08/26/09

I crave this food every week.

by lizlan

First of all I MUST reply to the last review of this so called "FOODIE ". It sounds to me like you're a complainer, and would like to get your food for free.

Try writing a more constructive review next time, if you are a self proclaimed "foodie" and really know something about the food you're tasting.

The tortilla soup has a very distinct flavor from the Crab soup. Yes, they are both salty, and spicy, but with totally different complexities.

I have not yet found a better crab soup in the triangle than the Chilpachole de Jaiba. I have to have it every week. Everytime I go I try a different entree after the soup. I have not yet been disappointed. It only gets better. The Cabrito (Goat) is exceptional.

I have to say this place really should make Mexicans proud!

• Pros: Unique Mexican Menu

04/12/09

This is the worst excuse for mexican food

by pamelac

We are self proclaimed FOODIES, eat out often and love to try new places and love GOOD FOOD. Stumbled on Jibarra, looked inside, thought it looked like a great place. Not very many people in there at all, but put it on our list of places to try. Just this week, Friday, we decided to go on a date night with another couple and went to Jibarra. The menu was certainly different and we were excited to try this modern mexican. We ordered chips and salsa to begin with, the salsa was excellent, but very sparce and the chips, well, let's just say the bowl that they came in was about the size of a toddlers cereal bowl for $2.50 each time you asked for a refill. There was barely enough for 1 person to enjoy. We also ordered the guacamole which was very bland, we added some lime and salt and "doctored" it up and it was a little better. Again, very small portions. We went on to the next course...My husband and bff ordered the blue crab soup and I ordered the tortilla soup. The presentation was awesome....it should have stopped there. The broth that was poured over the base ingredients that were in the bowl was all the same....once poured in, the blue crab soup and the tortilla soup tasted almost the same...the only difference is that you could taste a slight seafood flavor in the crab soup. It was awful...we sent them all back. Next course, my husband and his friend ordered the special of ravioli with scallops and gorgonzola....tasted like they dumped the entire container of sea salt in the dish. They couldn't finish their entrees as noone bothered to refill their waters and they were dying from the salt intake. I ordered a skewered chicken with traditional fajita veggies and tortillas. The chicken was moderately warm, the "traditional fajita veggies" were ice cold and when asked, we were told that was the appropriate way to be served. If you can wrap around this, moderately warm chicken, ice cold veggies and hot flour tortillas. By the time you wrapped the tortillas around the chicken and veggies you ended up with a slightly cold version of a very dull and forgettable entree. We were so very dissapointed as we loved the location and were really hoping for so much more....we asked to speak to someone in management just so that we could express our thoughts. Again, we dine out several times a week and most of the time together, we love different types of food ranging from the awesome Chinese food at 5 star to the sushi at Sushi Blues. We loved Prime Only's steak and sushi bar, etc. When Hector Jibarra came to our table and explained to us that the flavors that we were experiencing were the way they were intended. The overly salty "special" was most likely that way because it had gorgonzola in it and the cold veggies were intended to be that way, the base or broth used for all the soups and sauces was their signature sauce or sorts. Everything tasted very redundant as if they has one sauce in the kitchen and they made the soup out of it, the sauce for the ribs out of it and they are extremely heavy handed on the salt. This time, there were about 3 tables occupied when we got there and only one more joined us as we had this experience. Doubtful that this restaurant will be around for a very long time. With the lack of care exhibited by the "family" management. They were not in any way customer service friendly as even though we had sent items back and sent the chicken and veggies back and they merely microwaved them and sent them back out, there was no mention of compensation, took nothing off of our bill.....we figured with 4 or 5 tables on a Friday night, they needed every dime that they were billing, regardless of satisfaction. Overall the experience was horrible and these Foodies WILL NOT WASTE our time or money again. With 4 people, we left there with $120 less in our pocket, still hungry with an awful taste in our mouth....don't bother.

• Pros: None worth mentioning.
• Cons: food quality, pricey, small portions, cold, poorly managed

04/01/09

Terrible experience

by clarkm

Went to Jibarra for the $5 dollar lunch special they were running last week. Great concept, but it seems they may have not been ready for the crowd.

