Amigos Street Tacos — Restaurant in Saint Clair Shores

Pros: Low prices. I think almost everything on the menu was less than $15 and even had plenty of options for $8 (this is as of mid-July 2022). Dine-in service during regular lunch hours on the weekend was fast. Chicken bowl and California quesadillas tasted good. Salsa and homemade guac weren't bad either, but wished they could load more on there. The chips and quesadillas were greasier than other restaurants, but it didn't really detract from taste. I like that they didn't provide a whole bowl of chips as appetizers like at most Mexican restaurants. The restaurant only serves bottled drinks and has a good variety from Coke and Pepsi.

Cons: The restaurant itself was very disorganized and could use a good cleaning. They had tons of kitchen equipment just sitting behind the building. Inside, there were way too many chairs and tables for the limited space. The windows needed to be cleaned to remove mosquitos and fish flies. The downside about only serving bottled drinks is you pay even for water.

Experience: I visited with some friends for lunch. Paid at the time of ordering and then found seats. Not many people were around, but it felt crowded because of too many tables and chairs. Even though it was warm out, the inside was air-conditioned so you weren't sweating. The food was pretty good, but it has some work before getting to Mexican town level.

Only one thing to note when you're ordering, tell the guy specifically what you want to drink from the cooler so he charges you properly. I'd ordered a bottle of water with my meal and paid. Well there was no indication that any of them were off limits, so I grabbed the largest one from the fridge, which was a 1 liter bottle. I went up to get napkins for the table and he let me know that what he charged me was only for the regular 20 oz bottled waters. I assured him I'd pay on the way out and did, but he did not offer to refund the amount of the smaller water and just charged me for the large. I wasn't going to make a fuss over a few dollars at the time, but felt it would've been more professional to have only charged the difference. I didn't need a water to-go so didn't consider taking one...

A lot of the 1 star reviews are a bit unwarranted, especially the ones that don't even mention the food. Though, in that regard the food was a little underwhelming. Also there was open use of a microwave for some reason (on someone else's order) which is unfortunate. I'll go over the items we purchased and ate individually.

Birria tacos 6.5/10 -- I've only had limited experience with birria (mostly homemade) but overall this was the best item we ordered. Consumé was decent even with cilantro (unfortunately I'm one of "those guys" who tastes soap when cilantro is in play). I'm sure there are better offerings of birria at further places, but for local and relatively cheap this will likely be the go-to if I end up going back.

Beef Chimichanga 4/10 -- Wife ordered this and dug in for a bite and found that it had decent flavor, but was filled with large portions of peppers and onions and a few scant chunks of chicken - not beef. She returned and they did offer replacement of a beef quesadilla instead.

Beef Quesadilla 1/10 -- The replacement quesadilla was a small amount of cheese and...again chicken instead of beef. When the wife asked the cook shrugged and kept going on their way. Wife did not push the issue and left. If I had to describe the flavor of the chicken I would equate it to day-old rotisserie from Kroger.

Tamales 4.5/10 -- While I have not had too many authentic experiences with tamales, I will say the corn part of the tamale was decently flavorful. That being said, that was 80% of the tamale. I enjoyed the pork a bit more than the chicken as the chicken was of similar quality as the above quesadilla.

Street Corn 4.5/10 -- This is my first experience with street corn and am unsure of how it's supposed to taste traditionally, but I found the taste a bit too citrus-y almost to the point of it being sour.

Chips and guac 6/10 -- Chips were made in house and all pre packaged in containers which made me a bit concerned as to freshness, but they were crunchy and flavorful. Guac was pretty solid overall.

I will give it another try down the road. It is worth noting the amount of food we got was pretty decent...

The setting: If I could have given this 0 stars that's what it would have gotten. I should have looked at the red flags before entering. The outside dining area was a mess, upon entering we were not greeted the sitting area was a mess and hadn't been cleaned up. The food assistant at the register was very smug and nonchalant, when we finally placed our order, our plan originally was to dine in once we clear the table. But the food assistant was not ok with that, because he bagged our food and placed it on the table next to where we were seated. I made mention that we wanted to dine in but because the mood was already ruined we just took the food and left the establishment.

Now for the food part: Big NASTY. I ordered street corn now that stuff in a cup was the street corn. Which had been heated up in a microwave and I watched him do it, but didn't realize that was part of my order. It was very gross took a bite and immediately put the lid back on. The "Combo Dinner" was even worse. The entire thing was just bad. The tamale was white corn but extremely wet mushy and didn't have very much chicken. The tacos were dry, and not even that cup of sauce that was inside helped that DRY taste. The rice was mushy like it had been sitting in the warmer for too long. The refried beans was beyond paste. The whole meal was just WRONG. I didn't eat the food needless to say, it was a waste of resources (gas, time, money). This is a spot that I will NEVER return to EVER. If they continue to treat people the way they treated me and my mother and have that type of terrible service, I don't think they will be open for very much...