La Calle — Restaurant in St. Louis

I work overnight, and as far as late-night places go, that are still open at 2 AM (this place stops serving food around 1-1:30 AM, which, again, is nice) and available to sell you food, this is a great place. The food tastes good, and the employees are friendly, efficient, and dance to the music (which lends to the idea that this is a place everyone can enjoy, even those who are working); the colors, artwork, and decor of the environment just feel so much more unique and inviting than a lot of other places, and, of course, the music suits the vibes.

I eat from here fairly often, after having looked for late-night open restaurants that weren’t expensive or too far from where I work, so I tend to get the same thing when I order. Last night, I ordered the same thing I always do, but when I lifted the bag, containing my order, it felt incredibly light. I went out to my car, drove off, and pulled over a couple minutes later, because it was bugging me how light it felt. I opened the container, saw around 6-7 pieces of chicken (most of which were smaller than what is usually put in), and the other parts of the meal, and although I didn’t want to deal with any confrontation, I felt it wasn’t right for what I paid, so I drove back to the restaurant, showed them what I had immediately noticed, and the manager on shift made it right (he came back with a soup cup container packed full of freshly grilled chicken), regarding the chicken, which I was very grateful for, because he and the bartender who helped me weren’t rude or anything like that, and I felt, in the moment, like it had been made right.

I got back in my car, drove away again, and when I got to the place where I decided to eat, I opened the container, under the light in my car, and saw that the styrofoam container wasn’t even half full, when it’s usually 3/4ths full with the rice, chicken, lettuce, pico de gallo, and a foil-wrapped set of 3 tortillas. The cup of queso was in a separate container (and the last time I ordered this food, a few days ago, the queso container was also under-filled). I was staggered and upset. What I got vs what I usually get, and for $12 + tax (I think $12 + tax for what I usually get is fair), were not the same, by a long shot. I wish I’d taken a picture, but I’d already gone back once, didn’t want any trouble, didn’t want to drive back (a 15-minute drive), and was hungry. So I just sucked it up.

I don’t believe in a 2-strikes policy where restaurants who’ve done right by me, are concerned, so I’ll go back again, sometime, but I wanted to point this out. Whether it’s a decision to decrease food amounts while keeping the prices the same (thus incurring a higher profit margin, albeit a slim-ish one) or someone in the kitchen is just having an off day, it shouldn’t be noticeable to your customers through the quality of service or the quality or quantity of food. We all have off days, but we’re still expected to provide the same level of service we are known for, even on our bad days. And if it’s a matter of less-food-for-more-profit, I’ll have to find some place else to get food from.

EDIT: I would like to say that, since it was a matter of a new chef, I don’t want him to lose his job or feel intimidated out of continuing to work for La Calle. The food was good, and I really enjoyed what I had. The portion sizes just need a little work. I hope he is treated with kindness, bot criticism, when expectations...

The food is pretty good and the restaurant looks great. We walked in and were told to sit wherever we like. We did. Nobody came around to serve so we order at the bar. The bartender prepped us two jalapeño margaritas (they were out of ingredients for the paloma I ordered) and had a coughing fit because she inhaled some jalapeño atmosphere? She said they would be very spicy. They were actually very watered down and felt like they were an na option. They tasted like mildly spicy lime water. No salt was offered and they were $15 each. My second drink was a beer because how could that get messed up? I'll tell you how. The two beers foamed out of the can heavily upon opening. The bartender told me it's only those beers that do it and that they have been sitting calmly for a month and still explode upon opening. I don't know about you, but I would probably stop serving those beers and call my distributor and send them back. The walls are well painted and look nice but the furniture was low rent college bar style and uncomfortable. It took forever to get our food as there were a couple bachelorette parties going on. The ceviche was good but only came with a single digit number or chips that were physically incapable of holding all the ceviche. My kinghighway burrito was tasty even without the hot sauce i ordered but didn't receive. My wife's tower grove burrito was pretty forgettable. All in all, we were underserved and way...

I'm so sad and disappointed to be writing this. My wedding night I wanted to take my friends to this place to share MY culture with them. We were there for little to no time due to:

My now husband was wearing a traditional kilt that he wore for our wedding and the person at the door on Dec 21st literally grabbed under his skirt and touched his private parts, not padded, GRABBED.

None of my friends (who happened to be white) received service and had TO BEG for it, while I walked in there nobody asked me any questions NOR they asked me for my ID and got service immediately (so save yourself some exci), I'm not one to believe in reverse anything, but if this is gonna be the type of establishment that is gonna exclude people that don't look Latino enough for them, then start advertising it because we need to know who can go where and feel safe.

The vibe was SO aggressive, all dudes were acting like they wanted to start a fight like, WHY is this happening?

We ended up leaving shortly after all this chaos and had a great time at Rehab (bar down the street) where we ALL felt welcomed and had an amazing time. Please don't tell me we're so sorry you had a bad experience, y'all broke my heart, I really wanted to dance to my music from my culture and your aggressiveness and lack of welcomeness ruined it for all of us. Not to mention what you did my husband. EXTREMELY inappropriate...