07/08/09

Great for tasty and affordable Mexican cuisine

by plasmatorus

Efrain's (the original in Lafayette, though the other locations I've been to are also good) is IMHO, by far, the best Mexican restaurant in Boulder county. It is not without it's faults (merely ok margs and salsa and hit-or-miss service), but the strength of their best dishes coupled with the generous portions and very affordable prices make it a clear winner. Their chile verde burrito is superlative: it makes your face sweat while also being full of flavor. That said, the dish does vary (probably with the cooking staff): some days it's awesome, others, merely quite good. My wife and I also dig their altogether too humble sounding "beef burrito" which comes in an absolutely amazing (and fairly mild) red sauce. That said, the portions are generous and the prices surprisingly low.

Efrain's margs are ok. Served in a mason jar with salt (unless you request otherwise) they are generally reasonably priced and unremarkable

The service can be spotty. Sometimes you get lots of attention from your waitperson, other times very little. In my experience, there is little correlation between business and overall level of service.

Overall, I think it the best Mexican restaurant I've tried in Boulder county. It's nothing fancy, but has great food, great value, decent salsa/margs and highly variable service.

• Pros: Best Chile Verde in the greater Boulder area
• Cons: Quality of service and heat of chile verde burrito varies

01/08/09

Burn your face off green chili, stumble over your own feet margaritas & absolutely satisfying food!

by bananny

I have been eating at Efrain's for many years. My boyfriend of over 5 years now used to live two blocks from Efrain's. Before we moved in together, we used to walk down there for dinner and margaritas just about every weekend. Now that we live all the way out in Aurora, we still talk about how much we miss it. After Christmas a few weeks ago, we were on our way back from northern Colorado and took a detour to Lafayette just to have lunch. It was worth every extra minute we drove, every dollar spent and every extra bite we stuffed in our mouths just because we couldn't bear to leave anything on our plates! My boyfriend always gets the chili verde burrito, which is a dish I dare not tread on. I love spicy food, but this one is painfully spicy. I had a chicken chimichanga. Still spicy, however well balanced by juicy chicken, cheese, sour cream, guac and the lettuce with vinaigrette they serve with it. Unfortunately, we had a long drive ahead of us and it was the middle of the day so we didn't have any margaritas. Efrain's has branches open in Boulder & Longmont as well. I have eaten at both. While all 3 are very consistent with each other, the Lafayette location just seems a little better. The only drawback is the horrible, slow service. I have gone ignored with an empty glass of water (and a burning mouth) more times than I can count. We have sat for long periods of time waiting for the check or even waiting to just place an order. This is the only reason I gave Efrain's 4 stars out of 5. The price, value, food, flavors & drinks are all marvelous! Regardless of the crappy service, I can't wait until I get to go back!

• Pros: Spicy food is REALLY spicy, well flavored, great menu selection, not expensive, chill ambience, good drinks
• Cons: BAD service

07/11/08

Horrible, horrible, horrible service! Why do you employ these deadbeats?

by morganblitz

We were rushed to the bar area for seating and totally ignored by the "We are busy" excuse-ridden waitress. We don't need an excuse, just take our order! Tables seated after us were promptly serviced and maintained. We had to refill our own drinks by returning to the bar, obtaining our own water refills, etc. No return by the waitress from hell other than to give us the bill. Bartender was wonderful, thankfully. Why do you employ these types of "Don't Care" wait staff? We understand that this review will have no impact but we are fuming over a ruined evening because of shoddy service. Skip this one unless you have many hours.

• Pros: Bartender's personality
• Cons: Waitress from Hell