Salt Tacos y Tequila — Restaurant in Gilbert

I haven't had this bad of an experience in a restaurant in a very long time. To start, you walk in and it screams "not authentic". Using the typical skulls popular from dia de los muertos everywhere, lots of pink, and seems like many other "Mexican" resurants catered to the Instagram croud. We were sat promptly, which wasn't a surprise given it was ~3:30pm on a Sunday in the summer. We were seated at a bare table with nothing but salt and pepper shakers (another bad sign), and our menus, and the hostess just walked away. Roughly 8-10 min of sitting we were greeted, by who I assume is the front of house manager, who popped out of the back and asked if we had had our drink order taken. We didnt, so they take our order. A split second later our actual waitress shows up and asks our drink order, we explain the person right before them just got it, and we add an app to the order with our waitress. Some time goes by and slowly the drinks assemble on our table. A very very very long time later and still no app, we put our food order in. Clearly the less than 10 tables in the whole restaurant was too much for the kitchen so we got it in asap. A long while later the app shows up, we are still sitting there after the hostess sat us, after a visit by the assumed manager, after a person brought a beer, after 2 or 3 visits from our waitress, and after the runner bringing the food brought the app, without silverware! No one offered small plates for the app, nor silverware/napkins. I had to get up and walk to a table next to us to grab some, because if we waited for someone to come up and ask we would have waited for another 5-10min+. When I also got up I kind of intersected a staff members walking path as I did this, still no reaction. The app was definitely basic, non authentic and I wouldn't even call it tex-mex, and that was for carne asada fries, the most calmex item you can find. Al pastor tacos were ok, not horrible, but again, I wouldn't even call it tex-mex, I've seen more flavor in TX, that's bad, and says alot. The bowls are better at Chipotle, and offer more flavor, quality, and even authenticity,then the ones found here.

Over all one of the top worst experiences and some of the most unimpressive food, even when compared to similar style restaurants. First time here and really not sure why this place is so high rated. Service was absolutely trash, food was edible but that's about it, if I wasn't so hungry when I came in, I would have left after a couple of bites. I've had better Mexican food in Wisconsin, and that's no joke. I hope that it was a fluke and normally, at the very least, the front of house is much better than they were today. I don't think the food would magically get better on a good day, but at least the service can.

Overall this place doesn't offer anything that you can't get elsewhere and it would be better. If you don't like spice, flavor, or quality service, this is your place.

PS. I hate writing these types of reviews, but credit is given, where...

EDIT 3 DAYS LATER Eating here gave TWO members of our party food poisoning. Both myself and my friend who also got a chicken dish both got awful food poisoning for the weekend after eating here. We were able to pinpoint that it was this restaurant after comparing our diets and the limited food eaten elsewhere, this is the only intersect.

I find it ironic that after each 1-2 star review, they have about 5, 5 star reviews in a row with specific staff names-- it makes me believe that they have staff or friends submit good reviews to offset the bad, seeing as they get an influx of 5 star reviews on the same day, funnily right after getting a bad review. Be weary!

Original review We were so excited to try this place for a combined birthday dinner last night—left with full boxes and kinda bummed out.

We got there at 6:00 on a Friday so we were expecting some sort of wait but got right in and seated which was nice! We ordered two margarita flights and the drivers got two fountain drinks. Marg flight was very fun and includes 4 flavors. Chips and salsa took 15 mins after we got our drinks even though we ordered them together, but okay— it was fine because we were catching up with one another. Salsa just tasted like tomatoes only?

Our waitress was very sweet but was either over-sat or the restaurant was over-sat for their kitchen’s efficiency output? Once we ordered, it took almost an hour to get our food, like from 6:35 to 7:30. I felt bad for the waitress because you could tell the tables around us were getting restless and she had to continue to go up and apologize for the wait to the tables. Once we got our food, none of us were impressed. I personally got the chicken tinga bowl (pictured below) and it was vastly unseasoned and just overall mid, with only maybe a spoonful of meat and the rest being overloaded with dry white rice and beans that I believe were from a can. We all ended up asking for boxes because there was near full servings left on our plates from just digging around them. We love food, we love to go out to these newer up restaurants, and we love trying new things, but unfortunately salt either had an off day or the reviews are just limited.

You can get the same food from costa vida, rubios, or better yet cafe rio for cheaper and more flavor. My friend got the chicken enchiladas— rated (5/10), one got the green chili burger (6/10), my boyfriend got the carne asada burrito (6/10), my chicken tinga bowl (5/10). All the food just tasted disappointing for this otherwise VERY cute restaurant. I’ve seen the beaming reviews so we were excited to try, but this simply was disappointing and we will not recommend to anyone who loves mexican food because this is hardly it. We ended up leaving at about 7:50 because we didn’t really touch our food..

Skip the main menu, get the...

Came in for my 30th birthday. Had a 10 top. There were people traveling from Glendale, casa grande, Maricopa with a few who stayed in the Mesa area. We had a reservation for 6:15p.

Upon getting sat, we were greeted by our server, Gina, who asked if we we’re celebrating anything. I said yes, today is my birthday. She said, happy birthday and then told me I could get a free shot or dessert. Then takes our drink orders.

I’m telling you, each drink was $14 with 6 of us getting one, and a couple with us got a pitcher for $47. Our tab is currently at $131 and we haven’t even gotten food yet. Not surprised though since it is a party of 10. Here’s where it goes south.

After we get our drinks. Gina comes by again and gets our food order. It’s about 6:40p. It wasn’t super busy at this time. I knew there would be a wait because of the size of our group. We didn’t get checked on as often as I thought we should have. This is my 30th bday and I’ve only had one drink because we didn’t get checked on. 7:30p comes around, still no food. 8:00p comes around, guess what? Still no food. 8:15p comes around, cans you wouldn’t believe it! STILL NO FOOD. But then Gina comes by and tells us that they are currently working on our ticket. This is an hour and a half and still no food. No drinks, just us sitting at our table, not being over the top, not begging for attention, just waiting. 8:30, yes that’s right, 8:30p comes around and we finally have our food. But the wait was not worth it at all. Someone at my table ordered carne asada fries, and got everything besides the fries. There was a burger ordered, with 12, yes we counted 12 waffle fries. Two carne asada plates, where you could tell the chef didn’t let the meat rest, because it was not tender but very very very chewy. The wait was so long that one person at the table asked for a to go box, couldn’t even enjoy the $30 plate that was ordered.

Would you believe me if I said, we had other plans for the night and had to be out of there by 8:45? That was in fact the case. Everybody at the table took their food to go. Such a shame.

The cherry on top, was our food was dropped off with our checks, with 20% gratuity attached, that’s what I feel Gina was after. I feel as though she knew she was going to have a $300+ tab and a guaranteed tip, and that’s why service wasn’t as good.

I would not recommend coming here for anything. You could literally go to Filiberto’s and get better carne asada fries for $5 less, same with the carne asada plate. The burger was lesser than in n out for triple the price. It was terrible. If I could give no stars or negative...