Third time here (tried to come earlier this winter, but they were closed for a bit). Still super happy they exist.
This is absolutely an authentic taqueria serving street food just as you'll find in Mexico. While there are several dishes on the menu that'll do for the Tex-Mex crowd, the standout items are the ones you won't typically find in the US but will run across all over Mexico (and at prices not much more than you might find in Mexico to boot!).
My favorites are the tacos al pastor and (what I had today) the tortas, which are huge for the price and seriously every bit as good as the ones I walked all over Mexico City for.
The salsa bar is also worth mentioning with several different salsas (including an absolutely delicious one that's specifically for al pastor meat) and of course the obligatory onions and cilantro that all street tacos in Mexico come with.
To the folks in other reviews complaining about the lack of free chips and salsa: to me, that's a mark of this place's authenticity. Nowhere I ate in Mexico gave me chips and salsa. That practice was invented in the United States. I love chips and salsa as much as the next Americano, but downrating this place because they don't have them is as silly as complaining that a Thai place doesn't have hamburgers or an Italian place doesn't have hot dogs. And honestly, most of us could do without the extra carbs anyway.
A note of warning: while two of the three dishes I've ordered were tame (the tacos and tortas come without salsa but can be seasoned to your liking at the salsa bar) the dish I ordered on the first visit (apologies, I forget which it was) was so spicy that even I (and I usually like my food about medium to medium-hot) had trouble eating it. If you're sensitive to spiciness (like most Midwesterners unfortunately seem to be), be sure to confirm the spice level when ordering.
I rate restaurants mostly on food quality, hence my 5* rating (because this place is absolutely deserving of moving to the top of Branson's Yelp listings--it's freaking delicious). That said, while I'm not at all sensitive to service quality and food quality is 99% of the reason I eat, if you care about such thingsI'll note that service can be a little slow as there are only one or two servers for the whole room of about 15 or so tables, though it's easy enough to flag someone down if needed.
For whatever it's worth, every time I've been in here, it's been jam-packed full and the clientele has been 90+% Latino, and you won't hear much English being spoken. To me, that is a good thing. (Staff speak English fine, so that's not an issue.)
The torta was so delicious that if it weren't so big, I'd have considered ordering another one.
Now that they're open again for the season, this will return back to my regular rotation of eateries! read more