Guero's Taco Bar
(512) 447-7688
1412 S Congress Ave
(at Elizabeth Street)
Austin,
TX
78704
30.2498
-97.7497
Neighborhoods: South River City, Greater South River City
Reviews & Ratings for Guero's Taco Bar
72 reviews
What users are saying:
Showing 1-10 of 72 reviews
"Not Tex-Mex" equals not "good service"
by AASFoodCritique
January 20, 2009
I decided to do a condensed review here that will be submitted to the Austin American Statesman.
I was expecting pure Tex-Mex, hence the the title "taco-bar." I was told by my "server" Jason, that "this is NOT Tex-Mex." Wow...I am in So-Co and NOT Mexico. Anyway, the food being cooked by the people "south of the border" here was fantastic. However, all of the servers were eating their own food while trying to serve with really bad attitudes!
Jason was my server. His arrogance preceded his serving abilities. He could care less about customer satisfaction. He didn't need the stink-in job! He was way too good take care of customers. Wow...not just him but almost all of the wait staff had the same attitude! Why? Because they are in So-Co. Hmmm...not So-Ho?
I mentioned it to the manager and maybe he WILL do something about these bad attitudes.
If you do decide to eat the good "non Tex-Mex" here, please make sure you take the upper hand on the wait staff or they will run all over you.
Tip accordingly!!!
- Pros: Food
- Cons: Service-Cocky
Rude, Overpriced and Filthy
by lovelaeats
January 15, 2009
I'm an Austin native who was home for the holidays and wanted to give this place a try. Big mistake! We walked into what looked like a war zone. Trash and chips on the floor, disgusting soiled toilet paper on view from the restroom floor- and that was just on the way to the table! Despite the large number of vacant tables, the dismissive hostess threw two menus down on the worst spot there. She walked away without a word, until we politely requested a better table. Fifteen minutes later, a burly, sweating, unfriendly waiter finally took our order. I was astounded at the prices. Having lived in all over the world, it's jaw-dropping to think that a roadhouse in Austin can get away with gouging the public for simple Mexican food. The entire experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Austin was once one of the friendliest cities around. Is this what it's become? Restaurants that act like you're lucky they're serving you? I would urge anyone reading this to skip this rude dump and instead patronize another of the many Austin-area Mexican restaurants that appreciate their customers.
- Pros: Tasty food, SoCo 'hood
- Cons: Price, Service, Cleanliness
Good food? Yes. But also very overpriced & service could improve
by ohyeahlach
October 27, 2008
Came here on Friday for lunch... no lunch "specials" to be found. $13 lunch? Plus add'l amount for 2 tablespoons of Guac? And get this.... Add'l charge for ... CHEESE. You read correctly. CHEESE. And the charge wasn't for extra cheese, it was for ANY cheese. So I ordered a taco plate and had to pay to have cheese on them at all. When the cheese came it was a minimal amount. Absolutely ridiculous. Lunch for 2 was over $35 with sodas plus tip. Way overpriced. Service left a lot to be desired. Mentioned we hadn't been there before and she answered, "Then I will give you extra time". Ok. When she returned we mentioned 2 things that looked interesting and asked what she would go with. She answered "either one". Ok. Lot's of help there... hmmm. Perhaps she was new.
Oh yeah and menu's had dried food and dried salsa splatters all over them... yuck. attempted to use the restroom and it was closed for repairs. HU? Are you kidding? You can't do the repairs while closed? (they opened at 11:00).
I have to be fair and give the Positives: Have to say the food was tasty. Like the atmosphere. Like the salsa bar. .. still can't get over charging add'l for cheese! We totally get the extra charge for Guac/sour cream, but cheese is pushing it people (and the charge was per taco, I believe $1.20 each) Next time I may be a smart $## and bring my own.
- Pros: Food over all was enjoyable
- Cons: Parking, Even an add'l charge for CHEESE!
Bad Attitudes and Average Food.
by littlesonny
September 15, 2008
Been here three times. First time it was decidely average. The second time the hostess was so rude we left without being seated. The third time was for a friends birthday get together. His choice. We questioned $12 worth of charges on a $130 tab. They wanted to charge us extra for subsituting Triple Sec for Couintreau in a Margarita even though Triple Sec is cheaper. After much discussion with the bartender and then the manager we gave up in disgust and we're just going to pay and leave when the bartender whispered to the manager, "They've been trying to get free drinks all night." I raised my voice in a 'How dare you!". He threatened to call the cops. The dummy blew a $25 tip trying to steal $12. And that was just from us. There was the rest of the party who were going to stay on but left when the cops were threatened.