There was a little bit of a wait and the bad experience started when the manager was telling everyone to move away from the front door in a very impatient and rude way.

The food I ordered ( beef tacos) took nearly 45 minutes to get to my table and the waitress only checked on me once during the entire time I was there.

When I asked to speak with the manager, it took her another 15 minutes to get to my table, and she had such chip on her shoulder acting like I was doing her a big favor for coming in to the restaurant to eat.

The food was good, but there are plenty of other great restaurant choices around downtown if you're looking to eat within your lunch hour, and expect to be treated with courtesy.

• Pros: Good food
• Cons: Slow and Rude service

03/27/09

Good Food - Very bad service

by LizM1234

The food was good, atmosphere great, but wait service was too slow. We left saying we'd have had a completely different impression if our waitress had been knowldedgeable about the menu and attentive to our table. We'll eat at Dos Taquitos Centro next time.

• Pros: Great ceviche, overall good food, great atmosphere
• Cons: Slow service, unprofessional wait staff

03/09/09

Great food, but the service was a little slow.

by foodangel5

I went here a couple of weeks ago with my husband and parents. Service was a bit slow, and for some reason they were out of shot glasses (???), but the atmosphere and food more than made up for those cons. The guacamole was FANTASTIC and very well priced. My mom had the salmon, which was perfectly done; my hubby had the osso bucco, which was falling apart tender and delicious; and my dad had the tacos de carne asada, which he said was great. I had the fajita de arrachera, which unfortunately wasn't as good as my family's entrees. It came out very rare, which I normally would've been okay with, but I'm pregnant, and so didn't want to take any chances. I just wish either I had remembered to ask for well done, or the waitress had asked me how I'd like it cooked. (She knew I was pregnant.) I sent it back to the kitchen, and the waitress was very apologetic. Unfortunately, though, meat doesn't do well reheated, and so when it came back well done, it was tough as leather. To make matters worse, I had only a butter knife to cut it with, as I had trouble flagging the waitress down again. So, the moral of the story is, if you're ordering beef, to be sure and tell them up front how you'd like it cooked. My hubby and I are planning on going back, but I won't be ordering the fajitas again.

• Pros: Good atmosphere, nice waitstaff, good food, reasonably priced
• Cons: Service is a little slow and seems to get overwhelmed and forgets details easily.

02/28/09

Awesome downtown addition!

by lyn2003

Me and a girlfriend went to Jibarra about three weeks ago. The place is awesome! Gorgeous decor, exciting Mexican food, upbeat music, and friendly staff.

We sat in the high tables area, and started out with some tasty margaritas that our gorgeous Hispanic waitress recommended to us. The two exotic flavor margaritas we tried came with an edible orchid. What beautiful presentation! We had the salada completa, which was a wonderful salad to share. Then took another great recomendation to eat the Conchinita Pibil appetizer. This food is special, and the margaritas are addicting!!

After our meal, we moved to the bar to have some more margaritas, and bartender was very corteous and knowledgeable about the tequilas.

We took some pictures with the tequila tower behind us to share with our friends our awesome find in downtown Raleigh!

I'll become a regular for sure!

• Pros: exotic fresh margaritas, beautiful place, friendly and knowledgeable staff

02/17/09

Awesome!

by Bryanm23

I went to lunch today at Jibarra with my wife. It was my birthday saturday, and I was looking for someplace different and special. We went all out with appetizer, entree, dessert. First of all, service was great, we got great recommendations and everything was served quickly. Food was hot with excellent presentation. And best of all, it was delicious.

