South Philly Barbacoa — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I had high expectations, with the vaunted titles of award winning barbecoa, and authentic Latino flavor for South Philly Barbecoa. I was sadly disappointed in the food offering, service, and overall environment. The $50 spent here was worth it to avoid this place at all costs in the future.👻 Finding the place is a task unto itself, since they advertise themselves as “South Philly Barbecoa” The only thing that says South Philly Barbecoa is a small 8x11 paper sign on the front door😂😂😂 Otherwise the business signs and advertising is listed as CASA Mexico👀 Not sure if they have an identity crisis or just double booking for the I.R.S. Kind of weird, but whatever……, after asking around was able to get directions from other business next to them lol. On entry you’re greeted by the suffocating and blistering wall of heat that screams owners don’t want to run the air conditioners. STAFF DOES NOT SPEAK ENGLISH!!! Not a single one was able to take an order from my English speaking “Anglo” friends As a fluent Spanish speaker this was not a deal breaker for me, but having to translate for my party and the surrounding tables was. The salsa chip appetizer was more cheese powder mess and crumbs than edible. The 2 Mexican Bottle Coke’s I bought were lukewarm🤨Just what you want on a 98 degree day in a hotbox restaurant with bad ventilation. When we received our entree Chicken Enchiladas with salsa verde, the lettuce garnish was visibly wilted and browning floating on top of a sea of green tomatillo sauce that our 3 tiny enchiladas (smaller than mini tacos) filled with dry, flavorless chicken, was drowned in. It might have been palatable if the green salsa verde wasn’t so bitter that I had to scrape it off tiny enchiladas to even force them down. I was not the only one to notice this. When I politely tried to notify the staff in Spanish that the food was inedible. They looked at me and indifferently said they would mention it to the kitchen😭🤨😔😩😑🤢🤮 Nothing else! I paid promptly without fanfare and left with haste as we were hungry, probably since the food was left untouched for the most part. Thats after scraping off the acidly bitter salsa verde, and trying to swallow the dry bland chicken. I can only think this place appeals to white people with no real understanding of Comida Latina, because this was not it! The food portions were tiny, the flavors lacking, and in an attempt to hide the small sad plate you receive, they drown your food in bitter unappealing mush sauce. Esta comida no tiene sabor, e es muy pequeno para lo que paga a comer aqui. Save your money, go somewhere else because this place might appeal to simp yuppies with no actual understanding of Latin food, but anyone who has had good Mexican will instantly recognize this place isn’t serving it up. JUST OVERPRICED BLAND...

I never ever had a chance to get to the original location of South Philly Barbacoa. I just remember they’re always being a line out the door on the weekends about a year and a half ago from what I understand they moved to the new location just up the street And this is quite a large location, taking 2 storefronts as you will see in the pictures. I took a chance, not knowing whether they had a vegan option and they actually did clearly marked the menu. The people here were very nice. Pamela was a big help. It does come with steamed root vegetables and it says green in a chili sauce, I know there was some carrot on there. There was also some cabbage, string bean, yellow bell pepper, it really unique sauce Roja that had chocolate infused into it and made for a really different taste. It was very good quite filling, they have a small condiment station or bar whatever you would like to call it on the inside that you can get diced onions, shredded cilantro, pickled jalapeños, limes there may have been a red chili sauce, I took limes, cilantro, onions, and pickled jalapeños. I paid nine dollars for two you have three for $13 very healthy portions. Four out of five stars for the food as fair. While it was different than anything I have ever had. And this is just my opinion. It’s not something that I would have on a regular basis. There were a few places which are unique including taco Ramen that has a tempura batter vegetable taco that’s incredible and I actually crave. I’m wondering if the menu changes if they will eventually incorporate, maybe a few more vegan options , With actual vegan meat, whether it be tofu or seitan, I’ve seen people do wonders with seitan, like Loco Pez does amazing things with it. I’d like to add This restaurant has a very nice atmosphere, they have a nice bar area. Area outside is really nice and well done. Everyone was very nice and accommodating two things one not related to the restaurant is parking can always be challenging down here. Sometimes you get lucky sometimes you have to drive around for a little bit, I had to today. The other thing is they take cash and Venmo and on site they have a ATM so just be prepared. That being said this place has a fantastic reputation for serving amazing tacos, quesadillas, and burritos that have meat products so i would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a authentic freshly...

I have been here in the past. I am originally from Connecticut but any time I’m in the area I try to stop and get the carnitas here. Usually everything is perfect but this time the attention seemed to be lacking a lot. First of all the lady taking my order was kind of rude and wasn’t greeting in a friendly manner. She took my order down. I ordered 2kg of carnitas to go and I asked her to please make sure to separate them for me as they were going to different households each. She kept repeating I wanted the 2kg of carnitas without acknowledging that they were to be separate which I ended up just giving up and saying ok. Additionally I ordered two orders of tacos to eat there. They asked me again a little while later if the tacos orders were for there and I said yes. Well in the end they still put them in to go containers which I again just let go because I could see they were busy and I was not going to make a big deal about it. The lady that took my order, took my payment and didn’t ask for my name. I had to tell her that she needed to take my name for the order to which she replied that I was all set. I had to again repeat myself and tell her she needed to take my name for the order since I had seen they were taking everyone’s name down for the order, she finally understood and realized she hadn’t put my name on the order and proceeded to put it down.

Needless to say when I arrived home the 2kg of carnitas I asked to have separated were of course not separated. One bag had the carnitas and some tortillas and the other had the consomés and fixings. I unfortunately did not realize this until the two bags ended up in the different households they were supposed to go to.

The carnitas are really good but after spending almost $300 having this type of attention and service it is not worth it. I do not mind paying but attention and service are huge in a business not just how good the flavor is

Unfortunately I will not be going back and will not recommend this...