Taqueria El Bronco — Restaurant in St. Louis

I don’t usually leave reviews on places even if I’ve dealt with a bad experience before but this place was the straw that broke the camels back. I apologize in advance if this review is a bit longer than usual but hopefully it brings awareness to the business and their workers/ to the future customers that choose to dine in this facility.

First off, we were recommended this place from a friend of our who went here for authentic Hispanic food. Being that my sister was in town we figured we try it out since it’ll be her first time trying “authentic “ Mexican food. At first the service was okay, we were sat down almost immediately and the menus were given to us. Off the bat the waitresses serving experience was rather odd. They were very pushy and seemed like they were rushing us to order and when my boyfriend didn’t know what he wanted after my sister and I ordered they seems extremely annoyed. They came back 2-3 times asking if we were ready yet after being sat down for maybe 5-10 minutes. I usually get the taco chicken salad (I know it’s not the most “authentic Dish” to get at a Hispanic joint but it’s my go to order). My sister get the same dish but with steak. She asked for “beef” which we all thought it would either be shredded beef or ground beef as usually served in some Hispanic restaurants. The waitress didn’t tell us they didn’t do ground beef and went back to put our order in. I look up from my drink and our food was out in, I swear on my life, 3 minutes after our order was placed. Already knew that our food was reheated and plated cause even the tortilla shell was soggy and stale and hard to tear apart. The food was extremely bland and dry.

After our food was brought out my sister was taken aback by the fact that they brought out steak and not ground beef. My boyfriend asked if they served ground beef as a replacement for steak and the waitress said. Word for word. In the most rudest attitude,

“ This is not Taco Bell. We serve authentic Mexican food. This is not Taco Bell. If you want beef, go to Taco Bell.”

And immediately we were taken aback at such a harsh response for a simple question. We just asked if they serve beef. For a restaurant that serves “authentic “ Mexican food they sure did have ALOT of premixed margaritas in bottles, and the drink dispensers looked as if they weren’t cleaned in ages. The floors were dirty, the bar was dirty, a lot of trash and random dishes placed everywhere, the servers were serving/making/mixing drinks with their hands (nothing says an authentic margarita like a premixed bottle poured over ice and fresh squeezed lime from the same fingers that wiped down tables using cleaning solution and brought back dirty dishes, Am I right?). For a small mom and pop store serving food to first time customers, we will NEVER and I mean EVER go back to this establishment. Nor will we ever recommend this place to anyone. With that kind of customer service and attitude this place needs to be shut down and turned into a bait shop. After I called and complained to the people (the manager was “not there” ) there I did get a call back from the manager who I no longer had interest in talking to. No apologies or reimbursement could ever make me feel okay about the service and that rude unnecessary comment that was given to me and my family. My advice is listening to all the 1-3 star reviews about this place and spending your money elsewhere, I do not recommend this place at all. Save you money and give your services to a business who actually appreciates its customers and is openly friendly...

The whole experience was underwhelming at best. Got seated as soon as we walked in but the waitress dropped our menus off and left, no drink order or chips and salsa (which every other table received). Decided what we wanted in about 2-3 minutes and then sat there with our menus on the edge of the table for another 10-15 minutes before anyone came back over to even take a drink order or ask if we were ready. Another man walked in after we had already had time to decide what we wanted, was immediately sat, given chips and salsa and brought his drink, while we continued to wait just to put in a drink order or anything. Several staff members sat at the cash register talking and saw us sitting, waiting, but no one took time to come over and take our order. When someone finally came they took our entire order at once and brought us our drinks immediately. We never received chips and salsa at all. The food was brought out in under 5 minutes which made me question how long the ingredients had been sitting there that it took less than 5 minutes to complete two meals. I ordered the Nachos De Queso and it was nothing to brag about. Plenty of ingredients but for $7 I wish it hadn’t all come out of a can and been thrown on a plate and put in the microwave. None of it was fresh and my jalapeño’s I got a side order of had a hair in them. I kept thinking the entire time I was going to get food poisoning from it. My fiancé ordered a chimichanga which he said was okay but nothing compared to every other Mexican restaurant we’ve been to. There was a good amount of food for both meals, it just wasn’t anything to brag about. Not a place I would recommend or waste time going back to. I’m sure there’s many other places within walking distance that are 100x better. Over all, the food was mediocre, the service was horrible, even though the staff were friendly, and the price was too expensive for what they...

The restaurant was completely packed when I walked in. I had no issues with a long wait, it was to be expected. I stood at the register for 30 mins, I was never greeted or asked if I needed anything. Being that it was busy I didn’t want to take it personal. What upset me was when 3 people, yes 3 people who walked in after me had their order taken. All whom were Spanish speaking people. At first I thought they had online or pickup orders but that wasn’t the case. They all placed orders and then exchanged money. Finally a women decided to take my order and I went to sit down. As I approached the table my bf explained how another table was ignored multiple times and had to ask the staff if someone was going to help them. This table was there before we arrived. I continued to watch them bring chips and continue to ignore not only my table my bf had been sitting at but the other table that complained. I’m very understanding to restaurant staff. I’m also the LAST person to pull the race card. But when I see you give good service and attention to Hispanic and white people and ignore African Americans, it’s sad in 2023 we have to have this conversation and it’s disgusting. I will never come back to this place. I also saw one of the waitresses touch food to see if it hot with her fingers after dealing with money. And to top it off this was some of the nastiest Mexican food I’ve had. These were the worst fries, street tacos and queso I’ve ever had. My bf ordered a steak quesadilla that wasn’t tasty. Don’t waste your time or money...