DON'T BOTHER. There are far better places it eat in Durango. It isn't even Mexican food, some sort of weird hodgepodge of mexican, italian, american, etc.
For we went for lunch and they were not busy at all. My son ordered chicken strips and fries, I ordered the french dip with jack instead of swiss. His order came out as some mexican dish and my sandwich came out incorrect, cold, and disgustingly dry. So the waiter comes back and says there was something wrong with the computer and my son's food didn't even get made.. so we had to wait longer. Which wasn't a big deal but for it not being busy, they took an awfully long time. Anyway, the food was not worth the wait. Very disappointed, especially for the fact we paid 30 bucks for just the two of us to ear lunch.
I am in Durango at least once a yr. Have gone to Francisco's off/on on my visits for probably 20 yrs. At one time it and taco bell were pretty much your options for "Mexican" food.
I have never had the horrific experience some of the diners have mentioned, thank goodness...but far from stellar.
Food is NOT Mexican food it is a tex mex type..so that is important to know when you go.
We were just there two days ago. It was empty during a busy time on Main St. Our service was good and food was average.
This is more like eating because you need to eat. Or maybe some in your party lean more towards blander foods? Kind of like a chain restaurant.
But our server was on the spot and very good.
Would I go back? Maybe....depends on what I was craving (their sopapillas are good) and who I was with. Not some place I would take great pains to return to.
Feb 23, 2010
I wouldn't grace this place with my money again. I have tried it, and tried it again, and again... never was the experience worth the money we spent.
Horrid service, bland and boring food. There are way too many GOOD restaurants for the money in Durango, and Francisco's is NOT one of them.
Love the Hershey Squirts the Next Day. Â Â Horrible and Mean server that treated us like dumb people. When I sent my food back he stabbed me in the neck. He didn't actually do that buy I felt it in my heart and soul........ Â Â Why?! Â Â Â Â His negativity left us silent the rest of the night. It was AUTHENTIC Â Mexican food. When we asked him why it is so busy on their street he said " The other restaurants are very popular, but ours is empty as always." That will make us come back.
Review Source:I usually don't go and say how BAD a restaurant is, but this is an exception. We stopped here on a road trip, and boy, was it bad. Our server was very rude and even complained to us about how bad his job was. We asked him if downtown Durango was always this busy, to which he said yes, but Francisco's was never busy. I ordered the Rocky Mountain Trout, my mother ordered a beef enchilada, as did my father and brother. When we got our food, my mom took a bite out of hers and immediately spit it out. She said the meat was not ground up enough and that it wasn't seasoned. She asked for some chicken enchiladas, to which our server reluctantly agreed to do. My brother and father had the same problem, but didn't send it Bach, because the server was so hostile. My fish was very undercooked and had a very bland sauce on it, but was so dry that it was necessary to eat it. The prices were ludicrous, and we had to pay for my mother's beef enchilada AND her chicken enchiladas. I'm reluctant to write my review now, because I'm frankly scared to see what happens to my digestive system when I wake up. Please avoid Francisco's, save your money, your better off with Taco Bell.
Review Source:The first time I ever experienced Francisco's was my first visit to the Southwest, back in 2006. I was fascinated by the decor, more reminiscent of a Mexican hacienda, than a cantina; and totally wowed by the food. This was authentic Mexican cuisine and I loved it; getting one of their many combination platters was the best way to sample as much as I could.
For my birthday, December 26th, I decided to celebrate it in Durango, and most especially, by eating at Francisco's once again. Oh, since moving to Utah we had gone several times before, but this was my birthday and I wanted the best Mexican food in the area. My husband Roy, and son Bill, were along for this adventure. Once seated at our table, drink orders were taken and we were served with Francisco's own salsa which is available for sale at the front counter, and warm tortilla chips.
My husband ordered: Combo #6 Enchiladas Rancheros which is one beef and two cheese stacked enchiladas smothered in green chili and served with an egg on top. The green chili is mild and becomes increasingly rich when the yolk from the egg is mixed in.
I ordered: Combo #12 Enchiladas de Pollo which is two chicken enchiladas served with Spanish rice and beans. The shredded chicken is very tender, but the red sauce is spicy and makes your taste buds salsa dance.
My son ordered: Combo #19 Burrito de Puerco which is seasoned slow-cooked pork wrapped in a flour tortillas and topped with salsa verde, jack and cheddar cheese. The salsa verde was a sweeter type of sauce and the pork was very tender. All the combination plates came with fluffy rice and refried beans which were smooth, not pasty.
