Brookside Barrio — Restaurant in Kansas City

Went to Barrio this last Thursday for the first time in years and was reminded why I don’t go. Food is just fine - there’s far better and more authentic Mexican food in KC that deserves your attention. I give it 2 stars mainly because the ridiculously small portion of guacamole they provided was actually pretty good. The service and atmosphere were way worse. I should have known things were going to be bad when it take the staff 15 mins to greet us, not seat us, but just acknowledge that we had walked in the door. The host finally let us know that it would be a 10 min wait for 2, or we could sit at the bar so we took him up on the bar. We were seated next to a couple of young women who had clearly been there for a while and had their fill of drinks but were no longer drinking and just enjoying each others’ company. My wife is pregnant so she ordered a lemonade and I ordered a beer. The bartender, clearly already upset with the girls next to us, took another patrons drink order and loudly complained to him that she doesn’t understand why people sit at the bar and don’t drink (even though we’ve all ordered drinks and planned to order food). From that point on, she essentially neglected us until we ordered the aforementioned decent guac which took so long to come out we were debating asking her if she’d forgotten about it. The wait from then until she gave us the opportunity to order food was even longer. In the meantime, the Barrio patio atmosphere was on full display - they don’t play Mexican restaurant music here but instead late 2000s club music that is just above a volume level you would want it for a nice patio dinner. Additionally, they seem to cater to large groups of college/post-grad students who don’t seem to care if the food or service is bad so long as they can be seen having a drink on a patio at a somewhat pricy restaurant. The experience was capped off when I ordered a second beer which came out of their outside cooler covered in some sort of dirt and slime. Long story short, leave barrio to the bachelorette...

We come here often, and it’s never been absolutely amazing food, but this most recent time was very disappointing. Usually the food is good and we’re able to share with our kids, and they love it. The refried beans this time were basically sand they were so dry, the fajita meat was either charred black or in absolutely ginormous pieces (I cut it into SIX pieces to be small enough to eat), and the rice was very undercooked. The kids didn’t eat any of it. Just feels like a very lazy chef is in the kitchen. I would expect that for a cheap plate of fajitas but $20 is steep to not be able to eat over half of your food. Margaritas are fine, but the frozen ones are never actually frozen. They either sit on the bar forever or the machine is bad, but out of the many margs we have purchased I have never had an actual frozen one.

Chips are great, queso is great, salsa recipe has changed (thankfully for the better!), but wondering if there is new management because something is definitely different/off now. Our server did not smile a single time. She seemed like she was living a nightmare… maybe just a bad day, but sometimes you gotta put a smile on to do your job. Last time the server was extremely scattered taking orders and messed up or forgot at least half of what we ordered, and we didn’t order anything weird. Then the food took an hour to come out.

Riley was not our server this time but is always extremely nice and friendly to our kids, but we usually aren’t too excited to bring because the restaurant is not set up well for children. The seats are so packed in that you’re sitting on top of the people next to you inside.

Over all, fine place to go for a drink or appetizers, but for us, it’s not ideal because it is too expensive for mediocre food and service. Also, there is no dessert. Not a necessity, but I’ve never been to a restaurant without any...

I’d give it a 1 but the rest of the staff made up for one person who I believe profiled my brother and I. Long story short we knew ahead of time that they don’t do reservations at brookside barrio. We risked going with a group of 14 anyways because we really wanted to go there. My brother and his family showed up first. He told them we have 14 coming and they said they couldn’t accommodate us and wouldn’t move tables together. The restaurant was half empty. He was told by the white guy with tattoos on his neck that it would fill up in 30 minutes anyways. That actually never happened. Eventually they get seated outside at tables right by each other. I arrive and see another table by them and told him i want to go ahead and grab that table by my family. He got mad and said “this is why we don’t do this” i said no one’s at that table. The no reservation rule tells me it’s empty. He was really adamant about turning down 14 people. I was complaining outside and a waitress overheard and offered to clean the back section up because a big group was leaving. She asked if we could wait a few and we said yes. We were adamant about eating there because the time before it was good. The rest of the staff was fine except that one guy. I sent an email that same night with no reply. That guy does not need to be in customer service. He had an attitude with me and my brother and all we were trying to do was eat with our family. One of my brothers is vegan so I knew this would be a good place with options. The restaurant never did fill up the whole time we were there so why turn down 14 (mostly Latino) people? They serve MEXICAN food! I was really shocked because two months before that my wife and I went there for brunch with some friends and they sure did scoot tables together. So did the rules change within the...