Mestizo By Aarón Sánchez

amazing food. great guacamole, tacos, shrimp, everythings amazing. a little loud, but i got over it quickly

Tried to have dinner here only to find the restaurant closed. Sad to see this. Had a wonderful experience here previously.

Just tried to eat here and there’s a note on the door that it has been closed for business.

the short…
from start to finish a disappointment…
1) lunch, 12 noon, no hostess to be found. hardly anyone in the place
2) service wes mediocre at best. every review complaining about service rang true with my experience.
3) food was bland; very bland again other reviews are spot on
4) tried to call restaurant next day to track down lost CC (4:30) could not get anyone to answer the phone.
i had high hopes for this place as i work a few blocks away and Park Place is a great place to take clients to lunch. i really hope this place turns it around; need a place like this in Leawood.

Maybe it’s just me, but the food wasn’t really that tasty… I would say though, that the cevice was good. The thing I didn’t like about it was that the oil that the fried the plantains and the yuca was really gross. It was more evident on the plantains. There was no seasoning whatsoever, and just tasted like gross frying oil.
This place is not vegetarian– friendly. They do have a few things that consist of only vegetables, but its not enough to make you full. It’s more of a tapas kind of restaurant. I was celebrating a birthday there, my friends said that the pork belly was good and that the margaritas here are amazing (which is so true). This just wasn’t really a place that wowed me. The décor was nice, especially at the bar area, but all in all, wasn’t really that great.

A great concept, but the service and food doesn’t live up to the promise and price.
With the buzz that this place has gotten, it should be buzzing at lunch. But it’s always easy to get in and very few folks are there.
So on to the prices. It costs WAY too much for what you’re getting. Maybe for the JoCo crowd, but for the day workers, it’s a bit much. Even the specials are expensive.
About the good? The Pozole soup is awesome. I’ve never ordered a bigger bowl of that, but it would be worth it. Pulled pork, great beans, perfect spice. That’s a highlight.
But the tacos? They’re always inconsistent. And always on one corn tortilla, so they’re always falling apart when I try to eat them. Usually have to finish it with a fork.
Listen, I want a great Mexican restaurant from my work less than a block away. Mestizo could be it. But some things need to change.

Recently just moved away from KS, and I will miss this place!
Went over a few times a week always sat at the bar and had a few drinks.
Awesome service from everyone. Loved their guac and chips, excellent quesadillas.
They have a great upstairs bar that’s good for warm nights.
I would give this place a try if your in the area.

Never again. Service was horrible, and the food was not good enough to compensate for the service. Mr Sanchez needs to spend less time on Food Network & pay some attention to this restaurant.
Things started out on the wrong foot from the minute we walked in the door. The young brunette hostess asked us to wait while she took a call. A blond hostess arrived to help us, and amazingly, the brunette was then able to ask the caller to hold so she could play boss to the blond. The blond woman seated us & said she’d bring drink menus — never saw her again.
Our server seemed friendly and knowledgeable so we mistakenly thought the incident with the hostesses was just a hiccup. Sadly it was par with the rest of the service. We would have spent more money and time if our waiter has remembered our drinks.
The guacamole is great but not worth the $ 9 price tag. We also tried the fish tacos and I was vastly underwhelmed. However, the plantains were great. Too bad we couldn’t get our server to pay attention to us once he got a table of eight in his section.
The manager did stop by as we sat fuming while waiting for our check. After listening to us he did comp our drinks. Very nice gesture but not enough to bring us back.

