Mago Grill & Cantina — Restaurant in Barrington Township

UPDATE: WARNING-GREED has taken this restaurant from A 5 to a 1! Included is a HUGE change with hidden bar prices. Ordered my usual margarita (now up to $12 from $10, but i get inflation) and upgraded very slightly from Herradura blanco to my usual, Don Julio Blanco (see current retail below) the server said it would be an 'upcharge', which I already knew, and usually $2-$4 more at MOST per drink. She offered NO other information that things had changed... My fault for not questioning further, but this has always been my upgrade here in past, why should it drastically change? The 'upcharge' for only a slightly better tequila choice was thirteen dollars per drink MORE! Drink DOUBLED IN PRICE from $12 to $25!!!! After receiving bill for $50 for 2 margaritas (instead of maybe $30) we were VERY shocked at the change & questioned the server/management about this 400% upcharge increase, I was told that the change was made 2 months ago. (so Oct 2023?) Yes, it is designed to stick it to their drinking customers. Manager also explained that the $13 increase per glass is nothing, and basically we should consider ourselves thankful, because now some upgrades are not just $13 but $70! 😳 (wow, apparently dodged a bullet there 🙄) I understand she personally didn't come up with this greedy new algorithm, so we didn't come down on her, but we did suggest to her that the servers should be way more specific about new changes &/or upcharges to valued patrons. Her shifty response made it clear that they are instructed not to mention any specific pricing up-front, so therefore, they will not be warning any of you. So, consider yourself warned... any restaurant that will make that drastic of a change is cutting corners in other areas as well. We have eaten there many times, but will NEVER eat there again. They lost 3 loyal customers. Greed cost them more than the extra $26 they squeezed from us that evening.

*Don Julio Blanco currently retails at $45 per bottle, Herradura Blanco is $40 (depending on store) a five dollar difference per BOTTLE!

Old review from before upgrade change: Great Tequila selection with fresh margaritas. Tableside guacamole prepared and presented in a molcajete ...DELICIOUS! Chips are hot and fresh, not too thick or thin. Creative selection of tacos. And a lively mariachi band. Will go back. Friendly service and...

I've past this place all the time, but I've never given it a chance to try their drinks and food. This past weekend, my wife and I decided to give it a go and try it out Mago Grill. We walked right on in and at first look wow the restaurant looks great. Has a fancy look to it. The bar is really nice and the hospitality so far was really good. My wife and I were waiting for another couple for dinner at Coopershawk. We decided to enjoy a happy hour drink. The chips and salsa was really good. The appetizer Flautas De Birria was tasty yummy 😋. So then it was time to leave to meet our friends at Coopershawk. We ate dinner and hung out nearby. We decided to come back for desert and drinks to Mago Grill. We ordered the Flan that was made mixed with Tiramisu and we, my wife and our friends hated it. That was a bad experience Flan mixed with Tiramisu absolutely💯 NOT good. We then ordered a Tres Leches and yes, that was bad as well. The deserts weren't good. The textures on the Tres Leches and flavor were bad. My wife and our friends agreed that the deserts were a bad experience. Hopefully, Mago Grill can update these deserts with more traditional flavors. We will be back to try dinner on Wednesday 8/16 of this week and we will report back after with pictures and reviews on their Dinner Plates.

UPDATE 8/17/2023 Well, what an experience we had Wednesday August 16th. Outstanding dinner plate. We ordered two Costilla De Ojo En Crema Morita* 12oz. charbroiled ribeye steak, crema Morita sauce, frijoles charros, and esquites.

Medium well and it was super yummy. The corn and beans 🫘 😋 perfect. Table Live guacamole was 5 star. Our drinks were on point. The Mariachi band did a fantastic job playing great music and excellent vocals. Wednesday Barrington is the place to be for food and drinks. We did avoid the deserts 😆. I did communicate to our waiter how bad the deserts are and how we're hoping they change them to something more mexican authentic. But that's up to management/ owners. The sweet plantains were amazing **JUST SAY NO to crema. No creme and cheese on the side please. The sweet plantains were perfect with the steakl for that sweet...

TLDR: We will NOT be back to what used to be one of our favorite spots for Mexican food.

It’s been a few months at least since we had been to Mago. We used to go 1-2 x a month and took a break over the winter to try other restaurants. We were surprised to find Mago changed and not in a good way.

Tuesday night Nd moderately busy. There with our kids but we were sat the bar high tops although there were tables. Weird but red flag #1. Then I ask the server what seasonal beer (and it’s only one) and he couldn’t tell me. Red flag #2. They changed up their menu but got rid of the best kids dinner - pollo Milanese and replaced it with ordinary chicken nuggets. Red flag #3. We order table side guac. It’s not salted, no jalepenos. Red flag #4. We had fresh tasteLESS guac but oh no chips. Took 10 min after 3 requests to get more chips. 1 kids meal comes out but no one else’s dinner for 10 min. I even asked the server - because we would like eat together. Red flags #5 & 6. Then my wife and I get our tacos. To my surprise the the fish was a nice piece and the steak was plentiful. Cons they switched to one corn tortilla vs it used to be 2. So those nice tacos simply fell apart and become a huge mess. Further the steak tacos were waaay oversalted. Was never asked if I wanted another beer, if we wanted desert or if our dinner was ok. Took 30 min before the server was near us where we asked for check. More red flags….

We will NOT be back to what used to be one of our favorite spots for...