The food was mediocore and I thought it was reasonably priced.  I definitely wouldn't order any of the salads again.  Very small and not much to it.  I make a  better salad at home.  Most of my family ordered a two item combo with a taco,enchilada or burrito.  The burrito came with the same sauce as the enchilada.  They all ate every bite.  No one had leftovers.  So I would say they liked it and had enough food.  Most places we go to now days you have leftovers.  I ordered a combo also but with Carne Asada.  It was pretty dry and not much to it.  It came with no sauce but I figure the sour cream and guacamole was coming.  Well I was wrong.  The only thing that made it so good was they have awesome tortillas!!!  The staff seemed nice and I can't say it was terrible but it definitely not one of my favorites.
Ambiance: Â The view from certain tables were nice because it looks out onto a little lakeside community.
Im so sorry to post this but when I was a kid and teen Arroyo's on El Dorado located in the hood, was the best tasted authentic and real so real like you just knew the momma and grandma was in the back cooking this up homemade style.
Once they changed owners and moved to March Lane the food changed. I gives a dam if you got a view of the nasty dark brown water with sick looking ducks and etc..to eat your food on the patio. I want to pay for good food that taste like real mexican food and not some pre packaged taquitos and stuf that was thrown in a deep fryer.
They changed there food to cater to the per snickity upper class of people in m opinion, food is bland and presentation is terrible.
However take my word for it just go to the hole in the wall Xochimilco's Downtown Stockton, you can get a dinner for $6 and you will have so much food left over you can roll it up in a burrito from your leftover tortillas to eat the next day !!!
Big servings, cheap, family style and authentic so authentic that you know it when you see momma limping around making tortillas in the back thats like 80 years old and you can tell the kids of hers that are like in there 50s and everyone else under that age or there childrennor grandchildren. Family Owned
Xochimilco's can use remodeling but who cares when your getting treated like your family and there food is mexicanly authenticated my favorite is there gravy with chips mixed that up with some salsa and your half way full before they even bring your plate out BOMB with all food having that flavor I mean flavor not that Taco Bell or Arroyos flavor cooked with soul !!!!
Remember the best places to eat around the world is the whole in the walls !!! Where you have to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom from my experience traveling those type of restaurants take more pride and cook better with flavor and our down to earth and non judgemental just treat you like a person on the humanitarian side.
The venue is great! If I go during the day I try and sit with a view of the water. I only go if I have no other choice. That being the intro I reckon you say I am not a fan.
I have tried Fajitas, flautas and a few other forgettable dishes. The food is bland and is not what it's cracked up to be. Its been open for a long time so someone in this town must enjoy it.
Needless to say i don't foresee myself returning at any point in the near future. My advice is if you want Mexican food along March Lane try Tepa's it blows this joint out the water.
Rick the Owner is forever going to be reffered to as "Rick the Dick".
The only reason i have 2 stars is because they comped us a meal.
It's extremely disappointing when you and your family have loved and frequented an establishment for years, and when you come back to town to visit with family you get treated like a peice of shit.
Everyone got thier meals minus my dad, who had FAJITAS and shouldve been the first dish out.
Most of us working in resaraunts before can understand sometimes shit happens, so we politely asked our waitress about the missing dish once . . then again about 10 minutes later. She seemed to really not care, or even aknowledge the fact that we were all half way done with our food. So we asked a third time and still nothing. My Aunt decided to go to the open kitchen and ask for the manager where she told him we are all  done now with our food and still no Fajitas, he gave her some lip about how she needs to "act like a lady". He eventually camae to our table and said "Your dish is taking longer than expected for some reason, and this isnt anything personal so next time you have an issue you need to come to me about it",  and he walked away. He was not sympathetic at all nor genuine or even nice.
Being a stickler for customer service, he should have handled this way different.
He made us feel stupid for wondering where our food was.
