Los Ocampo Mexican Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Los Ocampo was about as expected based on other reviews. It seemed a bit pricey for the portions, but the quality was solid!

I got Tripa tacos + beans and rice ($14.99) and churros ($8.99). The restaurant appears to have different specials going on all the time. For example, the combo I got for $14.99 was a Monday special. The tacos were delicious and the sauce added a nice kick. I don’t believe the sauces are something they typically give out, as they asked us if we wanted any hot sauces and if so, which sauces we wanted (we asked for all 3). Churros were tasty!

The customer service was lacking - it took a while to get waters, and when we were ready to order, our waitress wasn’t around to take our order (we didn’t even know the waitress was different from the hostess because we didn’t even see our waitress the entire time we were deciding on what to get). The hostess couldn’t answer a question we had about the food, either. They were otherwise nice and pleasant to interact with though.

Overall, not bad at all. But for the effort it took to find parking and waiting to order a somewhat spendier meal, I’m not sure I would come here again...

The waiter we had was very good. A waiter who I’d tip even if we weren’t expected to in America. I ordered a chimichanga with chicken. The salad it came with was nice and rich. It had guac, which some places unfortunately don’t add. The Chimechanga tasted somewhat “round”, like the flavors were mildly homogenous, but it was still a great item. Not crispy by the way. The sauce tasted kind of just like a tomato sauce, possibly mildly altered; it wasn’t like a dedicated flavorful rich enchilada sauce. It didn’t include the Mexican white sauce which I love but rather had melted cheese on top. The sauces this place had were surprisingly unique and great. I haven’t had similar ones before. One was a mildly creamy chili pepper sauce. And another was a cool but spicy mildly guac sauce. I’d definitely recommend trying them. My friend ordered a quesadilla. The shell seemed homemade almost. It was thick and flavorful.

Also, this place has an authentic, custom neon sign!!! I’m a BIG fan of huge authentic...

The servers at the St. Paul location are amazing!! But the bartender provides terrible service. It took him over 5min to acknowledge we sat down at the bar when there were only 3 other people at the bar. He forgot my husbands drink the first time, and we had to remind him. My food was supposed to come with tortillas and I asked for flour tortillas and repeated it to him 3 times because he kept getting distracted, but when my food arrived there were no tortillas. I mentioned this to him and he said they will be right out, and he brought out corn tortillas, after telling him multiple times that I chose flour. To get his attention took forever, because he couldn’t multi-task. He wiped his forehead and nose several times with his hand, the same hand he used to make drinks. Love everything else about the place, but the bartender brought it...