Espino's Mexican Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Chesterfield

This was my second experience at Espino's. I had been there previously for lunch and was disappointed but my girlfriend and I decided to give it a second chance since that had been years ago. We came in at 4:30pm to beat the after work/friday night dinner rush. We were seated quickly and had our drinks brought to us. Our server, Angelina, was polite and knowledgeable and frankly the only reason this place got a second star. The chips were amazing and we ripped thru two and a half baskets during our meal. The salsa was tomato water but I ordered the queso fundido which was ok. Essentially, it's melted cheese over refried beans served in a cast iron skillet. I was expecting chorizo but they must have run out earlier. I'd ordered the Enchiladas Excelente made with chicken and my gf ordered a burrito with chicken also. Our food was brought quickly the the presentation was considered. That is where the joy ended. My first bite into the enchilada was incredibly bland. I had a few more bites trying to put my finger on it and concluded that the chicken was the main culprit, followed by the sauce. The chicken tasted, I swear to you, like microwaved, canned, shredded chicken. The sauce was the same runny and bland tomato water from which the salsa was derived. Roll tasteless, shredded chicken into a dry tortilla, cover in V8 and shredded white cheese and bake for 10 minutes...this was exactly how my meal tasted and I've honestly had better enchiladas in Baghdad. I tried my mate's chicken in her burrito and it was covered in sauce but the same bathroom calk taste/texture. I only ate the one enchilada and saved the last 2 for my dog (It's Friday night and I figure if I wasn't going to enjoy the food, she will.) and proceeded to fill up on chips. Our server pretty much ignored us after she brought the food because the restaurant became crowded and busy. I didn't ask to be comped or for a new meal as the restaurant was busy now and I knew I'd just be waiting longer to leave at this point. I was filling out the comment card with the positives (server and chips) AND the negatives (everything else) and the apparent manager (dunno, she just introduced herself as Kim as if I was supposed to know who the hell she was) stopped and asked what I was doing. I went on to tactfully tell her my food was "terrible" and asked if they could at least put some seasoning on the chicken after they boiled it and threw it in a tortilla. She did the standard "furrow your brow, tilt your head, and nod agreeably" that you learn in any kind of hospitality business and proceeded to tell me that all their chicken is rotisserie'd fresh every day and that the owner reads all comment cards. She promptly left and so did we. It wasn't until this morning that I read the more well-written reviews on Yelp that I realized a trend. People are paying high premiums for substandard fare that touts itself as gourmet cuisine. I noticed a lot of the same comments about bland food. Mexican food and bland should not be in the same sentence. This place essentially rests on its laurels after being featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Their high point was apparently Guy Fieri's show and they've lost all drive to improve or even impress anymore. I certainly will NOT be returning, nor recommending this place to...

Underwhelming… if I am being polite

Many of the faults of this restaurant could have been forgiven if the food had been any good. I ordered the Enchiladas de Mariscos described on the menu as: three flour tortillas filled with plump shrimp and scallops, topped with a seafood poblano creme sauce. The plumb shrimp were pop corn shrimp and the scallops were about the size of the tip of my little finger. The whole was topped with poblano creme sauce that for my money tasted like melted Velveeta. I am not a big fan of the refried beans, but I left this particularly poor example on the plate. Then there was some sort of pickled?? salad served on plate with the its liquid that ran into the enchiladas and refried beans…not presentation 101 ready.

We ordered the house margaritas. I sure there was tequila in there, but I would not swear it in a court of law. It tasted like overly sweet lemonade… for $9. In all the food was priced more towards the premium side, but I believe I would have enjoyed a meal at Taco Bell more.

We asked the hostess for a specific empty booth… for romantic reasons. She told us that we did not want that one as it would take forever to get served. After her fussing around for 5 minutes we were eventually seated. We had not even got our drink orders when I noticed the hostess seat some folks at the booth we requested. The hostess told us to have patience when she sat us, their employee problem should not be my problem. However, our waitress was pretty much on the spot when we needed her. And they expect you to download their menu to your phone, giving you scan codes to do so. How very, very tacky. When I go to dinner with someone I generally leave my cell phone in the car as I am there to share a meal and visit with them. They did finally give us a regular menu.

As far as visiting, forget it, the acoustics in this place prohibit it. It is very hard to hold a conversation in there.

Not a lot of positives here, food is mediocre, priced like it is a premium restaurant, too many patrons in a small space, employees while not unfriendly not doing anything to make me want to come back.

We went there this time as this was the restaurant we went to on our first date 14 years ago. I was new in town and assumed Mexican would be a safe choice. There was nothing romantic about last night, and I am scratching this establishment off my...

In response to your response of my wife's review. First off, for a business owner it's very unprofessional how rude and offended you are over a honest review. Isn't a review supposed to be honest so the establishment can learn what ppl like and don't like about their place, without getting offended? And 2nd, that's funny you say the owner and chef are "as Mexican as you can be" , After leaving your establishment, we asked around to locals about your place, because again Mexican food should not taste like Italian, the sauce should not taste like a jar of Ragu mixed with a little enchilada sauce, We were told the husband & wife owners... he is from the Dominican Republic and she is from Italy! (Which explains why it would taste like marinara sauce on "mexican food") These local folks, they also said they do not get why ppl go to that restaurant, they don't even like it. And, as for you saying you do not use Mozzarella cheese, that's completely false because you absolutely put Mozzarella cheese, and a ton of it, on top of my enchiladas and baked (al forno) them, like it was a Lasagna, I even told my wife I feel like I'm eating a cheese pizza! So on top of being a horrible "Mexican restaurant" , rude and unprofessional, I guess y'all aren't very truth either. As for your rude comments to my wife, saying we don't know good Mexican food and stick to can sauce and fake cheese, we're from California and we definitely know good Mexican food and how it's supposed to be and taste. And I know every single Mexican food restaurant, good or bad, in the world sells hard shell tacos, and not in a waffle cone, like your employee told us yours are, when you do have them! Also, we are not in Mexico, that's why my wife asked for ground beef, she didn't ask for tacos de lingua, so not sure why you found your remark about how much we've traveled to Mexico and wouldn't recommend ground beef is about. I also know, just like tacos, every Mexican restaurant has ground beef, always! Like my wife said, if you want to do things completely different than most ppl would be use to, say what are you, don't lie and say it's Mexican food when it clearly is not. If I could give this place 0...