Taco Libre — Restaurant in Saint Augustine Beach

Food was ok. However, it was everything else that took away from the experience and made it hard to enjoy our dinner. From the moment we walked in, the host/waitress, didn't even say anything to us accept..."how many?". No "hello", "welcome"...Just "how many?". We said two and she picked up two menus and walked away from us. No "right this way" or "this way please"...Nothing. Just walked away...took us a minute to realized she wanted us to follow her. Upon seating us she apologized for the obvious noise coming from the bar. Actually based on our experience, it should be called a bar not a Restaurant. If it said bar at least we would have expected more drinking. The bar was full of people who clearly had been served too much. Watched the bartender take three shots with guests at the bar. Then the bartender stepped out to help wait tables. As she waited on a table a drunk guy from the bar came over and put his arm around her while she waited on the table next to us. Which you could tell make the customers at the table very uncomfortable. Not even like it was full. The bar was full, but there were only three tables full. Maybe they were short handed...but there was no excuse for over serving the bar and doing shots with the guests. And due to the fact that they had too much to drink, they were extremely loud. Made our dinner...

We stopped into Taco Libre on a Friday night and really enjoyed the atmosphere. The DJ was playing and sitting at the bar seemed like the right idea. Unfortunately, the service at the bar was a huge letdown. The bartender was the only one working and clearly overwhelmed, but instead of just being busy, he came off dramatic, dismissive, and borderline rude when we asked for a simple cocktail refill.

Food was hit or miss. The shrimp ceviche was excellent and easily the highlight of the meal. The surf and turf tacos with steak and shrimp were also delicious. On the other hand, the American-style ground beef tacos were painfully dry, almost like powdered beef, and we couldn’t even finish them. The biggest disappointment of the night was the Mexican street corn bowl. It tasted straight up like canned corn with some cheap cream and cheese thrown on top. It was definitely not fresh and it really cheapened the whole dish.

Overall, the vibe was fun and parts of the food were solid, but between the uneven quality of the dishes and a bartender who made the whole experience unpleasant, it is not a spot I would...

I love coming here and never have an issue… usually. Last two times I have come in the waitress with the blonde hair and blue eyes has given us the worst service we have had here. Although she’s polite and tries to remember details about you, she also likes to disappear as soon as you get your food and you end up having to ask someone else for something you may need (refill, drink, etc..) This last time she left the building completely and twice I had to ask someone else to go out of their way for us. The time before she disappeared and clearly forgot to put our order in. We waited for over an hour for food watching everyone before and after us receive food pay and leave. Even large parties that came after us. It was just myself and my husband at the time. I want to come back because I love eating here but fear we might keep getting the same waitress as she has served us the last 3/4 times we have been. I am a regular customer here and like I said the food is amazing.

UPDATE!!!

Came back twice and was served by someone else and had an excellent experience! Food and service...