El Barco — Restaurant in Santa Ana

My first visit was amazing as I sat at the bar with my cousin and enjoyed appetizers and drinks. We were served on by Jose and Antonio, which both dudes deserve 5 stars across the board! Unfortunately on my second visit with my wife, it was a disappointing experience. On Saturday February 24th around dinnertime we were seated directly behind the dancefloor where the mariachi never played due to delays. Our female server was nowhere to be found after taking our order. After receiving our food, I waited about 45 minutes before finally waiving her over to bring our check. Once the bill was paid for I asked for a refill on my soda, to my surprise she stated that she would need to charge me for an additional soda. I was perplexed as I had just been waiting for a refill to enjoy with my dinner, yet she never came around once to check on us. I must say that I have never been to any restaurant where I was asked to pay for a refill due to the bill already being paid. I really want to support small business in Santa Ana, but after this experience I doubt that I will endorse this...

First time trying this place after seeing it on social media.

Food: 7/10 Freshness: 10/10 Flavor: 6.5/10 Ambience: 8/10 Service: 10/10 Overall Rating: 7.5/10

The food was fresh and clearly made with quality ingredients, but the flavor just wasn’t quite there yet. I ordered the shrimp boil it was decent, but lacked seasoning and depth. I also tried the Mar y Tierra plate. The overall dish was good, though the chicken didn’t stand out. The breaded shrimp, however, was a pleasant surprise crispy, flavorful, and definitely not the typical frozen kind.

The service was excellent. Staff were very attentive, and I saw them go above and beyond while celebrating a guest’s birthday, which was great to see.

Prices are on the higher side, which I feel isn’t quite justified yet considering the flavor. Maybe once they’ve fine-tuned their recipes, the price point will feel more worth it.

Would I come back? Definitely. I’m hopeful they’ll dial in the flavors by...

Was encouraged to try this place based on its social media presence, but found myself extremely disappointed. Coming from the Inland Empire to Orange County was hoping this place was going to be worth the drive, but was better off staying local. Specifically, we ordered some carne asada fries as an appetizer and their seafood boil as the main entree. It says a lot when I say I enjoyed the fries more than the main entree. The shrimp were extremely small and not worth the price that was paid for it. As the final cherry on top, service was absolutely terrible. I dont know if our table was singled out but it seems like everyone else was getting serviced except our table, which was left thirsty. We only our saw our waiter once to order and when we were paying to leave. Someone else entirely brought our meal out. Never coming...