It was one of the great experience . Service was top notch , servers were well dressed and very…read moreattentive. Ambiance was great and well maintained . There is option of valet parking . We were five and half of them were vegetarian. Pan fried potatoes Tacos was very tasty . My son got two more . Presentation was awesome. Enchiladas was best . Fish was fresh and tasty . Churros was best I have ever had Cocktails were well thought .

Mildly frustrating. However I had patience. The server JESUS acted like he didn't like his job…read more We went in for my cousins birthday on Saturday , reservations at 630. I didn't want to order off the restaurant week menu so I ordered off the regular. My cousin and his friend ordered off the restaurant week menu. I was last to order and then Jesus goes "you don't want a salad or anything?" I said no thank you. Then he goes "but every body else is going to be eating and you're not." I said I understand and he chuckles and says "ok"Like mf I know what I'm ordering smh ‍. Then he says at the end of the meal that he cannot bring out the dessert for my cousins birthday because he already ordered off the restaurant week menu. Then he says "you know what I'm going to bring you all a dessert." Then Jesus bring us A Spec of a piece of flan. as if it was a joke to him. Please get a server that has light inside of them and that actually wants to make the experience memorable for their guests. Jesus needs work. God bless him tho. I can only hope management brings this up to his attention. I tip well too btw

Fabulous queso, Fresh tortillas. Salsa awesome, I had filet my girlfriend steak tacos also awesome…read more It's her new favorite place and she's a native Houstonian.

Service and food were amazing! Ashley was very personable & made my experience very comfortable.read more

I would say this is more of a 3.5 review vs a 4 and that is honestly only due to the service…read more We normally go to the El Toro off Garth, but were closer to this one today for lunch so we decided to go! This El Toro is right next to Exxon, so if you plan on going for lunch, plan to wait ... not for a table, but for a waitress and food ... which is what we did. We waited about 10-15 minutes for a drink order and overall we're there for over an hour for a meal that should have taken 30 minutes. Overall, the food was excellent, as always! I got a taco salad and my husband got the special which was ribeye chicharron ... both were great! Point being is that El Toro's food is great! If you go to this location during lunch, know what you want before you get there and/or plan to wait!

03.27.26 - Stopped by here today to have a late lunch with my gf. Place is always clean, and Staff…read moreis always friendly, Food is always fresh and great. The Chef(manager) did come out to our table and let us know that they were out of the Southwest Eggrolls, that we had ordered, very courteous of him, Thank you. Other than that everything else was great, we did have a different waitress than we usually do, Thank you to Tessa for waiting on us today. See you all next time ;)

In the heart of the art district off Texas Avenue is this family run restaurant. Service was great…read moreand a menu with there little twist on Tex Mex. Known for their Birria dishes this spot is a great place to explore something different. The food was excellent and full of flavor. Can't go wrong here. Next time you want something a little different, support this gem. Till we eat again

I probably won't revisit this place. Restaurant is in a good location, good vibes…read more The food was unimpressive in my opinion. I got the Mexican hot dog with cheese covered Cheetos and the birria ramen. The Cheetos were STALE. Completely stale, it was nasty. I tried some Cheetos without the cheese and it was the same. The broth in the birria ramen wasn't good. It tasted like mop water. I was a little disappointed they didn't sell micheladas to pair up with their topo chicos. I may try this place again but after that visit, I wouldn't recommend it.

Excellent service, hot food and friendly staff. Shoutout to Lorena who was very attentive and…read morespeedy with my order. I was on my lunch break and she took care of my order in a timely fashion. Thank You!

02.12.26 stopped by here today for a late lunch with a friend. place is very clean, staff is very…read morenice, and food is good and served fast.

Went for an earlier Friday date night with my husband during Houston Restaurant Week, and we had a…read moregreat time and were so impressed. We do not hear enough about this restaurant! We street parked without trouble finding a spot. The inside is upscale and sleek and transported us into vacation mode. It reminded us of some of the really nice resort restaurants that we tried in Mexico. We were seated right away without reservations. Our waiter was so helpful and made sure we were having a good time. Drinks We love mezcals, and they offer to tailor your drink if you have certain preferences. I wanted the spiced pluma, and they switched the tequila for a mezcal, which I loved. I also tried the masa menos as is and thought it was delicious. There were many native Oaxacan items on the menu, but they also had as a special an escamoles taco as an appetizer. Apparently escamoles (ant larvae) is only available in 2 restaurants in the US. This was definitely the highlight of the whole meal. It was nutty and delicious, grilled perfectly- really a must try if available! First course Tetela: delicious and unique Ceviche: compared to everything else, this was a little lack luster (should have gotten the memelita) Second course Tlayuda: interesting and fun to try once but wouldn't get again, kinda like a thin crust pizza Cachetes de Res: the meat was so tender and really enjoyed the mole (so perfect with a mezcal drink) Third course Helado de Elote: this was ok, would consider their other desserts Cacao: huge, a show stopper and tasty. So many textures! You can really appreciate the time and effort to create this dish. We will definitely be back, whether for their happy hour or to try their mole tasting menu.

