The service was great. The area was clean. The Margarita were on special in the Jumbo size for $3.50 Food came out fast and tasted great. read more

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We stopped in on a whim. The food was average and the service absolutely wonderful. Our table was taken care of at every turn. We had the tacos with a cheese crust and they were fine, but nothing that would make us return. read more

The servers here are great-we go back because of them. BUT! someone do something about the chairs!!!! the sound of chairs scraping across the floor are worse than nails on a chalk board. We have seen people leave while complaining about it. Honestly most times we go I would stay longer but we just can't take that screeching noise. Take up a collection to buy some felt or something for the bottom of those chair legs!!!!! read more

We had the fajita crisp with chips and salsa. We picked it up. Clean and friendly. A little disappointed in the chips. My generic chips tasted better. read more

This shit slaps. Steak Fajita Burrito is like having sex for the first time. Rice is average at best. Great service.

DO NOT EAT HERE. This place is not up to code. Bugs, this place was supposed to be closed down and service is slow as hell.

This restaurant was my lunch stop today in Cedar Falls, Iowa. I didn't expect much after looking over the reviews on Yelp. However, the service was great by Andrew, the server. The fajita burrito was decent and came out quickly. The server checked up on us frequently and brought the take-out box and check quickly. I would definitely return here if in Cedar Falls again. read more

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The food there is amazing, I've never had a bad experience there. The service is always immaculate. Anyone giving bad ratings is probably on a power trip. I miss the old ambience a bit more from before it was remodeled, but it doesn't change how good the place is. read more

Carlos in CF is amazing! I have had the best experience ordering from here. Rose and her team ALWAYS help me, even if it's last minute! I have ordered from here for catering many times and honestly - there's never been a meal that wasn't fantastic! I highly recommend the fajita bar - everyone can get something they like! And don't forget the queso :) read more

Food is amazing. Pretty Pat for the course if you've been to Carlos before. My go to is the enchiladas de poblano. Pretty much just a chicken enchilada with white sauce and it's amazing! I particularly love the staff here the most over any other location I have been to. I know the Carlos in Des Moines got closed down due to bad service but I definitely don't see that happening here. Literally have never had a bad experience the many times I have gone. Also have adapted to COVID very well. When covid first hit they had many specials and coupons and an easy way to carry out since sit down wasn't available at the time. Even now they continue to enforce masks and social distancing. read more

Recently, we had the worst customer service experience of our lives at one of our, well at least my, favorite restaurants. So bad that I will never eat there again...ever!! What I thought would be a nice lunch out at Cedar Falls Carlos O'Kelly's with my family, turned into a nightmare! We ordered our drinks and when they arrived, the server was holding them on a tray with one hand while handing them out....typical, right. There were 6 drinks in this order all in cups: water, kid's apple juice, water, water, mountain dew and blue raspberry lemonade. The waitress handed out the water, juice, and second water leaving 3 heavy cups on one side of the tray. I looked up and all of the sudden I could see the drinks beginning to tip and at the verge of dumping on my mom and myself...the blue lemonade was heading straight for my mom so, I immediately put my hand up to try and prevent at least one of the drinks from dumping on us. It was one of those moments where you couldn't really talk but, needed to act fast like putting your arm out in front of the passenger when you brake fast. I just knew something bad was about to happened. I could see the blue lemonade waving in the cup like waves of an ocean. At that moment, I don't remember how it all fell, but the lemonade was either grabbed by the waitress or myself, I don't think I ever touched anything though. Although the lemonade was saved from the fall, the water and mountain dew showered both my mom and myself. There was pop, water, and ice everywhere. Here's the kicker, there was never an apology...never. Only attitude. The waitress made the comment, "Well, that was bound to happen." We asked, yes asked, for towels to clean up and my mom went to the bathroom to clean up. When she came out the waitress gave her a sarcastic thumbs up...like, no, everything is not ok here. The table was never wiped for us by the waitress, but some help from another server. Luckily, we had some baby wipe to clean up the sticky table. The ice was left on the floor and the ice was left in the crack of the booth conjoined to the booth I was sitting in. I pointed out the ice and she said that it would melt and she'd clean it up then because it'd be easier then. At this point, we should have left. We gave the server grace and didn't say anything mean about the situation. Another server came by and said let me see what kind of discount I can get for you. He ended up taking our order. We got our food, ate, talked, and then our tickets came. Joking, I said the whole table is free, right. He said, we were only able to discount the one meal, which was my mom's. Then he offered to have the store manager come over. She came over with the most awful attitude and blamed me for the whole situation. She said I should have never grabbed drinks from her servers tray and she would only discount mom for the drink being dumped on her since I did it. At the moment, I was HOT!!! I explained how the server's perspective could have been seen as me grabbing drinks, but that wasn't the case. Who grabs drinks from server's trays?? Let's be real here. That's common sense. Still, no apology. Just blame. The manager then discounted my meal and walked away with the stickiest, funky attitude. We didn't come for free food, but time with my family...we can afford to eat here. What we didn't come for was a soda shower and poor customer service....She then was loud with another customer talking about me. I did get upset myself about the whole situation and said some things, but wow.... I cannot believe this actually happened. I tried to get in contact with someone above her, but haven't got ahold of anyone yet. read more

