El Gallo Bravo No 5

A dozen visits, consistently good. Hard shell tacos, not as common as one might imagine. You may also help yourself to as many chiles y cebollas toreados as you like from a big bin at the counter. Three varieties of salsa all boilerplate quality. A paragon of reliability, which is actually more important than I once believed. The service is top-​notch and friendly to boot. As many, if not more, Latinos than güeros dine here, which is always encouraging, in my experience. ¡Saludos!

Al pastor burrito is SO good! Actually, the al pastor anything is great. The servers are very nice as well.

You’ve found the one!
No one’s fresher or friendlier unless your mom is cooking, and the price is right.
The pop selection is also pretty awesome.

I love bistec taco but lengua was tough and asada was dry.
Plus side — BYOB, and ⁷⁄₁₁ is at the corner of happiness, but really 2 doors down.

I really wanted to like this place. But I have way too many reasons not to. When I moved to the neighborhood, this was the first place I went to for lunch with my family. It took a while to be seated, and it wasn’t busy at all. My dad and I both ordered soda, and both of them were completely flat. The server offered to replace them, and we asked for lemonade instead… because if both of our glasses were flat, I doubt there would be a difference on a third and fourth. We had to track the server down just to put our food order in, because she seemed to be ignoring our area of the restaurant. There weren’t many people inside, but we were seated away from everyone else… which didn’t make much sense, since one would assume you’d want to seat everyone in close proximity to make it easier on the server. Anyways, I ordered steak tacos with guac. Since they were listed as being twice the cost of regular steak tacos (which said in the description that they had all the expected ingredients — lettuce, tomato, cilantro, etc), I expected the same, just with guac too. Nope. Literally just steak and guac, and that’s it. Super disappointing. I wasn’t really that hungry, so I didn’t finish, and that’s probably one of the only times I haven’t taken leftovers home from a restaurant. I just really hated it. The food was bland, and I ended up being glad I didn’t finish because my stomach felt weird for the rest of the night. I didn’t eat anything else that day, so it had to be from that. My dad and sister seemed okay with their food, but we were all pretty annoyed with the service. I honestly don’t think I’ll be back.

I m very disappointed about food here. We were waitting 20 mins to get our food ready plus the steak here is over cook and dry. and the price is not cheap at all. For sure we will never go again.

Stop looking. You’ve found your taco place.
Seriously, there are a zillion in this neighborhood. But THIS is the one.

Unilocal says they close 2am on weekdays and there doors says they close 3am. I approached the door 1:30min and the door locked as the open sign stays lit.

Sorry… I wanted so badly to like this place but I can’t. First time going there about 2 – 3 weeks ago. Missed removing couple of items from burrito, totally excusable. However, the next day my partner was not doing very well gastrointestinally speaking. This most recent trip was last Friday. Food took 45 minutes for a waiting to-​go order. Got home, no meat on Nacho’s Con Carne… Con Carne means with meat in Spanish so really not sure how they got that one wrong. Burritos were all jacked. Ingredients left out of wrong one, orders flipped or something. They were busy, so that likely got the best of them. Sadly, a day later it was my turn with gastrointestinal issues. Had leftovers yesterday and yep… gastrointestinal issues again today. No Gallo bravo food on Saturday and miraculously no issues Sunday.
Just cannot recommend this place with slow service, inconsistency on order fulfillment and the stomach issues they have caused, and not just once.

I ordered from this place twice within the past week. They aren’t the fastest place to get food, but that’s because they have a small team and they’re managing a restaurant, in addition to what seems to be a pretty high traffic take-​out gig.
The first time I came here, I ordered a tostada — pretty standard fare. You can’t really judge a place on a tostada, my only gripe was that the avocado wasn’t quite ripe. The second time, I ordered a steak torta, which was pretty damn good. Excellent bread, and perfect amount beans/​meat/​cheese/​lettuce/​tomato/​sour cream. We came here after Lollapalooza tonight and I decided to try the al pastor (pork) torta. Ordered to-​go, got home and realized they gave me a beef burrito. No big deal, people make mistakes– I’m less than a block from where they’re located, so I packed the burrito up and walked back. I walk in and tell the lady that I think they gave me the wrong order by mistake. Instead of apologizing, she tells me, «No, you ordered Burrito Pastor!» I told her to open up what she gave me, and she would see that not only wasn’t it an al pastor torta, but that it was also a STEAK burrito. She opens it and sees that it’s nothing close to what I ordered and says sorry. Tells me to keep the burrito, and they’ll recreate my order. I tell her I have no use for it, she gives me attitude and says «WHATEVER!» I wasn’t trying to be rude, but knew that if I took it back, it wouldn’t get eaten. Thinking back, I should have just taken it and given it to someone homeless.
I’m 100% Mexican, but don’t look it. The two counter ladies proceeded to berate me in Spanish, thinking I couldn’t understand them. They were even talking to their cooks about me, which I thought was petty. In the end, I got my correct order, but didn’t feel comfortable eating it.
I just couldn’t believe the lack of customer service. People make mistakes, it’s ok. But I walked my happy ass back, after they effed up my order, and was met with attitude. The thing I ordered actually cost less than what they gave me, but no one offered a refund of the difference.
Definitely won’t be going back.

