This restaurant is beautiful. Their outdoor seating is set around a cobble stone accented fire pit with spicy-yellow umbrellas to shade modernistic tables and chairs. The inside is dark, lush, and exotic without cramping or over-stuffing the atmosphere with tacky and assertive decor. If only things had stopped right there.
My co-worker and I went for lunch. As this was our first time here we needed a minute to review the menu. So we ordered chips and salsa to satiate ourselves during the confusing attempt to understand what style of cuisine this place was. Corn and crab nachos? Nathan's Hot Dog's? Philly Cheese Steak? A Cuban sandwich? Fish and Chips? Or classic fajitas? Is that "fusion" or something? Anyway, we winded up just eating the wonderfully salted chips since we could not figure out how to get the red, chunky water to stay on the crispy chip. We looked past this as most hopeless lunch rushers do when we see red flags.
Our server was super-duper nice and enthusiastically suggested the seasoned beef burrito. "They are super-huge and really good." Although her passionate description of her favorite menu item fluttered from her heart to our ears, we passed and opted instead for the foot long Cuban sandwich and the Santa Fe Wrap. I would tell you how it tasted but you see I gave the place one star. I wouldn't go back unless someone was buying me drinks or I would get a turn swinging the the wrecking ball into their condemned kitchen. Nine dollar hot dogs must be joke? Right?
Last thought:
Had I just been going to get a drink here with no expectation to order and eat Mexican food then this place's atmosphere and setting would easily generate three stars. They need to wake up the menu and the service.
If I could give a no star rating I would. I had dinner on my birthday a few weeks back and had a horrible dining experience at this restaurant. The waitress seated us and did not return to our table until thirty minutes later to take our drink order only. We actually told her that we were ready to order but she left anyways. The bizarre part is that it was a slow evening and she passed by our table about six times but refused to stop after we attempted to wave her over after the fourth time. I almost decided to leave after the initial lack of service but my boyfriend convinced me to stay. However, by the end of the two and a half hour period of delayed service and attitude from the waitress my boyfriend regretted convincing me to stay. I reported the young lady's lack of professionalism and poor service to the manager via phone the next day. Overall, I will never return to eat or drink at Fuego Cantina because of their horrible quality of customer service and courtesy.
Review Source:Ruh roh, Fuego.
We went here at 4pm on a Saturday and as expected, it wasn't busy. Â There looked to be only two other tables seated. Â The young lady, who was very nice, came to our table within a few minutes to grab our drink order. Â Here is where it went down hill... It was 25 minutes before she came back to take our food order. Â I only know this because we had one hour to dine, so I was keeping up with the time. Â Blerg.
Since things ran late, one of the members of our party had to leave without his food. Â No biggie. Â We just got it To-Go. Â Sadly, we found out they got the order wrong when we finally delivered it to him. Â Blerg.
If you're going to get more than one margarita, I suggest getting the pitcher. Â The $7 house margarita comes in a very shallow, authentic looking glass. Â I could seriously have taken the whole thing down in little more than one gulp. Â Blerg.
Finally, they charge for salsa. Â Whatever, that's not the end of the world. Â It just seems that if you're paying $4 for a small thing of salsa, refills would be included. Â They weren't.
Blerg.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE!!!!! I don't even want to give this place one star but that isn't an option! Â This place is a JOKE!!! The beans tasted like they were from a can and the rice from a box! Â The nachos are basically a couple tostadas cut in half. Â What a WASTE! Â And don't even get me started on the service!!!! Just Terrible with a capitol T!! Â I wish I would have read the reviews on YELP before stepping foot in this place!
Review Source:I thought the Mojitos were great, and the fact that they were half price during happy hour certainly helped. Not completely understanding the poor reviews I've read. Â
I'm guessing the prices are a little higher than diners would want and that throws them off because--psychologically speaking--Mexican food should be cheap a la Taco Bell. Â I could be wrong...
Considering where it is and the types of restaurants around it, I felt like the prices were expected.
We decided to step outside the box of traditional Mexican choices and get sandwiches. Â I had the Cuban sandwich. Â It was huge, stuffed with quality meat and cheese and the Spanish mustard gave it an awesome kick. Â Best Cuban sandwich I've ever had.
My wife had the Philly cheese steak. Â She is originally from Philly and is notorious for her criticism of all of the impostor sandwiches out there. Â In this case, she was rendered speechless, mustering a very euphoric thumbs up after a couple of bites.
The one nibble she allowed me to have literally melted in my mouth. Â
The Fuego fries with that interesting spicy orange sauce were a great addition, but the sandwich made me so full I couldn't get through half of them.
Great first visit to the Five Points section of Birmingham. Â Next time, we'll go a little later and stay for the night life.
