Iconos Gastro Cantina — Restaurant in Minneapolis

I could not be more disappointed and upset by a dining experience.

I went here once months ago after moving to Minneapolis and loved it so much (food was excellent) I’ve been dying to come back and convinced my partner to go there last night when she wanted something else.

We get there and the hostess/servers when you walk in were on the their phones and acted shocked to see us before we asked to sit outside. They sat us outside and that’s when the horrible services began.

The server (who I found out later was new but still doesn’t excuse) was awkward, clearly uncomfortable and barely spoke. She tried to take our food order right away and I had to be like can we order a drink? (As a server, no matter how new you are you should know drinks=bigger bill=more money) this is a pretty obvious step one when taking an order. I pointed TO THE MENU and said Lagunitas NA and I repeated NA two times while pointed to the no alcohol section so she knew I was clear about NO ALCOHOL as I saw they also had a regular Lagunitas on tap. She had a handheld also so she put the order in there, very little room for error.

We ordered an app and our food. The app came out quickly well before I got my N.A. beer. It was a huge plate of messy nachos and she didn’t bring plates. I asked for plates and she said yes then literally starts cleaning an empty table next to us with no sense of urgency. Like? When you bring an app .. you bring plates. I asked her two more times as she walked by doing other things. No plates so I barely touched the nachos.

Then she comes out with my beer, still no plates drops it off and keeps going to another table. I’m at this point irritated enough that she still hasn’t brought plates. I take two sips of the beer and realize she gave me the regular alcoholic Lagunitas. I’m 5 months sober and this sent me into a spiral. I go inside to tell the manager and hand him the beer. He apologized and came back with the plates finally (LOL) at this point nachos are cold. We decide we’re leaving and not waiting for dinner. Then she literally comes out tiwur our entrees before she ever brought the app plates.

The manager was nice and explained she’s new. He comped everything and packed things up for us to take home but at that point, it’s on you if you’re leaving your staff on their own when they are clearly not ready. She should’ve been shadowing someone if she’s that new and clueless.

I can’t explain the level of disappointment. The food is excellent but will never come back to any of their 5 restaurants. Their prices are also very high which is fine, but with high prices better come excellent service. This was less than mediocre, it was super harmful as they served me alcohol. Makes me believe they’d serve someone food they were allergic to that they told them about.

(P.S. I worked in restaurants for years as a server, bartender, hostess. I’m normally easy to please and have a lot of empathy for servers. I now work in restaurant technology and restaurant operations is my literal job. Your service needs to change or your business will...

Made a reservation to celebrate a birthday for a larger group. Had heard good things about Iconos and thought we would give it try. Restaurant is beautifully decorated and provides a very chic and vibrant atmosphere from the pop artwork to the music, the large flat screen TVs to the flower wall with neon sign in the entrance. Food and drinks were very good. Definitely on the pricier side but from presentation to portion of food would say it was worth it. The reason I did not give 5 stars is because service was sub par and put a bad start to our evening, if I could have given 3.5 I would of. When I arrived and I went to checkin for the reservation I was told it had been cancelled. I proceeded to ask them why, as I had received a text message to confirm an hour so before which I did so I was extremely confused. The restaurant manager I am assuming stepped up and says well because it’s 7 o’clock and your reservation was for 6:45. Now here is the thing I could totally understand but I had called on my way to restaurant before the reservation time to let the restaurant know due to traffic from weather we were running late and that reservation size has changed to 3 people so they could give the larger table to someone else and put us at a smaller one. I proceeded to try to explain this to them and tried to ask then how long the wait would be than for a table of three, but before I could get a response the hostess and manager take a step back and begin having a conversation in Spanish. I at this point am pretty irritated and immediately chimed in because I speak Spanish. I once again explained to them the situation. The manager proceeds to pick up phone to check for a dial tone and says ‘you called us?’ I said ‘yes’ and she than says and ‘did someone pickup’ as if not believing me and starts checking phone and showing it to hostess. They ended up seating us after looking back and forth at one another for another moment. They did not walk us to table or say another word just put menus down on table gave us a stool from hostess desk and walked away. Rest of staff were polite and...

I recently dined at Iconos Gastro Cantina on a Saturday afternoon. The initial impression was promising—the open space and tasteful decor set a welcoming tone. However, the service quickly soured our experience.

👍 The Atmosphere: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The restaurant boasts an inviting ambiance with ample seating. The open layout and thoughtful decorations create a pleasant environment for patrons.

👎 Service Woes: ⭐ Our server, unfortunately, missed the mark. Not only was she unfriendly, but we had to flag her down just to order drinks after ordering our appetizers. To make matters worse, she informed us that the brunch menu was the only option—our main reason for visiting Iconos was to try the chimichangas and burritos we saw in other reviews. Additionally, we were surprised that she never brought or offered us water or even a refill on our drinks, which is standard in most restaurants. We literally never saw her again until it was time to give us the check.

🌮 Average Food: ⭐⭐ The food overall was average. Nothing stood out as exceptional. If you’re craving birria tacos, there are better options in town. The birria tacos came with hardly any consomé, which left us wanting more flavor. Again, I wish the server had checked in—I could have used another napkin. But, once more, she literally never came back until it was time to give us the check.

🙅‍♂️ No Follow-Up: Throughout our meal, no one checked in on us after the food arrived. It left us feeling neglected and frustrated.

In summary, Iconos Gastro Cantina has potential, but the service, food quality, and attention to detail need improvement. If they address these issues, it could be a...