Carlos O'kelly's - Waterloo

Our waitress was very nice. The place was clean. The food was okay, it was a little hot for me. The price was the average price.

Not very good. The very crabby hostess couldn't even muster a smile. Welcome to Carlo's! Not the way to greet a customer. The margs taste like lime flavored water. Is there any tequila at all in this? Waitress seemed to be bothered by spending more than a millisecond at the table even though it was not busy. More Carlos friendly service? Food was ok. Typical flavor less Tex Mex mush. Not recommended. Next time Taco Bell. :

In my opinion, Carlos O`Kelly's has one of the best picante sauce around. It is more of a fresh, chunky tasting sauce, rather than a pureed sauce. Also, I really like the ground beef in their dishes. It is not as greasy as others and tastes more authentically mexican. My husband and I both enjoy the various selections on their menu.

Our food was very good. Our server was very attentive. We had two small children with us and the server was very patient with us. Will definitely be going back as we eat Mexican food regularly.

Unmotivated staff slow service and a dirty restaurant. The restaurant was only 1/3 full on a Saturday evening but it took 10 minutes for our waiter to visit. On top of that there were five un-cleared tables we walked past en route to our table. While sulimultaneously there were three staff standing and talking to each other near the bar. At one point one of them was on a mobile device. The floors were unswept and the bar area was a mess. The food was decent. I enjoyed the street taco dish listed at the top of the menu. Our kids enjoyed their meals as well. It was our first time dining at a Carlos O'Kelleys location. We saw the advertisements during Hawkeye games so assumed it was a decent restaurant. However I was disappointed in my experience and do not plan to return to any of their locations. Now, I do fully recognize that we are in a labor shortage and it is particularly difficult for the foodservice industry. However companies in the service industry need to go out of their way to pay for the best labor as a bad experience in this case has turned me off to the brand likely for life.