I've lived in Stockton almost all my life but now I live in sonoma county. I still go to arroyos cafe almost every time I go back to Stockton. Everything on the menu tastes amazing times a billion. Their tortillas are the best in California. Such great food friendly atmosphere and a super friendly owner. Only weird thing is that the waitresses wear incredibly tight clothing.
Review Source:Ive been to Arroyos plenty of times, and their food is actually pretty good. We are fans of the fried shrimp quesadilla, if you must go here, order it. But I would not recommend this restaurant because no matter how good the food is, if the quality of their service is horrible than the experience is horrible. That being said, the owner or one of the owner is a real pompous ass! We go to enjoy a dinner with fellow classmates (about 12 of us total) and the waitress takes forever to take our orders. She got some of the orders wrong to boot. She would disappear into the other part of the restaurant and wouldn't resurface unless it was to bring out our food. When we ordered we asked that she break our tab up into individual orders, after "checking" she came back and said she was told by the other waitresses that she couldn't do it. So I approached the owner, and asked if it were a possibility for him to break up our tab. To which he responded "it says on our menus that we don't do that anymore" And then looked away before I could say anything else. As I walked away he told someone "she's a problem child". This man has no respect for his patrons and will not be getting any business from any of the people from our dinner party tonight ever again.
Review Source:Shrimp Fajita was excellente! Grilled succulent shrimp with their homemade Guac (wish there was more on my plate), sour cream, lettuce, beans, bell pepper, and onions. The best part was their flour tortilla. You can tell they make it fresh. Also, fi you sit next to the window, theres a beautiful view of man-made lake. Gorgeous!
Review Source:Today was my first time at Arroyo's Cafe on March Lane, I went there as a group with family and friends (total of 13 people). It took 10 minutes to even have a waitress to take our order, then another 15 for the lady to even get our orders right. After it was all said and done, our drinks didn't even come for another 15 minutes! Then our food finally made it to the table after 30 minutes of waiting. It was like our food was on an adventure of being cold as ice...it was sad because there was a group of cops who came after us, I would say 6 of them...they we were served first and everything. Didn't really help.
But the thing that gives this place a 3/5 is that the manager gave up free drinks and no charge on our beverages due to their slow service. Food was above average...I give it a 3.5/5! Had the Beef Tamale and Taco combo with was pretty fulfilling for only $8.25!
Been here about five times over the last three years on trips up to Stockton. Â This is great place if you have a large group like a team. They can get you seated quickly. The service is really good and the food is ok. Â Nothing to write home about. They need to send the cooks down to LA for touch up course. Â I would go again.
Review Source:Visited Arroyo's tonight in a quest to find a decent Mexican restaurant in Stockton. Unfortunately, that's all we found...was a  "decent" restaurant. Here's our order:
Camarones Sopranos (bacon wrapped shrimp) $8.99
Beef Burrito DInner $8.25
Suizas Enchiladas (one cheese, one chicken) $8.25
Modelo Especial $4.17
Total (before tip) $32.03
Starting with the appetizer, the shrimp, they were just ok. They were 5 bacon wrapped shrimp, but they were deep-fried. Because of this, they shrimp was overcooked and the bacon extra crispy. The fruity sweet sauce served with them was rather bland, although mixing it with the salsa wasn't so bad. All in all, for 5 overcooked shrimp, we won't be ordering this again.
My hubby's beef burritos (2 small burritos with rice and beans) were flavored decently, but the beef was sort of dry and stringy. My enchiladas were also bland. I ordered one chicken and one cheese. The cheese one had the benefit of the salty cheese to make it better, but the chicken was simply NOT SEASONED. The tomatillo sauce wasn't bad, but again, not really seasoned, so it just tasted flat.
Overall, I really don't think we'll be returning, although it wasn't necessarily bad. It just wasn't really good either.
