Illegal Pete's? More like Illegal Meats. You know that barbacoa is smuggled across the border by the half-ton. You never know what part of the pig you're gonna get, every bite tastes like a different species. Every time I eat here my food is bone cold. Not luke warm. Cold. My side of guacamole was the same temperature as the contents of my burrito and that shit is refrigerated. If I wanted to eat cold slop, I'd lick the mudflaps of my car. read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Cold - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

I like this place! I think you will too! It is a Chipotle like restaurant but better. BETTER: Food Drinks Service Atmosphere Grab a drink and socialize or just bring the family for a great semi fast dinner. You can't go wrong here. read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Getting the grub! - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

Best. Nachos. Ever. The queso is to die for ... please open up in NYC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Nachos - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

Visiting DU for a tour for potential attendance by our daughter. Wanted to try something close by and Illegal Pete's was recommended by one of the students at DU. Good food, made quickly, but the thing that stands out are how friendly everyone was. It was kind of quiet, since it is summer and not many kids in school. We had a bowl with steak and beans, a chicken burrito, a quesadilla and chips/salsa/queso. A lot of food. Took some back to our hotel for later snacking. Queso was very tasty and that along with our spare chips made a great snack later. I would go again and I would recommend. If I can figure out how to afford to send my kid to DU, I am sure we will be eating here again! read more

Bad stomach. Reminding myself not to eat red meat in the summer. Something doesn't jive. Eat dinner at 9 PM and sick the next day.

Arrived at 12:30 on a Sunday to get a breakfast burrito. Stood in line. Finally got to counter at 1:11 and breakfast stuff had been removed at 1pm. Line wasn't as long as when DU students are in town. Last time I just left after waiting 20 minutes and line was barely moving. Meanwhile to go orders and online orders were flying out the door. We left hungry. I am not blaming the friendly employees but corporate better figure someway to serve in person clients in a timely manner. Adios Illegal Pete's! read more

We ordered food online without realizing this place was basically Chipotle. The nachos are not inherently nachos (ie chips with melted cheese and toppings) - you have to order queso and then it comes on the side. The nachos are also difficult to eat out of the oddly shaped bowl it comes in. It's oddly deep while simultaneously also needing to be wider. My husband got a fish burrito and gave it "a solid 6". The one redeeming part was that the margarita we got was pretty strong. read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Steak nachos with queso on the side - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

*TEXANS* Don't be misjudged by the reviews 20 bucks for a burrito that's all rice, and a couple chunks of meat, and a medium size drink - also bring some seasoning cause plain a.f read more

Love the margaritas here and food is great too! We tried the mango and strawberry margaritas on happy hour and for $4.5 is amazing! read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

No line, friendly staff, and illegal Pete's food is always delicious! I love how they have the option to replace dairy with guac! Super helpful for those of us with allergies. read more

Yep, I still love Illegal Pete's. Going here brings back fond memories of my DU days, with their two happy hours (evening AND late night), insanely strong margaritas, and tasty food. I love that they serve breakfast burritos until 1pm on the weekends too. Oh, and let's not forget that they literally gave away free breakfast for Breakfast Burrito Day back in October! You can't go wrong with this location, or Illegal Pete's in general. read more

Food was great and service was nice and speedy. We are glad they are close to home so we can try more delicious treats on their menu! read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Build your own burrito and half chicken half beef taquitos - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

Workers job is to upsell all of the crap toppings until the burrito is a disgusting mush then default to a 25% tip after working against your best interest and increasing the cost by 50%. Even if the burrito had been good, my appetite was replaced with anger. That $20 burrito went in the garbage. read more

I always had a soft spot for Illegal Pete's when I lived but didn't realize how much I would miss it after moving. I love that they have fresh ingredients, tasty tortillas, and will let you sub guacamole for cheese and sour cream. I also love that their green chile has a good kick to it. My chicken tacos were delightful as usual, and my happy hour beer was only $4! If only we had these elsewhere :( read more

