Tumbleweed TexMex Grill & Margarita Bar

Growing up going to Tumbleweed all the time, the chain will always have a special place in my heart, but this one has just never given me anything other than mediocre service at best. This one, Jtown, and Buechel, all have bad service.
Food is good, exactly what you would expect from a Tex Mex chain, which is what keeps me coming back, for some reason.

The clueless guy acting as host made my handicapped mother walk past about 7 empty tables to be seated. That was after making us wait five minutes just standing there waiting for someone to acknowledge we were there. Asked for a medium steak, got well done. At least our waitress was sweet and made them remake it (she also comped our soft drinks). All in all, we won’t set foot in there again. The Tumbleweed on Hurstbourne by the Home Depot is better by a mile.

When I first moved to Louisville, Tumbleweeds was a staple in our dining nights out (in the 80’s and 90’s). Decided to try it out again recently. Went with a friend and had a 3 – 4 star experience. Went back again about a month ago and now see what the other reviewers are talking about. Poor service, dirty, sticky floors, all of our meals were cold, but took so long that we didn’t want to complain and wait another hour for new meals. Will never go back.

We used to love Tumbleweed! But the staff was so awful it ruined everything. The staff and manager are sloppy and dirty. Food was meh, our server was slow and forgetful, but the manager walking around talking on his cell phone with his hand literally inside his shirt scratching distracted me from my waiting. There are plenty of decent places to choose from in this area. Pass on this one.

I have always loved Tumbleweed since I was young, it was the only place that my dad really wanted to go to. However, it seems that the service has gone downhill over time which makes me sad.
We were brought out chips and salsa right away and they now have some sort of fruit salsa which was ok. I ordered a margarita and the hubs ordered an LIT which took some time to come out and were just ok.
I ordered the chipotle chicken avocado tacos (or something like that) with a side salad instead of beans which was an upcharge of $ 2. I now know why, because you get pretty much a dinner sized salad. It was so big and pretty plain, the only interesting thing being the cornbread croutons which I love. I could only finish half of it and then I wasn’t even that hungry when my tacos came. They tasted pretty good, but I couldn’t really find the avocado in them. When something is in the name of a food item I expect it to have quite a bit of that in the actual dish. They didn’t bring out my rice, but did take off the $ 2 they charged us for the salad.
The service was ok, but if we go back to a Tumbleweed, it won’t be this location.

What a very poor excuse for Tex Mex… Guy Fieri is major eyerolling right now. From the very not-​soft «chipotle» tortilla to the very dark avocados and guac, this place gets one star only for the very sweet take out gal. Seriously, how can you have old guac and avocados on a busy Saturday night? The rice was incredibly over cooked and mushy, the black beans had a distinct perfume essence… all in all, keep driving. Chipotle is right around the corner.

Steaks here a AMAZING. As for the «mex» part it’s ok. The mango salsa is absolutely awesome. But if your looking for authentic mexican food, look elsewhere.

I have ate here for lunch a couple times. The service and food used to be horrible. The last few times I have been in there everything was wonderful. The service was great. The food was hot and yummy. And everything came out in a timely manner. I can definitely tell there has been some changes here.

Food was good and it came out fast. Only complaint was the waiter did not appear to hear me as I told him no sour cream and sure enough, huge dollop of sour cream right in the middle of my plate. Took it back and brought me out new before too long. He was very apologetic about the error though. Happy hour drink prices, ½ priced margaritas, wine, draft beer and ½ half priced apps. For the month of October all exotic margaritas are ½ priced as well.

We decided to give this place a second chance after we left last time due to never being waited on. Tonight I had to ask our server for silverware, which she still never brought. I had to go to the hostess to get it. The food took a long time to get to our table, and was nothing special once we got it.
I asked for extra napkins because I had my 3 year old with me. We never got extra napkins. The kids meal comes with a free sundae. If I had not seen that on the menu I wouldn’t have known because it wasn’t offered. My son asked for the berry sundae, the waitress repeated berry but brought a chocolate sundae.
Then I paid with a credit card but she never left a pen. Good thing they give the kids crayons because the waitress never walked by again. So I had to sign in crayon.
The only positive was that we went on a kids eat free night, but that was just by chance. We will not be back.

Worst service I’ve ever had. Waiter took forever to take orders. Margaritas took forever to come out. Waiter had to be flagged down if we needed anything. Asked for a box and he kept passing us. Left the food. Will never go back.

It’s ok, saw it on the way to the hotel. Sat at the bar. Food is ok. I had a steak and vegetables. Don’t get the steak, I think it is seasoned in salt! Vegetables were over cooked. Salad was served 1 minute before main course. There is definitely better around.

