Service was great. Authentic Mexican food spot. They had dance lessons while we were here on a Thursday night. Casual and welcoming!! Will definitely be back! read more

Vaquero Y Mar - Quesa Birria Tacos Con Consomé were great! - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

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Saw the sign at the corner of California and Thompson for happy hour just walking by so I made a mental note to stop by and check it out. We went on a Tuesday afternoon and there was music. I asked the waiter if there was a happy hour menu and he said just tacos. So we ordered the carnitas tacos and they were excellent. We also had the chips and guacamole for $10 and it was very fresh. Wife had a shrimp cocktail for $15 and I think the shrimp was overcooked prior to chilling or maybe was speed thawed but was overly chewy. The band was good and the waiter was nice but when the bill came I saw that the tacos were totaled up at $3 each. I couldn't remember the sign so I asked if the Tacos should have been $2 each. He then found a happy hour menu and showed it to me and they were priced at $3 so I apologized for my mistake and paid. When we left I just wanted to make sure so we walked to the corner and saw the $2 sign. read more

Vaquero Y Mar - 3 dollar tacos when you get the check - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

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Had a lot of fun dancing Saturday night. West Coast Swing lessons 2nd and Fourth Saturdays. Drinks were very inexpensive.

It is definitely an experience. We came during a time where there was karaoke. Food is average. It didn't really stand out. Chips and salsa was good. I wouldn't mind returning to try something else. read more

First thing is be aware of the new menu, it was my fault since online they have an updated one but the yelp reviews show older Menu. New menu is way smaller, the food was delicious though so negative marks there. The drinks were good but on the lighter side of alcohol, you could have 3 with out feeling tipsy. This place definitely is a late night place, got here at 6:45 and place was empty but around 8:00 PM once the live music started the place had a nice vibe. When we got there they had Spanish music playing, the live band was an English cover band. The group was great just not expected, with the name of the restaurant being Vaquero Y Mar. Overall food and atmosphere was great just research who is playing before you go. On the sensory level this is a 8 or 9, loud music and bright strobe lights galore. More of an adult place after 9:00 PM read more

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Came here for salsa dance lessons on Thursdays at 7 PM! Has a fun environment and staff is very friendly! Great experience for dates or couples who are wanting to try something new! read more

Great place to have fun, live bands, dancing. Good food, the guacamole is excellent. Sadly, the salsas need a lot of improvement.

I came here with my friends on a Sunday afternoon searching for a good Mexican restaurant in the area, so we gave this place a shot based on the yelp reviews and pics. At first, we weren't sure if they were open since business appeared to be slow, but once we walked inside there was a mariachi band playing and people inside enjoying the music. We were seated right away and had a great view of the mariachi's playing on the small stage. They have Sunday Mariachi Brunch from 12-2pm. The music was very loud inside, so if you have sensitive ears, then you may want to sit outside. They also have live bands that perform every Wednesday from 5-7pm and $2 taco specials with $5 well drinks. The prices here are very reasonable for what you get, and the food was delicious. I ordered the Birria de Res with Consomé and it came with homemade corn tortillas, rice and beans. I thought I had placed an order for the birria queso tacos, but failed to realize it was the wrong meal. Nonetheless, I was very satisfied with my meal. The meat was served tender, juicy and not overly salty. In fact, it needed a little more salt, but I'd rather have to add more salt than have it overly salted. My friends ordered the chicken flautas and cheese enchiladas. I tried the chicken flauta and it was delicious! Can't go wrong with a crispy chicken flauta. I didn't get to try the cheese enchilada, but my friend said she enjoyed her meal as well. The service here is very welcoming and you can tell they are a family owned business that cares about their customers. I was very impressed by our waiters! Especially the lovely lady that helped us. I didn't catch her name, but she was very attentive and grateful when we complimented her on the food. Overall, a great place to check out for Mexican food if you're in the area. There's plenty of seating inside for small or larger groups. The interior inside is a little dim and dark, and the seating arrangement was a little awkward, but it is what it is. Parking is located in the back and there is outdoor seating as well. read more

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Don't go during so called "happy hour" The bartender who is also the manager won't honor the prices even though it's written on the happy hour menu. Says happy hour everyday but it's bullsheet. Paid 8 bucks for a bottled beer when 5 bucks was on the happy hour menu. Since she got an extra 3 dollars she lost out on a tip. Beware of scams! Next time I go to see my good friends band I'll drink beforehand. read more

