Holy Frijoles

Food ain’t nothing to write home about. Isn’t wow, isn’t bad. I had the three taco platter last time and some of my rice was crunchy (which has also happened to me previously), so I think I’ve given up on their damn rice. Margs are good enough for me (and cheap). I haven’t had a terrible experience with the service here, bartenders are always around when a drink is empty. Def a good place to meet up with friends and have a couple of drinks.

Eh. I’ve been here numerous, random times, and it’s about always the same mediocre stuff. Everything is okay but taste are all the same (you know how text mex, whether it’s tacos or burritos or some other slop of salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. The service is just okay, too. Go for Busted Boots bluegrass and eat and drink. Not worth any fancy outing. And much better happy hours within a mile (or across the street).

You want some delicious, totally ‘muricanized Mexican food but lines too long at Nacho Mama’s?
Holy frijoles is it! Two stars for food, but four stars for atmosphere and people watching to even out to three.
Free chips and salsa, standard brews, art on wall… and hopefully they’ll stay that way despite Bmore becoming so bourgeois.

My family and I went out to Holy Frijoles for dinner. We are from California and live our Mexican food. I was thoroughly disappointed. The place was small, dark and cramped. The service was slow. We didn’t even get menus until 10 mins after sitting down. And drink refills and food took much longer. Each basket of chips had soggy chips at the bottom from salsa. Even worse was the fact that we had to pay for refill on chips. I’ve been to countless Mexican restaurants and have never seen that before! The food was fine, not terrible but nothing special. I’m grateful that I live in CA with lots more Mexican food options

Unlike many of the negative reviews regarding service, I have never actually eaten in at Holy Frijoles. Instead, my wife and I place a takeout order then proceed to go to Ma’s Petite Shoes and other places on the Avenue before returning for our food. In all of our trips our takeout orders were hot, correct, and were very good with a reasonable price. Because we live close by we are able to get home with our food still hot and get to enjoy our own ambience devoid of hipster angst and posery.

My husband and I love this place and go here often for a quick lunch and a tasty margarita.
The pin ball machines in the back are also a fun addition.
We usually sit at the bar when Slyder is working. Friendly, stellar service.
The queso, chips, salsa, tacquitos, fajitas, enchiladas are all solid.
They often have local artists’ work on display and for sale on the walls. It’s definitely a Hampden and Avenue staple, quirky and hipster but for sure belongs in the ‘hood.

Facts:
Saturday April 9^th at 12:00pm four) two male, two female) patrons strolled In to said holy frijoles Hampden location expecting a quick eat with decent service, and maybe a margarita. They were met with a waitress who couldn’t care less, 1hour long wait as we watched other patrons receive food before us (note they sat down at 12:20pm ordered two quesadillas, ate and paid by 12:45, we received our food at 12:55pm)waitress barely said anything, and slammed our water and food on the table.
Rule:
Hipster; adj: middle class young who reside in gentrified neighborhoods who broadly associate with indie music. Those who subscribe to non mainstream ironic culture that shun yuppies, mainstream, and pop culture.
Analysis:
Saturday April 9^th will be the last day I recommend a jarrito soda and a Chimmychanga (even though they trash my insides) after being a loyal holy frijoles eater since I was young and before Hamden was hipsterized. No longer will I desire their spicy jalapeño margarita, because it is not worth the scorn from employees due to the fact that I like brooks brothers. I ate there when the restaurant was 7 feet wide with my parents and we didn’t care that the bathroom was 2×2. I’m not sure what happened along the way, but it is clear that the restaurant is now being run by angry children.
Conclusion:
It is the recommendation of the court of public opinion that aforementioned bar and restaurant recoup their training of staff and employees on the judgment passed on loving patrons.

Holy Frijoles is affordable, quick, and a really fun time! Whenever we come on the weekdays, the restaurant area is fairly filled, but never full. The service is incredibly fast. Sometimes they have margarita specials and then the price is half off! The margaritas are also pretty strong from what I remember… When I stood up, I was definitely a little dizzy off of one. The atmosphere is a little grungy, but I think it adds to the charm.
We always get the fajitas and it’s a HUGE portion– enough for my boyfriend and I to share. The steak is always really tender and it’s served with peppers, onions, lettuce, sour cream, and pico de gallo. Also, the chips and dip that come to the table are AWESOME. The salsa pretty much tastes like cold spicy fresh gazpacho. Huge plus: there’s no onions in their salsa! We like to come here for a cheap, fast meal and they have yet to disappoint.

All Bad. Food, drinks and service. It’s a Mexican eatery not a rock concert. The music was so loud. Food cold and tasteless. We ordered tacs, burritos and a fajita. All standatd Mexican food but the meats had no flavor and the veggies and sauce made no impact. We left the food half eaten. The waiter didn’t notice or comment. Only saw him a couple times. I expected so much more.