Just passing thru town after dropping my husband off for work that required him to be away....I did not want a chain restaurant so I thought this place would be nice. Well the view was great but the food, not so much. My chicken tacos were the worst I have ever had. No seasoning, no flavor nothing! Boiled chicken with lettuce. Blah! I forced myself to eat one taco, well the meat and lettuce to be exact, Â because I was starving but had to smother it with the beans, which weren't that bad. Â
Pro's: My husband liked his dish, a burrito combo plate. The chips were warm. Drinks were super cheap, under $4! And again the beans.
Con's:bland chicken tacos, service was a lil slow and the place was pretty darn empty.
I miss the old Arroyo's on El Dorado, but it isn't their fault they are now a completely different restaurant with different atmosphere, that is on the greedy City of Stockton that evicted them for a gas station.
But about the food and atmosphere...
I have known the Arroyo Brother's and their Dad since the mid eighties. I am one of those who enjoyed everything about the old cafeteria from eating at the bar while watching someone make tortillas in the huge old machine to partying in the  "Molino Rojo" room. The place changed, but the food is still pretty darn tasty. It is one of the few authentic Mexican restaurants I have ever visited. People who say Mexican restaurants are a "dime a dozen" spend too much time at the corporate boxes or drive-through fast food places. Arroyos cooks real Mexican food.
For the "old' school" feel, they still have a cafeteria in the lower level. A bit more comfortable, nicer view, but you can still sit at the bar. For the rest, there are nice views and seating around the bar in the main restaurant. I tend to judge my Mexican restaurants by the Chili Colorado. That is one of the toughest dishes to cook authentically. I have never been disappointed. The meat is tender, well flavored, suggesting that it has been simmering for hours, not just covered with some red sauce after a quick saute.
For a quick stop in, I did pop in the cafeteria one, without alerting the owners and ordered up a mix of their traditional burritos. Those were quite tasty and reminded me that in the fancy building, the old tradition started by their Dad, still lives. If you like your chips, be sure to order the meaty salsa that has the queso in it. Very tasty and it will make you eat more chips that you should.
I can speak for any rudeness because I haven't seen either owner act in that fashion and if I see them it is like a reunion. I'd like to give 5 stars but of the three times I have driven all the way from Sacramento to enjoy dinner, once time the chips were a bit flat, otherwise they'd get a five.
The new place is pretty darn nice and offers a nice place to sit with someone special for lunch or dinner. The view of Quail Lakes from the upper tier or cafeteria makes the atmosphere pretty nice. Apparently the parties that the Molino Rojo room carry on in spirit, but I miss that big back room and stage that the city plowed under for the stupid gas station. That should have been a historic slice of Stockton, preserved forever.
Damn, I miss Tio Pepe's...
I guess you can tell by the lead sentence that I was not impressed by
Arroyo's. Â It was average, meh to ok. Â Not bad, but certainly not someplace
that I can't wait to go back to.
I had a chicken taco, enchilada and burito.
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/LbBmLAmAGK7GjTEtzToHrQ?select=7TGCZd7L1pUbNsXQsMcGwg">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
Only average...chicken was soggy and watery...not a lot of taste.
Friend had the Chicharrones. Â He said they were ok. I tasted them... I'm
not sure I would order it, knowing what it is. Â I do like them fried though.
He also said that not too many Mexican places offer them.
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/LbBmLAmAGK7GjTEtzToHrQ?select=uYSXoevooTDYYrBETceA6A">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
The ambiance here is great especially if you sit by the water.
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/LbBmLAmAGK7GjTEtzToHrQ?select=aV7nCT7mKh02uBlQMxd6bw">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a> Â
They also had a Mariachi band playing.
My search for my 'very favorite' Mexican restaurant continues....
We used to go to Arroyo's when they where downtown. Now they are in quail lakes (stockton, ca.) acting like they left their manners and courtesy downtown. Now the owner is rude, two weeks in a row. Talks rude on the phone and then is rude again when you get in there to pick up your order. Well, we wont be back. The food is good but if the service sucks then they dont deserve my business. Â Xochimilco Cafe is better anyway.