Please don't eat here. You'll regret it. Don't even think their Birria ramen is good at all! That have blocked all negative comments on Facebook. All this place does is make Whitezican food! They have no clue how to make food! All you people that say this place makes great Mexican food?! You don't know Mexican food! read more

I would not eat here if you paid 100 million dollars cash-sit and wait 30 minutes and then tell us it's another 30 min on top of that omg horrible no one in the place was there or working I see why cedar falls is falling apart and no business are staying around read more

Lovely local American Mexican chain that's found throughout Iowa. Not only do they have free chips and salsa, but they have a nice expansive menu, pour the alcoholic drinks nice and heavy, and usually have friendly staff. Sidenote: if you're seeking "authentic" Mexican, this isn't it. There are other restaurants in the area for that. Carlos sells Tex Mex - which works well for us or one of our party members (who always gets chicken tenders and fries) would never be able to eat with us. PROS: -Delicious food. While I'm a bit of recluse when it comes to trying new food, I've always enjoyed their Naked Nachos Grande. They have lots of mexican dishes, and they have non-Mexican dishes such as Chicken Tenders for the non-Mexican-eaters in your party. I've never had a problem with burned food. The food isn't always "best food ever", but it's always at least moderately good. -Free chips and salsa. Once you're seated, you'll be given chips and salsa for your table. Wait staff is usually pretty good at keeping the bowl full of chips as well. -Queso is really good. I love their cheesy queso, and it's not too expensive, either. -Regular weekly specials on alcoholic drinks - especially their giant margaritas. They also regularly have other types of specials corresponding with various events - such as the playoffs, local sports teams, and more. -Private parking and located right in the middle of a busy Cedar Falls area. You can easily get dinner then get groceries at Hy-Vee across the street. Easily accessible off of University. CONS: -Service can be a bit slow here. On occasion, we've waited an abnormally-long time to receive our food or our check. Staff is usually friendly, though, even when it's slow, staff was friendly and apologetic about the wait. Can't ever remember having a friendliness issue. -Chips are hit or miss. Sometimes they're warmed and lovely salted. It's absolutely amazing, and I could eat hundreds of them. Sometimes they're cold and unsalted, and it's terrible, and I want none of it. It doesn't seem super hard to keep the food they deliver to *every* table warm and salted, but I'm always sad and surprised when it isn't that good. read more

We arrived early for our reservation. They had the table ready for us. We had courteous service and mindful of the children in our group. Food was good as usual. Service was helpful and quick. read more

Please clear up your menu or add things to it so the apps are on the same page with your actual menu. Door dash is a mess!

