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Have to agree with other posters about El Pinto. Mediocre food, nice atmosphere. Haven't been in Albuquerque too long and always thought Gardunos was likewise second rate. Hope something interesting fills these nice Garduno spaces.
We are patrons of the west side location. I'm glad that location is staying open. However, we too have noticed the food quality going downhill. On our last visit there a few weeks ago all of our orders were messed up and the portion sizes were more like snack sizes. Even the size of the baskets that they serve the chips in had shrunk by half which only made work for the waitstaff because they'd have to bring refills every five minutes. Seems like the prices went up every three months, too.
We had decided on our last visit that we were not going to go there as often anymore. I'm glad the west side location is still open so we have still have the option of going there, but it will probably be more like 2 or 3 times a year vs once a month.
I grew up eating at the 4th St. location. They just closed down the Las Vegas location at The Palms. Worst customer service ever and the food was mediocre but man did I love their chips & salsa! My favorite salsa!
Everything runs its course it seems, this is no exception. How many restaurants do we know, that are still open after 40 or more years? I can think of only a few, regardless of what city or state you visit. We only ate at Gardunos twice: once in Vegas right after they opened there and once at the Skyport..Oh, I take that back, we ate at the one on 4th when we were house hunting in ABQ about 12 years ago. At that time it was still very good, we thought.
Garduno's at the Winrock has definitely lost its service. My wife and I had our final meal there about 4 months ago. Until we hear about a turnaround in service we will not go back.
The Original Garduño's founded by Dave Garduño has been sold after a few years of court battles to other companies. Two locations were recently (May 2011) bought by The partners in Synergy Ventures Inc., have reached an agreement with the trustee in the Tortilla Inc., parent company of Garduño’s, Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
I'm not sure who got the other locations, which were dispersed earlier. The original location was sold and renamed a while back. I will go back again to try the food...
The Garduño family has moved on to open a new restaurant "Chile Rio", a 130-seat Mexican grill located next to Interstate 25. Dave Garduño, founder of the Garduño’s restaurant chain, works in a management and advisory role there. His daughters, Jeannine Kosel and Theresa Kelly, own it with partner Sharon Davidson. Family members say Chile Rio has offered a new outlet for their energy and a new showcase for their decades of restaurant-industry experience. I am glad to see them get a new beginning.
The Garduno's in and around the Phoenix area changed their names and the recipes ever so slightly. The flavors are there but they've definitely changed things up a bit and it's just not the same.
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Garduño's