Really wanted to like this place. I promise I did.
We are new to the area and checked it out because it was new to us. I ordered a salad and also thought I would try one of their margaritas. The salad wasn’t anything that I remember as being awesome. The «red solo» margarita was poorly made and didn’t look at all like what appears in the menu. How do you screw up a drink made in a red Solo cup?
Our family’s food was equally unimpressive. Thankfully the wait staff was super kind and timely to salvage some of the visit. We might give it another shot one of these days but aren’t in a major rush to ever go back.

I have been to this location twice and the one on the river once.
At both: the staff is lazy, restaurant is unclean, food is overly spicy or bland, and the bartenders were rude.

I might have given them a «meh» rating, but it is Margarita Monday. The $ 0.99 margaritas were a little watery, but they were huge and decent tasting. Anytime you can get a solid buzz on for $ 3 or less, you should grade on a curve.
The guacamole made at the table was pretty tasty. I like the freshness implied by watching them mix the guac tableside — but it is hard to go wrong anytime you smash up an avocado. I found the latex gloves a little off putting though. I know that servers handle money and dirty dishes and all sorts of things, but… If you are coming to my table to prepare food, just wash your damn hands.

We are new to Louisville and are trying nearby places. This place was a big disappointment. My husband’s salad was soggy & when he complained to the manager she excused it due to the wash they use for the lettuce. My husband has worked in restaurants for about 25 years and found her excuse pathetic. Not only was the salad inedible, his hamburger arrived with the same soggy/​wet lettuce hiding under the bun! This was upsetting and he could barely eat the burger since the bun was soggy as a result.
My daughter & I ordered the white chicken chili & were also disappointed. The price of $ 3.99/cup gave us approximately 5 spoonfuls/​bites and it was too thick. The kids pizza appeared to be a frozen version and my son barely touched it. I will say my burrito wasn’t bad all things considered. The most horrible item was the «salsa» if it can be called such. We are accustomed to fresh salsa or at least a better version of the prepared variety. The staff said it is prepared off site at a commissary as if we’re supposed to accept the less than mediocre slop with a smile. It was thick and tasted like Ragu if anything. Yuck!
We will NOT go back there… ever!

Things we liked at Tumbleweed: guacamole made at the table. Can’t really get fresh guac wrong.
My husband liked the salsa, but I did not.
I had the enchilada plate and it was overcooked. All our food seemed like it had been sitting under the heat lamp even though when we were there we were one of five tables.
We’ll skip Tumbleweed.

When I moved to Louisville in 1996, Tumbleweed was awesome. The portions, food quality and service were all top notch and it was not uncommon to wait an hour or more to be seated at both of their locations on Mellwood and in the DuPont Circle area Sadly both of those locations have closed, Tumbleweed has franchised itself and the service and food have fell off of a cliff. Stay away unless you enjoy rude staff, screwed up orders, filthy dining rooms and bland food. The only slight positive about this place is that the prices are reasonable.

Bunch of chain restaurants in the area. We don’t have Tumbleweed’s in Michigan, so I thought I would try it as I see them in my travels.
Started out negatively as the hostess sat us next to the screaming child whose parents were trying the ‘let’s ignore him and maybe he’ll stop” approach. Not the restaurants fault, but Tuesday’s must be bring your young child to Tumbleweed’s night and apparently the hostess strategically places them throughout the restaurant so that other diners are never more than 2 – 3 tables away.
Top Self «Exotic Margarita» was alright for $ 6. The beer list couldn’t be more boring, unless you consider common Mexican beers and a seasonal Sam Adams as adventurous.
Had the Rio Trio appetizer. Turned out to be the highlight of the meal. The house salad was okay also. Would have gotten 3 stars if we stopped right there.
My co-​worker and I both ordered Ribeyes. I had my «TW Style» with grilled peppers and onions and cheese on it. Here is where the trouble started.
Mine was supposed to be medium-​rare, but it was medium to medium-​well. My co-​workers was supposed to be medium, but it was somewhere between rare and medium-​rare. His took a trip back to the kitchen.
Honestly, it didn’t matter how they were cooked. Flavorless, tough to cut with a steak knife. The onions and peppers in my «TW Style» were barely warm, i.e. raw, which doesn’t add to the flavor of a steak.
Service was okay, but if I was a good waitress, I’d be looking for a better restaurant where my tip didn’t depend on trying to make up for bad food and bad cooks.

Tumbleweed does nothing well. As far as Mexican food goes, it is crap. As far as grilled, tex-​mex food goes, it is crap. The sides are flavorless and generic. They have crap beer on tap (Bud, Bud Light, and Miller Light… no thanks.) To add insult to injury, their bar showed that they were serving Sam Adams Noble Pils, but after sending the server back to the bar a couple times to be sure, I was disappointed to find no Noble Pils in the place. The best thing I can say about this place is that it has free Wifi. Don’t eat here.