Gringos Amigos — Restaurant in Budapest

As an American, this is definitely the best Mexican street food/Tex Mex you'll find in Budapest, and quite likely the best you can find in Europe. Out of sheer desperation, I followed my cravings and decided to order Mexican food in Budapest. For once, that desperation really paid off.

I have to make the clarification that I'm not Mexican, and I'm used to more Tex Mex or American Mexican food. In America, I'd give this 4 or 4.5 stars; still, given the reality of Mexican food in Europe, it absolutely deserves the 5 stars. I love Budapest but I miss home and have been craving some fast food Mexican - like Chipotle (or maybe my guilty pleasure, Taco Bell, where every menu item tastes exactly the same, and that's not a bad thing; still, this is closer to Chipotle both in taste and in order style). This did the trick, and I'm pretty dang excited about that. For Americans looking to satisfy a hankering for Mexican street food (like Tex Mex street food), this is your best best. Europe is definitely not known for good Mexican food (quite the opposite), but I have to hand it to them - this fits the bill. That being said! It's very much casual Mexican, and so casual that many have compared it to Chipotle. That is no problem for me. Just don't expect fancy Mexican...but at the same time, the star of Mexican dishes is fresh ingredients, and I do think they provide that here. (Note: I did not order the cheese on my food, but in the pictures it looks like cotija cheese, and I hope that it is).

I highly recommend the nachos. I loved mine and I'm actually craving some right now. As I said, I'd give 4.5 stars if I could, but I hope this review helps because you definitely have to read the reviews for a Mexican restaurant in Budapest.

Thoughts on individual ingredients from my order (I went a little crazy on the sauces...just missed those flavors): Chips: good! Spicy beef (I used Google Translate to order): surprisingly the best part of the dish, which I didn’t realize until I ordered it again. I think this was cooked with the spices I’m used to tasting in Mexican food. The flavors were right, which I really didn't expect. Black beans - good Nacho cheese - Initially I waxed poetic about this. Upon second order, I tried it separately and wasn’t a huge fan. Needed a lot more salt & a slightly thicker consistency. Still, I worry that without the nacho cheese the nachos wouldn’t have been the same so I’d recommend making this part of your order. Sour cream - if there's one thing Budapest can't ever mess up, it's sour cream. They practically have the trademark rights to sour cream. Ghost pepper sauce - Not quite "ghost pepper" but yay, it was actually spicy!!! I've noticed that "spicy" here is usually quite mild, so I was happy with this. Guacamole - Pretty good. Americans are spoiled for...everything, and we massively take (everything, but especially...) avocados for granted. I've yet to have good avocados here, but the guacamole is definitely the best I've had here. Sour cream chipotle dip (or something): quite good, and once again something you'd be hard-pressed to find in the rest of Europe!!! Tomato salsa - More like a pico de gallo, which is great for many salsa lovers. I didn't like it because I'm not big on tomatoes (yeah I know, why order it then...sue me for wanting a cheap Chichi's type salsa), but I'm guessing you would if you liked tomatoes. Coriander rice - I hate cilantro, so I didn't get this but my husband liked it with his order. Dripping chicken - Another part of my husband’s order; I didn’t try it but he liked it!

By the end of this review, I've convinced myself to order the nachos again. I'm just so pleased that I found Mexican street food in Budapest that can actually be called Mexican street food (or, at the very least, Tex Mex - which is just perfect for me). You just can't find the flavors anywhere else in this country, or maybe even...

Overwhelming!

Literally! Just like the display window is done so is the inside, too much for the senses to process all at once. When you walk in it's unclear as to where you go. There is no hostess or waitstaff. You walk up to a kitchen area up ahead and then to the left the ordering process begins. Combination of Starbucks & Seinfeld's Soup Nazi! You are expected to rattle off what you want, slide to the right and answer inaudible questions as to what you want inside, slide again & now asked for what topping you want on what you ordered. Then slide again to cash register and select a beverage. Now to be truthful the staff spoke English or for the most part attempted to. Some you could tell were making an effort & were losing patience (Ala Soup Nazi) with our not getting with the program. The cashier (probably owner or manager) attempted to be friendly and engage us in conversation by asking where were from but unfortunately by then the damage of the experience was done.

We walked to an empty table with our food on two trays and then realized that we were short a meal (my wife's)! I offered to pursue it & reorder the meal but my wife was in no mood to prolong the stay. My daughter & I ate silently our meal which consisted of an amalgamation of food placed on a taco shell. Basically it was build your own plate! It tasted OK but we were expecting much better due to...

Worst burrito I’ve ever had. I got the beef one and instead of it being pulled beef like normal it was mince meat. The meat was soaked in its juice and looked like it had been sat all day. I was going to leave as soon as I saw the dry rice and soggy meat but my partner was already half way through his order to I had to commit. The whole experience was terrible. The rice, the meat, the fillings, were all sad looking like they’d been sitting there all day. Once they’d filled my burrito, they barely heated it up so it was barely warm when handed over to me. This explains why they have a microwave available for customers. The burrito was also so badly wrapped that it fell apart once I held it up to eat it. I don’t get why they didn’t just wrap it up in tin foil like other burrito places I’ve been to before. The soaky meat/filling led to the burrito falling apart within seconds. Overall it was a terrible experience and I wish I’d listened to the reviews. I don’t get how busy that place always is because it’s terrible. The busyness made me go in cause I thought surely it can’t be that bad. I was wrong! It...