Good not great We…read morewere staying at the Marriott Marquis and wanted to have a nice dinner without having to go far. Luckily Xochi was right downstairs. We started with the taquito appetizer. It was really good, had a solid mole, but the fresh green salsa and habanero salsa made it even better. After that, we tried the Barbacoa meal and the beef cheek meal. both were four out of five I preferred the Barbacoa of the two For a high-end pricier Mexican restaurant, I would say this was good not great. The food was authentic, which I love but I don't think it lived up to its price point and there are better high-end Mexican restaurants in Houston. Would I go back? Maybe but I wouldn't be in a rush to do so. Also, the restaurant has nice decor, but the windows are up against the valet parking lot, not the nicest scenery.

The food is excellent! The drinks are perfect! The service is impeccable! But tonight, Thursday,…read morethere was a live band and every instrument, including trumpets, were over-amplified. The loudness made an excellent meal hard to sit through. Without all the amplification, this would have been a five star experience!

I'm visiting friends in Houston and they picked this restaurant for us to have dinner at. They…read moreraved about how good it was, so I had high expectations. I can tell you that they did not disappoint! Everything we ordered was so rich in flavor. The star of the show was the Enchilada Banderas. I could eat that every day it was so delicious. Will definitely be back when I'm in town next!

My girlfriend and I were out in the greater Houston area for a wedding two weekends ago. For part…read moreof our trip we wanted to try some Authentic Tex-Mex and Barcenas happened to be close by. I'm very glad we decided to give it a shot. We arrived around 2PM on a Saturday - we were promptly seated and placed our order. For food we shared an order of chips and queso, my girlfriend got a veggie quesadilla, and I got an order of Birria de Res. We also got two Cheladas for drinks. The Cheladas were very refreshing - they were a little different than the one's I am used to in the Bay Area. Normally, I'm used to beer+ lime+ salt rim but at Barcenas they have the addition of spices and Tajin (no tomato juice/ clamato) which was very enjoyable. The queso was an absolute delight - perfectly velvety and delicious. And our meals were spot on - the Birria was perfectly cooked and tender and tasted fantastic. It came along with fresh tortillas and consommé (which I would've drank if I could). My girlfriend's quesadilla was solid and she had no complaints. Service wise - we both found everyone we interacted with the be very pleasant. Our waitress was very kind and took time to answer any questions we had about items on the menu. One thing of note - the number of vegetarian entrees here is a little limited. The refried beans and pinto beans both have meat products in them (either bacon, or lard) and the selection of vegetarian items is few. But the ones they do have seem great. All in all, we found our experience at Barcenas be enjoyable - glad we were able to get a taste of some Tex Mex straight from the motherland while we were in town. 5/5

Why 4 stars? Because my fajitas did the trick…read more --- --- --- I grew up near the original Barcenas location, and it was my best friend's favorite restaurant. Both of us moved away from the area for many years, but now we're both back, so where else did he have his 40th birthday party? Barcenas. Now, did he not clarify that it was this location instead of the original? Yeah. But if that okay? Yeah. I arrived much later than everyone else, and kudos to them for waiting for me to arrive for quite a while before ordering. The biggest downside of my late arrival is that all of the queso had been demolished before I got there, so I wasn't able to sample that. But I did order the beef fajitas and thought everything was the definition of 4-stars: good. Not bad, not amazing, just good. The steak meat was not as visually appealing as some other places, but it was fine. The grilled onions were a bit above average though. And the rice, beans and all the fixins' were pretty typical. For my friend's birthday, they brought him a giant sombrero while we sang the song. Any time a sombrero is involved, it's a good time.

This was our first time here, we went for dinner on a Friday night, the restaurant was packed which…read moreto me, that is a good sign! Since it was only my husband and I we sat at the bar, who am I kidding, we love sitting at the bar! We had excellent service from start to finish from every bar maid! We have also been on the hunt for an amazing margarita especially since El Tiempo in Webster closed their doors. Welp, I believe we might have found our place! The perfect margarita was actually perfect, not sweet like La Brisa's We ordered the Auguas Chili with the green sauce and man, oh, man! It was delicious, not overly spicy either! Served with tostadas that seemed store bought, I would have preferred a fried fresh corn tortilla, but that's my preference. Nonetheless, it was delicious! We also had the beef quesadillas which I forgot to get a photo of because when those bad boys came out, they looked so good and we dug right in! The beef was tender, ooey gooey with cheese and it came with some green sauce that was delicious! They had a mariachi band that would go around the restaurant and perform! Also, when it's someone's Birthday they have a whole performance that they put on! This restaurant is huge, it is loud, tons of TV's, lots of entertainment, and an incredible vibe! Overall we had an amazing experience and we will be back!

My lunch group went here on a Friday. It is a large space, with a vast number of televisions (and…read morewould it kill them to put cartoons or something other than sports on some of them?). There were not that many people, but it was quite loud and we had to make an effort to hear each other. This place could really benefit from some acoustic baffling. That said, the service was quite good. The food was about the best we have experienced in a Tex-Mex style of restaurant, and we have tried quite a few in the greater Houston area. The chicharrones made quite an impression all around, and everyone raved about their meal. We'll be back, but likely aiming for a weekday lunch, since it seems that we would find the noise intolerable when busy.

Presentation was exquisite! Staff was extremely kind and polite!…read more Food was extremely beautifully presented, authentic, and full of flavors! Just how authentic should be... We are talking family next time.

I visited for a business lunch and tried the burritos, tacos, and elote. The flavors were very good…read moreand definitely the highlight of the experience. Unfortunately, the service did not match the quality of the food. It took quite a while to get water refills and even longer to receive our bill after we had finished eating. We would return for the food, as the flavors were impressive, but we hope to see improvement in the service next time.