See all

Love love love illegal petes. I come here mainly for the quesadillas which are excellent - cheap, huge portions, hot, cheesy, and delicious. You get salsa and either sour cream or guacamole. Illegal petes in my opinion also has higher quality, fresher ingredients than the other fast casual Mexican places. Other things I like about illegal petes - they have delicious queso, they have a patio with outdoor seating, take home containers are readily available by the soda machine, they have happy hour drink specials and a breakfast menu! read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Chicken quesadilla - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

Every single time I've ordered online from this illegals it takes FOREVER. A quesadilla and a kids bowl does not need to take AN HOUR. It wouldn't be a big deal if this was a one time thing but it's every time and right now I'm missing an event that was very important due to my quesadilla taking an hour. The line inside isn't even long and it's a Wednesday night. For people looking to eat here... go in person because you will get your food 30 minutes faster than if you order online. read more

I had never been to this particular location until recently when a group of colleagues and I - who had been planning a happy hour for *months* - finally picked a day and location that would be fairly central as we all live in different corners of the Denver metro area. I arrived first and, after ordering and receiving my (huge) burrito in a very timely fashion, snagged a table on the upper level. With my Denver Passport in hand, I then proceeded to the bar to get my beverage. The gals behind the counter allowed me to upgrade to the coin margarita but still get the deal, which was fab and well worth the extra $1. They pour strong ones, so tip well! My colleagues slowly trickled in, as did the rest of the DU scene it seemed. As I am well beyond my college years, it made for some good people watching. It also got very loud very quickly, to the point where we had to shout at each other for conversation. Not unexpected but mildly annoying and made me wonder if the servers were getting permanent ear damage from working in such a loud environment for hours on end. This is where my mind goes in my older age.. Happy hour is from 3-8 every day, which is a fantastic amount of time to take advantage of their BOGO and discounted drink specials. Recommended. read more

Messiest tacos ever! Probably my own fault for getting the corn tortillas and too many fillings though. They were tasty and the guacamole was really good! The "street" tacos were larger than a typical street taco usually is so get 2 instead of 3 if you're thinking they're going to be small. read more

I had never had illegal pete's before but my friend from Denver said I should definitely try it. This place is just like chipotle but with a little variation in menu. You still go down a line picking which rice, beans, meat, and additions you want to put in. They've got some additional items on their though. This place had a wet burrito option which is what I got. It was super good and a big portion. Everything tasted good and that green chili salsa they out on top was really good. (You should also ask to put some inside if you want more) This place also serves beer which is unlike chipotle so you can have a drink while eating. If this place was in LA, I would probably choose it over chipotle. If you're visiting, definitely hit up one of the chain restaurants before you leave. read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Green chili burrito. - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

The atmosphere is cool, both inside and outside seating. I got a bowl and my husband got a burrito. We both enjoyed the food, it was flavorful, but definitely wish the serving sizes were a little bigger for the price. We paid $3 for a teensy tiny little thing of queso and there was barely enough to share. The service was really great though! read more

Uh move over Chipotle! I would choose Illegal Petes over Chipotle any day. The fact that people choose to visit the original Chipotle over Illegal Petes- is a head scratcher... I love their burritos and burrito bowls. It's a little noisy while ordering but the results are always delicious. If you're visiting Colorado, DU, or are a native, make sure you check out this place read more

I eat here 2-3/week and have been an avid burrito enthusiast since my latter days in high school. This is the best burrito place I've seen out there aside from this spot in San Francisco(I can never remember their name). Staff is always friendly and accommodating. Good vibes, peeps and burritos. 10/10. read more

The owner of this location reached out to me and made things right. I never updated my review but I went several times after the fact and was always well taken care of. Thanks again for the excellent customer service. It really goes a long way. read more

Super surprised at how rude one of your staff members was tonight. I have friends that would give anything to have a serving job right now. Really sad to see, honestly. Hope dude sees that serving customers isn't for him. 2 stars since the food is always on point but good food isn't hard to find in Denver. read more