Review Source:This is the very first restaurant I've ever visited upon arriving in Stockton some 4 years ago. Â It was recommended to me by a family friend who claims that it was the best Mexican food he's ever had. Â And although I wouldn't put it even close to the Mexican food we have back in LA, everything on the menu is quite good. Â It's truly hard to mess up unless you're not a fan of salt. Â The salsa they serve is my favorite in the Stockton area, they have a Mariachi band sometimes on the weekend, and they have a great view of the lake. Â The prices could be cheaper: you're looking at about a 13 dollar meal with tip and parking is so so unless it's dinner time when it can get crowded. Â
Bottom Line: Â Yes I would recommend this place to a friend! Â Don't forget to take your friend on his/her birthday for the mariachi band!
Our favorite Mexican experience restaurant in Stockton.
It's family-owned and serves authentic Mexican food with BIG portions, has a mariachi band playing every night and some times a lady selling flowers. Food is delicious and hot with generous sides. Chips and salsa are on the house. Awesome!
An extra bonus is that the location is right off of the water...can you say romantic dinner? Sure! ;)
My family has been loyal patrons since they were in downtown stockton!!! Â I know we're Asian but we looooove Mexican food and we eat Arroyo's a lot!!! Â My parents go once a week and my family from So Cal eats here EVERY visit. Â My dad is friends with the owner who is really nice and he'll stop to talk to us. Â
I highly recommend the chicken flautas, Chile Colorado, and chicken enchiladas! Yummy yummy yummy!!!!
Arroyo's has been one of my regular locations for Mexican food in Stockton for years. Â On my normal scale it would usually be somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but after I've met the owner I have to deduct a point for rudeness.
My party came in for happy hour on a Friday night. Â Because we had to accommodate for a larger crowd, my coworkers moved a couple of tables together in the bar. Â I understand that you're supposed to ask or have a waitress help you with something like this, but the owner came with more than just a little to say about it. Â He came by, clearly pissed off and gave us a mouthful, including "I 'invented' the please wait to be seated sign for this very reason."
Needless to say I was quite disappointed in his rudeness. Â If I were hosting the happy hour, I would definitely have taken my money somewhere else.
After the owner visibly went to the kitchen area to tell the workers about us (he was not just talking, but pointing at us), a waitress finally came and brought us our food and drinks. Â Service and food from that point on was decent enough. Â The mariachi band is a fun touch.
In conclusion: Arroyo's is pretty good... just stay away from the rude, unprofessional owner.
I've tried Arroyo's Cafe a couple of times. In fact, it was my best friends favorite Mexican Restaurant.....that's really why I went so I could eat dinner with her and her family....no other reason. Whenever I go in I am transported back to the 70's disco scene at Eppies short for Eppaminandas....I know it may not be spelled correctly, but if you're old enough to remember and have experienced first hand the disco era, you know what I'm talkin' about, aight? Any way, when the joint was down in what used to be and still kinda is skid row.....maybe now, more like cocaine row, it was pretty darn good. The glitz and glamor of a north Stockton former disco bar has wiped away what taste was in the food.
I will be the first to admit I haven't tried it recently but by the yelping going on, not really any reason to.
Like I said before, when it comes to regional cuisine especially Chinese and Mexican....tastebuds differ....Arroyo's is not my taste buds type, put simply.
Got some dinners to go from Arroyo's today. Got home and realized they left one of the dinners that they charged me for out. I called and explained the situation and was informed they had no idea why the dinner was not included but would remake the dinner for me. I asked for some sort of credit for my time and gas driving across town to correct THEIR mistake and she agreed to comp the dinner (a nice gesture)
A couple minutes later however, she called back to inform me she had spoken to the OWNER and HE said no way, no refund!! WTF???
He would not budge from this idiotic position and I ended up spending MY time and energy to get a taco salad that wasn't worth the trip anyway!!
It was a huge baked tortilla shell with huge chunks of lettuce and tasteless bland chicken. All in all a total waste! I would have rated more stars except for the shitty attitude of the OWNER!!!
I will not return to this place and I will tell everyone I can not to also!!
