Gringo

Great food! Fresh and tasty. Alex was a terrific server with lots of suggestions and good humor.

I don’t often write 5 star reviews so this is an anomaly haha. I came here on Wednesday night with my best guy friend around 8 for a first week of classes dinner celebrating our last semester at WashU. We promptly ordered margaritas which were brought out to us quickly and were amazing! They were so strong I was getting very buzzed, and my friend who has a higher tolerance was feeling tipsy as well. I appreciate when alcoholic drinks are not watered down and when you get what you pay for!
Next, my friend ordered a burrito and I ordered tacos «Al Carbon». Our food was so delicious, spicy, flavorful, and fresh. Portion sizes were perfect and you can pay about $ 3 to get bottomless chips and salsa, the latter of which was freshly made and not some supermarket salsa. While I would prefer that the chips and salsa were free, at least they were homemade. This is not cheap Mexican food, but I ended up being very pleased with the quality and quantity of my food.
The décor was classy yet homey with warm and inviting lighting, if that makes sense, and the restaurant is big enough to hold a lot of people. Even though we were taking forever to finish eating and leave around closing time, we never felt rushed or like we had to leave. Excellent service, and they take WashU Bear Bucks which sweetened the deal. I will be coming back in the future whenever I am craving quality Mexican food!

This place has some amazing food! My husband and I have been here a few times, and it always hits the spot when we are craving Mexican. We hadn’t been in a while, and I forgot that their chips and salsa are the best! Their tortilla chips are perfectly light and crispy at the same time, and perfectly seasoned with salt. They have two different salsas, one is a smoky tomato salsa the other is a spicy green salsa verde. Both are amazing! I had the porky pig burrito. It has pork, chorizo, rice, refried black beans, cheese, and pork rinds! It so filling and flavorful, and the pork rinds add a nice crunch! My husband had various tacos and said they were all very good. He also had the gringo fries. Wow! Did not expect to have amazing fries here! They were super crispy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. A great balance! I’ll be back to have some more!!!

Go to Gringo. Go on a Sunday. Pray that Chris is your waiter. If your prayer works, it was likely Chris himself who answered it; this man is your own personal white Jesus. He’s attentive, tolerates your hungover drivel, and makes excellent suggestions as you order off the menu to suit your delicate needs. Also, the huevos rancheros (add steak, apply Tapatio liberally) are bomb. The Cadillac margarita is a must-​have.

Quite possibly the worst margaritas I have ever drank and they are also $ 9 a piece for a disgusting 8oz serving of tequila brine. It wasn’t just one margarita, my party ordered 4 different varieties. None of us liked any of them enough to order the Same one twice. Spicy queso tastes like pickled jalapeños and velveeta, in fact since it was served not fully melted I’m 99% sure it was velveeta. Unsure how this place is able to stay in business. I decided to not eat anything else after the appetizers revealed the lack of care and creativity going into their food. Service was fine but the kitchen needs to tighten things up.

Not my go-​to mexican place by any means, but damn they have some great chips and queso! Some kind of seasoning they put on the chips hits my mouth just right when dunked in the queso cheesiness! However, you do have to pay for chips, which is kind of crazy when they are FREE at every other mexican place, all inclusive with salsa.
Went there on a Tuesday night, there was barely anyone in there so I’m not sure why the service was SO SLOW. It look a at least 10 minutes before they took a drink order, and almost 30 minutes to get our food. On top of that my burrito was to have NO BEANS in it… first bite and cut into the burrito and beans poured out. They comped the burrito and made me a new one, but my friend had to eat alone as I sat there another 15 – 20 minutes waiting on my new burrito, which ended up just coming home with me because I filled up on chips and queso while I waited for them to get my order right.
Nothing to write home about, but if you want some yummy queso and a margarita go straight to the bar and enjoy.

Not recommended. Good is mediocre at best! Service was HORRENDOUS. Hipster waitress was more concerned with sending selfies than serving tables. Very over priced for what you get. Drinks are higher than the average CWE overpriced drinks. Nothing special here at all.

