El Barrio - Homewood — Restaurant in Homewood

Both locations are five stars. What is amazing, is the amount of thought that went into developing the flavors, textures, the freshness of the produce, I can go on and on. It's as if you want everyone to step out of the kitchen and take a bow. At this location we tried the usual queso with chips and the potato taquitos. The queso was questionable because it contained Goat Cheese. I'm not sure if it was the tequila, the herbs or the cheese but it was a nice combination. Those taquitos are legendary. You get three crispy tubes filled with a creamy potato filing. Yes, we dipped those taquitos in the cheese and it was amazing. The entrees we ordered the quesidilla, vegetable and beef barbacoa. The masa crusted trout with hominy and the Carne Asada with potato gratin. The masa trout is a must. The trout is lightly dusted with masa and fried. Yes , it was crispy. Hominy is an old school dish. You will not be disappointed as it is served with a tomato based sauce that is filled with a hint of spice. The thin plantains, arugula and corn accents the trout in one flavorful bite of heaven. As you can read, the food is undeniably great. This location has an amazing staff and our waiter, Suede ( that what I heard) was hands down amazing. There is a wait but you won't be...

Ten percent of all the restaurants in the US are Mexican. El Barrio is in the top 1%. The menu is small compared to many of its competitors but each dish is exceptional. From the fresh salsa and chunky guacamole served with warm tortilla chips to the Elote served either on or off the cob. If you only come for the margaritas be sure to order the corn!!!it is EXTRAORDINARY!!!! The chicken enchiladas…order it Christmas style with both the red and green sauces…You can thank me later. The shrimp quesadillas are served with a sauce that makes you want a straw it is so good. The strawberry shortcake with whipped cream and cinnamon was the perfect finish…almost! We brought home a quart of fresh salsa and enough homemade chips to feed the neighborhood. Finally, the service… our server, Lino, was wonderful. Helpful and genuinely glad to be there for us and his other customers. The GM came by to check on us and answered questions about the availability and shelf life of the salsa and could not have been more gracious. I would hate to be a Mexican restaurant anywhere near El Barrio because it would always be second best! Now if I can just get them to open a...

Always been a fan of the food at El Barrio's bham location, but this one is even better. Not that the other location isn't managed well, but I can really tell as a person who used to work in restaurants and managed one for a time that this place is managed perfectly. The morale of all the servers and the hostess was just so good, and despite it being full, it felt like we were the only table in the whole place. Every single person working there (and the customers also honestly) had a smile on their face and the employees anticipated our every need and desire. The morale is great, our server was a gem, and our food was all just perfect. Best restaurant experience I've had in quite some time. You'd never know they just opened this location it feels like it's run by long time veterens of the industry. I really can't say enough good things about it, you need to just go experience it yourself. I can't think of a single thing that...