Magic Bus - Latino Street Grill — Restaurant in Gauteng

Good food and even better company are always one for the books.

A group of friends and I met for a way overdue catchup at Magic Bus - Latino Street Grill. It's been on my "To Eat" for a while as I have been following them on Insta, and I love anything colourful and also Mexican, Spanish, Latino etc.

I think between us we tried almost everything on the menu besides the kitchen sink. We tasted a bit of everything. They have a lovely selection of food to choose from, and drinks are also quite cool. They have a Mocktails too if you don't drink alcohol.

Loved the funky decor inside and just had such a chilled vibe for the afternoon. Kei looked after our crazy bunch for the afternoon so thanks for the great service, and to the Chefs for the flavourful food.

So we basically had: (yes it's a long list)

•Creamy Garlic Shrimp in a parmesan and parsley sauce on Sweet Potato fries, with a sriracha sea mist. THESE are next level YUMMY, we almost ordered another portion. •Jalapeno Tequeños with Chorizo Springrolls. Damn did these have a kick to it, but so good but wish the Chorizo pieces were a little bigger or they added more. •Surprise Tacos (Chicken or Beef), here I preferred the Chicken, as the Beef was not cut properly and one bite and the whole thing falls part as the meat was stringy so everything comes out when trying to bite a piece of the meat. •Papa Rellenas Fried Potatoes stuffed with lamb and picadillo, cheese & Herbs. This was also good had a great taste. •Croquetas de Pescado, grilled linefish blended with chickpea falafel herbs and deep fried. Served with a plum sauce Tasty crisp on the outside soft on the inside. •Rotisserie Jerk Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries. Wished the jerk spices were a bit more pronounced on the chicken it was a bit mildly flavoured from what I am use to. Otherwise the Chicken tasted great. •Evita's Pollo Milanese - breaded chicken breast fried and topped with spicy tomato relish, and melted mozzarella cheese served with Fries or Latino rice •Picanha Rump and fries •Monks balls - mini doughnuts with dulce de leche caranel and a orange agave syrup dusted with icing sugar. •Natillas de Maracuya, rich thick and cream Passion fruit custard, topped with Infused Whipped cream and a sugar wafer. Wow this was soo good loved the flavour mix with the cream. Absolutely divine •Banana Carnival, Butterscotch concoction of caramelised bananas and pecans flambeed in a cinnamon rum sauce, served with Vanilla ice cream and Banana bread toast.

If you looking for something different, funky with a chilled vibe then you need to check them out. Even if it's just for the Creamy Garlic Shrimp on Sweet Potato fries and Passion fruit custard 🥰

Thanks to the team, and to my friends it was such a great WAYYYYY overdue catchup. Missed you all and was soo good spending time with you....

I am from South America, and while Magic Bus atmosphere is very nice, the Latino concept they offer ends in the decoration. The menu simply isn’t Latino Food at all, I gave it a chance twice but I must say do not call your food Latin because it is definitely not. Magic Bus is offering some kind of South African fusion of rice, potatoes and cheese, and oddly spiced meats and seafood…that is not even close to reality. For instance The Tuna Peruvian ceviche, Ropa Vieja, the Shrimp with supposed coconut rice, each plate had me saying what the heck IS this?! I’m not saying everything is terrible but don’t say Latino maybe say inspired by Colombia or inspired by Peru or something. South Africans must believe that Latin Food is incredibly dry bland and boring and really. It truly is a Magic Bus that takes you to a magical cuisine that they invented themselves without doing proper research or study of...

Something different to the whole 'Mexican' scene, go Latino. The initial experience was a bit disappointing, you know, first expressions and more so the very first few seconds counts for everything. Arrived at door, with the COVID check in table (that's good), young blonde male sitting at door looks totally uninterested, does not make effort to welcome us or assist with checking in. We check ourselves in, and enter the 'establishment'. Here again same vibe, maybe we smell or look like vagrants looking for left over handouts?? We seat ourselves, finally someone makes the effort to acknowledge us. From here things went much better, I expected more but was not disappointed in the food or the service from our waiter. Was it not for his good service I would have rated this restaurant a 1 or 2 star and have left...