Whenever I am craving some good tacos or burritos this place is my go to spot! The meat is good and the staff is very nice

The greatest chicken taco in the entire city. I travel all the way from Pilsen to eat here. You have to order the TACO BRAVO with pico de gallo. You get nothing but chicken breast. You have to ASK FOR CORN tortillas, otherwise you’ll get flour tortillas (still pretty damn amazing). You can choose between pico de gallo or guacamole with the TACO BRAVO, but you want to go with the pico de gallo. Their horchata is good too.

El Gallo Bravo No. 5 has become my home-​away-​from-​home in just two short weeks of living here — open whenever I’m hungry and staffed by brisk but warm servers who give you crunchy chips and salsa while you pour over your options. EGB5 is not great at everything and yet I am charmed by it’s clear plastic covered tables and efforts. For a more detailed rundown of what I’ve had so far:
Al pastor — possibly the biggest disappointment; cooked dry, possibly because the pork they use is too lean. No pineapple :(
Tripas — when I eat intestines, I’m looking for a balance between chewiness (the good kind) and crispy edges. These tripas were mostly crispy, veering on too dry, but the flavor was good and I give any taquiera points for daring to offer it.
Lengua — wondrously tender, quite possibly the best lengua I’ve had besides Nuevo Leon’s lengua milanesa
Bistec — too lean to represent what I love most about ribeye. Fun in a huaraches, which seems to be a longer and more flattened version of sope, dressed with grilled onions and poblano, lettuce, tomato, and queso fresco.
Beef soup — broth could have been more flavorful, but a big bowl (enough to serve 2 – 3) with fixings (rice, tortillas, cilantro, onions). You do have to work a little to enjoy the chunks of beef and vegetables, but I should hope readers know what they’re getting into when they order Mexican (or Cantonese!) soup
Horchata and agua de pina — refreshing, satisfying, not too sweet

Told the server I was allergic to cilantro. Half way through my burrito, found cilantro, but not soon enough. Spent the rest of my Saturday in the ER, the worst part, no sort of compensation. Did not take anything off our bill. I used to love this place, but now I will never return!!!

Middle of the road Mexican spot in a city… The City IMO… for Mexican food. Service is the same. Good spot if you live close.

I love this place. I’ve been to all the little Mexican spots in the neighborhood, but here they make the best salsas. I always go for the green one on my tacos.
Fast, open late and telenovelas or soccer to watch as you wait for your food to come out.

I should be embarrassed by how much I love their chicken taco salad but… I really love their chicken taco salad. The chicken is seriously delicious, really juicy and flavorful. The shell is crisp, but not burnt, and they pack it with all the taco toppings your heart desires (no skimping on the guac!). The only downside I’ve found is that twice now I’ve been here and asked for no cilantro, only to arrive home and find my food covered in cilantro. No bueno.

They have updated their signage and removed the «24 hr» bit.
The star rating is for good food, friendly service, but sometimes the prices seem a little high. Still, I keep coming back. Good job, Gallo!

Hi, I’ll have the Disease de Corazon y Los Diabetes, por favor.
I may as well say this next time. Living across the street from this place for the past 9 months has resulted in NONE of my 32×32 pants to fit any longer.
May I just say, if you are eating at Chipotle and not this place you need to get out of Chicago right now. I heard that Elburn is supposed to be pretty nice. They have a Walmart next to the Chipotle… enough already.
If you’re here to complain about the quality of one of your dishes, may I also respectfully point out that you are stupid. If you aren’t coming here for the Tacos or the Burritos you’re doing it wrong. Ordering burgers, fries, or a «sandwich» (they’re called ‘Tortas’, Homes!) here is like ordering the Crispy Tacos at Burger King. (Ok, those aren’t terrible)
Not all meats are created equal! Tacos must be ordered with Chorizo, Tripa (yes, that’s a sheep stomach), or al Pastor. Burritos are best served al Pastor. The Carne Asada will not blow you away, but the meats I mentioned above most certainly will.
Also, the people here are great. Always attentive to customers, no matter who is working they will come to your table to make sure everything is to your liking, and offering you complimentary chips, salsa verde, salsa rojo, and ice water.
To the naysayers who have an issue with the plastic table covers, or the fact that there are three TV stations (Telemundo, Telefutura, and Univision) that play at all hours of the day on a volume set at 55. You people may as well slap an abuelita. This is what a quintessential Chicago taco place needs.
Keep up the amazing service, El Gallo, and DON’T YOU DARE TURN THE VOLUME DOWN ON MY STORIES!

Most important detail. open till 3 am on weekends.
For me this is one of those places you stumble by after a night out. It is perfect for that late night craving for Mexican. Its pretty good, but I have lived in CA and been to Mexico so i have some top notch Mexican cuisine to compare to. Server is great and food was fast. Free Chips and Salsa if you eat in!