn't taste as good as other locations, almost as if they were following different recipes. Save yourself the trouble, skip this place and just make the trip down to the Crestwood location if you want to eat at a Pepe's. Much better food and service in comparison.
(1)Susan G.
My final visit to this restaurant was today. Several times a year for the past10 years, I have stopped after cemetery visits. I have no illusions of grandeur when eating at a Pepe's. It is not "authentic" or by any means upscale, but until recently it has always been dependable. Yes, the salsa is a cold mess. But the chips are usually fresh and as the warmth of a gold margarita does wonders. Today, a Sunday at about 3PM, there was one waitress for the entire restaurant and when I arrived, it was busy. OK, I could see she was struggling, so I was patient as I waited for every step of the dining process. The usually tasty drink was over-sweet and the glass was sticky......and it was the best part of my meal. The waitress admitted she was alone (with one bus girl) and earlier, they had computer problems. She called the restaurant owner, who eventually arrived to fix that issue, but then proceeded to sit in the other room watching sports on TV rather than helping his customers and the staff. Since my last visit, the food was prepared completely differently. The place has always been sort of a 70's time warp dump but now with bad food, bad drinks and prices that are WAY high for the quality? Do yourself a favor and drive on past this excuse for a Mexican restaurant.
(1)Brian Y.
I am only bumping this up to three stars becaue the food was not terrible, and the server was polite. First the salsa was all kinds of messed up. It was 11:45 and there was only one waitress working, so needless to say we had to wait. A pet peeve of mine is when a place says no, or limits refills on softdrinks.
(3)Peter S.
Dinner for 4 at about 4:45pm on a Wednesday night. Just a couple of tables occupied when we arrived but pretty full when we left at about 6:30pm. Our server was prompt and very friendly, but we were waiting for our fourth to arrive. When he came our server was struggling with their new POS system and did not come back to our table for a while. After we did order it took longer than expected to get our orders. The chips and salsa were served right away. The chips were very good but the salsa was- well- different. It is apparently run through a food processor. You can shovel it with your chips! So it sticks to the chips, but we all would prefer the natural texture of salsa. We had a variety of entrees which included tacos, enchiladas, flautas, tamales, and Carne Asada. All of those items and the rice that comes with the dinners were just OK. The refried beans were dry. The Carne Asada was tasty but unevenly cooked. We asked for medium and got close to rare on one end and well on the other end. Overall we have had very good experiences at Pepe's restaurants but we will not return to this one.
(2)Ed N.
Have gone to this Pepes for years and liked it. It is under new ownership. My wife and I went there last night and it was awful. The service has gotten terrible. The salsa had a soapy taste to it and there was a nasty smell to the restaurant. No one bothered to take our drink order. But worst of all were the chips they gave us with the salsa. They were disgusting. They tasted like stale old rancid oil. We also found a twig in the chips. We walked out before placing an order since no one bothered to stop by our table after giving us the salsa and chips. I would avoid this place. Too bad, it used to be a good place to grab a bite to eat.
(1)Gina D.
This Pepe's has recently undergone some changes. The new owner is pleasant and the seating has improved; however, the prices increased and quality went down compared to before. Salsa is awful. Many of the old locals no longer visit and the atmosphere is not as friendly as it once was for so many years. Changes happen but I wish that he would try to improve the quality of food and stop watering down the drinks. We have stopped visiting for the most part and will like not return until significant improvements are made.
(3)K N.
I would say out of all the Pepe's in the area, this one is not to impressive. Their salsa just looks weird. The inside of the restaurant could be cleaned better. They do have fast service and food does come out quickly. However, the quality of the food does not impress me.
(3)Mark G.
I have not been to a Pepe's since there was one in Franklin Park way back when. After hearing so many Pepe's advertisements on the radio which raved about how "authentic" they are, I became intrigued. Since I was a child my last trip to Pepe's & don't remember a whole lot, I figured it was time to relive this moment in history. I visited the website just to browse their menu. Their menu is very impressive, given that it's a chain. Now I'm not expert on decor, but upon walking in, the place seemed very dull. Almost like they could use some remodeling to liven the place up. When ordering, we hit a wall right away, as they apparently stopped serving the chorizo dish my date found on the website & had her sights set on. So she settled for some quesadillas that seemed very "bleh". I ordered the "stuffed" steak tacos which were just OK. The rice & beans were pretty good though. And they have all the Mexican beer favorites which is a plus. I give this place 2 stars. Their menu is nice, but doesn't really come through on the authenticity they claim to possess. Not bad food, but there's much better Mexican out there.
(2)Kimberly M.
Please don't go here thinking that it is an authentic mexican place. It is probably a little more authentic than taco bell. With that being said, I still like their tacos and spanish rice. Usually, I'll get the beef taco dinner with double rice. I love their rice; it's so flavorful. I have also had their combination plates, they're not too bad. The only downer is the pricing. For the beef taco dinner, it's about $10 and you get 3 tacos, rice and beans. You could probably get steak tacos at an authentic mexican restaurant for that price!
(4)cher b.
This Pepe's is actually in Chicago Ridge, IL. I started coming this location when I was about 7 years old - over 21 years ago. I'm a huge Pepe's fan in general, but this is the best of the bunch. The portions are gigantic. Their Spanish rice is phenomenal, better than the other locations. The staff are veterans and know all of the regulars by name. I live in Plainfield, IL and I still travel out to Chicago Ridge to eat at this Pepe's.
(5)Laura C.
Great Carne Asada! Great chips & salsa - they have 2 different kinds of salsa! Great Spanish Rice and Beans! This is one of the best Pepe's.
(5)Bill B.
I found a cockroach in my carry-out bag once at this location. I brought the lunch back (with the now dead cockroach) and spoke to the manager. No apology or offer to buy me a free lunch. I just asked for my money back and never went back. What a bunch of jagoffs.
(1)Lisa A.
This is the BEST, i mean BEST Pepes there is in the Chicagoland. The one in Woodridge is good too, they have a better atmosphere. But I definitly have to say I They have the Best Pepes food out of all the locations. If you are ever by 111th and ridgeland make a point of it to stop at this location!
(4)