Barbacoa Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Millcreek

Barbacoa used to be really good, I've been eating there since the 1990s. From 2005-covid it was a spot we went to weekly at least.

In particular this location was great. Something happened a few years ago and it started going downhill. Tonight was my last night there.

First the guacamole changed. They took out everything but mashed avocado. It used to have spices and flavors and things you could see in it, like red and yellow pepper skins. They denied it had changed, but literally the frozen Guacamole from Costco was more flavorful, or the refrigerated pre-packaged guac from the grocery store across the parking lot. That's a bad sign.

Then it started getting dirty. Restrooms were not maintained. Food was off. Staff was grumpy.

12-18 months ago the atmosphere was really trashed. They put in harsh lighting around the counter area. We cut back going there because it just wasn't that great.

Tonight they had no AC, it was 100F inside. Outside they had tables, we used to eat and watch the little sparrows run off with bits of rice that got away. But I went outside and they had gotten rid of the umbrellas, leaving the tables in the harsh 7PM west sunlight and miserable.

We asked about the heat and they just shrugged. It would be cooler sitting on the asphalt parking lot so we got our food to go.

They no longer had whole-wheat tortillas. The portions for what they did have had shrunken and the price increased. They no longer made the cheaper kids quesadillas, we had to buy the adult-sized ones.

It was so hot I worry about the food safety for anything not in a hot table. I also worry about the safety of the workers.

They had tried; Inside they had two portable cooling units. One was an evaporative cooler for the checkout staff, which would help but it was out of water. He said they sometimes put ice in the top, but really you just need water.

The other was a compressor-type AC unit that is supposed to vent its hot air outside through a hose. There was no hose, the air blew right out the back. I looked up units in that size and they take around 1000W. That's 1000W of more heat blowing right into the cooking area. Anyone with even the most basic grasp of physics will know that an AC unit is far from 100% efficient, for every 1F of cooling out the front, they get at least 2-3 degrees of heating out the back...which blows right around to the front.

It is a loosing battle, which I feel sort of summarized the whole restaurant.

I loved you Barbacoa. I...

I have been coming here almost weekly for a couple of years. Always had a great experience...until today. I always get vegetarian burritos, and they have always...every single time...let me have extra beans AND fajita vegetables in place of the meat. All the sudden today the kid who claimed he was in charge, yet whom I have very rarely seen working there (Caesar), said I could not have both. I explained that I had been given both without comment literally 100 times. He said this shouldn't have happened and would not do it. I questioned how he could be so stingy? Meat cost FAR more than a scoop of beans and a few vegetables. He wasn't interested. I told him he would have to throw it out then, which he did. I told him "you just lost a very good customer over 20 cents of vegetables". He said "Fine, leave, I don't care, there is a Cafe Rio right down the road you can try." I said a few choice words about his horrible customer service and left. I will...

Normally I'd give this location and barbacoa as a whole 5 stars, however today my friend and I hadn't been in a while and were craving barbacoa's amazing burritos. Though when we got there at 8:30pm, mind you it takes maybe 5 minutes to make a burrito so we could've been in and out in ten minutes easy, we both knew exactly what we wanted. They had closed 30 minutes early, turning away the two of us, a family of 3 and 2 other customers by having their doors locked even though they had only one customer inside at the time we arrived who was paying. They had closed 30 minutes early which was not part of their listing online or on any signs on the building. I also called them twice to find out why they had closed early and they had picked up the phone and hung it right back up both times without so much as a hello. This is nothing like I have ever been treated here at this location in the 9 years I have been coming. I'm very...