barrio cafe

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 cannotplacea 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.

thisplaceis 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.

thisplaceis 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.

greatplaceto 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 aplaceto take out-of-towners for a delectable meal… then here’s theplaceyou 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”!

thisplacewas a culinary adventure from the moment we sat down! the table-side guacamole is a must! we shared the pollo poblano-delicious! the house margarita was strong and good! we will be back next time we are in phoenix! for sure!! very unique!

i came from california just to eat here... i was extremely disappointed. the food was ok, but waaayyy overpriced!!!! your talking beans and tortillas... i love paying for good service and ambiance. however this was a nightmare. you'd be better off going to a mom and pop joint where you can feel the spirit of mexico!!! not aplacewhere they're trying to get rich and the customer is the last priority!!!

i'm in utter disbelief of how bad thisplacewas. with all of the amazing reviews i thought there was no way it could be bad. how on earth does thisplaceget such great reviews in az? there's so much better mexican food here, even right down the street from barrio. i will say the guacamole is great-super fresh but super awkward when your henry rollins look alike server is angrily smashing it together next to your table. apparently he doesn't like that part of his job. actually, it seemed like he pretty much hated his job, which may have ruined a lot of my experience. we ordered our guac & he asked if we wanted anything besides water-we told him he hadn't looked at the drink menu yet and he slams it back on the table and says "guess i'll leave this here then"....sorry, henry. i'm also the kind of person that says "thank you" throughout my meal...like when you fill my glass, bring my food, take my plate etc. not once did he say "you're welcome". such a douche. anyway, got the conchinita pibil tacos. pork was dry and tortillas were soggy. you get 4 street tacos on corn tortillas and for some reason someone thinks its a good idea to dump salsa on them so they fall apart by the time you get them. pair that with a side of ore ida steak fries and you have yourself a $13 dinner? thank god i didn't spring for a pricier dish since i thought after the guacamole i'd be mostly full anyway. my boyfriend got the seafood chile relleno and said it was ok - for 21 bucks it should have been weary better than ok - i don't eat seafood much so i didn't try it but i've seen him get more excited over a shrimp burrito from señor taco. to end the evening our server took 10 minutes to pick up our payment from our table, and blatantly ignored my boyfriend trying to get his attention. i took my leftovers in a to go box to be polite when the busser asked if i wanted them since i still had half a plate of food, but did not hesitate to throw them directly into the trash when i got home. i don't even normally write reviews, but i was so blown away by the vast difference between the reviews i'd read and my experience that i just had to. the only reason i'd ever return to thisplacewould be for happy hour. drinks and guacamole, yes. dinner - never again.

one of my local favorites for several years. the food is great and consistent, making it aplacei trust time and again. upon moving from chicago, where i enjoyed the likes of rick bayless' frontera grill, barrio cafe came to my rescue. as i look back, my once great restaurant secret has long become a valley favorite, thanks to the great atmosphere, delicious ingredients and skillful execution of what is the antithesis of everything commonly expected as mexican food here in the valley. i love the guacamole, especially when they use pomegranate seeds in season and the black chicken mole. step away from the blob of yellow cheese and try something worthy of your time.

the margarita's were very good as was every thing else we had. the marinated pork was by far my favorit. thisplaceis great. we will definitely be back.

overall a good experience. saturday evening meal and theplacewas packed. service was solid, and live music playing in backgound was enjoyable. 3 of 4 dishes were rich, complex, and flavorful. the halibut was light and tasty. star dish of the night was the seasonal special (available sept-april), pobalno nogada. get it! margaritas were just ok and a little spendy. the tapanade style spread served at start with fresh bread is wildly delicious. had flan for dessert - dense, rich and pretty good. show up early and plan to wait in line. we will return!

thisplaceis nasty. the mole is disgusting. the food is very overpriced and the service was horrible. the waiter came by the table once or twice and never refilled the drinks. the only good thing is the pomegranate guacamole but it was very overpriced and you can make it at home just as good as they do

worstplaceto eat in the world. rude wait staff, the bartender was a joke who was actually insulting-arrogent people in this restaurant that serves cold food with no claim to be much better than taco bell. i will never go back to thisplaceand had to restrain myself to not go back in the food prep area to show the morons how to serve a warm tortilla

fantastic dinner - get there early. if you go here get the full dinner entrees, they are fantastic. the smaller taco plates and such are decent but not why you want to go to barrio.

you cannot go wrong with the cochinita pibil (12 hr pork) or my favorite, pescado del mar (halibut), or my wifes favorite, chiles en nogada (stuffed pablano pepper) - but everything is very good.

theplaceis small, and get packed later in the evenings. the service is very random based on the server you get. i've had great service many times, but horrible service just as many... and everything in between.

go here... it is not cheap, but the food is worth it for those special occasions.

good food, but.... it's overpriced for what you get. the one time i went, i left raving, but when i moved within 1/4 mile of theplaceand never went there in two years... apparently i didn't like it as much as i thought i did.