Saw an AZCentral article that lists Barrio Cafe as the "No.1 Mexican restaurant in the United States" by Tabelog. Seeing this the wife and I were really excited to try it out. I have had really good Mexican food all over the country and Phoenix has some of the best.
The wife and I drove down to Phoenix for dinner and was surprised by all the cool art on the outside of the building. Inside was loud and cramped. Being so cramped the staff kept bumping into each other and occasionally the customers too. I usually dont mind how a restaurant looks, I'm there for the food.
The first thing I noticed when opening the menu was the high prices. Some dishes are over $20 and I've noticed the prices have gone up referencing past menu prices. I'm one that doesn't mind paying a high price for food but it better be worth it. We ordered the $11 Guacamole del Barrio which is supposed to be prepared table-side for dinner but we didn't get that treatment. Nor did we get the complimentary bread and salsa that others on Yelp have said they received. We also ordered the carne asada tacos and fish tacos each dish at over $13 for street tacos. The taco dishes came with fries or a salad. We opted for the fries which are the thick cut style fries w/seasoning. Service was really slow.
I went from being excited about the food to being underwhelmed. The carne asada tacos were good and the beef tender. The fish tacos were good as well and the fish crispy. The Guacamole had pomegranates which were a nice addition. The fries were so-so. The food was good but nothing special. I was expecting to be wowed by the amazing "No.1 in the United States" kinda food but felt let down.
The bill was almost $60 for Mexican food that was nothing special. I have had better in the valley at multiple places and haven't had to pay nearly those kinda prices. Must be the chef hype we are paying for. All in all I felt rooked. I really hate to feel that way about a restaurant especially one that has received really good reviews.
I dont think we will be back due to the high prices for over-hyped food.