El Barco Mariscos — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

TERRIBLE SERVICE/ORGANIZATION. I met a friend there a couple months ago for an early dinner before going to a dance performance at the Auditorium Theatre. It was surprisingly very busy at 4 pm, with lots of families with children. My friend got there before me and she was told it would be a 20 minute wait, so we decided to put our name down for the line. We waited in line in the tiny front area with about 8-10 other ppl. We were 2nd in line...and we waited for 30 more minutes while tables emptied and people behind us in line were seated. We let the host know that we had a performance to get to several times, and even let a couple of the waitresses squeezing past us with platters and drinks to get to the tables in the small part of the restaurant closest to the street. He kept saying “you’re next” but IT WAS A LIE, and several groups were seated before us, including a couple (we would have taken up the same number of seats...at the same small table). It seemed like he was prioritizing ppl he either knew or those who spoke Spanish to him. Some parties left and we looked up other places open near us, but discovered there was a wait at those other places by then. I eventually developed shaky hands and a low blood sugar headache, while waiting an hour next to the host stand crammed next to a table and shuffling out of the way of waitresses delivering food to tables, and I had to ask a waitress if I could have one of the mints that were sitting in a giant bag on the narrow bar behind the host stand. She let me have several to stave off the low blood sugar. I had a nut bar in my car. Had I known we wouldn’t be seated for over an hour, I would have prepared accordingly. We had waited OVER AN HOUR by the time we were seated, and ended up asking the waitress what was the fastest thing on the menu (we had no time to enjoy our meal), and my friend just settled on a cocktail and a dessert to make sure we didn’t miss curtain at the performance.

THE FOOD? A TOTAL BUMMER. The food on other ppl’s tables looked and smelled delicious, but I couldn’t order what I wanted...just had to go with what the waitress said was pre-cooked. I started with the ceviche thinking it’s not cooked and it should be quick...and it wasn’t quick, but obviously not made fresh (the fish had over “cooked” by sitting in the acid for too long), and was so salty we couldn’t finish it...even with tortilla chips to balance the salt out. My shrimp tasted more palatable but was unevenly seasoned and the veggies were wilted/dry from sitting in a heated vessel too long and similarly overly salted. The portion was big enough for us to share and have our fill. The dessert wasn’t what we had ordered but we didn’t tell the waitress what we actually ordered because there was no time to waste and the one she brought was yummy.

THIS IS NOT A PLACE TO GO TO IF YOU WANT PROMPT SERVICE. They also don’t give you an accurate/honest wait time, seat ppl out of order arrival/wait list taken down. I can’t say if the food is worth it because I didn’t have the chance to even look through the fairly large menu or order what I thought I’d want from seeing the platters on other tables.

I’d give zero stars for the service, the 1 star I gave was purely for the kindness of the waitresses who let me have some butter mints as I waited over an hour and developed nausea from an empty stomach and low blood sugar. A 2 star rating for our experience is generous. TRY AT...

Came here with my family and had an enjoyable experience with not only the food but the staff as well. They do tend to get a little crowded, especially since the area isn't very big, to begin with. We ordered camarones a la diabla, ceviche de camaron, empanadas de camaron tacos de Carne asada, enchiladas de Pollo, and langostinos a la diabla. All of the portions I'd say were pretty average sized for an American at lunch time, but most if not all plates come with a side of rice, beans, or vegetables if not a side of each. You can opt to have fries instead of the vegetable side as well.

Anyways, let's start with the appetizers we ordered. Each empanada is ~$4.50, and that's PER empanada, obviously when we're on this side of town we do notice a price increase, but for $8 we could get 4 empanadas at another mariscos restaurant. Now onto the taste itself, it is served with a cream chipotle sauce on the side that you can use to dip, and honestly this was the best chipotle sauce I've ever had at a Mexican seafood restaurant. The empanadas themselves had a very crispy and flaky outer layer when most other places serve them soft. This was definitely a great decision, I have never had empanadas with this much flavor before even dipping them into a sauce. These get a 8/10.

The shrimp ceviche was a little sour, but to each their own. It's served on a tostada with a pretty hefty amount on top, and when the table is sat they start with complimentary tostadas and salsas, so I can easily imagine just one order of the shrimp ceviche, making about 2 or even 3 more tostadas given that you've saved the other ones.

The main courses were then served not too long after. Overall I will say they have an excellent array of sauces and spices in their food which makes for more savory than spicy food. I personally had the langostinos a la diabla, which are prawns served in a spicy sauce. They were perfectly cooked to my liking, but the sauce was a little hard to enjoy with them without making a mess. I think if you're trying to avoid a mess you'd be better off going with the shrimp instead which allows for a more enjoyable experience with the sauce. The rice wasn't really my cup of tea as it was a little hard but I'm also just very picky with rice. The fries which I got on the side were alright as well, they were crinkle cut, but to be honest for ~$30 a plate, these look like they were microwaved from a frozen bag.

I noticed a lot of the food looked a little overcooked or just a little dry, but again I think it might be to make up for sauces and the addition of wet ingredients, so if you're someone who doesn't like spices or flavor please stay away🙄!

I can imagine this is heaven as well for people who actively like to drink or try different types of alcohol, as they have a HUGE display case of alcohol lining the entire wall. I'm also positive these are all just a selection of mainly Mexican tequilas and liquors that would obviously go phenomenally with the seafood. They have a bar, and a long cocktails menu, so for those brunch girlies, this one's for you.

Would 100% recommend this place to the people in and out...

Tl;dr As long as you stick with mojitos and simple appetizers, this restaurant will be superior bar hopping experience. If you’re expecting fresh seafood, or cuisine to share stories, be careful. Your stomach will thank you later.

⚠️WARNING CHECK CHICAGO FOOD INSPECTION - this place is barely acceptable

Where do I start?

It’s seafood specialty. Seafood can get pricey due to how difficult to acquire, store, and prepare this cuisine style. Most restaurants have to charge a premium in order to ensure a quality experience. This restaurant charges a premium but delivers well below the industry standard for good seafood.

I was not expecting fine dining but also was not expecting food poisoning.

Ordered dozen raw oysters that tasted like ice cubes. What happened to the oysters??? Did they die a week ago? Maybe it was a bad batch but $3.5 / oyster, was expecting the flavor of the sea, not ice.

Listen, if you are a restaurant charging $20-40 for an entree, it better at least be edible. My partner ordered seafood rice (arroz con mariscos) signature dish. The shrimp was the only thing passable as fresh. The rest, calamari, octopus, mussels, snow shoe crab leg were all inedible, stale, the meat is well past its prime. The seafood is suggested as “fresh” but that doesn’t mean it’s edible. Come on guys… seafood has a shorter expiration due to it being fresh but you can’t be expecting to charge premium price for something that has been in the back of the freezer for months. I understand Chicago is land locked and in order to preserve ingredients for service means having certain steps prepared and frozen, but Barco Mariscos’ seafood was below quality of any grocery store frozen aisle seafood which has probably been sitting in the freezer for months-years.

We support local businesses. We travel throughout the 312 and enjoy the stories and food told by the patrons and owners.

Our experience will not be forgotten. What happened to your head chef? If the owners of this establishment want to continue serving low grade food, you are gambling with customer’s stomaches.

We will NOT be coming back. Atmosphere 2/5 Food...