This place needs a new hostess stat!
Last week, we heard the music coming from the rooftop at Mestizo and decided to drop in and check it out. We were told at the front desk that the rooftop was closed for a private party (yet a large pop-​up sign in front of the door advertised the rooftop’s live music).
We decided to try again this last Saturday since it seemed like it could be a fun place to sit. We went to the hostess stand a little after 8pm and told her we were interested in going up. The hostess, a young-​ish brunette woman, made a face and told us that it was closed. I asked if it was closed for a private party again and she said «No, it’s just really busy up there». I asked if there was a wait list we could get on and she thought about this (making another face) and then told us «No, we’re not going to do any more wait lists tonight. Funny since the place was to be open until at least 11 (since that’s when the ‘band’ was playing until). She said there was another hostess around, but that there were «only 3 servers» upstairs and it was too busy already. We told her we would wait for the other hostess and she just laughed and looked at us with annoyance.
The blond hostess showed up then and she sent the rude brunette upstairs to see how busy it was. The blond was much more friendly and informative. She told us things had gotten very busy up there with large groups coming in, but she didn’t think it would be too busy to squeeze the two of us in. It took five minutes for the brunette to return! When she did, she said there was a little bit of seating and we could go up.
We went up on our own and the place was seriously about half full. Also, three servers would be more than enough for that tiny area. It was poorly laid out, with some seating very ‘inside-​ish’ and with a low roof (not windowed on top) covering the entire area. Not much breeze from the outside and the ‘band’ was 4 people playing a large xylophone of some sort. Upon seeing that the drinks were around $ 10+, we just left. We didn’t want to give our money to a place that ridiculous.

The short: Service can be lacking but the food is worth it
The long: Walking in the door during the lunch hour I found that there was no staff working in apparently the entire front of the entire building. We actually walked all the way in and made it to the bar area before anyone even acknowledged us. We sat ourselves in a booth and eventually a server came over. The poor guy did his best to explain menu items and tell me the things this place is known for. Most of the time he was stumbling over his own words and probably needed some cue cards to be honest. Now when it comes to the food? Oh yes! The flavors are traditional with a new twist and everything we ordered popped in our mouths. Personally I found the pork belly to die for and I’ll be counting the days until I get back to have it again. It’s a little pricier than your run of the mill Mexican food spot but considering it is original and different it is worth it.
What works: Amazing flavors
What to improve: Service is slow and why have a host stand with no host at it?

How do you spell poor service? M E S T I Z O
Mestizo has been on my radar for a while. Today they were hosting 435 Magazine’s Tasty Tuesday. They were also offering the specials for dine in or carry out. What better day to give them a try! Or so I thought…
I went to the grocery store and then called to place an order. The flier said that to go orders would take 30 minutes. I had another stop to make and was driving to Olathe so this was perfect. It was just after 1pm. Santa answered the phone. After telling her I wanted to place an order to pick up she informed me that if I wanted the 435 special it ended at 1pm but she could take my order for the regular menu. I mentioned that it was advertised until 3pm. Santa let me know that was only for dine in. I pointed out that the advertised offer did not state a difference for dine in or carry out. She told me I could order the special but it would take 30 minutes. I agreed and she told me she would have to find someone to take my order. Apparently she only takes regular menu orders and other staff takes special orders? I don’t know.
After sitting on hold for 10 minutes I realized that Santa didn’t care or want my business. I tried calling back multiple times over a ten minuteish period after I hung up and the calls went to the restaurants voicemail. Now I really felt unloved. Finally Santa answered the phone again! I let her know I wasn’t happy. She said that her headset died and she had to get another one. Apparently it takes over 20 minutes to do that and they don’t have an actual phone that they can use during that time. She offered to go ahead and take my order. I was confused being I had to be placed on hold the first time because she had to get someone else to take the order. At that point I had no desire to ever eat at Mestizo. I asked to speak to a manager three times after which she told me she was a manager but would find another manager to talk to me.
I was surprised at how quickly Al the other manager was able to find a headset and take over the call. I explained what had happen and his response was that they were really busy and he could go ahead and take my order. I let him know I had no desire to eat there and that it would have been my first visit and they lost what could have been a repeat customer if the food was good. He apologized and offered to take my order again. His level of concern over the poor service seemed equal to Santa’s apparent care to help customers. If this is the level of service provided by managers I can only imagine how horrible the service provided by the staff is. Aaron Sanchez should be embarrassed by what represents his name.
Mestizo is totally off of my radar. The one star is because I can not give zero stars. I will say though I appreciate them letting me know what a poor restaurant they are before I placed an order or gave them any money. For that they do deserve the minimum mandatory of one star.