One of my downfalls is that I buy groupon.living social, etc. deals like crazy. So when I saw that Google deals had a $10 deal for Illegal Pete's for only $5, I clicked buy without even looking up the place. Sometime with the word illegal in it had to satisfy right? Right. Turns out this place is similar to Chipotle or Qdoba only they serve more hooch than the other two and have beer on tap. When going to these places I only get an entrée on it's own but since I had $10 to spend this time around I went big. I got the pork carnitas salad with a soda and chips to enjoy later and didn't even hit the $10 mark. The pork was absolutely terrific--tender, moist and full of flavor but my gripe was that the actual salad was little. They don't throw on the lettuce, tomato, onion and other veggies like that do elsewhere, it's already pre packaged and more along the lines of a side salad topped with meat, salsa, cheese and sour cream if your heart so desires. The location is smack dab in the middle of DU so it was swarming with college kids which I can appreciate. I long for the days of it being socially acceptable to wear sweats, last nights makeup, down a burrito and talk about how hungover you are. read more

In the land of giant burritos, Illegal Pete's comes in a distant third, behind Chipotle and Qdoba. We were interested in checking out Illegal Pete's in the DU area because it's been under construction for what seemed like forever. They took over and completely remodeled the old Piccolos space. First for the good...The space is really open and clean. I like that the kitchen is completely visible. They have a great looking patio which will probably be well used during the summer months. The ordering process is identical to their competition - pick your meal, then choose fillings, salsas, cheeses etc. The staff is very friendly and for a brand new place, very competent. Offering more of a dine-in restaurant atmosphere, Illegal Pete's has a great looking (full) bar (with good happy-hour specials) and separate seating areas. Lots of big flat panels each showing a different sporting event, or in our case (since we were there for lunch) a telenovela. Also, the Hot House xxxtra hot salsa is kick-ass and flavorful. As for the rest...we ordered the Pork Carnitas Fajita burrito to split. I noticed immediately as my burrito was being constructed that my burrito "architect" was being pretty skimpy on the meat :-( The resulting bundle was smaller that what we usually get at Chipotle and Qdoba, and had much less meat. After cutting it in half, my first thought was that we might not have enough to eat - my husband opened his up and asked where the meat was hiding. Not a good sign. As far as the rest of the ingredients, the roasted onions and green peppers had been cooked properly and had the right amount of smokiness. The rice - eh, totally flavorless and in my opinion a bit overcooked. The flour tortilla became dried out very quickly which leads me to assume that it wasn't very fresh to start. Note: I never notice this happening at Chipotle. The most disappointing part of the meal was the side of guacamole which was smooth instead of chunky and tasted only slightly better than what you can get at Taco Bell. If they make their guac in-house, you couldn't prove it by me. I want to like this place and I definitely plan on going back to try other items on the menu. Two and a half stars actually but I'm more inclined to round down as the Yelp definition of 2 stars really fits - "meh, I've experienced better." Hopefully we will have a better meal next time. read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

See all

Dude honestly if you're gonna to charge a good amount money, the least ya'll could do is give us our money's worth. There is literally 2 pieces of chicken in my meal, as well as some ingredients I ordered weren't included either read more

Food tasted good especially the guacamole! But service was horrible! The bartender rejected both me and friend's IDS even though we both turned 21 more than 6 months ago. But worst of all, she was so rude and condescending as were the manager and another employee. Threatened to take my friends REAL ID if she were to go back. Don't go here. read more

Gotta' say that I couldn't be more grateful for the staff at Illegal Pete's on Evans. I had a pretty large catering order and I had to change the pickup time to an hour earlier than expected. I called them with only a two hour warning - I knew it was a difficult request and didn't expect them to be able to accommodate it. The person that answered the phone let me know that they were in the middle of a shift change, but she would ask. The kitchen said they would stay and do it for us. Seriously, I worked in the industry long ago and know how insane that kind of request is and they came through with flying colors. Very grateful to these folks for helping me out in a difficult situation. read more

