barrio cafe

alta cocina mexicana, mexican haute cuisine comes to phoenix. mexico has a long tradition of fusion gourmet cooking, particularly centered on the city of puebla, where the nuns of the convents would compete to see who could prepare the best and most exotic dishes from the fusion of native american and spanish mediterranean foods. this was the first fusion cooking in modern times, which resulted in all the regional varieties of mexican food. most americans are not familiar with this tradition of alta cocina mexicana (mexican haute cuisine), as the mexican restaurants in the u.s. tend to serve food that comes out of the working class tradition (and is good, too). barrio café changes this: you can experience for yourself how good, exotic and gourmet mexican food really can be. it's more expensive than your taco-bell-with-waiters restaurants most non-mexican americans are used to, but then good food usually does cost more. i love this place, my family loves this place. it's cutting edge, yet continues with the long tradition of innovation and creativity that continues in mexico to this day.

great posole! better service! a mean chile relleno. what is not to like?

cosy place, great food, but a little pricey. good staff.

wow! best food i've had in a long time. period. great ambience, professional staff with friendly attitudes. the table bread, salad and pork sandwich were unbelievable as were my wife's pork tacos.

guacamole made tableside. never had it before with pomegranate was delicious and so fresh. house margaritas are on point. our table ordered carne asada tacos and enchiladas. dishes all very flavorful. churro dessert was one of the best i've ever had.

delicioso. saw the segment about this restaurant on diners, drive-ins and dives and had to run, not walk, to try the unique dishes they prepare. tried it for the first time last week and blew my socks off, i will be back! fantastic! atmosphere was fun, staff were friendly and efficient.

it was very good but not the'best'. chile en nogada was truly outstanknding. cochinita in pibil was good, not great. churros were great but overpriced. nothing bad but a bit pricey.

fortunately i kinda expected this so wasn't disappointed. but probably won't go out of my way to go back.

two years later... i have never found a chile en nogada as good as what you can get here. i tried it again, and it was as good as i remembered. so i came back a couple of days later to get another one. :-)… so i suppose i was wrong (i will go out of my way!) ... i also tried the chicken poblano, the sauce was good, the chicken was fine. the cochinita pibil was once again very good.

two problems:
1 they don’t answer their phone. not at all. it rolls over immediately to voicemail, and the mailbox is full.… this means you cannot place a to go order or contact them for any other reason.
2. they’re overpriced, twice as much as any other mexican restaurant in the neighborhood. the food quality is better, but not that much better.

overall, balancing quality and price, my score remains a 4.

amazing!!. any time i'm in phoenix for business i try and make a stop here. the gaucamole is delicious as are the margaritas and rest of the menu.

this place is tough to review. the food is incredible! most flavorful mexican cuisine i've ever had. unfortunately the service does not match the food. waited 30 minutes just for the check at the end of the meal only to finally find the waiter sitting in the lobby playing on his phone! as a former waiter, thats totally unacceptable. props to the chef but management needs to lock down the service issues.

its ok. not a person of mexican decent in sight...i'm just saying that made me skeptical from the beginning...food just ok...not bad but nothing special. seems like one of those places that became hip at some point....t-shirts nice though...

delicious is an understatement!

this place is awesome. we ate at barrio cafe back in march. the wait was long but well worth it. it's also hard to find, and in a sketchy part of town, but again well worth it. the margaritas were the best. i had the chiles en nogada, and that dish is amazing. we also had the guacamole best i have ever had. my daughter is real picky so our waitress put in an order of plain chicken tacos for her that were not listed on the menu, which we really appreciated. my husbands dish was amazing too. i will definately eat there again next time i am in phoenix.

great place to eat. our waiter was dick vic. richard. he helped with the ordering and was superb. the food was the best. the pork was great and we loved the tampanade and bread. the desert was at the suggestion of richard. i don't remember the name but it was fritters with carmel and vanilla ice cream. overall an a+

if you’re a real mexican food lover (not southwest, not tex-mex, not fast-food), looking for an upscale and sophisticated rendering of mexican cuisine fused from all of mexico, needing a place to take out-of-towners for a delectable meal… then here’s the place you need to be! if you are looking for chips and salsa, find somewhere else. taste, authenticity, service and enjoyment is what you’ll find here! from the facility created from sweat and tears, to the décor and settings, the fabulous tequila selection and the passion that’s been put into this work of love is indescribable but shows up in the meal you will enjoy here. barrio was given birth by the amazing, renown and award-winning chef silvana salcido esparza who trekked alone across mexico, bringing that knowledge to phoenix and in 2002 opening barrio café with business partner wendy gruber. “…i wanted to introduce people to the food i had eaten backpacking my way through mexico” she has said. chef esparza’s creation is now the epitome of “modern mexican cuisine” in phoenix! in our multiple visits to barrio, i can only say that we never tire of the incredible food. whether it’s breakfast, lunch, happy hour or dinner, you can’t go wrong. in our visits we’ve enjoyed beverages the likes of jamaica margarita; dos xx amber beer; bohemia beer; and a fantastico sergio el suave milagro añejo tequila with pineapple, and fresh lime juices, agave nectar, cilantro and candied jalapeño. our dinner and lunches have included, but not limited to: tableside guacamole del barrio, served and prepared table-side during your meal; a delectable cochinita pibil which they marinate with achiote, sour orange, wrap within banana leaves covered in red onion and pico de gallo; their posole verde is the best i’ve had ever and is jam-packed with pork, hominy, roasted tomatillo with poblano chiles, cabbage, radish and onions; the chiles en nogada that’s a roasted poblano filled with chicken, apple, dried pear and apricot, almond cream sauce along with cilantro, queso fresco and pomegranate seeds is to die for - one of the best poblano renditions i have ever had! in the desert arena, one of our fantabulous tries have been pastel oaxaca; and to wrap it up their coffee is barrio café’s blend of chiapas izapa coffee, pressed at the table – all completely recommended, yet they have more! i could not walk away on our first visit without purchasing their apropos ‘comida chingona’ t-shirt - a tribute to esparza’s “bad-ass food”! i go barrio whenever i can, ‘cause their consistency never fails to satisfy us. if you really want a great meal that’s like being in someone’s mexican home, this is as close as it comes. kudos to the chef, staff and cooks! bon appétit!” or you might say “buen provecho”!

met a friend here for lunch. the atmosphere feels authentic right down to parking on the street where the neighbors stare as you park. the service is helpful. the chef is famous for making mexican food with a french flair. she is worth the hype. i had the chicken mole enchiladas and they were excellent. enchiladas was a new take on chicken mole and an interesting one at that. they brought out a delicious french bread and olive tapenade prior to serving our meals. i could have eaten it all my self because it was the perfect blend of oily and salty. i can’t wait to go back.