Session Taco - Delmar Loop — Restaurant in St. Louis

Please note that I'm not usually a fan of Mexican food and have no idea what makes for "authentic" Mexican food. Frankly, I don't care. All I know is that I loved the food at Mission Taco. I'm pretty sure they're not "authentic" Mexican. They seem a bit more modern in some ways. And they also seem to just do their own thing!

My husband and I had a blast at this place last night with some friends that were visiting from out of town! It was around 6p on a Tuesday night in June, so we had a 20 minute wait. But they text you when your table is ready, so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and just walked from shop to shop.

We were finally seated at one of their large blue picnic tables outside. The only down side to the outdoor experience were the bugs. There seemed to be a lot of gnats around....

We started by ordering chips with salsa and guac. I knew going in that they charge for chips, but based on the way the waitress suggested/offered them, you wouldn't have known. The light, bright yellow color of the chips looked so fresh and beautiful! The guac was on point - chunks of avocado with fresh tomato, onion and jalapeño on top.

My husband and friends all ordered a selection of tacos and I think everyone agreed that the duck taco was their favorite (with the fish taco coming in a close second). So when they ordered a second round, I had to give one a try! They first thing I noticed was the amazing amount of sweet and salty corn flavor that came from the tortilla!! And the texture was so soft, you could tell they were freshly made! As for the duck, it was completely shredded and tender. I'd never had duck before - I'm glad to know I like it!

I was the only one to order something a little different - I went with the Carne Asada Fries and I'm SO GLAD I DID!!! I can't wait to go back and order these again!! The fries are seasoned with chili powder and fried to crispy perfection! I would eat these things all by themselves! But why do that when I can get them covered in real cheese (not that awful nacho cheese sauce), guac, sour cream and meat! The serving size is pretty large, so keep that in mind when you order!

To finish off our meal we ordered the churros, which are served with a bowl of melted chocolate. I've only tried churros once, back when I lived in New York. So I was imagining the the perfectly shaped, skinny and light tan churros that I had there. But these churros are kinda funny due to their irregular shape - skinny in some parts and fat in others. And they were a much darker shade of tan or even brown. The outside of the churro was very crispy, but the inside was still slightly moist and had a consistency similar to pancakes or funnel cakes. Dipping these fried delights into warm chocolate took them to the next level! And I was pleased that even once the churros were gone there was still plenty of chocolate for us to eat by the spoonful!

My husband and I will definitely be returning again soon. We'll probably try to sit indoors next time, but we'll most likely order the same...

I Like their unique and flavorful salsa duo. Occasionally some or all of the chips will have way too much salt though. Overall, appetizers are real good.

Good, strong drinks but they are packed with ice- like so much that it is still occupying 3/4 of the glass after your drink is gone. Fun cocktails and lots of margaritas.

Some vegetarian options but not much. Also not very creative or in-tune with sentiment that most vegetarians want a substantial and flavorful meal of protein, starch and vegetables. Basically everything is Hungry Planets Plant Beef, and vegan cheese with a few shreds if lettuce. Just really dense, salty, and bland. Even though they make dank salsas and toppings for the other tacos that could really make cool tacos, burritos, or bowls 🤷‍♀️

Tacos are good and presented family style, which can be cumbersome depending on the table dynamic. Kinda weird IMO. Not sure why they do this other than to limit the amount of individual dishes washed or something.

Prices are fair for the quality and quantity though. Mission Taco is more of a lunch spot vibe or super late night munchies. Not in a bad way though. Just that it’s not really an elevated or special meal that is normally associated with dinner.

I have been here ( Mission Taco) a lot over the years and I would say the kitchen or FOH gets at least one item prepared wrong each time. Perhaps delivering the wrong taco, forgetting to bring something entirely, never offering/ bringing water, etc. They wait time for drinks and food is always on the slower side and the service is always good but not impressive...

I was very disappointed in my visit to Mission Taco last night. We weren't sure about the number of people in our group, and we told the host. He said he would put us in as a group of 8 and as long as we had 6 he would seat us. Our estimated wait time was 35 minutes.

We checked back in 35 minutes and let the host know that we only had 6. We waited another 20 minutes. Then we went to figure out the delay. We were informed that the "change in guests" had unfortunately increased our wait time.

At this point everyone else who had walked up after us had already been seated. We were told that he couldn't seat a group of 6 as a group of 8 as a policy of the store. When I told him this conflicted with the previous information we were given an hour ago, we were offered a table of 5, which of course wasn't helpful because we weren't going to leave someone out. The host was polite but did not offer any solution besides waiting even longer. He did not apologize. At that point we left.

Customers rely on wait times to plan their evenings. If there's an issue, the party should be notified so they have options. If we had been told we had to give a definite number of people for our party or that our wait time would be over an hour I would have no complaints. At this point, I'm going to be hesitant to go to Mission Taco because we can't wait an hour to possibly get seated.

My rating would have been a 1 except that this is the first big issue I've had with the restaurant. I love their burritos and their salsas are excellent. I also love their late night...