Restaraunt Review - Agave Grill

Susan from work had her 60th birthday over the weekend so we went to Agave Grill on the corner of Shaw and Minnewawa today for lunch to celebrate. This location has had many different restaraunts take up shop there in the past, it was a couple of different chinese food places and way back it used to be a steakhouse. Unfortunately it doesnt seem like restaraunts have much luck at that location.

When we walked in the first thing I noticed was that it was very spacious and very clean. You could tell that it had just been rennovated and there were some cool decorative mexican touches but it also had a modern feel to it, especially in the bar which had a very nice full bar and 3 HD flat screen tvs, I could see myself hanging out there. There were also a couple of murals that were painted on wood that were beautiful and the owner told me that it was done by a local artist.

We were seated in a large dining room but it was pretty empty. The salsa they served with the chips was very good and they also served refried beans with the chips. The menu was pretty extensive and had some more adventorous items that I was tempted to try but was afraid of how my stomach would react. The Pina de Mariscos appetizer is a half a pineapple with shrimp, scallops, octopus, green olives, and pineapple covered with a layer of melted jack cheese. They also had a large seafood menu that included sea bass, octopus, crayfish and abalone.

I went with my standard mexican food choice of chicken fajitas. Fajitas are hard to screw up but when you find a place with a good marinade, they can be really good. They came out sizzling with fresh homemade corn tortillas that were very soft, a side of rice and beans, guacamole and a small salad with a refreshing cucumber dressing. The veggies consited of your standard green peppers, tomoato and onion. The marinade they used was excellent and had a lot of flavor. Usually chicken can be bland in fajitas and also greasy but these were neither. The guacamole was also fresh and cooled down the sizzling fajitas nicely. I very much enjoyed what I ate.

My dad got the Tacos Puntas Agave which are tacos made of charbroiled beef, crispy bacon, bell pepper and melted cheese and although they could have been filled a little more, the flavor was good according to him. Other people in our party ordered nachos (which by the way are huge) with pork,a carne asada burrito and chile verde. Everyone seemed to enjoy what they ordered and the service was fast and friendly. We also ordered flan for dessert but I didnt have any because the texture of flan grosses me out but it was presented very nicely with a chocolate and carmel sauce and Susan has yet to stop talking about how good it was.

On my way out I chatted with the owner and picked up a flier on their happy hour which is from 4-7 Monday-Thursday and from 3-6 on Friday. The owner showed me the drink specials and they dont look bad. Margarita Mondays have a variety of margaritas for 5.50, 16 0z draft beers for 2 bucks on Tuesdays, Well drinks are 5.50 on Wednesdays which is also ladies night, shots of tequilla are only 2 bucks on Thursdays and all happy hours include 2 bucks carne asada tacos.

I reccomend checking this place out. They have good mexican food with a bit of a modern influence and the service could not have been better. The atmosphere is nice, not overly done but nice enough to hang with the north Fresno restaraunts. The prices are pretty reasonable and range from a 6 dollar tortilla soup to 19 dollars for the Filete Relleno. Most dishes average about 10-12 bucks though. Since restaraunts notoriously fail at this location I wanted to get the word out because its a great place and I hope it does well. I would happily return.