At the invitation of the management, we gave Gringo another try a few weeks after my June visit (can’t believe I’m still catching up on summer reviews!). We ordered the same things. Everything went swimmingly. Everything tasted good. And so Gringo now gets 3 stars. :)

I’ve been to Gringo’s twice and it was decent as far as Mexican food in Missouri goes… Both times I’ve gone, I’ve had the chips with guacamole. The guac is good but the chips are real standouts — hearty with the right amount of saltiness. The first time, I had the fish taco (grilled) and the carnitas taco al la cart. Last night, I had a fish taco (fried) and the brisket taco. Stand outs were the fried fish taco and the carnitas taco. The grilled fish taco was not memorable and the brisket was a little dry. I had all my tacos on flour tortillas, which I prefer, so I can’t comment on the quality of the corn tortillas. BE WARE: the Margaritas are strong! (That could be a good or bad thing, depending on where you want your night to go.)
Bottom line: this is a decent choice for Mexican if you are in the CWE, but not extremely memorable. Not sure MO can help that, as its nowhere near Mexico. ;)

The food at Gringo isn’t original and it’s not cheap compared to other Tex-​Mex spots in STL. But the space itself is inviting and lively. It’s also great for people watching as it sits on a busy corner of the CWE.
The chicken torta was satisfying if not as flavorful as I’d hoped. The ingredients are high quality but it desperately needed some hot sauce. The gringo fries were about the same, delicious, but still just fried potato wedges with cheese.
Service was excellent.

The reason for five stars-Gringo’s is consistently good. Every time I have come here, the food and drink have always met my expectations. Tonight at the bar Sam took care of us and we never lacked for anything. From the chorizo dip to the taco salad, everything was outstanding.
Yes, I’ll be back.

Ugh! So disappointed by this place. After reading a really great write up in Sauce Magazine my wife and I had been dying to try this place. Should have known when we walked in (we were the only ones there) that this place was bad for business.
Now to be fair we ordered brunch, so perhaps the dinner menu has some tasty options but after this experience I don’t think we will come back to find out.
I ordered the Chorizo Slinger but the helping of food was rather meager and wasn’t anything to write home about. My wife ordered something with Brisket and it was awful. The brisket was sweet (who the hell has ever heard of sweet brisket?) and the scrambled eggs were very watery. She barely ate half of her meal. It was a serious disappointment.
On the plus side the Mimosa’s were pretty decent. If you are looking for brunch there are at least 10 better options within walking distance (New York City walking distance, not St. Louis I am lazy as fuck walking distance)
Good luck!
Andrew

I’ve been to Gringo a handful of times and most have been good. They’re margaritas and other drinks are bomb, food is a fresh take on Mexican and service is always great.
Wife and I dropped in last night around 5:30 to try to catch the happy hour and (with the intent 2 get at least a pair of happy hour drinks each) took the gamble to enjoy the weather on the patio. Brett was our server and he was not only friendly and accomodating but super attentive. He made some great recommendations for tacos after our apps and dropped by just in time for another round.
The al pastor taco was very flavorful. I must admit the brisket looked very odd with the chow chow when it arrived on the table but the flavor was awesome. Chow chow provided a good textural component and brisket was very juicy and well seasoned!
My only complaint is that while Gringo’s happy hour is pretty great, it’s a touch deceiving. No problems with the drinks but they have a few food items listed as happy hour bites. Things like gringo fries, stuffed jalapeños, street corn, etc.
We ordered the jalapeños and when it arrived only realized it was the small size though it was not advertised as such or large — thrn we realized, the food prices were the same as on the standard menu. Not advising that the jalapeños and fries were the size as the main menu was tricky as we thought these were discounted. Would appreciate a bit more transparency here!

I feel fortunate to live in the Central West End and often enjoy Gringo’s sister restaurant, Pi. I was thrilled when a creative Mexican restaurant came to the area and love the fun vibe of this place. Regrettably, the first dozen or so times I ate at Gringo, it was just so-​so with one experience bordering on disappointing. Candidly, when I think about where to dine in the neighborhood, Gringo doesn’t often come to mind.
Last night, my husband and I decided to give it another shot after a many month hiatus (plus, we had heard buzz along the lines of a new chef and/​or that they had worked on the menu).
Boy, was I glad we returned. The food was the best it’s ever been! My husband had a trio of tacos to include the steak, fish, and al pastor — he loved them all but especially raved about the steak and al pastor. I had the pollo loco which is a delicious chimichanga styled burrito — the chicken was moist and flavorful and the fried shell was the perfect balance of light but crisp. The roasted tomato sauce it was smothered in packed a bit more heat than I prefer but, overall, it was very, very good.
We were there early — about 6:30 — 6:45 — and while they had a decent crowd, there was good availability inside and outside, yet I felt we waited a long time for things… our initial waters, chips/​salsa, the check, etc. The server was very personable and pleasant but it felt as if there was a lag in time. I don’t think it was just us, either, as the table behind us got a free dessert due to a «backed up bar» situation.
The food last night was definitely 4 stars and the service/​overall experience was 3; I expect to return soon and would love to update my review with a higher rating as I definitely want to see Gringo continue to improve and succeed.