Worst customer service ever! We rented out their salon attached to the restaurant for our baby shower in November. Reservation was made through the owner and everything was fine at first. Space was rented out and paid, she only limited us by saying we couldn't bring soda or alcohol, but we could bring aguas frescas. Day of, my husband and I arrive to bring setting up and she is pointing out how we couldn't pin up decorations, and I couldn't move around the tables. Even though we had agreed on the lay out and it wasn't done when we arrived. She said that we had said we were going to arrive at 11am to set up and arrived at 11:30am which was unacceptable. That by moving the tables, we were scratching the floor and making a mess. This was after having spoke to her the night before about how many tables were needed and where we wanted things set up and some other things like the cost of drinks from the bar. My husband had also requested an estimate for buying a 24 pack of beer from the bar as we were going to use some for games and have them for our guests. Once she said it would be $400, he politely declined and thanked her for letting us know. I asked for a trash can, and she refused to let us use one, claimed we had agreed to bring EVERYTHING. Things only got worse when our moms brought the food and aguas in, and she wanted to charge us $160 for bringing the aguas frescas as she thought we meant bottled water. She was proven wrong, as on our receipt, it said no alcohol or soda but aguas are okay. She continued to badger everyone even though we told her that 1. She was going back on her word and 2.our guests were arriving and we could settle this issue at the end of the party. The amount of harassment we endured from this lady was insane. I told her, being 8.5 months pregnant, that she was stressing me out and needed to please let us settle this issue at the end of the day. She began recording our party, our guests, our food and walking around trying to show us a new tab for $400 worth of beer. While the location is very nice and decorated well, I couldn't recommend this location as the customer service was horrible. Unfortunately, we will not be back. And because our guest saw/heard what was going on, they will not be returning either. read more

Nicest owners, and oh my, you have to try the birria pizza! It's delish! Family friendly in a calm environment, during the day. And at night a great place to go dancing. They have it all. read more

Vaquero Y Mar - Birria pizza - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

This is a family restaurant Be patient with the staff they are super friendly but under staffed We have been to this location twice and both time the food was amazing, clean and leaving wanting more However you will be charged accordingly for extra chips and salsa So if you are a chip and salsa lover slow your roll.. They haven't changed out the decor since it use to be the Chinese PalBut I'm not opposed to it. There is live music The bartender was amazing she make delicious margaritas Quesabirria Tacos read more

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Very nice experience. Service was very good. We had senorita margaritas. Really good. I had cheese enchiladas in red sauce. My husband had a pork burrito wet with green sauce Both were very good. We will be back. read more

This restaurant looks so cool. They have a Mexican cowboy theme going on. The owners are always welcoming and friendly every visit. A MUST try is the Birria pizza. Sometimes I go just for that. And their house made salsa and horchata. You'll want to follow them on IG because they have a lot of fun dance nights and events. read more

Vaquero Y Mar - Chips and salsa - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

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Love the food and customer service was the best. Made sure we had what we needed and food served warm and fresh

Great place, I'm pretty picky about Mexican food but I was impressed with this place. It wasn't very busy, they definitely need to get the word out. I had the birria con consume plate and it was FANTASTIC. The tortilla chips taste home made! I'll definitely be back with friends. read more

Vaquero Y Mar - The chips are very fresh tasting - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

So this place is pretty neat and holds its own backbone as an entity, have to respect that! It's a family owned joint that has Mexican live music and stays opened till midnight. Apparently they even have a dj on fridays. The owners were so lovely and giving because the food was packed up. You definitely get your moneys worth. I ordered the barria tacos with rice and beans. But let's not forget it brings the consume as well. I'm stuffed! The beans were not a hit for me, but the rice was decent as well as the tacos. The consume was average. What I will say is that the food really tasted home cooked! I actually enjoyed the food although it wasn't up to par with my preference in flavors. Give it a try and see if you like it. It's worth the try! I'll tell you this much, those tacos were stuffed they certainly weren't skimpy on the meat portions. read more

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Barely mediocre food. Crappy margaritas Occasional Fun events. Xxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzzzz

There may not be very many Yelp reviews on this place but it was such a good find. They have great outdoor seating, a sweet band the day we visited, and the service was fantastic. Both the waiter & the owner checked on us multiple times. The food was delicious, very flavorful! My husband loved the cheese enchiladas, and my kids devoured their giant burrito. I had the Birria tacos which were delicious, the flavor combination was perfect! The spicy mango margarita was the perfect compliment to the meal. Definitely give this place a try!! You won't regret it! read more

