Buenas Vibras Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in St. Clair

🛑📢‼️ IF YOU'RE SEARCHING FOR THE BEST MEXICAN, THIS IS IT. 🛑📢‼️

My husband and I are major foodies; always going to STL about 2 -3 times a week searching for the best food we can find. And when I tell you we were blown away -- this place is insane 🔥🤯. And in Saint Clair?!

First off, let me start by saying Tino is truly the greatest server we've ever met. His genuine kindness and concern for not only the quality of the food, but the experience of everyone he serves, is so refreshing. You can tell he truly wants to take care of his customers and make sure everyone is happy. He makes you feel like you're talking with a lifelong friend; THAT'S good hospitality. His knowledge of the menu was helpful, and even mentioned whatever they've made in the past, even if it isn't on the menu, they would make it. That's pretty awesome.

We ordered:

• Steak Guadalajara - (rib eye, onions, tomato, bell peppers, topped with tomatillo sauce and cheese dip.) The rib eye was so tender, juicy and fresh -- they must have a farm close by where they get their meat because it was on a totally different level from other Mexican restaurants. Perfectly👌🏼seasoned (which is so one of my biggest complaints with most Mexican restaurants -- they rarely season properly!) The tomatillo sauce and cheese dip was so rich and flavorful -- it really complimented the steak. • Al Pastor Street Tacos - Again, the flavor and seasoning of the meat was 🔥🤯. And the prices are so much better than most of the restaurants we've tried. (Their $1.99 vs. the typical $3-$4, where the quality isn't even as good!) The pineapple on top was juicy too, and fresh. • Cantina Nachos were delicious. The chips were perfectly salted, the queso cheese was 💣 and the spices in the chorizo was a game changer for my husband. He said it was the best chorizo he's ever had.

With such a great foodie experience, we had to ask who the chef was. Huge shout-out to Chef ⭐Armando⭐, the true MVP. It's so hard to find chef's who care about the quality and flavor of food they're preparing in the food industry these days. But Armando seriously knows what he's doing; we were very impressed.

Favorite restaurant and best chef of the year for sure. Good food and Buenas Vibras...

It sits off the road so you may have to look for this place. If you do pass it up, keep going. Was told they had authentic Mexican food by a friend. Well, nothing authentic here. Everything tasted like it was out of a can.

Thankfully they have good salsa and warm chips. Sadly, that was the best part of lunch.

Ordered a deep fried Chimichanga that came with beans and rice. The rice was not horrible and dry like most so it was the best of the trio. The refried beans are boring because they are "not" authentic but rather just out of a can with a smidge of cheese on top. Finally a small sized chimi stuffed with a decent amount of flavorless chicken and covered in flavorless cheese. The side of lettuce, cream cheese and tomato saved it. The chimi lacked any seasoning or spice. Just plain shredded chicken.

The other entree ordered was supposed to be 3 ala carte cheese enchiladas but instead we received 3 ala carte quesadillas. The server was very nice and was not real fluent in English so we just let it slide and kept the quesadillas. There was only about 1/2 tsp of cheese in each quesadilla and nothing else, in the picture we added salsa and onions. Thankfully we ordered a side of onions and added them to all of our food for more flavor.

No complaints on service and the restaurant was clean, prices are reasonable even though the food was bland. I'm not sure we were even charged correctly so watch your bill (not...

A few months ago I started sampling various versions of Carnitas, the Mexican dish for which pork slowly cooks to a golden hue in large pots of its own fat, in the Missouri area.

This weekend my search landed me at Buenas Vibras. I can say this project I started a few months ago... is over!

Out of the Mexican restaurants I’ve been to no place was even in the same league as Buenas Vibras.

Conveniently located off highway 44 in the St Clair area.

I entered the establishment:

Greeted with a smile

Quickly seated

Chips and salsa quickly served and they were hot, not cold stale chips like other places.

Drinks quickly brought out

Order was rapidly taken.

I could write a whole review on their michelada. According to the owner it’s a family recipe, he loves making them.

Then the whole reason of my visit the Carnitas, sheeeeesh! The meat was so tender, delicious, mouth watering.

Most place give you a good entree but the sides are lackluster, not at Buenas Vibras. The rice and beans were 5 stars, that grandma homemade rice and beans flavor. The guac, pico, and tortillas were also excellent. Put everything together and you have the perfect carnitas platter.

If I didn’t live 50 minutes away, I’d be there everyday but I’ll definitely return!

Carnitas + Michelada perfect hangover cure when you’re done with your float trip at once of the nearby float trip...