For dessert we enjoyed Sopapillas, deep fried tortillas that puff up to a crispy shell on the outside and fluffy goodness on the inside. Opening one up, the steam escapes and drizzled honey inside makes the experience a complete joy.
By the way, if you like fish tacos, try Francisco's Combo #17 Fish Tacos: Two flour tortillas filled with grilled tilapia, lettuce, cheese, black beans and Tabasco mayo. Served with avocado relish and all absolutely delicious!!!
Visiting the Durango, Colorado area and in the mood for Mexican, do not pass up Francisco's.
Ate here because the Ore House or whatever had a fit when we asked if they could seat a large group [8].
I never had the mexican food here, but it looked about average as far as restaurants go.
Why the 4/5?
I had the Filet Mignon rare with rice pilaf and vegetables.
Wow, I was surprised, very good, good marbling and cooked and seasoned just right. Plus it was fairly large for the price, about 9 oz.
The rice pilaf was amazing, home cooked, most places rice pilaf just tasted like something they cooked in a bag but not this.
If they are consistent with their food prep, I'd recommend the filet. Totally surprised me.
I'll be back next time I visit.
We went here on a Saturday with a party of 9 because the higher rated places were booked. We read all the terrible reviews on yelp, but decided to go anyway as they had room to seat us immediately.
We read the menu that an 18% tip was included for parties 9+, but seriously, I think our waiter knew he had that money coming anyway and never showed up at our table. He tended to the smaller parties of two. Our glasses were completely empty forever and instead of him coming to refill them after a good 20 minute wait, he brought pitchers, put them on the table and made us do it ourselves. And never came back to refill those. I'm sorry, but if I'm paying $26 for a steak, you refill my glass.
As other reviews have stated, you do have to pay for each basket of chips. Don't expect a heaping basket. Their salsa is delicious though.
My steak was supposed to be medium well and it came out pretty dry and fatty. Other people enjoyed their meals more. Though one person ordered another steak medium and it was extremely pink. Not much consistency.
We got our check and actually told the manager at the front our waiter didn't deserve his tip. They let us reduce it and give what we wanted.
This place is terrible. Â I can't believe I even had to choose 1 star..that's more than this place deserves. Â I should have listened to the group leaving this place as we walked in saying "first and last time we'll come here". Â It takes a lot to disappoint me and this place more than earned a terrible review. FIRST: Â we were sat at a disgustingly dirty booth. Â I can't believe it. Â We asked to move to a table assuming it had been a busy day with Mothers Day and trying to understand. Â It takes a lot for us to complain. Â SECOND: waitress was sub par. Â With good training she could have been good...maybe? Â I ordered lunch and she walked away without even taking my Husbands order. Â When we flagged her back down to put his in (with some obvious confusion) she seemed shocked he needed to order. Â We did order an appetizer since the board in front of the restaurant said "1/2 off Apps". My husband was hungry so we decided to get something quick. Â It's Mexican right??? We never got chips and salsa so thank god we ordered a bar food appetizer. Food was just ok. Â Very processed and seemingly prepared with no care or passion...basically just thrown together. Â I would be scared to see what the kitchen looks like actually. Â When we got our bill we noticed the app was full price. Â We asked our server why since it said they were "half price" and she told us that was "only in the cantina"...even though it was never disclosed to us. Â We asked to speak to a Manager and she was less than helpful. Â She told us Canitina only and left with very little concern she smugly said "sorry" on her departure from our table....almost on the rude side. Â We will never be back we were so disappointed. Â The biggest waste of $50. I am not sure how this place is even still open other than referrals on what this place used to be. Â It's awful and honestly scary. Â Beware.
Review Source:Service was good. Food was not. Rice was not seasoned. The skirt steak I had as the special was not seasoned and severely undercooked. I like mine medium, this was "bloody as hell." Other members in my party wondered if there was any food under all the cheese on their plates. No chips or salsa as a basic starter. Wish I would have read the reviews before going.
Review Source:Wished I have looked up some restaurants before eating in Durango. We decided to try Francisco's. The decor was great, ambiance was really nice, and the service were very good and friendly. The food was not so great! It wasn't bad, but nothing special. For some reason we were hoping for something much better. Daughter had the ground beef tacos, tasted just like taco bell. I had the ground beef burrito, again tasted something I could have bought at a fast food franchise. There was a lot more food I could have talked about, but not worth getting into. If you're hungry and not worried about quality, then this is your place. Again, the food is not bad, but nothing special!
Review Source:I upped the star rating a little, I would have given this a 2.5 star if I could have.