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I highly recommend this hidden gem of a Restaurant, the food is flavorful , the have a small menu ; however they serve the staple Mexican Dishes which will satisfy your hunger. I had pozole and it was by far delicioso , yum . It's a family atmosphere... brings back Sweet 16. ; Quinceañera , Salón vibes , would make for a great venue . Mariachi and Full Bar was the icing on the cake . Bravo to the owners , I hope they have great success , to continue to serve the Community with a little piece of Mexico in Ventura . The restrooms are super clean , wheelchair accessible another plus . I really liked the beer buckets ... Chips were freshly made and Salsa mouthwatering . read more

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I came to this establishment because of a charity event recently being held. I happened to walk in early, and the place was completely empty. I initially found that quite strange, but now that it's over and having experienced some very disappointing things while there, I rather now understand why it was initially empty. Once the charity event got under way, the place became packed with customers, and while they were ALL there for the musical entertainment connected to the charity event, they were also (AT LEAST) 30-40 paying customers for the restaurant. Here's where it got weird. There was ONLY ONE WAITRESS for the entire restaurant. However, EVEN WHEN IT WAS EMPTY, and I was the only person in there, the waitress ignored me. Luckily, I wasn't in any rush, but finally after 30 minutes, I had to flag her down to get her to come over to me. She nicely asked, "Oh, did you want to order something?" Although I was polite to her, my mind was thinking a rather sarcastic retort, but I left well enough alone, smiled and just said, "Yes, please." I asked her what kind of iced tea she had, a seemingly benign question. She said she didn't know and would have to ask. I thought that was strange. Why didn't she know, but okay, she asked for me. She brought back a rather tasty iced tea, although the glass was only partially filled. I then asked for some chips and salsa because it wasn't something she was going to think of on her own, and while the chips and salsa were good, the salsa came in a tiny bowl, and at that, it was only filled halfway. We aren't off to a good start. I like my salsa, and lots of it. The fact that I had very little to start with, and this waitress tends to be MIA much of the time, well, I just didn't have a good feeling about it. So, of course, I finish the salsa quickly (especially with my husband sharing this with me), and I then ask this waitress for more salsa and more iced tea. She returned with iced tea, and it must've been a new batch, or something spilled into it, but it was downright disgusting. The flavor/taste turned almost rancid. It was WEIRD. I immediately switched to water. As for the salsa, she told me they were out of it and working on a new batch. Thirty to 45 minutes go by until I got a new, but still small bowl and still only partially filled bowl of salsa. (I asked that it be filled up this time, too.) I also ordered a "small side" of guacamole. By the way, the chips were definitely good, maybe even freshly made. The salsa was quite tasty, and the guac was good, too. I wouldn't say the guac was my favorite of all time, but it was good ! As for the waitress, I never saw her again... except when she brought my bill. I never ordered an actual meal. I was actually waiting for other people to show up and figured we'd eat together. What happened was that I filled up on the chips, salsa and guac and wasn't hungry for anything else. I'm glad I didn't order anything else because once the entertainment got under way, I saw most of the customers walking over to the bar to order their own drinks and food. Where was this waitress? Why wasn't she taking orders and/or delivering them to the customers? I heard that MANY customers said it took a very long time to get their food and/or drinks.... and some never got ANYTHING. And this was all going on with the manager (who might've been the owner, too, not sure) fully aware... and apathetic to what was going on. If this was MY restaurant, or even if I was just managing it, I would've ignited a fire under this waitress, AND I would've stepped right in and start delivering the drinks and food myself, but that's me, and none of that ever took place. As I initially stated, I now understand why this place is empty. I can assure you, I will NOT return, no matter how good the chips and salsa may be. Service was an abomination, and they clearly can't... or don't want to handle crowds. Then why be open at all? read more

HIGHLY RECOMMEND! This restaurant was very delicious the customer service was outstanding, very respectful and attentive waiters. Me and my family went on a Sunday afternoon, and were seated right away. We were given totopos (tortilla chips) with salsita they were very tasty and crispy. We ordered Vaquero Tacos, Chile Relleno, Carne Asada Nachos, Flautas de Pollo, and a Carnitas Taco. Everything was Delicious. I highly recommend the Taco de Carnitas, as a Michoacana I know carnitas, and these are Tasty! The Chile Relleno tasted like my Abuelitas, highly HIGHLY RECOMMEND! Very family friendly and great ambiance! read more

Good food and good service. Large bar area and comfortable seating. I would go back again. Prices were reasonable.

Food is poorly prepared, incredibly bland, seriously lacking seasoning and it made me feel ill for a full day after. Atmosphere is strange- poorly lit and they have rodeo playing at all times on the screen which is very off putting. Prices are too high for what you get. $15 for a smallish plate of nachos with no meat? Gtfoh. Prob the worst dining experience I've had in a very long time. Avoid this place! read more

DELICIOUS!!! I had the chicken mole, amazing! Went for lunch my husband had the chicken taco s. The beans are fantastic.