Not sure why there are so many low ratings after my lunch here went so well. Used a Groupon and tried a couple items--crab and corn nachos were really good, surprisingly good. My wife would not stop raving about the salsa--yes, chips and salsa are not free, but only a few bucks and our server kept refilling us on both. The wife can't wait to go back for more salsa (seriously, I'm gonna have to take her just to get her to shut up about it!) and I want to go on a Tuesday for "Taco Tuesday" $2 tacos.
Review Source:The food is just not that good, and their prices are too high.
No free chips and salsa at a mexican place? CHEAP!
Their happy hour is a scam. Half priced tacos, but the tacos are 1/3 the size! No thanks!
The only reason they got 2 stars over 1: The service was good. That's not enough to get me to come back.
Never again, Fuego
Eh, it's okay. But, don't set your expectations too high.
I've been to Fuego several times and it's always been okay. Inside it looks like the lovechild of a Latin tapas bar and a small tequila bar in San Diego. Outside there is a phenomenal patio with a nice fire pit for the cool nights and live acoustic music on the warm ones. I will give credit where its due, this an above average option for sitting outside on a warm evening to have a drink and hors d'oeuvres with friends while enjoying some people watching in the heart of 5 Points. But, if you are thinking about going for dinner or you are in a hurry...I'd say don't do it.
The food is okay. I do not think there is any other way to describe it. It is not bad, but I think they are trying to be too cute and creative with the menu. So, I've never had anything really good there and definitely not great. If you are there for drinks and get hungry, it's good enough. But, this really is not a destination spot for dinner. And, if you are going with a medium to large sized group, as I was recently, then you better block out several hours of your night because the service is below average at best. I even had to go get some needed items myself like silverware, water refills, extra chips for the queso/salsa, etc.
So, go for the location and the atmosphere, and enjoy a mildly overpriced libation of your choosing. But, choose any one of the couple hundred Latin, Mexican and TexMex spots around B'ham if you are going primarily for dinner.
I was sitting at starbucks doing my work on laptop, i felt really hungry and saw this place accross the street. I found a quiet corner, ordered buffalo wings and water. For the first 20 minutes they asked if I need anything for maybe 10 times that I even couldn't eat my lunch. After that the real torture started. I ordered a tortilla chips and ice tea. It took 20 minutes for tortilla but they forgot ice tea , it took another 20 minutes for the ice tea. Then the waitress apologized if they seemed ignorant but they didn't mean to be. weird. Self-awareness is something.
Review Source:Fuego cantina looks nice from the outside but like your 6th grade teacher told the fat girl "it's what's on the inside that counts."
The food here is nothing special and isn't even that cheap. I would go back here to drink a beer and watch a game but not for the food.
On a related note...that fat girl is hot now and wants nothing to do with you because you were a prick to her in middle school.
I had a good time at Fuegos. I went for Superbowl Sunday and it was busy. I had not problem with waitstaff. Actually everyone was very friendly and prompt.
Their saving grace is their cocktails. The margaritas were good but the best thing was the pina colada mojito. Usually I am the person who argues for the authenticity of a cocktail but not in this case.
Thy infuse their own rums here (pineapple, orange, lemon, raspberry, watermelon). They used pineapple to make the 'pina colada mojito' and it was fabulous. Nothing like the over-sweetened creamy thing you get at a tropical resort. If you go, go for the drinks!
Now the food on the other hand was gross. I am from Texas and was craving a bit of home. This is not it!! I started with the white queso and tortilla chips. It was bland and the chips tasted like store bought. I was able to fix it with liberal additions of hot sauce and some of their tomatillo salsa (which I believe was an extra charge).
Above average to excellent food, TERRIBLE service. BONUS: with an attitude!
Our party of 6 arrived at a very crowded restaurant on a Tuesday night and went to the upstairs bar to wait. Attempting to order drinks at the bar, I made eye contact with the bartender and was promptly ignored. She then proceeded to check on two people right next to me and then walked away to the register, ignoring me again, in favor of fiddling with receipts and such. I said "excuse me" over the loud music and was again ignored. A minute later, perhaps realizing that I was not going away, she made her way over with a blank stare and an attitude to match. Totally uncool and unacceptable -- It felt like an episode of SNL with Amy Poehler "Really!?!" She managed my order with a deliberate slowness and I paid the tab. We were eventually seated at a very low table downstairs (about 14 inches tall). This table is suitable for little people only, not normal sized people eating a meal from a plate (unless you care to hold your plate in your lap, which I did). The service for dinner was pretty good, albeit slow and we had to repeat drink refills more than once. The food was very good. I ordered the Cabo Fish and Tuna Tacos and loved them both. The rest of our party loved the food as well.
