Wahaka Margarita Bar and Grill — Restaurant in O'Fallon

Wow! I don't usually write reviews so quickly, but while it's fresh in my head, I had to just get to it!

Let's jump in. First, Wahaka just opened on April 1st 2024- this place is no joke! Second, let's talk about Margaritas. I started with the standard house margarita on the rocks with salt. From the first drink it tasted freshly made with fresh ingredients. After that, I moved to the wild berry, house margarita. It was amazing- again freshly made. Next, I had the jalapeno margarita. Yep! All freshly made with real jalapeno slices (not tamed/pickled) it was so good and refreshing and not too much of a kick. And now, hear me out on my next margarita... A frozen, banana margarita (I had mine garnished with a fresh pineapple slice). Folks, I swear, I have never had a more delicious, refreshing drink in my life! Not too sweet and had a little citrus, zesty flavor. Squeeze that pineapple slice into it and all you need is their fresh salsa and a beach. This is now my favorite margarita EVER! My date took the recommendation of Rachel (the fulltime bartender) and ordered a margarita that is currently not on the menu, but will be soon; the pomegranate margarita. Wow! This was delicious, fresh, and perfectly garnished. This is a specialty margarita so it was a little more expensive, but twice the size of the house margaritas I was having. If their margaritas don't speak for themselves, check this out...they have their own margarita crafting room with a dedicated mixologist to make these wonderful drinks. I never had to wait more than a couple minutes to get my drink served. Rachel and the rest of the bar staff were so attentive and friendly.

Let's talk about food. We shared an order of garlic shrimp. I'm not 100% sure, but I think we had 10-12 shrimp on this platter. The shrimp were perfectly seared. They were big and had a snap to them when you ate them. It was served with a signature rice dish (not the stuff you're used to), an avocado, black sesame seed side salad. The platter itself included a Pico de Gallo relish, grilled peppers, and grilled lemons. If you're not sure, the grilling keeps all the lemon juice in and you can squeeze it on all the shrimp. So good!

Finally, I have to say it got quite busy for a Wednesday evening; plan ahead and get in early. This location has great space utilization with lots of windows and adequate seating- both at the bar and in the main dining room. Wahaka is a lively restaurant without the over- powering Cumbia music you hear at every other Mexican restaurant. This place is alive, fresh and can be enjoyed by everyone. Plenty of TVs to keep your attention if you're into sports- but not a sports bar atmosphere. The staff are hustling, the crowd is buzzing, and the food-smell tickles your nose.

Prices are commiserate to the portions. I saw some burritos coming out that should have their own zip codes! But let me say: this is not your standard strip mall Mexican restaurant. You have to experience Wahaka... it's an experience not just a dinner. It has its own flair. It doesn't bury it's food in salt. It's a fusion that is original.

What to look forward to: As with any new restaurant, they are working on the menu to bring you what you want, so expect some changes early on. Also, I hear (thanks Rachel), there will be a margarita flight coming soon.

There is plenty of parking and easy access for all.

I love, love, love Wahaka! I'll...

I wanted to like this place. Altho hard to find and everybody in my party missed the turn even with google maps, here goes: The decor is terrific. The outdoor patio is great, nice breeze. The waiting area (Friday 6pm, about 30 minutes) has music blasting from the ceiling so loud you can't really chat. Perhaps that's on purpose, but super annoying. They require your phone number to text you when your table's ready. Haven't gotten spammed yet, but that was new to me. Waitstaff was terrific, prompt. Chimichangas are s'posed to be crispy right? Well, this was soggy as can be and the soggy tortilla ended up chewy. The shrimp inside wasn't really grilled, altho it's described as being so. Very few spices on it; more like pre-cooked shrimp you'd get in a frozen bag at the store and microwaved, and just as bland. Chips were ok, typical, mostly tasteless. I've had way better at way cheaper Mexican restaurants. Salsa was very mild, almost like tomato paste/sauce mixed together consistency, so not chunky, save for the suspicious looking white things. (no idea what they were). My seatmates' opinions when asked "how is your food" was "eh, it's okay". So, no return here. Some ppl like it a lot. Oh, they added $1.20 to each check as a 'service fee' without explaining anywhere what that was for. I subtracted it from my tip. Sorry waitstaff. I do love the fact they named the restaurant the phonetic spelling of the town Oaxaca (large map of said town on wall in bar area). My bet is they just got tired of explaining out to pronouce it. Addon: the large family next to us had three tables pushed together and four kids. Three of them insisted on jumping up and down on the booth seats repeatedly whilst laughing and screaming at kid-volume. This is not a reflection on the restaurant except that they could/should have asked the parents to control their kids. I don't hate kids, but this was unreasonable and also...

Every couple of months my teammates from 2 different locations that close an hour apart, meet for happy hour and dinner. Generally we have about 20 people. Logically I called ahead to make arrangements. They not only refused to do so. But, were rude "like I said, we don't take reservations on Friday and Saturday ". We decided to proceed with trying the new place. I went ahead earlier for our party to get on the waiting list. We waited for about 40 minutes. Understood. But there was only a very small waiting area inside and nowhere to wait outside with seating. It was rather cool and windy so we ended up standing as unobtrusively as possible the whole time in the middle of the hostess area. I saw them prepare our table. When they called us, they refused to let us sit after 40 minutes of waiting because only 10 of the 20 were there. And when I explained we have two different locations coming that close at two different times. They'll all be here within 15, the Mgr stated "you've 10 minutes" As if the table would not be held. Again, super rude and not smart. We would have ordered more drinks whole we waited for our party had we been seated. 6 more showed up and we were allowed to sit. The service was good for the meal. The drinks were very good. I ordered street corn and chili relleno ( mu favorites) What I got was a small soup bowl of CANNED corn with some cream. No cheese. No spice for $15. The chili relleno was disgusting. It was stuffed w shredded beef. Potatoes and refried beans. Not at all like any Chile relleno I ever had. My fault because I didn't read the description. The corn was lazy and the chile relleno was inedible. Everyone else enjoyed there food except the wahakmole. Everyone's meals were chipped dishes and when i inquired, she laughed and said "yeah they bought the wrong dishes, they all look like that after 3 weeks of being open" Unsafe and uncool. I do not...