El Santo Mexican Grill & Cantina — Restaurant in St. Charles

I cannot begin to describe how bad the service was at El Santo last Friday evening (6/13/25). Pretty much every issue you can imagine occurred during and after our visit. The first server at our table stopped by once, and never returned until making an appearance about 2 hours later (and NO, we didn’t intend on staying that long). Another waitress stepped in after realizing that no one was helping us, but again disappeared for extended periods, only to show up behind the bar every once in a while.

Due to the initial delay we chose to order drinks and food at the same time. Not only did the fill-in waitress forget half of our drinks, She also forgot to put our order through to the kitchen. Approximately 45 minutes after placing the order a Manager stopped by to ask if our order had been taken yet. We mentioned that it had been taken quite a while previous. All of this is understandable if the restaurant had been busy. It was not.

At the same time that our meals finally came out of the kitchen, the same manager came back with four complementary shots of well tequila, or in his words “very fancy blanco” for us. It seemed like he was trying to apologize for how bad the service had been to that point. Only problem was that one of the shots was handed directly to my 16-year-old daughter. She knew better than to drink it, but I’m sure that at least a law or two were broken in that moment. And the worse part, the service only got worse from here on out.

None of the staff came back to refill drinks, nor take any additional orders. It wasn’t until we flagged someone down that we were even able to get the bill. We immediately got our credit cards out to pay, but the server (i think this is the point where the original server re-appeared), had already walked away again. Honestly, at this point we hadn’t complained about anything, and had tried to stay friendly with the staff (we were not loud, rude, or visibly upset… rather, i think they were aware of how bad the service had been, and possibly even felt bad about it). Regardless, we waited another 10 minutes or so, and when no one had come back to pick up the payments, I decided to walk up to the bar to pay. One of the two servers who had stopped by over the course of the evening took the checks and cards, and we waited again. By the end of the payment ordeal, our cards were eventually returned to us, having supposedly been run. The original waitress was back at this point, for the final signatures. She said that she hoped we had enjoyed everything, which was the first time that we truly spoke up about how bad it had been. The manager again stopped by, and said he was sorry about our experience, and offered to refund our charges, assuming we would give them another chance in the future. Honestly, even at this point, I was open to it.

Our cards were never refunded. The credit card system also “went down” right at this convenient time. The manager came back another 10 minutes or so later and informed us that he could not refund the charges, so instead he brought us cash. Our refund(s) for the $130 meal was $40 total in cash. The whole thing experience was so ridiculous (and time consuming) that were barely acted surprised, and just decided to leave. Before we left, as the multiple copies of the receipts were left on the table, having never been signed or filled out (tax, total, and signature), we completed each with $0 (zero) tip, and actually took photos of the receipts that were left on the table.

Guess what… when charges were posted, my card shows an additional $15 (more than a 20% tip), and our friends’ card had an additional $12 “tip” added. We have already disputed the charges with our CC companies.

Get the word out… there are plenty of reasons not to eat at this restaurant. Choose your favorite reason, and just don’t waste your time. There are too many other quality options for Mexican cuisine. Choose better...

For this being my first review. You know things had to go south quickly. Took my dad out here for Father’s Day dinner. Was seated quickly since it was not busy at all only about 6 other tables were there. After the host sat us down the chips and water came quickly. Then suddenly it was like we were quarantined. Mind you there were three or four serves and tables were leaving so it was dead. Over 15 mins before I had to reach out to the host to ask if we can get a server because we were ready for drinks and appetizers. He apologized and took him a few more mins to find someone. Once we got our server things seem to level out for the most part. Then once our dinner came. Once again more problems. Only one of the three kids meals came out and then it took 10ish mins for everyone else’s plates to come. They forgot one child’s plate (3kids 3 adults) all together. And some side for my dad. They made the missing kids dinner to go and said on the house, to which I would hope because I had originally said just cancel it since we were all done and he never got it. Took over 15 mins to get the bill. Saw the server at the bar laughing with his coworkers instead during that time period. Overall. Terrible service for how dead it was. Food was brought out above room temperature clearly just sitting. And no apology or acknowledgement for how terrible everything was. The host on the beginning was the only one who in the beginning snd end seemed to care about us. Would not recommend this...

Today was my first time going here and I won’t be coming back! The food is incredibly over priced and not worth the price, unfortunately. The guac was rather flavorless— and for $13 for about a half cup worth? Crazy.

The birria tacos were delicious but very spicy. Fair warning to anyone sensitive to spice.

The main issue I had was that I asked for a kids menu upfront. The server started listing off the items she had for kids. I ordered the kids quesadilla. It came out and was two 4” tortillas with a bit of chicken and cheese in each. He also got a kids lemonade. Keep in mind this is for a 3 year old, so I think an appropriate portion. Well, the bill came and… they charged me $16 for THAT. $12 for the two kids taco things and $4 for the lemonade. That is INSANE. Had they had a kids menu, or that price listed somewhere, I would have absolutely not gotten the kids meal and just gave my toddler some of my meal. That is ridiculous. I complained to the server, and she called the manager and apparently the manager said there was nothing they can do about that. Let’s start with having kids menus or the kids options printed on the regular menu, and being transparent about prices. Absolutely absurd.

Our bill for 2 adults and one toddler was $80. Absolutely insane. And the food nor the service was worth that price. We will...