I am trying to understand how some places survive with consistently poor ratings. This place seems to thrive, and pride itself on mistreating customers who are otherwise eager to hand over cash in return for a little respect and basic food service abilities. Taco Tuesday is a superb bargain but I won't be back because of the service. My two star review is too generous, as was my tip in hindsight.
We came at lunch time and the place was fairly empty. Â Service was slow and we couldn't believe how long it took to get our food. Â Food was decent, not great, and overpriced. Â To make matters worse, three flies started buzzing our table as soon as food was delivered. Â I do not recommend.
Review Source:The food is pretty good. We came in with a large group and had several different appetizers, all of which were very delish.
I wasn't really feeling the mexican that night so had a burger which was actually really really good.
Now the service, good golly was it ever terrible!! We only had 8 people and she couldn't remember the food or drink orders. It took about three trips to get all of the food out which included the question "Ok, so what food did I forget?"
Yikes, should have looked at the other yelp reviews before going! The food was OK...no complaints but definitely not great by any means. Buffalo chicken tacos were so-so. It was literally buffalo chicen on a tortilla. And very very underwhelmed by the queso and chips. Probably some of the most bland I've ever had. I like salsa with my queso, which I guess you have to order in addition. The service was good, the food came out fast (we were one of 3 tables on saturday afternoon). So overall an OK experience but probably won't go back unless I'm in the area and it's my only choice.
Review Source:I should've paid attention to the Yelp rating this place already had. Â I was in need of a quick bite to eat before heading to the airport, so I looked past the rating and headed to Fuego.
First of all, I'm from Texas. Â So..."Tex-Mex" actually means something to me. Â Fuego advertised "Tex-Mex" and I got...uh...not. Â I cringed when I first looked at the menu: nachos, burritos, cheesesteaks?! Â Not your normal Tex-Mex progression.
I got the nachos. Â It's hard to eff up nachos. Â Somehow they managed. Â It wasn't terrible, but it just wasn't good. Â I prefer Taco Bell nachos, honestly. Â The chips were big and soggy. Â They tried to do the "fancy" individual-chip nachos, and I wasn't really looking for that.
The waitress was totally unattentive, too. Â She was sitting at a table near us wrapping silverware and would ask us across the bar area if we needed anything rather than walking to our table and asking us. Â Kind of a let-down.
The bright spot in the whole thing was the beer. Â I tried a Good People Brewing Co. beer that was very tasty. Â I'll definitely have that beer again. Â However, Fuego will not be so lucky!
Five Points is a bastion of fine dining and quality nightlife, though some do it better than others, and in the case of Fuego, they're much better at the latter than the former.
In the restaurant's defense, a cantina is more about the drink than the food, and it seems like Fuego does moderately well in this case, providing an inviting atmosphere both inside an out that encourages its patrons to sit and enjoy a drink or three on the patio. But it turns out they have a food menu, too, and it's this food menu from which we ate.
There's a fair amount of options, including a variety of regional burritos - things like California burritos with fries, and a Caribbean jerk chicken burrito, and it's the second of these choices I ate for my meal.
But first, an appetizer. The fried pickled jalapeno slices looked good on paper, and were fried well, but there was a bitterness in the jalapenos that was downright displeasing. They weren't finished.
While blackened jerk chicken may sound appetizing on the menu, the resulting product was standard food service fare, and it was accompanied by some rice and guacamole that tasted like it had been sitting around for a while.
I think the idea for the food menu is to offer something to munch on once you've had a few too many margaritas (and while they're made with a good tequila, it will take quite a few to start feeling it). Fuego's food was lazy, and devoid of conviction. There are plenty of other good dining choices in the area, and there are other good drinking areas, too, leaving Fuego with not much to offer.
I knew what to expect when I went to a Mexican food restaurant in AL. However, I also expect prompt service and courtesy.
WHY I NEED TO VISIT YELP BEFORE I DINE!
I was dragged here by coworkers looking to unwind. My party arrived around 5:30 and were the only the second table on the patio. No tables were seated indoors and just a few folks around the bar. We ordered a round of watered down Mojitos and Margaritas. Trust me, nothing special here.
About an hour later, the waitress came by to take our food order. Approximately 6 tables were now seated at the patio all having drinks with no food. This should have been my sign to eat chips for dinner...We ordered our food from what seemed like a mismatch of bar food. 45 five minutes later, the first 3 of 7 plates arrived, then 2 more about 5 minutes later, then 2 more about 8 minutes and finally the last plate after everyone in our party was finished.
Hey, were talking nachos and tacos, not anything special. 1 hour to get 2 pork tacos? Enchiladas? Nasty. Nachos? Tasted like licking a a salt lick.
During this time, I saw two couples walk their table due to frustration, I saw 3 tables pay for their bill before we finished eating. Also, a waiter actually made a couple get up from their table since he stated they were seated out of sequence and the table belonged to someone else. Needless to say, they headed for the door.