The server that I had was very delightful and always made sure that all drinks, salsa, and chips were filled which provided an excellent experience in the beginning. Unfortunately customer service is half of what makes a restaurant experience, and the chicken fajita proved that this restaurant initially won the battle, but inevitably lost the war. The ratio of chicken to vegetables was very skewed and while it was tasty there was hardly any vegetables so it felt as though I was eating a chicken wrap with lettuce. There also must have been a sale on children's tortillas because I had to order extra due to only being able to fit around 2 chicken strips before it was overfilled. The food has flavor, but the lack luster presentation proved that this restaurant is just another franchise in a sea of cut corners and maximizing profits. read more

We came here the other night and ordered food out to take back to our hotel. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. We usually go to the Waterloo one and it for some reason is way better. The chips were stale and not the same as Waterloo. The salsa was great as it always is we got extra so we could take it home. Food was ready in under 15 mins made it for a quick in and out! We ordered the fajitas to share it was a nigh serving but the onions were hardly even cooked. We got full circles of onions that weren't broken up so they just didn't cook at all. Everything else had a good amount of seasoning but overall wasn't impressed. The tortillas they sent with us were flour and were crunchy on the sides. Our daughter had a kids chicken taco she enjoyed it but again I wasn't impressed with it. We will just keep going to Waterloo for our future trips. read more

Oh Carlos O'Kelly's how I have missed you since I moved to Minnesota. Is it authentic? No, but do I love it anyway, absolutely! I and a friend from high school stopped in last night for supper and a margarita. We ordered a dish of queso to go with the complimentary chips and it was a perfect combination of warm, gooey cheesiness with a kick. She ended up ordering the Seafood Vera Cruz enchilada with a Raspberry Margarita and I ended up getting the Chipotle Chicken Burrito with a Orange-Mango Margarita. My burrito had just the right of kick where it was spicy but not so much that you couldn't stand it. The burrito came with choice of sides so I opted for the refried beans and cilantro lime rice. I felt the rice could have used more cilantro and lime as it was a little too bland for me. The Margaritas are pretty good size, I would say like 22-32 ounces and $4.99, you really can't go wrong. Our waitress was attentive without being intrusive which was great as my friend and I were catching up after not seeing each other for while. The waitress made sure that we had everything that we needed and made sure to let us know that our food was on the way as it had been a little bit since we ordered. In fact, no sooner than she had said that our food should be out shortly, another server was right behind her with our food. Carlos, I will be dreaming of you until I can come back to visit when I'm back visiting Iowa. read more

We LOVE going to Carlos. Especially the cedar falls restaurant, since they've changed the waterloo one. If you don't think the Carlos chips, salsa and queso are the best, then you're broken! The environment is family friendly, budget friendly and relaxing. Don't know what to try? Enchiladas San Carlos, cinco sampler and prairie fire grilled steak are some of our favorites. And if you're still hungry, try some fried ice cream - yum! read more

Great food, great service! Queso cheese wasn't the good stuff we expected, but the fajitas were amazing!

A lot of talk about this place since we moved here. After trying this place out I'm not sure what the hype its about. Very bland and not at all authentic. read more

Queso is amazing, chips are made on site and usually warm, salsa is made on site and delicious. Anything on the menu is great, you can't go wrong! You can get a lot of food with their combo meals. The water is not that good, order a lemon. Food arrives very quickly. read more

Really bad tasting food honestly. The best thing was the honey mustard. The fries have some kind of weird spice on it it seems like that makes them taste weird, and I had the bacon chicken sandwich and it had their special sauce thing on it and it tasted horrible. Might be my picky taste but still. read more

I love Carlos and always go there but today they accidentally put tequila in my strawberry lemonade and I am 14...other than that I really love their chicken and a lot of other stuff...staff is really friendly and the place is clean read more

Had a hostess named Hannah, bigger girl and she was absolutely rude. Will not be going back simply because of her. Food was good but I won't tolerate rude service. read more

Never fails to please. Carlos is awesome-bottom line. I don't know anyone who has been disappointed. The chips, salsa, and margaritas are fantastic. read more