If I had written this review after my first visit to Mestizo, I’d probably be giving it 5 stars. After my latest trip there (third, all spaced out over a good amount of time), I’ve had to drop it down to 3 stars. I’d say there is hope for a great experience here as I’ve had one myself, but that was some time ago and it seems like the place has fallen into a rut.
So the review… The atmosphere is nice. Kind of a trendy bar vibe but it’s inviting and comfortable. The last trip we went, the hostesses were only half paying attention to customers and more focused on each other but when you only spend about 30 seconds in their presence, eh, who cares, really? But maybe they should be a little more welcoming in the future. I don’t remember the quality of service we received the first two trips which tells me it was neither bad or stellar. I will say that our waiter on this most recent trip did a really good job. He was friendly, quick and really on top of drink refills and clearing things. He helped keep this rating from falling farther than where it is.
But really, what you care about is food. Let’s just start by pointing out that they have pork belly tacos and pork belly is amazing and should make any meal awesome. The first time we went, the pork belly tacos were stupid good. SO GOOD! To the point that we went out and bought pork belly for the first time to try and prepare on our own cause we want to make that something we can have on the regular. So this trip, we ordered an extra plate (in addition to our sandwiches — we were there at lunch this go round) of them and they were extremely disappointing. The pork belly was just terribly bland. I’m not sure how that was even possible. But it tasted like nothing really. Where is the salty, fatty delicious I wanted?! So that was a massive disappointment, especially considering those tacos were our motivation from going there at all. The rest of the food… You get complimentary chips and salsa and they are fine. Chips could use a little more salt, salsa is a little tomato-​y but fine. We also got the trio of salsas for our appetizer. My husband and our friend LOVED the pineapple salsa stuff. The guac needed salt but was otherwise good. The hot salsa is FREAKING HOT but good. Just keep in mind it is really spicy so not for the faint of heart (or tongue, whatever). Our friend had pork tacos for herself and agreed they were just very bland. No seasoning, no deliciousness, no satisfaction. She also didn’t like her beans. I had the Cubano, as I love a cuban sandwich. It really wasn’t too bad. The bacon and dijon gave it some good flavor. My husband had the Calamares and was mostly satisfied. Both ours came with potatoes that were in need of seasoning (theme of the day).
All in all, for the price, it was just a disappointment all around. the pork belly tacos failed us and they were the reason to go in the first place. Hopefully it was just an off day but I wouldn’t think this is anywhere you need to make much of an effort to go out too unless you are already in the area.

Only b/​c of service, churros, and bar. One more visit before I can lower this rating… but if I were psychic I might say visit 2 will be worse than the 1^st visit… good luck

I have no idea why he thought he would make a good impression on opening a place in KC.
I never knew who he was until I saw him on Chopped and all I can say is that his food is BLAH!
Idk how he ended up in Kansas.
Idk why he thought he could do well. Oh wait, maybe because he thought all the white people in the area wouldn’t know what good Mexican food was.
Well I’m sorry, Aarón Sánchez, but your food here is HORRIBLE and your patrons aren’t any better.
As soon as we got seated I went to use the restroom.
3 stalls were available. 3 stalls were disgusting. One had a log and the other two had pee. What kind of patrons do you attract that they can’t flush their own toilet???
Either way, your food isn’t authentic or appetizing. Your employees/​managers don’t know what they are doing.
If you need help, you can contact me!

Very weak. The food was unbelievably bland. The service was slow. Prediction: this place won’t be around in 6 months.
Do yourself a favor and eat somewhere else. You’ll be glad you did.

We went to the unveiling of the «Rooftop @ Mestizo». The menu was outstanding! The space itself is roomy, and on a 15 degree night, warm and comfortable. Aarón was with us this evening and his passion for great food and hospitality shown through and through! Everything from the guacamole to the skirt steak quesadillas, to the chicken empanadas, to the flan and chocolate cake were exquisite. Folks, if you are looking for an event space, a happy hour get together, or a comfortable place to meet good friends and eat great food and drink great drinks… this is for you!
This is a place for all ages. On a cold night, the ice skating terrace next door was busy. I bet Mestizo makes a mean hot chocolate too!

