Abuelo's - Knoxville

I 'll readily admit I 'm a TexMex/Southwest/Mexican food snob. I come from the southwest and know good and authentic food of this genre. I 've lived in the D.C. area for the last 17 years (unfortunately and recently returned from the southwestern sojourn where I ate my weight in Mexican food because I knew that when I returned to the east coast I would be unable to get the same quality. It would most likely be American/Mexican Fusion or imitation cooking to appease the American uninitiated or uniformed palate. However, this is one of those times when I am VERY happy to be wrong. Abuelo 's was an extraordinarily pleasant surprise! Their salsa tasted fresh and was appropriately spiced; when served, the plates are VERY hot as is the food! I ordered the Laredo Hand rolled beef enchilada, cheese enchilada and a crispy beef taco and half way through the meal I ordered the The Grande Three enchiladas one beef, one cheese and one chicken a cheese chile relleno, tamale, crispy beef taco and our handmade guacamole to go. I have several days of unpacking when the movers were going leave the following day and what better way to round out the day than with a Grande from Abuelo 's and a margarita over the two following days (its a lot of food! I 'm currently plotting my return to restock but this time I 'll bring my daughter with me so she can wipe away the tears of jealousy and exchange them for tears of happiness. . .

We moved here from Texas and so far, this is the only Tex Mex we've found in Tennessee. They offer potatoes instead of rice and allow seniors to eat off the lunch menu at any time.

Loved this place, and that is past tense. We ordered from door dash 2 entrees, chile rellenos as well as the pork medallions. After an hour and a half of waiting we called the restaurant as we were told the order was picked up over an hour ago. The manager Jonathan told me he doesn't keep track of orders and couldn't find ours and it was door dashs' issue. Really professional when you pay $60 for 2 entrees and it was picked up over an hour ago and wasn't delivered and he just tells us it isn't his problem. If you want to support local business be respectful and try to resolve issues so reviews like this don't have to be made.

My boyfriend was begging to on our 14-15 hour trip back from Florida to stop here since it was on the way to Ohio. Like this restaurant is his obsession and he is a super fan of Abuelo's. He has been missing them so much. But since this was his favorite restaurant we decided to have dinner here. The restaurant is very beautiful like the other Abuelo's we have been to. They were able to get us seated super quickly once we walked in and got us our drinks as well. The server was very knowledgeable and helpful. He was super nice throughout the whole experience when we got there to the time we left. He got us chips and dip so quick it was actually impressive. Since I enjoyed the green Chile quesadillas last time I got them again this time. The same way with chicken cheese and only sour cream on side. Boyfriend got his regular chimichangas extra papas with queso on top. Then he adds chips on-top with it with sour cream into the papas as well. He had so much papas he actually took some home with him. They were super fast and quick and got our order right definitely would recommend this restaurant to anyone.

This is a chain restaurant out of Texas. Its not well known nationwide, yet. The outside image,and the indoor furnishings are excellent. Service is good. Salsas are good. They come in a trio! I had a combo plate. The food was fair. With everything else so nice I was hoping for better. The food did not wow me at all, but most of all, the Chili relleno was NOT a poblano! They used a thin anaheim chili and then hid it in the combo plate to where you could not hardly find it, let alone see it alone and how thin it was. For those that are not familiar, in most peoples opinion a PROPER chili relleno SHOULD be in a poblano. The poblano is dark green, has the best flavor for this, and is large. Many restaurants dont use the term chili relleno they just say poblano everyone knows what that is. To me this is unforgivable. If you cant do it right, dont do it at all!!!! Many Mexican restaurants dont do it as its more tricky to make and time consuming to do it right. They really should reconsider this bad attempt at a proper relleno.