Loco Taqueria & Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Boston

We had a very mediocre visit to Loco on Sunday 4/21/24.

Food: Guacamole and chips - small portion of guacamole for the price paid Queso - They seemed to use regular grated cheese for the queso (as opposed to something which is designed to melt) so it became grainy when melted. It also adhered itself to the cast iron skillet it was served in and was nearly impossible to scrape off, leaving a lot of the queso behind. Enchiladas - I ordered the enchiladas because I was worried about other possible options being too dry. The enchiladas were so dry that at one point I accidentally dropped a bite from my fork and as it fell it bounced off my leg and onto the floor. While some cinnamon is welcome, they went way too far with it. They also put too much chili powder in the enchilada sauce, so the sauce became grainy and once again, didn’t actually help keep the dish moist. The enchiladas came with a side of rice that was good. They also came with a sliced plain avocado, unceremoniously placed on the side. I wish that instead of using plain avocado as a side they instead would put it into the guacamole, making the appetizer more voluminous.

Service: When they put our food order in, they just forgot to make one of the entrees (the server told us this explicitly when we asked where the last dish was as all the entrees came out) When we arrived, the sun had just set, so I expected them to turn on the light fixtures above our head. They never did, so it was actively hard to read the menus given how dark it was in our section of the restaurant. They never cleared our appetizer plates (from guacamole and queso with chips) off the table, so when the entrees came out, we had to rearrange things ourselves, and by the end of the meal there was no space left on the table. I had to ask for every refill, including for water bottles that they proactively place on the table when you’re seated. The server never asked if I wanted a box for my food at the end of meal, even though I had about 50% of my food left. Admittedly, I didn’t want to take my bad food home, but I still would have liked for them to ask. At one point during our meal, the volume of the overhead speakers seemed to increase and they were distractingly loud. Honestly, the only time I felt the pacing of the service was appropriate was when the server returned quickly to retrieve the signed credit card receipts.

Overall, our experience was completely unrepresentative of what I expected given how high this place’s rating is on Google. Would absolutely not go back...

We went here for a ball game last night. It was an hour wait time. I ordered two tacos with beans and rice sides. My wife had a burger. The taco meat was good. very light on the toppings. not allowed extra. it was just over 6 bucks per taco! My sides did not come out till I was done with the 2nd taco after asking twice! You would expect Mexican rice? NOPE.. plain white dry rice. Beans, You expect Refried beans right? NOPE. Pinto beans right out of the can. They wanted about 5.00 per side.... I said NO Way. Neither was made to taste good etc. Who brings out rice with no flavor? or Beans with no flavor?

Very bad food experience. The table next to us had the waiter spill the drinks on everyone seated. So, they went to the game smelling of alcoholic drinks.

Would I ever go back? NO, I know what Mexican food should be like. If this is their attempt at texmex etc. They have failed. Don't sell sides that you can not take the time to make them taste good and add to a dish. The food was very cafe like.

Chips served... Every table it states gets chips and Salsa.

We never got salsa even after asking. We did however order quac. and chips. Overall that was good. Chips are thick and though to bite into. Had a nice touch of cinnamon and sugar. but, why give us those with quac? Say Clash of flavors.

The concept is great but, poorly executed in this case.

Atmosphere overall is good. Layout has some choppy areas like the walk in to be seated. You check in then they text you when they are ready to seat you. You are required to wait outside. No seating to wait. If it rains etc. you are screwed!

Bar area is nice. It is broken into two areas. One up front in the entry area. and further back in the restaurant.

Do Not recommend for the food. there are other places to eat that are better within 5 min. of...

The interior decorations of this restaurant provide a fun and welcoming atmosphere. I came here during the holidays, so all of the decorations were fun to look at. However, the food failed to match the same standard. We purchased 4 oysters ($12), the queso ($16), one Baja fish taco ($6), one tinga verde taco ($6), and the classic steak burrito ($18). Considering the substantial cost of the food items, we expected the flavor and portion sizes to equate to their worth; and they did not. The burrito contained very minimal amounts of steak (tiny pieces, too), the queso was very thick in consistency and there was barely enough queso to finish the chips that came with it, the tacos were lackluster when it came to flavor, and the texture/thickness of the tortilla was bland and doughy. I even found a stick-type thing in my taco (picture provided).

In addition to the lack of flavor, the speed of the service was also subpar. I would have understood more if the restaurant was busy, but there were very few other tables occupied. We were not seen by a waiter for at least 10 minutes after getting seated. We ordered drinks that didn’t come to the table until after we were done eating. We asked for our drinks half-way through and were told they lost our order ticket.

Although the food and service was disappointing, we were very pleased with the oysters (very delicious!). The drinks we ordered were also very good (Candy Cane Lane & The Griswold Family Tree).

If I were to return, I would probably only come for just drinks and their $1 oyster...