El Barco – Mexican Restaurant & Tequila Bar in Boston’s Back Bay — Restaurant in Boston

🌮 FOOD REVIEW: El Barco – 50 Dalton St, Boston, MA 🚢🌆 If you're taco-obsessed like me and looking for a laid-back, flavor-packed spot in Boston, El Barco is a hidden gem you need on your radar. Not only are the vibes 💃 immaculate, but the prices are super reasonable for the area. Here's what we tried—and what I loved 👇

🔥 Quesabirria Taco – $15 🥩🧀🌿 Consommé, short rib, and cheese magic. The consommé wasn’t too oily and had the perfect kick of flavor. Rating: 9/10 🌟 Great quality and price.

🍔 Smash Burger Taco – $14 Exactly what it sounds like—a juicy burger in taco form! 🍅🧅🥒 Topped with pickles, special sauce, and melty cheese. Rating: 8/10 – Super tasty and fun!

🌯 Chicken Flautas – $10 Crispy flautas packed with shredded chicken, chipotle mayo, lime crema, and guac. The flavor combo really hits 👊 Rating: 8/10 – A must if you want something crunchy and craveable.

🥗 El Barco Taco Salad – $12 A big ol’ bowl of shredded lettuce, beans, corn, cheese, and lime crema. Fresh and filling, but I wish it came in a taco shell 😅 Rating: 7/10 – Great if you're craving something lighter.

🌽 Pollo Asado Taco – $11 Marinated chicken with street corn & poblano salsa. You get two tacos for this price. A total win 🐔🌽🧀 Rating: Solid 8/10

🧀 Elote – $10 Very creamy and sweet – a bit much for my taste. If you like your elote extra creamy, this is for you. Rating: 5/10 – Just not my style.

🍩 Churros – $6 Crispy, golden, and perfectly fried! Loved the chocolate & caramel dips, but I personally prefer filled churros. Rating: 7/10 – Great sweet treat to end the meal.

🌮🎉 OVERALL VIBES: 10/10 This is the kind of spot you’ll crave after a night out in Boston 🍻🌙—fun, flavorful, and affordable (unlike most places nearby). If you're all about tasty tacos and a good atmosphere, El Barco should be your next...

Worst.dinner.ever. Stopped by for a quick dinner. Thinking quick because tacos, street food, the original fast food, right? Wrong. For 4 tacos, it turned into a 90 minute ordeal where we asked for help checking on our order at least 3 times, then got the manager and had to check on the manager another 3 times. No one ever circled back to tell us the status. Maybe they never even checked. We could not even figure out who was staff because most were just wearing street clothes and not acting professional at all. We munched on stale chips in the meantime. After an hour we got 2 tacos and were still waiting on 2 more. The manager finally came over, we asked them to cancel the rest of our order so we could leave, and then things actually got worse somehow. They gave us a story about how the kitchen marked the order delivered (who got our food then?), but they put in a new order. Why did it take another 30 minutes for us to not get our food, because they put in the new order wrong. Why did no one notice we never got served? No answers. They kept having these mysterious meetings at the passthrough window but still no food. Finally, they promised our food in 5 minutes. Then another 5 minutes--I set a timer this time! Then we got up to leave. They were annoyed that we were leaving because we had "only been waiting 5 minutes." Well I guess if you look at it in 5 minute increments, it's only 5 minutes. They did agree to comp our meal. Did the chef call out sick? Who was in the kitchen? Is it even a restaurant or a front for something else? Were the staff trained? Was that guy even the manager? By the way, the tacos were not good. Not flavorful, 2 skimpy shrimp in a taco. The best thing was the Jarritos. Oh wait, they didn't make that. So...

This is a true example of "don't believe the social media hype".

We went with a group of coworkers and I was so embarassed to have brought them here. We had margaritas that were basically all salt and no flavor.

"Guacamole" was smashed avocados with lime juice on it served with a side of tasteless and seasonless chips that were more like the chips you find at a supermarket.

The queso was grainy because I think, in order to thicken it up, they inclused flour into it and perhaps forgot to thoroughly mix it because you could taste the grainy feel in every chew.

We got the chicken flautas which tasted bland and had the filling consistency of a paste of chicken instead of actually pieces.

This meal was so disappointing and was so bad that I actually fell sick that night.

I can't even say "just go for the drinks" because it isn't worth it. I saw in another review that they mentioned the chef is of Mexican decent and that his dishes emulate his mothers. That is a great idea but I would highly suggest he travel to a few spots in Mexico and truly taste the flavor, the consistency and the love put into their dishes. As a Hispanic customer, I want to see my community succeed but we can't water down our flavors. Wishing improvement to this establishment because the location is wonderful.

May I suggest La Neta or Sabina on Newbury Street as an opportunity for El Barco chef and employees to taste test great Mexican fare done well and restaurants with...