Noche Mexican BBQ — Restaurant in Louisville

I want to be fair to them but we honestly didn't have the greatest overall 1st experience at Noche. Firstly their air conditioning is broken and our waitress said it has been broken for weeks. It's July. And a hot muggy July at that. We should have been told/warned when we made our reservation so we could make up our own minds before committing. The arrival ambush is not at all cool when it's literally 100° outside and in.

The inside is set up kind of cafeteria style; Long rows of tables through the center of the main room. There is an outdoor seating section, a front section and an upper section that overlooks the whole place. There is also a long bar along the far wall that seats approximately a dozen people. The vibe is OK, but it's definitely more BBQ joint than high end restaurant. To illustrate this point, there was a live band playing in the corner of the main room (they were pretty good) But someone came dancing around to each table shaking a big bucket 🪣 for donations/tips to the band. I thought that was tacky but my wife thought it was just fine. So I guess opinions vary. Either way, that's more BBQ joint-ish to me. Despite having more of a BBQ joint feel, no chips/salsa were brought to our table. At all. Doesn't seem like a thing that they do. We had to order one, with guacamole 🥑 and pay for it. For a Mexican place, that's weird. Our waitress was nice but seemed like she might either be having heat stroke from working in the hot 🔥 environment or was going through a little something, maybe personally. Either way, the end result there was that our service was slow. Not bad or terrible...but quite slow. And there were no bus boys taking up the slack. Ya know, like quickly filling empty water glasses, asking if they could remove plates or replacing chips/salsa (if that was a thing they did there).

The food was good. Can't take anything from them there. And that kitchen must have been 1000° with the air out!!

I especially liked the spiced cut fruit and the spice they season the tortilla chips with. No one in our party had any complaints with the food, so, good-to-go in that important category....ya know, except for the prices. BBQ joint feel, high end price list. We had a party of 3, we each had two sangria drinks. We had 1 table chips/quac, one table cut/spiced fruit and our respective dinners. The bill was nearly $200(before tip). Something like $62 a person. A bit much for the environment.

The issues were the service, the heat, the noise (it was so loud that it was hard to talk or hear anything being said at our table), the weird pay-to-play chips thing at a Mexican restaurant, and small things like that. There were also a couple of really minor things like the drinks were served in what appears to me to be Polynesian glasses, I might be wrong there, and the final check was dropped on the table as just a slip of curled receipt paper. I know this sounds petty but it wasn't in a folded wallet/holder, in a cute book or on a tray. Nope, just a curled paper dropped on the table. That's again, more BBQ joint style.

My advice to the owners would be to figure out what you're trying to be. Go fully in one direction or the other. Are we dressing up for a night out or dressing down for a night at a BBQ joint?

Your food is good....the experience however, is a bit all over the map.

I would ordinarily have given them a 4 star review but not telling us the air-con was out dropped one. An hour+ in dinner clothes at a sweltering table is one star. And get some acoustic panels to take up some of the noise. Hang them in the high ceiling....

I visited Noche as a first time guest with a 3 others on August 3, 2024. Here is my honest review. Noche had a neat idea with making an old church into a restaurant... BUT, that fact alone is probably it's ONLY positive quality. It's pretty inside with the stain glass windows and outside seating area, along with the art all around. But other than that, it was very lackluster. The acoustics were terrible, and I could hardly hear my small group of 4 or the waitress. It felt loud, crowded, and hot. When it came down to why we came there (which was the food), I was extremely disappointed. I am more than happy to spend a pretty penny on excellent dining and I love trying new places. I would consider myself to have a diverse palate, having tried a large variety of different cuisines. So with this being a Mexican BBQ restaurant, it seemed right up my alley. However, Noche's food did NOT measure up to even a baseline standard in my opinion. Then having to pay (what I consider) a ridiculous amount for this subpar food just added to a worse taste in my mouth than was already there. We got the Queso fundido appetizer, which had a very strange taste. All the ingredients I've had before, so I wasn't tasting anything new, but there was something very off about it. My boyfriend and my friends tried it as well and they all agreed with me. It's hard to explain what was wrong with it, other than it just had weird flavor to it, that and the seasoning on the chips was way to salty. Not a good first impression, so far. As for my entree, I got one of their Signature dishes, the Noche Burger. I was very excited for this because I love a great burger! This one was made from bison, elk, and wild boar; meats almost never get the luxury and opportunity to have. However, when it was served, my bun at the bottom was somewhat soggy; then when trying it, it tasted like your very basic burger. Nothing special. No "wow factor". Not even juicy. Literally tasted like a plain, boring, dry burger. I also asked for it medium rare and it was definitely closer to medium/medium well. Honestly, if you want to spend the money, go for it. I hope you have a better experience than I did. But I personally think it's a major waste of money, and I will not be returning...

My husband and I went here for the first time on January 11, 2024, our 11th wedding anniversary. I had wanted to try the food here before and see what it was like for a restaurant inside of a place that was once a church, a Catholic church at that. Don't get me wrong Catholic churches are very beautiful, at least the old ones are. It was really interesting inside of there and really dark. It's because it's so dark in the restaurant this is why I only gave it a 4 Star ⭐ rating, And what I mean by it was so dark it was really hard to read the menu The appetizer we ordered was really good, and it kind of expensive but I guess for the size of it isn't really that expensive and for the life of me I absolutely can't remember the name of it so don't ask, but it had nachos with BBQ pulled pork, red cabbage, jalapenos, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and queso blanco cheese sauce and I'm not sure exactly what else was in it but I believe there was a few other spicy things. So, with the size of the appetizer and the size of the meal I guess it was that expensive. My husband and I, we both got the 1/2 pound trio (this meant it 3 different meats: which was steak, shrimp and chicken) fajitas, was a really good size but we both think it wasn't worth it for what we paid for the appetizer, meal, the alcohol drink (a margarita in a rocks cocktail glass, which is a pretty small glass for those who don't know) and the gratuity it was almost $130.00. I can say it was quiet in there but it being as dark as it was, was the reason why I rated the atmosphere as low as I did and I rated it as 4 stars. Oh and I forgot to mention that it had apartments in it. We didn't see any of the apartments inside nor do we know what size they are or if there is any kind of availability (any for rent or not right now). We just saw a sign out in front of the restaurant with the name of the apartments: Sanctuary...