The service was great (people were friendly) and the place was clean but the food just wasn't very good. Â Even the combination plate which I thought couldn't really be done wrong was. Â With a fair number of other selections in the immediate area I would go with them.
I'm only giving them 4 stars because they have good margaritas that are comparable to those found in Mexico. The service is good. The menu sucks (half is not even mexican). The kids pizza is awful. The club sandwich is ok. The happy hour is from 2pm-6pm in the bar area. They also have homemade flan and deep fried ice cream with a peach bourbon sauce on the menu. Didn't try it, but sounded good. Lots of sports TVs to watch tennis, football, baseball, etc. They subscribe to the NFL Network on the biggest TV in the bar...so position yourself accordingly.
Review Source:Recent reviews of 1 and 2 stars are hard to take seriously. Â My wife and I have been to Francisco's several times over the past few years when visiting Durango and have never had a bad experience. Â At worst the place is average. Â If Yelp did half stars I'd go with 3.5 on this one.
We went again this afternoon and the service was excellent, food was good (not bland), and prices reasonable. Â Try the sopapillas for 30 cents each--they're even served with Honeyville honey!
Ugh.
I'm on the road, so it doesn't take much to make me happy when it comes to food. Â All I need is good service and a decent meal. Â I can honestly say that this place served me the greasiest vegetable sandwich I've EVER eaten.
Is it that hard to cook veggies? Â Do you have to slater them with whatever oil you drowned them in before serving them to me (and half my table) and then sending me to the bathroom four times in the course of an hour?
To top it off the soda was flat (not just mine) and we had to wait ten minutes to sit down for this crap. Â Our server was condescending, and there seemed to be about ten other restaurants that would have been tastier right down the street.
Stay away.
You've been to this restaurant in a dozen different cities on a dozen different occasions.
It's unimpressive but edible Tex-Mex, served in a cheesy decor. Â Nothing is great, but probably nothing is terrible. Â It's more for people and families that just want some food, and aren't too picky about it. Â If you eat at chain restaurants when you travel (you know who you are) then this might be for you. Â It's inoffensive, unless you get offended by inoffensiveness.
Our server was attentive and tried to help with a special request, but ended up serving us the wrong entree.
Durango has a disproportionate number of better restaurants to its size, and I would recommend exploring elsewhere.
authentic looking but not so authentic tasting...
our server was working hard for the money - he was fairly slammed but was still attentive while remaining personable.  my "D" combo - cheese  enchilada and bean tostada was ok at best.  the enchilada was way too heavy on the cheese that the tortilla was completely lost.  the red sauce it swam in was pretty blah.  the tostada had mushy beans and a few shreds of cheese - no tomato, no lettuce.  beans were pretty blah as well.  my friends ordered the bean burrito and chile relleno and needed to ask for cholula (no special hot sauce to offer) and jalapenos to wake up their meals.
our server surprised us with sopapillas (fluffy fried dough) served with durango honey-- on the house. Â that was a nice touch :)
On my recent adventure to Durango, we stopped at Franciso's for a red, white & blue margarita, it was the 4th of July after all! Â It appeared to be a basic frozen margarita with blue curacao and chamboard poured on top. Â It wasn't bad, wasn't quite fantastic, but it was OK.
Some of the people we were with had other flavors, which I sampled... some were good, some were OK. Â But the drinks did get us nice and toasted for the fireworks show that went on that night, which was our initial plan.
Unfortunately, I didn't eat here (it smelled good though!), we just stopped in for drinks. Â However, the service was great in the Cantina! Â Not a bad place to stop in for a drink and hang out. Â The atmosphere is laid back and the price is right.
The food is decent. The service, however, is horrible. Â First, with the restaurant not even being near capacity - they only had two menus for our party of five. Â Second, they delivered only some of the meals the first time and the remaining meals were delivered about 5 minutes later. Â Lastly, and one of my biggest pet peeves, is they nickel and dime: you only get 1 refill of soda, you get 1 free basket of chips - after 1 you have to pay for them, if you substitute basically anything - you are up-charged even if the item is of lesser cost. Â There are plenty of Mexican restaurants nearby, I'm sure at least one of them would offer a better experience.
Review Source:Francisco's is one of my favorite lunch places in Durango. It has good hearty meals for good prices. They have plenty of specials and a large variety of choices. Â Their enchiladas, quesadillas, and fajitas are all delicious (and traditionally made). The margaritas are well made. And, you have to have a sopapilla with honey (locally made) for dessert.
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