Young crowd. Fun vibe. This place is awesome for happy hour (3-8pm) and gets lively on some weekends. The patio is dog friendly and the bar has a garage door that opens up to it. Taking off stars for: The bathrooms, however, are not ideal. They're always humid and smell weird. The food is pretty decent, however the grill marks on the steak are fake, which I only just noticed last week but have been eating here a lot since starting school next door. read more

The fish tacos are a 5/10. The fish was ok- it was the only redeeming part of the dish. The flour tortilla fell apart in my hands and disintegrated. The dish lacked flavor. Oh Illegal Pete's- I gave you a chance. Some jalapeños would've helped. read more

Best in class. If I'm within a reasonable distance, I'll favor over Chipotle and the like every time. I was convinced I'd hate the place, never tried it until someone bought me some free tacos, and lo and behold, I did a 180. It really isn't fair to compare it to a Chipotle or a Qdoba, it's a notch above in terms of quality and price. Never had a bad meal here. read more

I'm soooo picky about my Mexican food but I can honestly say this was amazing ! I mean I had a carnitas burrito smothered in Green Chile. Wanted to play it safe . I'm bummed they don't offer enchiladas on the menu but when I want a burrito this is " THE PLACE" I'll be ordering from !!!! The green Chile is mild ish- medium which is perfect because it has great flavor but has the heat as well ! My wife is a true "gringa " but even she smothered her burrito with the green Chile , even though her " mouth is on fire " as she would say LOL Thank You Illegal Pete's for a great dinner so pleased right now read more

They keep skipping the music I play on the jukebox, and I am adamant that by doing so, it is a civil rights violation. As an amateur DJ, I argue that the music played in an establishment is integral to a patron's culinary experience They skip a variety of genres including country, rock, adult alternative, Top 40, electronic, and singer-songwriter acoustic. Then they let crap like Papa Roach play on repeat. This is a deplorable business practice, their queso is bland, and the margaritas are watered-down excuses for a libation. I wish I could give this place zero stars. Shame on you Illegal Pete's. Shame on you! read more

Illegal Pete's DU - The jukebox in question. - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

The best of the huge burrito restaurants. Tons of variety and Niman Ranch meats. Natural and humanely raised is so important and I am thrilled Pete's is inboard with the respect your food movement. As far as the menu goes, the chicken pesto bowl or burrito with added primavera veggies is my favorite. Greg likes the steak and queso. Our kids love the quesadillas and taquitos. The fish tacos and big potato burritos are also great. As an added bonus, there is often good music. It is one of the few places I can enjoy the Misfits while eating. read more

Illegal Pete's DU - Mexican Near Me - Denver, Colorado

To the gentleman with the nice handlebar mustache, you rock. I was having a horrible day and your friendliness just serving me some good food made a difference. Vegan food here is delicious. Come for the food, stay for the good company. read more

Good/solid choice while visiting DU. Nothing special. But we'll known to the students.

VERY poor customer service. I went the evening of 5/18 and not a single worker had a good attitude, but one specifically... I have never been treated like that as a customer. I was treated like how dare I have the audacity to come here. She threw my food around as it was being made, put stuff in that I didn't ask for, and then proceeded to look at me like "wtf is wrong with you". I've worked many food jobs before so I know what it's like and I NEVER treat workers poorly so to be treated like that is absolutely unacceptable. Hire people who actually want to work. Not entitled people who are there to make customers feel like garbage while getting paid to do so, not a good look Illegal Pete's. read more

Forgot to update this. The manager reached out to me shortly after I posted my review. He apologized for the experience, refunded me for the order and assured me he was working on improving the standards. I've been back 10+ times since then and have had a great experience each time! read more

Illegal Pete's maybe a typical burrito place. However, they have a few things that Qdoba, Chipotle, and others do not. For one, they have green chili.... mmmm. And a full bar.... mmmm And TV's with the game. Yaay! A shredded beef burrito bowl with red peppers, green chilli, and guacamole tastes ten times better than it sounds, and it sounds pretty good. read more