I came to Holy Frijoles for dinner with a friend last weekend. We were promptly seated, and services was promptly attentive — though it verged on too quick and too often. We thought the salsa was pretty solid. We shared the veggie fajitas and enchiladas. We planned to order the enchiladas with black beans and corn, but they were out of black beans so we went with refried beans. The refried beans (and the whole enchilada dish) were really really salty. The veggie fajitas were… meh. Just sauteed fajitas. They came served with lettuce, cheese a giant amount of sour cream, and some salsa.
Overall the experience was only OK.

Was so excited for margaritas, chips and salsa with my friend and I must admit I was underwhelmed with the service, with the taste, and mostly with the service!
His sweatshirt read ‘Tragedy’ and that’s how I would sum up his service. I sat down at the bar and it took 2 minutes before he greeted me, my friend had been sitting there when arrived so maybe that’s why???
Then everyone and I mean everyone around us had chips and salsa. In fact a couple who came in after me sat down and even before hey for their waters, he served them chips and salsa. I don’t know if he felt like two women were an inconvenience but it was a bizarre situation.
After I audibly slurped down the last dregs of my margarita, I assumed he would 1) come over to ask if I wanted another 2) ask if we were ready to order but instead he walked by two times and then chatted with the couple next to me for a good 3 minutes and 34 seconds. Why so specified you ask? Because after the second time he walked by without acknowledging us, I started the timer on my phone.
Finally he came over and asked us if we wanted to order and if I wanted another drink. Mind you never during this 15 – 20 minute time frame did he ever bring us chips and salsa which are complimentary… shade!
Then when our nachos came… they were burnt!!! And when I asked for salsa, he looked around (like he was looking for he one he gave us with our complimentary chips and salsa) and then said «another one?» Um… you never gave us a first one.
Then we sat there with dirty plates for another five minutes before he cleaned them. Oh and this entire time, never asked my friend if she wanted another drink.
Overall I would say his shirt was a perfect representation… what a tragedy!
Maybe next time will be better?

I used to like this place and would come in for drinks fairly frequently but now the service is awful. We had a bartender that was pleasant at first and then did a 180 on us and was more interested in socializing and texting than tending to the few customers she had. She made a point to ignore us and I made a point to reflect it in her tip. This place is going to hipster itself right out of business. Let’s see how your funk pays the bills.

Food is consistently mediocre Tex mex. Service is terrible. I sat for ten minutes watching my food sit behind the counter. Bartender also offered chips and never got them. On a different attempted visit, the people I assume were supposed to open the restaurant stumbled across the street from Frazier’s thirty minutes after opening, walked in, and locked the door behind them.
My friends and I give them a shot about once a year because they’re cheap and often not as crowded as some of the other spots. There’s a reason you can’t get a seat at the bar other places. I’ve never been a fan of gentrification but I hope this place bites the dust in the shifting future of hampden.

Food is gud

Honestly, I had hyped this place up so much and then it was a huge letdown in my opinion.
I went on a week before Christmas when everyone was in Hampden checking out the lights. The streets were packed but luckily we took the last table before the wait started.
I ordered black bean tacos. The majority of my plate was consumed by refried beans (which I don’t care for) and only a small portion was left for my three tacos and a little scoop of rice. The rice was delicious and I wish I had more of it! The tacos were ok but definitely lacked a lot of flavor.
I probably won’t be back as the service was lacking as well.

Man, when you come to Frijoles, you do so for the chips, atmosphere, suds and pinball. Yeahyeah, the food leaves a little something to be desired if you think the TexMex game is basic, and you put pomegranate seeds in your guac. But for the rest of us, we will enjoy the high-​quality tunes, margs and $ 5-​Tecate-​tallboys-​with-​a-​tequila-​backers all night.

Food maybe mediocre at best. Very slow service that tries too hard to be hipster and trendy, vs focusing on hospitality or service. Their tacos are my least preferred in Baltimore. Really wanted to enjoy, came twice and disappointed both times. I would maybe come back for just drinks next time but certainly not for a meal.

Nice atmosphere and dollar tacos on Tuesday but that’s about the extent of the positives. The free basket of tortillas were legit soggy.
My entrée was the steak fajitas. I requested medium rare and it came out well done. The onions and veggies were barely cooked. No rice, beans or guac included. The tortillas came out cold and there wasn’t much flavor at all.
One and done.

Met up with a girlfriend for dinner during the week. We were seated and attended to right away.
I ordered the cucumber margarita because it sounded interesting and my friend had a mango margarita. The mango marg was syrupy and the cucumber marg was sub par.
I kept munching on the chips because I was hungry– but the salsa wasn’t very good. I ordered the chicken fajitas and she had the fish tacos. She seemed to enjoy her dish– mine was just okay. Not a lot of meat, not a ton of flavor… just meh.
As we sat there, the place got hotter and hotter. The doors were open and I don’t think they had any fan going. By the time we left we were sweating, and really only leaving in order to go cool off.
Service was fine.

The service is incredibly slow and it takes forever for your food to get out. We waited maybe 40 minutes to be our food and I got super full off of chips while waiting.
The food is pretty tasty though. The nacho grande is hugggee.