Oh boy, where to begin. Only 100 days later Mestizo has started to crumble under the weight of lofty Park Place expectations. My first two trips here in the spring were sensational. Great service, great food, great ambience. Tonight’s meal is best described by one word — blah.
I’m happy to report the drinks are still killer here but that’s about it. Seated at 6:30, drinks by 6:50, dinner by 7:30, out the door at 8:20. We weren’t trying to take our time but unfortunately were held hostage by painfully slow service. I tried the Oaxacan enchiladas tonight and unfortunately felt like I could have had a better entrée at a Tex Mex place for half the price. Obviously microwaved, stubbornly rubbery, and lacking in that flair that made me initially love this place.
Maybe it was just tonight — it’s a three day weekend and the restaurant could have been short staffed. However, it might be the trending downward spiral that a celebrity restaurant starts on their way down the drain. For the sake of Aarón Sanchez, I hope it’s the former, but I might not stick around to find out for the next time.

LOVED the location… but that’s where it ended.
Service was slow, as in 10 minutes in between each visit to the table from water to drink order to bringing chips n salsa to bringing the cocktails to then coming back to take order so… the excitement we had at even eating here was diminished with every wait.
Ordered the 3 taco special to indulge in three of the varieties:
BRISKET (I can do better at home)
PORK BELLY (old meat not from that day or the day before, as if they dumped already overcooked belly into the fryer to reheat and it arrived in the taco as big squares of almost burnt bacon that develops into meat gum the longer you chew!)
BEEF TONGUE (the only thing that redeemed this visit, tender, juicy, flavorful)
Between three of us at the table we also ordered the CREAMY RICE. In one word, YUCK. Overcooked. Dominant flavor: sour cream and onion, like the potato chip. It help slightly to add salt to counter balance the lime and cream, but that did not save the dish by any means. The overall consistency was that of overcooked instant rice used in a hot breakfast rice gruel.
The GRILLED CORN with mayo & cheese, was a disappointment…
** Not to come across as one who just rants negative**
…I really think that the only misstep with this is that the corn was not hot. Again, a bad reheating job and the mayo and the cheese were merely coating a lukewarm to cool cob, so that velvety gooey texture that comes with heat was missing.
The BAKED CHEESE was a treat: D!!! …
**see I really do prefer to be happy eating**
… not just melted cheese but baked correctly; resulting in a lovely dark brown crust on the bottom and edges. Alone it was perfect. Adding in the house made flour tortillas was a mistake, merely because they tasted far to raw floury.
Never again will I eat here and I suggest you don’t either.

Really great place run by a famous chef. The wait staff was very knowledgeable and excited as well. The prices were reasonable and they even have happy hour specials available to help even more. No need to sit at the bar for those either. The patio is substantial and the interior décor is inviting and large at the same time.
As far as the food, great menu. One of those places where you try to coordinate everyone’s ordering so you have a chance to try different things. Or the place you are almost mad that you cant order two things yourself.
The lunch menu is amazing as well with tortas and deals on tacos and other items.
For dinner they have many amazing choices that are unique like lamb enchiladas but also some mild steak tacos that were perfectly cooked that even my grandma enjoyed. The tamales were good as were all the different tacos. Flavors were good on everything with a lot of fresh ingredients like cilantro as well as pickled onions.
My only knock on the food was not much spice but we did kind of avoid the spicy things with my company so I’m excited to try some of the other items. The taco shells were double bagged but did get pretty soggy depending on which one you chose and how much sauce you added. I would recommend their homemade tortillas they had with the cheese dips for the tacos or switching out the shells.
Overall, just a really unique menu with flavors and service that excelled.

Other reviews made me a bit scared to go, but I had heard from word-​of-​mouth that it wasn’t bad so we finally decided to try this place today for a late lunch.
My biggest concern from reviews was the service, but we truly didn’t have any trouble in that department. We were pleased with the prices for an upscale lunch and were very comfortable in the restaurant. It was a beautiful, sunny day today and we enjoyed watching the children outside the window playing in the park. I’ve become quite a fan of this shopping center and this experience certainly has not changed my opinion.
We started with the potatoes & chorizo queso fundido. I absolutely love queso fundido, so this was a given. We really enjoyed this dish; however, the potatoes were not noticeable at all.
I ordered a half pork belly sandwich & pozole soup combo, mom ordered the brussel sprout salad. The sandwich was really good, but could have used a bit more slaw or something to brighten up the taste. I’m not a fan of chipotle; I like the heat, but the taste tends to cover up other tastes. I’ve tried to like pozole for years and was hoping this soup would help turn me around. It was good, but I still am not a huge fan of pozole.
The brussel sprout salad was unusual and tasty. The chicharones were ground to a fine powder which made their presence unnoticeable.
We left happy and content. Our server was helpful, polite, and not annoyingly over-​present.

