Amigo Joe's Mexican Restaurant and Cantina — Restaurant in St. Louis

I met the manager of Amigo Joe's in the parking lot of Joey B's. We had a terse conversation and she mentioned that she worked at Amigo Joe's. I found it strange it didn't behoove her to tell me to stop on by and eat at her fine establishment, while my discourse was the one engaging the thought.

*First Night -

Later in the week, as I stopped in for a Tuesday night Mehican meal, the hostess by the entrance made it clear to me that her register calculations were more important to her than the customer, as she was struggling to communicate a question to me about something as simple as "dining in or taking out?" She was looking down the whole time and typing away at her calculator. That's not acceptable by any means of customer service.

After that communication barrier was overcome, the menu's low and reasonable prices were the only fruitive salvation to my not so friendly joe experience. In fact, I chose one of the cheapest things I could find, which was the Burrito Jalisco.

The pork burrito was pretty tasty with fresh veggies and guacamole and came with great chips and salsa.

*Lunch -

This time I decided to try everything in one fell swoop and order The Grande Special (chalupas, a beef taco, chile relleno, and an enchalada with Mexican rice and refried beans).

To my dissatisfaction they were ALL BLAND! Yes, I want authentic Mexican food served to me, but what I want most is some thought and heart put into the food. It tasted like something I ate out of a nursing home.

I even asked the manager for hot sauce and she told me it would cost me a dollar extra. I didn't have basic salt and pepper to begin with at the table, but when the hot sauce came, it too was bland and had no heat level!!! Not only did it not show up on my bill, when I went up to the register to pay the dollar, the host said it was unusual for that to happen. She communicated through head set to the manager about it and the manager told her to let it go. It's a waste of my time to be treated like that.

I ended up tipping the waiter 30% because the waiters there seem to be the only one's on the ball always giving me that never ending delicioso chips and salsa and tending to my services.

*Second dinner -

For some reason the communication issues persisted again. Like the first time she was too busy handling some other business not looking me in the eye at all when she spoke to me. I'm sure she didn't take a basic communications class in college, but the level of disrespect still enlarged my indignant feelings towards her lack of basic service.

This time she asked me if I was dining in or taking out. I simply said, " this is for here," and she retorted, "for here what?" After she said that I felt like I wanted to do some mean things to that chick... (Not seriously though... just in my mind).

Later I had the same burrito with two Chardone's and chips and salsa included. Great service from a cuttie senorita that probably found me attractive as well, serving me abundantly with more chips and salsa. I couldn't believe my bill was only $12.50 with 2 drinks included! That gave room for more than enough tip for the excellent service!

CONCLUSION- 1.) If you do decide to eat here, choose your food wisely. I suggest the burritos (no ground beef). There are probably some other decent items here but you should never have to put salt and pepper on your food you're served. 2.) If the hostess is being disrespectful towards you, let her know! 3.) A good thing is the food is priced low. Drinks are always low, and chips and salsa are sometimes...

I spent a number of my growing up years living on the Texas/Mexico border and I consider this to be pretty typical Tex-Mex fare. We all enjoyed our choices which ran the gamut from a basic entrée salad with a pile of tender chicken "frizzles " to sizzling steak fajitas. There were 5 of us, one who doesn't care for Mexican food. There are numerous choices for those odd-bods. We devoured several over-priced (seriously ) Tuesday night $1.00 tacos, one of us chose the Jalisco burrito plate, one had Carne asada, and I got a combo. You can choose 2 or 3 alacarte-style items for a combination plate. I chose a pork tamale, beef enchilada and a chili relleno. Enchilada-not bad at all. Tamale-a little doughy but pretty good. Made with white masa, I prefer yellow. The mistake I made was assuming the chili relleno was what I grew up with. It was some white mass of melted cheese over a bit of meat on the left side of my plate. See photo. When I asked our very young, adorable server Michael about it he clarified that what I should have requested was the stuffed chili or Poblano relleno. Be forewarned. Although it was my misunderstanding, Michael generously brought what I really wanted at no charge. Ask for his section when you go. He is very charming, FAST, accommodating and helpful. We asked for numerous things which he brought quickly, with a smile. There is outdoor seating, a parking lot, some street parking and a full bar. Difficult wheelchair access. Tasty Margaritas in a huge mug. Food portions decent sized. Chips and pico good. You must like cilantro, which I loathe, but it's pretty much required in pico. This is a very casual, humble establishment. If you're looking for atmosphere, wait until after dark and 4-5 Margaritas. Definitely jeans and t-shirts accepted. I was very put off by the grimy, sticky, pasty-feeling menus. Not an appetizing start to a meal. Otherwise, I'd have left 5 stars. Next time I might try the fried chicken! EDIT-6/18/18- I'm sad to say that by my 3rd visit I've become very disillusioned and disappointed. Michael is still adorable, but the food has gone downhill. I can't imagine how things have gotten so messed up in such a short time, but I don't want to go back again. The food was rushed, undercooked and flavorless. It was as if they'd hired my blindfolded German grandmother to cook and she's been dead for 50 years. The food was appalling. What happened?EDIT-3/25/19 I started this place out with 5 stars, but the quality of the food has degraded to the point of inedible. The Margaritas are adequate, but not enough to entice us back. Do NOT try the tomalito! Horrifying! You can't even rinse it out of your mouth! What are they thinking? I ordered the grilled shrimp salad. Meh! Chunks large enough to put on a burger. TIP-try...

I have never in my life written a bad review of a restaurant, but tonight’s experience was so bizarre that I just have to.

My friends and I went to Amigo Joe’s after work for dinner and for some margaritas. Initially, it was pretty busy but had cleared out quite a bit by the time we left.

While it was busy, it was clear that our waitress was running around to keep up with the rush. My friend’s order came out incorrectly, and the waitress immediately went to correct the problem. It came out incorrectly a second time, but she was hungry and decided it wasn’t worth the wait. She realized that she was missing an a la carte taco from her order, which she mentioned to our server three times, but even after 40ish minutes had passed, it never came. My friend asked to have the taco removed from the bill. The server said that she could have it made within a couple of minutes, but my friend said that she didn’t need it anymore, and she asked for another margarita. Another friend asked for a box.

After a few minutes, the server returned with a box and the check. Confused, my friend flagged down another waitress and said, “It is fine if the other server does not want to serve us anymore, but we’d like to order another drink.”

Our waitress returned and said that she thought we were done since someone asked for a box, which was pretty understandable. No big deal.

About 15 minutes later, we noticed that our waitress was sitting at the table next to ours. After a couple of minutes, we could hear her complaining about our table to the two men also seated at the table. We all gave each other a funny look and agreed that we misheard her, because that would be a really odd thing for her to do.

However, when those two guys got up to leave, they stopped at our table, and one of them told my friend that she was rude and had been rude to the waitress.

Those two men were still standing by the entrance when we got up to leave, and the man confronted my friend again, stating that she was rude and that “some people work for a living” and that he “worked for the police.”

My friend talked to him and tried to explain the situation, and eventually the man apologized. We asked the waitress why she talked about us to those guys, and she denied doing it. We told her that we heard her, and she denied it again. We asked her why she didn’t stop them from confronting us, and she said that she didn’t even know them.

After that, we left. We have no clue why this waitress got so upset with us to the point that she sat at the table next to us and talked so badly that the other patrons felt like they needed to confront us. It was so crazy and strange and uncomfortable and I can’t believe it was a real thing that happened, which is why I had to write...