This place is a total joke! I ordered tacos and the standard side dishes… Under the rice was a piece of trash (plastic) and a eaten chicken wing. I didn’t order chicken, but if I did I wouldn’t want it already eaten! I spoke with their manager and he shrugged it off, says it’s not typical and alluded that we placed these items in my food (as if I carry an already eaten chicken wings and plastic wherever I go). It was GROSS and insulting.
By the way, this is the 3^rd time I’ve posed this review. It keeps disappearing. I’ll keep posing it as long as this is deleted. People have the right to know about how gross this place is… You can make people sick.

Great service on a Thursday night around dinner time by both the host and our server. Our server brought us water as soon as we were seated, gave us time to look over the drink menu, and came back as soon as we were ready to order drinks. Gringo has margaritas on tap! We opted for the blood orange margarita pitcher. It was sweet and could have had more alcohol, but it was delicious. We also started with the guacamole for an appetizer. For just $ 0.75 more, we were able to add bottomless chips/​salsa. Normally the bottomless chips/​salsa appetizer is about $ 3 (not free like your standard Mexican restaurant). The guacamole could have used more salt (my personal preference). The chips were inconsistently seasoned, but that just means they are homemade, right?
For dinner, I ordered the kid’s chicken quesadilla that also came with beans and rice. The chicken was well-​seasoned and the cheese was gooey. Very delicious! Obviously tiny, but it was enough for me. My husband ordered a burrito with steak– also very well-​seasoned and huge!
Our other friend ordered 3 tacos– they are very tiny and at $ 3+ I thought it was a little expensive (you can find cheaper, more authentic tacos on Cherokee Street if you only want to pay $ 1/​taco). I didn’t get to try her tacos, but they were beautiful to look at, and she thought they were tasty.
I would definitely come back here again– staff was great and the food was tasty.

Came back for the first time in forever & won’t be back again. The two things that I remembered so fondly were in no way the same. The fish tacos were much different. Different breading & less flavor. Corn tortillas were also much thicker– not a good thing. Guacamole, which used to be a generous portion & made table side, is now a small side with hard avocados. Yuck.
Beyond that, our server was nice, but absent. He never brought a refill of chips, even though we asked & also forgot to bring us a side of sauce.
The two stars? One for the manager who took our guacamole off our check & the other for the bartender, who made a nice margarita.

Not your typical Mexican restaurant so don’t expect a bunch of numbers on the menu and the same old uninspired dishes. I always get the pork and fish tacos and some ice cold Mexican beer but they have a large selection of food and drinks. And the outside is really nice in the warmer months.

Yall: the chicken torta is everything that a spicy chick fil a with amazing sauce aspires to be. It was truly so delicious.
The tamarindo was such a fantastic cocktail as well. I do like the gringo margarita too, but this is a fantastic change from the usual line.
The brisket taco is to die for. This tastes like brisket made at the best bbq place.
If I weren’t so stingy with 5’s this maybe would have received one.

Maybe I expected too much from the brains behind Pi, however for a Sunday afternoon with more than enough staff the wait and service here was awful, it’s never good having the ask twice for your queso dip only to have it arrive after your meal has been already started.
I arrived on a Sunday afternoon around 3pm with a party of four for a quick late lunch, however the service was horrendous. We decided to start off with an order of chips and queso dip, and much to my disappointment it didn’t arrive until after our meal, despite asking twice where the dip was. Refills were just as scarce, which left me a bit parched.
The food itself was good, however I actually prefer the food at Mission Taco instead of here. Next time I will probably pass and either go to Pi or make the trip to one of the two Mission Taco locations.