We had the cochinita appetizer, which was marinated pulled pork and sweet onions wrapped in a banana leaf (served with warm tortillas). This was a recommendation from our server, and it was super. I highly recommend it. For the entrees, we had the burrito de arrachera and the torta de cochinita. The pork in the entree was similar to the pork in the appetizer, and again was very good. It could probably be placed on better bread, it was sort of a plain round roll. Nothing exciting. But again, the pork was very tasty. The pork dish came with a side of steak fries covered with chipotle aioli. Excellent. I was jokingly calling them mexican cheese fries. I liked them a lot. Fries were very crispy, and the aioli was flavorful and had a kick. The burrito was also very good, the steak was cut in small pieces and very tender. We got a house salad on the side. The salad was ok, it could use a more flavorful dressing and more interesting toppings in it. For dessert, we had the pan de natas, which was a bread pudding/custart with a tart marmalade on top, served with chocolate ice cream on the side. Very, very good. Again, excellent presentation.

The interior of the restaurant is very nice, in the historic Depot on Davie St. near downtown. I liked having parking right outside, as opposed to struggling to find parking at many downtown eateries.

I plan on going back very soon.

• Pros: Excellent food, easy parking, great service.
• Cons: May not be a place for kids; no kids menu.

01/25/09

Terrible

by jd334

After college I served/bartended at a small family-owned high end Mexican restaraunt. Since I've been in Raleigh I've struggled to find a good Mexican restaraunt. I had driven past Jibarra in North Raleigh but never got up there to try it out so I was excited for the downtown opening.

The location is great. Its in the warehouse district close to The Pit (recently opened restaraunt) and Five Star (great Chinese food) Jibarra itself is in some sort of renovated warehouse and the decor is nice so it has a very cool and modern feel to it.

Right now that is the only good thing I can say about this place. Management has no idea what they are doing.

Drinks took forever to come out. We waited about 20 minutes for the first round of Margarita's, one of which came out with no tequila. Even those that were made were correctly were not all that good. We had their signature Margaritas which use the house reposado and Grand Marnier instead of triple sec. We were assured that they use fresh squeezed lime juice, but to me it tasted the a margarita made with mix that you get from Chili's.

I can't say much about the food because we really didn't get to try it. I was told an hour after ordering that they did not have the dish I ordered-they were out of it. They were also out of another of my party's order. I asked what could be made quick. I got the Quesadilla de Camaron about an hour and a half after ordering. I'm sure this comes frozen and the kitchen deep fries it. It should be on the kid's menu. My girlfriend got the Tacos de Carne Asada (this was a late dinner-we were focused on drinks and small plates) This was not -so-tender, dried out steak served on top of mashed potatoes with a few tortilla shells. My girlfriends brother in laws food was freezing cold and the server told him he wasn't surprised it had been sitting around for a while.

Don't go to this place. For a better experience try Dos Taquitos off Creedmor in North Raleigh.

Watch out for the bean shot!

01/25/09

What happened Jibarra?

by pugga

My husband and I loved Jibarra at it's original location- the only thing lacking was the location. The food and service was always fabulous. I was so excited to see Jibarra move downtown as it was one of my favorite restaurants. I told everyone to go there. Last night we went to the new location and we were sorely disapointed by the service. You can tell Jibarra now has different priorites. I expected a few bumps in their transition to the new space but the new staff is not as knowledgable or professional as it should be for this caliber of food. After waiting an hour for an appetizer I asked our waitress to cancel it. We then received it a half hour later. When we finally got our bill our waitress told us "we took off the appetizer-even though you still got it" Please don't do us any favors! I understand the waitstaff has nothing to do with the slow kitchen but there was no explanation or apologies by our waitress- we just sat there wondering. I hope Jibarra can work out the kinks and learn to hire better staff.

01/24/09

"fancy" Mexican

by blue321

Went tonight for a friend's birthday. Got there early, and sat at the bar. Took nearly 20 minutes to recieve drinks for myself and one friend. Was asked only once in nearly an hour if we needed anything else. Ordered an appitizer that never came; instead was repeated given something that was not ordered. Had an 8:30 reservation was not seated until 9:00. Original appetizer finally arrived and it looked overcooked and as if it had been sitting for a while. The waiter seemed nice enough, and knowledgable about the menu (the menu was pretty limited). Did not order a meal due to having to leave by a certain time.

Was all around NOT impressed. Will not be going back again.

• Pros: nice decor
• Cons: horrible service, too expensive for what it is