Blue Corn Cafe

I parked across the street
They close at 8pm on Thursdays
I arrived at 7:15 plenty of times to order :)
Patron Margaritas not good don't recommend
Plenty of other beer wine to choose from thou
Guacamole was decent. They do not prepare fresh at your table. It's brought out from the kitchen already plated
Order a burrito plate with ground beef. Just ok. Rice and beans. Just ok. Nothing wowed me. Didn't order dessert.
The inside is cute and great for a date night.
Now.... Reason for the 1 star review. Our waitress RUSHED our entire meal she was very ready to go home. I found it

The most authentic reasonably priced South American-Mexican food I've had yet in Durham. The salsa was house made and incredibly yummy!

Big disappointment! I ordered a top shelf Patron margarita. It was nothing but sour mix. No Patron, no Grand Marnier or fresh squeezed orange juice like the menu says. It gets worse. I ordered the chicken quesadilla plate that came with rice, refried beans, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and shredded cheese. The quesadilla was wet and soggy, rice and beans were cold, shredded cheese was so thick it wouldn't have melted had the beans been hot, the guacamole was black and clearly from day before yesterday and to top it off the beans were sour! Although the manager comped my food

Very average, if not disappointing food. Black beans were unseasoned as if just poured out of the can and barely warmed. Didn't even melt the cheese sprinkled on top. Rice wasn't much better. Quesadilla was fair. Who can't make a good quesadilla?? Cuero margarita was good, not too sweet. The hostess/waitress was WAY too attentive. And too bad they don't really have blue tortillas as you would find inMexico!

Wow. This place is a hidden gem. Firstly good selection of entrees and the food was quite delicious. Portion sizes were generous. The salsa verde was just like the one I had in mexico. Very very authentic. I've traveled internationally and the kind of salsa verde you get in the latin american countries is what they make. It's definitely not the bogus "green sauce" that gets passed around as salsa verde in all the other restaurants around. Added to that the owner went above and beyond to accommodate our requests. Definitely recommend the place and definitely going back for the

I'm not sure why it's taken me until now to write a review for the Blue Corn Cafe. Pre-pandemic we have eaten there a few times and the food and service has always been amazing.

This review is for takeout. Our neighborhood used Durham delivers to have them bring our orders right to our neighborhood clubhouse for pickup. We were easily able to order online days in advance. Pickup was super easy, and they were even there a little early!

Our food was so good. Sometimes takeout isn't always as good as in a restaurant, but we thought everything was still really, really good even at

Really nice restaurant! Delicious selection with lots of vegetarian options and food that can be made vegan or gluten free.

I ate here with a group of 15, no reservation, because another restaurant hadn't honored our reservation. In 5 minutes, Blue Corn was able to get a table set up for us, seat us, and get drinks and apps started.

I had some nachos from the shared apps our table got, and the spinach and cheese empanada as an entree. Both were amazing, and the empanada was such a filling portion!

I didn't even plan on coming here in the first place and had no idea Blue Corn existed

We loved it. Our server, Matteo, was fantastic. We had the Picadillo cuban dish. It was phenomenal. This is a very clean place, and we'd definitely come back if we were in the area.

Stopped by for a lunch yesterday afternoon and had no idea what a treat I was in for! My friend and I got some chips and salsa but my friend and I are very different in our salsa likes so our server surprised us with a sample of each of their 3 salsas. My friend and I opted to order the nachos with beef and a Cuban sandwich and share them both but we were shocked with how much food was delivered to our table. The nachos were so good. My friend raves about the Cuban. I enjoyed the sides that came with the sandwich. The service was amazing!! I will most definitely be returning in the future!!

Blue corn cafe has the ambiance of a Mexican restaurant that's hard to find. Nothing cheap or gaudy. They often have great gentle live music. Location is in the heart of Duke campus. Our favorite thing to order are a misfire if the appetizers, especially their plantain platter. They have a true culinary and taste of home aspect to your food...Unlike most Mexican restaurants throwing boxes cheese and dried frozen rice on the plate.

I've lived in Durham forever and I for some reason I had never eaten at Blue Corn. We went for lunch, and we really enjoyed it. The red salsa that comes with the chips and salsa order is unique and we ended up eating 2-3 servings of it. I ordered the lunch taquitos with shredded beef, rice, and black beans. The flavor was . My wife got the lunch chicken burrito. The mix of sour cream and the red/orange sauce on top was amazing.

We have yet to go for dinner, but I was told the menu expands quite a bit. We will definitely be back!

This was such a subpar restaurant experience - usually my only real complaints about places are the service, but this food was exceptionally lackluster.

We started ordering queso fundido which was purportedly queso with chorizo, but in reality was bland melted cheese with hamburger helper.

I should have taken my queue from the queso and ordered something simple, but I got the fajitas that came with steak, chicken, shrimp and vegetables. I was not aware fajitas were legally allowed to be served as a cold dish and still be called fajitas, but this place has gone and done it. The plate came out

Perfect service and huge entrees to get your latin fix!
Highly recommend the very authentic sangria, mostly wine with just a touch of fruit.
So many choices in plaintains! Chips with the meal are a nice touch, and I ask for habanero sauce on the side for something to dip them into! Dessert plaintains are great as well, and served with fresh mango and plenty of mango puree.
Entree wise, bistec milanesa is my favorite dish
Perfectly coated and moist inside, with savory beans and rice and acidic veggies to complement. Bae enjoyed the hearty picadillo as well.
Only qualm is that I was expecting everything

This place has been here for what feels like forever, but tonight was my first visit. I will definitely be back. The hostess brought us waters and informed us who our server was. The waitress came to the table quickly, told us the drink specials and was back with our margaritas quickly as well. The house margaritas are tasty and have a unique blend on the rim. We ordered the queso appetizer, which allows you to pick hot or mild salsa as well. We went with mild. She returned with a huge amount of chips, queso, mild salsa and pico. All three were yummy and could easily fill you up. I ordered the

The food was great! Very tasty and although it was authentic with a twist, the flavors were there. I went there for a friend's birthday and all of us ordered different dishes that were super good!!
Try the Picadillo, Ropa Vieja and the Blue Corn Paella. The food took a bit but that only tells me it was cooked at the moment and not reheated. Honestly, I'll be going back!! Really good :)

Blue Corn is a staple. I go there probably every other week. The food is DELISH. My go to is the 3 item combo - it's $10 and you can choose 3 traditional Mexican items - like chalupas, tacos, burritos, enchilada, tostadase etc - with tinga chicken, carnitas, shredded beef, veggies etc. My fave is the Blue Corne Paella (lunch special) but sometimes they'll make it for dinner - it's the Seafood Paella for dinner. The mussels are also pretty good - they come in this spicy, creamy sauce. THE HIGHLIGHT THOUGH ARE THE SALSAS. The pico de gallo is surprisingly fresh and spicy, the habernero

Heads up! If you check in on Yelp, you get a free order of chips and salsa!

If you're into vegetarian Mexican food, this is a good spot to check out. There are plenty of options, and we all enjoyed the eggplant quesadilla. The sides were only ok, and I ended up only eating the main dish. It might be worth just ordering a bunch of appetizers.

The waiter and hostess were really nice, and we were able to get in and out within an hour on a weeknight.

Had an average experience at Blue Corn Cafe when I came for happy hour and dinner. I ordered the empanada entree, which comes as one big empanada (sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes on top) plus your standard sides of rice and black beans. Just okay. Their house margarita was good though! We got a couple pitchers of it.

Taste | 3.5
Atmosphere | 3
Presentation | 3
Service | 3
OVERALL | 3