There is something about the staff. They all seem miserable. The food is average at best. I never did understand the attraction of this place. This is Austin. There are any number of Tex-Mex places which are better. Tres Amigos, Cueros, and Matt's El Rancho, just to name three .
- Pros: Still trying to think of something.....No, it won't come
- Cons: Miserable staff
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
by GG3654
August 28, 2008
Guero's is so yummy! The food and service are well worth the wait (which never is too long due to the efficiency of the staff). I highly recommend the queso flameado and shrimp fajitas. Everyone seems to be happy at Guero's! .... maybe it's the margaritas, I don't know...
- Pros: It's all good
Why does anyone go there?
by tigerfly1217
August 05, 2008
Worst dining experience we have ever had. We went there for my boyfriend's birthday and took our 6 month old son along with us. We asked for a table that would accomodate his stroller and were placed right next to the bathrooms so naturally we asked for another table and the hostess acted annoyed and moved us over to a table that had the equivalent in foot traffic goign by it. Our waittress took over 10 minutes to show up and when she did, she got every facet of our order wrong. The margaritas tasted like watered down lime juice and we are still not sure if they even had alcohol in them judging by the tiny glasses packed with ice they were served in. My boyfriend is allergic to corn and we ordered flour tortillas with our fajitas but still got corn. Speaking of the fajitas, I didn't know 'tex-mex' meant 'cooked in butter'. We asked to speak with the manager before we left and got no apology and he acted like we were annoying him by saying anything at all. We have been to over 100 tex-mex restaurants and consider ourselves connossieurs. We will never go back there and can honestly say that drive-thru tex-mex is a million times better than this place!
- Pros: none
- Cons: bad food, bad service, overpriced tiny margaritas
Excellent Scene
by Urbanater
July 24, 2008
This is an awesome place to go and just hang out. The margarita's are incredible. The food is fresh and authentic and the scene is great. The inside is big and open and the patio is perfectly designed for outdoor relaxing. I recommend it.
Poor service,cold plates,mean waitress
by fourgood
July 16, 2008
We went to Guero's for my sons 19th birthday. The five of us were squuezed into a table space that was made for three people. The waitress was downright mean. She slammed our food down, scowled at us and tapped her foot impatiently while we were deciding on our order. It was truly over the top bad treatment. We just laughed about it and called her the waitress from hell. What can you do, it was a birthday celebration for crying out loud?! We've lived in Austin for 35 years and have been to Guero's plenty. Don't think we will be back and please don't waste your time on this Mexican restaurant when there are plenty of good ones in town where the people are friendly and the food is hot.
- Pros: lively atmosphere
- Cons: poor service, greasy cold food
SAY NO TO COUNTERFIT TEX-MEX
by stinabell
June 10, 2008
Every time I get conned into eating here by one of my misled friends I feel like one stupid, stupid gringo. Next time you get the Guero's urge just picture the restaurant owner rolling around on a pile of money, twiddling his mustache and cackling maniacally as he stares into a hidden webcam of you sucking down processed cheese like it's exotic manna from heaven. How appropriate that the name of this joint is "Guero's" because apparently us white folk love to shell out dinero for faux mexican atmosphere. Gueros indeed. There's just not enough tequila in the world to wash down canned taco sauce.
P.S: If you think you're actually eating genuine tacos al pastor then you are most likely a tourist from Michigan. Come then, Marge, and allow me to guide you over to east 7th for some puff tacos at "Angies" or "De Las Casa" for the best enchiladas you ever put in your mouth. Then you will repeat after me: "THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR BAD SALSA."
- Pros: Trendy location: you may even spot a celebrity that doesn't know what tex-mex is supposed to taste like
- Cons: Guero's fooled you into believing their Banquet TV dinners are authentic mexican fare. That's the biggest con of all time.
good atmosphere
by txmadame72
June 09, 2008
I really liked the atmosphere here. I think the best tasting plate at our table was the pancakes. The flour tortillas had to have been bagged. The migas were loaded with vegetables, big, crunchy, raw vegetables. Oh yeah, the service was sub-par. I don't know, it just wasn't what I'd expected after reading so many good reviews. When in Austin, I'll find another place.
- Pros: atmosphere, pancakes
- Cons: everything else