I love to support this restaurant. The staff is great. The food is amazing! I was there this weekend. The courtyard was a little chilly but that's Ventura but I didn't mind it. I wish this place all the best! Jaime does it all! I'm looking forward to coming back soon for their live music, please support. read more

Went here for the Mariachi brunch. To my surprise no brunch, or Mariachi. My friend and I were the only people the whole time there, and we were seated out in the parking lot. The food had no flavor, and there was no salt, pepper, salsa on the tables ( and believe me it needed it ) The glasses had food stuck to them, and the new ones they brought us had food stuck to them as well. They laughed it off as salt from margaritas then brought our drinks in disposable cups. This place was just sad, and that's too bad I was really looking forward for someplace new to make my go to place. All the old Hong Kong Inn decorations were still everywhere, but they did put a sombrero on the foo dog sitting outside the door, so at least that was a start. I think that was the highlight of my experience dining there. read more

Vaquero Y Mar - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

This place is the absolute worst this is not a family place. This place violated health code. My dad literally fell over because they didn't mark where the floor level is higher. And they didn't even offer anything not even some help. It is literally the most ghetto taco "restaurant" in the area. I'm surprised they are even open. Not the type of place or people you would want to be around or service you. They are lucky my dad is somewhat okay. NO STARS AT ALLL read more

My wife and I tried this place for the first time since it opened some years ago and we were pretty impressed. The wait staff were friendly and very helpful. The food was delicious and very affordable. I think we found a new lunch spot when we're by the beach. read more

Came for the first time it was absolutely delicious. They have great customer service, an amazing authentic Hispanic food and cocktails.10/10 would recommend if you are looking for good vibes and good food. read more

We started with the birria pizzadilla, and omggg is it delicious! The tortilla had just the right amount of crisp; the cheese melted perfectly, and the birria was tender and full of flavor. Dipped it into the consume and it became absolute perfection! Staff was incredibly kind and food came out promptly. read more

Service was lacking, food didn't have much flavor. I got stereo typed, they brought us the "gringo" salsa that was watery and had little flavor. We asked for hotter salsa, it was ok but also lacked flavor. Note: they brought out the chips and salsa without us asking, and charged us $5 for them... we won't be returning. read more

The quesabirria tacos are a must have! Great service, great food, great time. My girlfriend and I stumbled upon this gem and now look forward to making this a regular stop. read more

Vaquero Y Mar - Quesabirria Tacos con Consome - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

Empty & quiet. We felt awkward the whole time because there were only 2 other tables with a couple people & it is so quiet we can hear the cooks talking! The food was meh. Nothing special. The shrimp cocktail had a sweet taste to it, which is weird to me. The shrimp was chewy & tasted like freezer. The service was quick though! Maybe the whole place gets better at a later time or day. read more

Great place! Very mom and pop. The food is yummy tasty mexican comfort food! Margaritas are delicious. And the people who own/work there are super friendly and nice. We had my dog out on the patio too. read more

We ate at this restaurant last week and unfortunately the food is fair at best!Service was average! The waiter seemed confused! The music was very loud! It was not a great experience. I would not recommend this restaurant! Sorry to be so blunt, but but I've been to many excellent Mexican restaurants and this is one a no go! read more

We enjoyed delicious horchata, quesadilla and quesabirria tacos. The staff was super friendly and helpful. The prices were affordable. I'm taking out one star just because the menudo was a bit bland for my taste. Still, if we are back in Ventura any time soon, my family and I will be returning to this restaurant. (The service was that good!) read more

Vaquero Y Mar - Menudo - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

Bean Burrito was same price as kids, but we were told kids was smaller. Cheese quesadilla was less than kids, but we were told kids was smaller. Confusing pricing... You have to pay extra for a second bowl of chips and salsa. No nachos on menu. Too bad.looks like a cool place..nice seating outside. read more

We walked in and no one else was there, but I don't understand why because the food and service here was so good. They also had seating outside. I ordered the Birria Queso Tacos and yummy! read more

Vaquero Y Mar - Birria Queso Tacos with broth (I also tried the beans, which were also delicious, and that's why there's a little bean on the plate lol) - Mexican Near Me - Ventura, California

Vaquero Y Mar is carrying on the tradition of great entertainment. I always enjoy the surf music performed by The Sea Hunters on Tuesdays at 4. The happy hour tacos and drink specials hit the spot but not your wallet. Vaquero Y Mar books a wide variety of performers. Always worth checking out on Venturarocks.com for dates and times. You can think of it as Madam Wongs West read more