This place gets a 2.5 but probably an extra 0.5 star for the excellent Mariachi band that was playing when I went here... though I know of some that may have given 0.5 star less for the band.
I was able to sit at a seating that overlooked the Quail Lake and at night it looked really nice. The only thing was that the place was pretty loud, including the said Mariachi band that serenaded the table directly up the stairs from us. So, for a date, this probably wouldn't be the best place to sit and talk. It's more of a bar for bigger parties of people than anything else.
The Mexican food here was pretty mediocre. Definitely had to drink a lot of water because of the saltiness. I ordered a combination plate with enchiladas & tamales which all kind of meshed together on my plate. The chips served for appetizer were nice and hot and though the salsa tasted like it was from a can it was not too bad either.
The service that I got that night was not that great. After we received the food she kind of forgot about us and left us hanging for our check, we had to reel over one of the bus boys to help us out.
Overall, I've tried a lot better Mexican food and if you're into Mariachis maybe you can catch one here.
A STOCKTONE original. Good value on full blown old school ghetto mexican food. South side customer base makes the trek from the hood for da royo for good reason. Ask for the "hot" sauce. Order enchilada gravy to dip chips in. Leo steak is huge. Diablo Prawns are bueno.Quail Lakes location is family friendly and  nice/safe enough to take friends from Bay area.
The old location on S. Eldo was frigging craZY during the crackfilled 80's. One time after closing down the Brickworks my  buddy I  watched a dude inject some heroin in one of the booths, crap on himself and pass out. Priceless 3am memory of Stockton in its wild wild west days. Remember the cashier cage? The crazy ass bar out back, the drug dealers,.......how did we survive?
PS Emily S's review  of 8/2006 is spot on.....one of the owner brothers is kind of a dick - the Raider fan....what a suprise, heh? Other brother a totally cool guy. If in doubt, just ask "Raiderfan?"
No no no NOOO!! What this place does to Mexican food is a SIN! Everything tastes like it came right out of a can.... very salty and just gnarly tasting AND looking. Remember those really nasty school lunches we used to get? Yea... its a lot like that. shredded cheese from a bag, Shredded lettuce ... from a bag. Shredded meat... from a can. Taco shells.... you guessed it... from a box...... yea... you get the picture...
Zero stars if possible.
Avoid at all costs.
SOMETIMES I can get my grandparents to go here instead of the atracity that is Hometown Buffet (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/hometown-buffet-stockton#hrid:X0YCVtydrn2l_4wHTRYjLA">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a> ) .  Based on that alone I'm very tempted to hand out a 5 star rating, but I'm gonna keep it legit.
My main issue with Arroyo's food is that spicy stuff isn't that spicy. Â Other than that Arroyo's is decent. Â I've been loving their deep fried quesadillas since the downtown location. Â My mom and grandma like the chile rellenos, but I'd say those are just ok.. Â The beans are rice are legit though. Â There must be a bucket of manteca on hand back there somewhere.
Their food is good for the price but what is not good is the service. Â Every time I go there I have to flag down people to ask for water refills or even salsa for our chips. Â Once they all together forgot about us but eventually did comp half of the meal. Â But the waitresses are extremely rude and some of the tables are in places that they should not be in. Â It feels like an island out of place. Â And I get it...it's a Mexican restaurant so a mariachi band isn't unheard of, but I don't like it when a guy's ass is in my face while he's trying to get me deaf.
Review Source:I am torn between a three-star rating and a four-star but have decided to err on the side of caution. The food is pretty good and the prices reasonable. It's a killer location on one of the Quail lakes but the furnishings and the window treatments aren't quite up to snuff. With that location and neat view, you kind of expect a certain level of "nice" and classy but the windows looked like they were bought used somewhere and installed here, and there were massive spiderwebs clinging to the corners with even more massive, fat-bodied spiders swaying in the breeze.
Ugh. I hate spiders!