If you want a cheap watered down drink, go and sit on the patio. Just don't expect much. If you must, eat the chips and queso. It was okay. When you're done with drinks, take a nice walk across the street to JNN or Surin to eat. Hopefully, this place will close soon and something decent will show up.
I loved the location. The food was terrible the service was even worse. I do not recommend this place EVER. I also found out the owners of Fuego also owned The Grape and La Mesa, both places were unsuccessful. I think this family needs to think of a different business, or hire better managers and not allow their son to work there unless he is going to be responsible.Lame. It is our fault we did plan ahead for New Years Eve. Looking at Birmingham Menu's we called every restaurant downtown for reservations. The only place available for 14ppl at 7pm was Fuego. This was the first sign.
Upon arriving we were all told to wait at the front while they put our tables together. This irked me because the reason we called two days before to make a reservation was so this would have been done. Also to add to the matter, I called the day of to change our reservation to add two more people and they did not even have it down! Â I know this because the person on the phone asked for all my information again.
So then, they put tables together in the bar area. Not exactly what I had envisioned but I was willing to go with it.
In this small bar area were the bartender who later I found out was also the son of the owner, Our server (Daniel) who was the bar manager, Another female server and the front of house manager. The only people to greet us was our server and they were clearly going out of their way to avoid helping us. Â These people literally looked at us and turned away, not offering any help. Our server did a very good job but it was painful to watch him take 14 drink orders, serve them and then ask for our entree order. We still did not have the chips and salsa we asked for upon sitting down AND we asked the owner and manager. When we finally got our chips they were cold and greasy and the cheese was disgusting. Half our table needed another drink and not the owner, not the manager offered to help while our server was busy helping the KITCHEN get our entree together. This is the job of the OWNER and the MANAGER's job is to help the server! Or vice versa! Anyway, I ordered a Corona light and asked for a lime. No lime was delivered, and when I stood at the bar, not the bartender, manager or the other server asked me if they could help and they ALL made eye contact with me and acted as if it weren't there job. When our poor little server walked by I signaled for him and asked for a lime. He brought it with his fingers and stuck it in my beer. Maybe I am being a little too picky at this point but it should have been brought on a napkin at least!
Kelli, my friend at the other end of the table, asked the manager if he could help our server bring out drinks
because some of us were still waiting and it was clear our server was working very hard but did not have enough hands. They manager said yes, but then walked away to talk to his friends that had just walked in!
I will not go back because of lack of customer service. Even if the food was terrible, if the service was good I would have maybe thought of returning. But NO WAY will I ever go there.
I went here on a Friday night for Happy Hour and dinner with a group before going out in Five Points while I was in town for a wedding. Â This is not the type of place to go if you like Mexican food a lot, because it's not high quality (as is reflected in its prices). Â That being said, I'm only reviewing the service. Â
Upon arriving at the restaurant and not knowing anything about it previously, I was pleasantly surprised with the unique and decorative outdoor seating area. Â However, since rain was in the forecast, my party and I opted for eating indoors.
We got to Fuego at 6:15, which only gave us 45 short minutes of happy hour, but our waitress told us she would come back in time for each of us to order an additional drink at happy hour prices (and she did!)...a huge plus for Fuego.
Then everything started heading downhill.
It took our server about 25 minutes to bring us our first drink, even though we were the ONLY people in the restaurant. Â Then it took her an additional 30 minutes to bring us the chips, salsa, and queso. Â Then another 20 minutes to bring us our tacos. I've never had Mexican food that has taken this long - there is no reason for Mexican food to take this long, especially since NO ONE was in the restaurant.
When we got our checks, mine was incorrect. Â They charged me for two drinks at regular price instead of just charging me for one drink at happy hour price. Â I alerted our waitress, and she, very kindly, told me that she would fix it. Â She brought it back, and it was still incorrect.
So, I went and told her, and she said she would have to talk to the manager because he had changed it (in an attempt to fix it). Â The manager came up to me and tried to explain what he did and how he had attempted to fix the check. Â However, it was still off by $2. I explained to him how it was still off. Â He then told me, in a very condescending way, that he could just give me $2 if I really wanted it. I declined and went back to the table.
This is unacceptable. Â He is the manager. Â He should know better than to do that. Â
In his defense, he did come up to me after our conversation and apologized for being a "smart-ass" and offered me the $2 cash once again. Â Once again, a manager should know a more proper way of handling this type of situation. Â Maybe I'm being naive, but a manager should not say any curse words in front of a client, in any circumstance. Â It is completely inappropriate. Â
I really hope that Fuego addresses this issue as it would've been an overall pleasant experience had this not happened.
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