Rolando's Restaurante

10/10 first place we ate in Arkansas, we were recommended by some locals working in the Downtown Hot Springs area and they said go to Rolando’s and make sure to eat outside on the patio! We totally agree! Had an amazing experience. Argentinian food was delicious! Ambience, service, and food were all divine. Go there on your next visit! We will surely be coming back :)

If the weather permits, do yourself a favor and sit outside in the back. The scenery and feeling of being up in the mountains is the best part about this place. The food is fine, although you should know going in that it won’t be the standard Tex Mex you might expect. The flavors are more tropical than spicy. The plating is lovely - as you can see from the pictures. One star deduction for two reasons: we didn’t love the margaritas (they seemed like a generic mix, and pretty watered down), and while the plating LOOKS pretty, I believe the flavor of the dishes would have been improved had they added the sauces to the food itself rather than artfully swirled on the very edge of the plate.

This was interesting. The restaurant itself is very cute. The servers were a little overworked which led to some delay in ordering and getting the food. The food itself was a twist on the regular Mexican fare we usually eat. The sauces they added made it tastier. We started with a plate of mini tamales - chicken, pork and chili cheese. The chicken was dry and I liked the chili cheese the best. The pork was ok. The salsa they had with the nachos was a little like a beans salsa as it had all sorts of beans along with the usual ingredients of onions, tomatoes, cilantro etc. Had a tangy kick and we liked it. For the main course, I got the quesadilla with chicken and my friend got the burrito and a chicken soup. I loved the quesadilla. It was way more filling that expected, looked attractive to eat with all the sauces, the rice accompanying it was fried and delicious (like Indian pulao) and the goat cheese inside elevated the dish. My friend liked her burrito also because of the medley of flavors. The chicken soup was bland and the kind that you want at the end of a cold day to warm yourself up. I liked it but she did not as much. The portions were big so we actually got 2.5 meals out of it. Good experience!

I would not go back. The food is Cuban, not Mexican. I knew this going in. They are very different spices and flavors. . For example, true Mexican enchiladas are not made with flour tortillas but corn. The salsa is very different as well. It wasn't bad but it wasn't my preference. The service was excellent and the restaurant had a lot of nice artwork.

I can't say enough great things about this restaurant. The Ecuadorian food was amazing! If you like Mexican food, you will LOVE Ecuadorian food! The staff was extremely friendly. Our waiter, Tom, actually gave us the tour of the upper floors when we were done! Looking forward to going back during warmer weather when they have live music on the rooftop.