Service was good, prompt, courteous and attentive at all times. I think I'll wait till they do their Spring cleaning before I come back though. Have I mentioned that I hate spiders?
Dude this place is like on my itinerary everytime I head back ito Stockton. Â I grew up with arroyo's and will probably die with their beef burrito in one hand and fried taco in another. Â No wonder I feel like shit leaving stockton after every visit...i recommend pacing yourself and having fruits and vegetables in between arroyo meals.
One less star for the hit and miss of having WEAK margaritas. Â step it up ya'll...don't be cheap.
I was part of the protest against the city's use of eminent domain to change the historic restaurant into a gas station and McDonalds.  My family took me to the first place  from birth and though the atmosphere is decidedly different, the staff is still full of familiar faces and the food is the same.
Viva Arroyo's.
PS:if you aren't a vegetarian... order the burrito gravy with your chips. mmmmmmmmmm
Really don't care for Arroyo's. Â My husband and I had been eating here WEEKLY for a few years and one slow Sunday, my husband had forgotten his wallet and it just so happened that I felt the need to not bring my purse. Â The owner was EXTREMELY rude, understandbly wouldn't take a check... but insisted that I stay behind while my husband went home to fetch his wallet. Â Well, to make matters worse, the owner stood there and watched me.... making sure that I wasn't going anywhere. Â I understand that restaurants suffer from their share of 'dine and dashers' , but we were regulars and we have NEVER not paid for a bill. Â Needless to say, I've never cared for their terrible chips and we haven't been there since.
Arroyo's.... you suck.
I about had kittens when I heard that Arroyo's was getting kicked out of their downtown spot just off the crosstown freeway on Center Street (Circa the 1990's). Â For years, Arroyo's on Center street was one of the few sit-down restaurants that stayed open long after the bars shut down. Â I was somewhat relieved when I heard they'd be re-opening on March lane, but part of me was afraid...very afraid...that the unique qualities of Arroyo's food would move upscale along with their migration from skid-row to shirt-and-tie country on West March Lane...
Solitary diners will find themselves at home eating in the bar. Â Tables in the lower area can be moved together to accommodate sizable groups. Â Several beers are on tap....I always get a pint of Sierra Nevada. Â The dining area is spacious, and the place rarely if ever hits capacity...though at lunchtime the highly desirable tables overlooking the lake on the North Wall almost always fill up. Â Also, be aware that they have two kinds of hot sauce...the standard tomato based salsa, and a less common one they refer to as "The Dark Sauce". Â The regular salsa is great on chips...but the dark sauce (IMHO) is better for mixing in with rice and beans. Â They bring out Salsa by default...but you have to ask for the Dark Sauce.
It wasn't long after they'd moved that I dropped in for lunch, fearing that something I knew and liked might have perished in the wake of a cross-town move. Â I ordered my usual...and let out a sigh of relief after I took the first bite. Â I checked the tortillas too....Arroyo's always made their own flour tortillas which always came out odd shaped, thicker, and chewier than mass produced versions. I *instantly* recognized them as made by the same in-house machine that they'd had on Center street. Â About half way through things, one of the owners (the guy with the glasses and the beard) comes by and asks if everything is OK. Â I used to see him all the time at the Center Street location. Â I think he recognized me too... Â I looked in the eye with a heartfelt smile and said..."Some things never change". Â He smiled back, and launched into a confirmation of what I'd concluded, that nothing had changed but the building and the location....even the cooks were the same as the ones that were downtown. Â I looked around at the familiar faces and silently agreed, and pondered things that *were* different....there was no more running through a gauntlet of Center Street Wino's, and you don't have to keep an eye on your car via closed circuit TV anymore. Â Miss it I do....but in light of the fact that the Arroyo family brought most of the good things with them and left most of the bad behind....I can hang. Â Every time I come home to Stockton from San Francisco, Lunch at Arroyo's is never more than 15 minutes from the point I roll off of I-5 onto March Lane. Â The scenery is different, ...but it's still something of a homecoming.
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