I had heard a lot of mixed reviews of Mestizo, and due to my undying love of all things in tortillas, I knew I eventually wanted to check them out for myself. I was finally in the neighborhood and hungry, and went for it. Long story short? It’s fine, and I think some of the criticisms are unwarranted. But I certainly wasn’t blown away.
Our server was friendly, if a little absent. He had a whole speech about how the place is owned by Aaron Sanchez, and I found it dull. I don’t much care what TV cooking celeb owns a place, I want to know how good he can make a taco. It turns out that Aaron Sanchez is really good at making teeny-​tiny tacos.
I ordered the mahi-​mahi tacos and the significant other ordered the crispy pork belly. I had originally hoped we would swap with each other, but that didn’t end up happening. He says he liked his, and he cleaned his plate, but that’s all I have to go on. My fish tacos were delicious, with perfectly cooked fish, whole slices of avocado and a tasty mango salsa on two miniature corn tortillas, made in house. I did find it odd that they skewered the fish, which I had to pull out and kind of tear apart the tacos before I ate them. On the side was cilantro, lime and radish slices. Good stuff. Little tiny bites of good stuff. On the side came cilantro rice and I went with black beans. The beans were sort of bland, but that rice was fantastic! Man oh man, I want to eat this rice every day.
I had heard a lot of complaints about the ridiculous prices. Now, I think my tacos were a TAD expensive, but not outrageous. Yes, they have a $ 25 margarita, but you know what? My $ 7 margarita was pretty good as well. It definitely tasted like they use a better sweet and sour than anything from my days as a bartender. There were more expensive items on the menu, but that’s what happens when you order a steak. And find me a restaurant thats serves quail for under $ 20. I find the prices to be alright.
But «alright» is pretty much how I felt about the whole experience. Things were fine, and the food was good, but I think I prefer the Mexican food I get from some street taco shop in KCK. If I lived way out in JOCO and it was 30 minutes to get to some place like El Camino Royale, then maybe I’d go to Mestizo more, but since I dont, I won’t.

Had a «Chick’ dinner here last week and I’ll be honest. I wasn’t really looking forward to it because of the 3 star average on Unilocal.However, I have to say — Unilocal you are so WRONG in this case. Definitely a 4 star experience.
Service was great. There were 6 women who arrived at various times. Our waitress was spot on the whole night. Did I say 6 women? Just sayin’, we probably weren’t the easiest table she’s ever had.
Food. I thought the salsa was good — and they brought out a spicy version which was basically pureed jalapenos. I added a bit in to the regular salsa. Thick chips. Chips and salsa were refilled periodically without us having to request it. We also got the guacamole. Very fresh. For dinner we had pork belly tacos (me), Mahi mahi tacos and scallops. I tried a bite of each. They were all excellent, had a slightly unique spin and were about $ 12 each. These are small plates — 3 small tacos and 2 large scallops — and they come with rice and your choice of beans. I got the drunk beans and they were awesome — and I am not really a fan of pinto beans. This is not a tex mex restaurant. If you want large portions drenched in cheese (and we all do at some point) then go to Mi Ranchito or Jose Peppers. They are both have great tex mex. This is more like Frida’s.
Drinks. These are not cheap, but they do have happy hour specials. I had a $ 7 margarita which was tasty but not worth $ 7. On Mondays (I think) they are $ 3. Wednesday nights (the night we went) are Wine nights.
We had a view of the patio (it was freezing that night so it was closed) and the skating rink (which was also closed). It’s still a nice view.
Would I go back? Definitely. The atmosphere is very nice, service was good, food was good and it is close to home. The patio sounds great in the warmer months.