Diablitos Cantina

First of all there was only one server for the entire restaurant. Now, I will say our server worked very hard to accommodate and was very pleasant. There was also a buser. There were 2 bartenders waiting on 2 people at b bar. They never once jumped in to help the server: Their «salsa bar» was in bad need of a refill. On a night with a –7 degree windchill there was not ample heat for the building. We froze at our table. The very antiquated credit card system made it tough on the server to get our checks separated and the payment for the meal. Not only that but their food made me very ill. I rarely post any kind of review but our experience was so bad that I felt a responsibility to share with other possible patrons

Great server. Good atmosphere and very sultry. Food was good. Best taco to get was untraditional with mashed potatoes and chicken and gravy. Free margarita was nice too.

Went in last week during lunch. It wasn’t too crowded but we had to remind our server twice that we ordered queso. The service was bad. The food wasn’t too good. I got tacos on soft corn tortillas, the tortillas fell apart I had to just eat the insides of the taco with a fork. My friend got chicken fajitas and had only enough chicken for two tortillas. Not a good experience!

As a SLU student, I’m a regular at Diabs. However, if it wasn’t for proximity, I wouldn’t come back. The house margaritas are delicious and pretty strong but honestly overpriced. The salsa bar is your best deal at $ 3 per person for unlimited salsa and multiple yummy options. The queso is fairly average but has a kick. The street tacos are $ 3 but not mind blowing. My person favorite are the Baja fish or shrimp. The taco gringo (mashed potatoes, corn, chicken strip) is funny and tasty but not really want I want to eat at a Mexican restaurant. My favorite dish is the sweet corn tamales. They are a perfect mix of sweet and spicy and I would eat them more often if it wasn’t for my college kid budget. The service here can be spotty. Based on the opinions of friends who work there, management is somewhat disorganized and there isn’t much service training. You won’t walk away disappointed but it won’t be the best you’ve ever had.

Let me start by saying that I was super excited to try Diablito’s after hearing my husband rave about the salsa bar and margaritas. They did not disappoint! The food was great… fresh, hot, and pretty authentic. I had the chicken enchiladas with the green rice and beans which were delicious! The highlight was the salsa bar. Normally I am not one to be happy about paying for chips and salsa because my husband and I can be rather shameless and definitely do not waste any, however, I was okay with it because there were a dozen choices of all different flavors and heat levels. We love it hot and found several to be right up our alley, and of course the house recipe was a good medium that was not chunky but not runny. They have a great check in offer of a free house margarita (small 12 oz) that was absolutely amazing! It was not diluted with that crappy sour mix, but was blended perfectly with a decent silver tequila and fresh lime juice. The service was friendly and attentive but not overbearing or hovering. This is a definite on our list when we go to the Fox or a game downtown!

Went for lunch at 1pm and ordered the Chicken Fajita, it was incredibly delicious. It comes with nachos and a salsa bar.
It’s amazing people always forget that you get a free Marg too! Def a place to check out regularly

Atmosphere and décor is awesome! Food was very tasty and refreshing Mexican menu– not typical food found at your little local Mexican restaurant.
Service left a lot to be desired unfortunately. Our waitress spent more time having a personal conversation with a friend that was eating there than serving us. We had to seek her out, and wait up to 10 – 15 minutes usually to wait for a ‘break” in her personal conversation, when we needed refills, condiments, etc. She never offered us refills– we always had to ask.
Sadly, the awesome atmosphere and great food were overshadowed by our poor service tonight.
Even considering the lack of stellar service, we would still return (but may ask to sit in a different section!).

Diablitos is one of my favorite places to eat in St. Louis. They have an awesome salsa bar with about 12 different salsas to choose from and their buffalo chicken tacos are amazing.
The only reason why I gave it 3 stars instead of 5 is because the service there is consistently terrible. I’ve been there several times and I’m always getting up to get my own water. Don’t expect to see your server unless you’re ordering, they’re bringing your food, or they’re bringing the check. Their prices are very reasonable though, so maybe you’re just substituting service quality for price.

So, this place was okay. The décor was really cool. We discovered beautiful tomato and hot pepper plants outside, which usually means a restaurant that cares about freshness.
We decided to get the chips and salsa bar (although charging $ 3 per person for it is ridiculous). We found that only three salsas are worth eating: verde was my favorite, as it tasted really fresh. The «hot» salsas were too sweet and not really spicy. Most of the salsas were bland or too weird. The guacamole was horrible. It tasted spoiled; really awful. Worst I’ve ever had.
I ordered the steak fajitas which were great. The steak was tender and had excellent flavor, lots of lime and tequila. The beans that came with it were bland (a bit of a trend for the rest of the meal). My fiancé got an al pastor taco. I don’t recommend it. The pineapple they used was pretty obviously canned and strangely tasted fishy. Not fishy weird, like fish. Gross.
The service was not great. Makes it difficult to get more chips for the salsa bar when your waitress ignores you. She seemed nice enough, but a bit dingy.
In conclusion, as long as you plan on getting only steak fajitas at the bar and staring at the décor, it’s worth your money.

We got a shrimp fajita and chicken quesadilla and both were great. The salsa bar was delicious too. Staff and atmosphere were great.

Diablitos was a great choice dinner! The atmosphere was really cool.
Food was fantastic with unusual selections on a classic take. I had a few of the street tacos, which they have many different options. I highly recommend the Bacon & Chicken Ranchero taco.
They have a great chip and salsa bar with plenty of tasty mixes.
They also have a full bar, which makes perfect drinks!
The staff is friendly, professional. A little slow on taking orders but the food arrived quick and fresh.
I highly recommend Diablitos if you’re in the downtown St. Louis area. Especially if you’re looking for some good Mexican inspired food.

A group of us from work went to this restaurant for some light dinner and drinks. I went with the pulled pork tamales. While not that expensive, only getting 2 tamales without any other sides (rice & beans?) I would have been quite hungry with this as an entrée if I hadn’t been snacking prior to going out for the evening.
A number of people tried the tacos and that original taco and fish taco seemed to be a hit. For others, any of the BBQ filled tacos weren’t all that great. More of a «I like BBQ brisket and I like tacos, but the two don’t work together here.»
A couple of people ordered the margarita pitcher and said while it tasted good, the alcohol was a little lacking.

Unilocalers often come to me for advice on tacos, where to find them, the good and the places to avoid.
Pros: The cocktails were well-​mixed the day we went. Try the Mexican Mule — which comes with jalapeño infused Altos tequila. It’s a pretty awesome kick! The décor is cool. Service is a little shaky, but nobody has ever been an outright jerk… if you can call that a «plus».
Cons: Everything else…
Full disclosure, I have tried this place more than once and each time tried something different on the menu. Nothing is authentic, at all — well, as authentic as Mexican Food in America can be.
The most awful of offenses was that I ordered tacos and they put COLESLAW from a tub on them. (It tasted identical to the stuff you get in the tubs at Schnucks for a backyard barbecue). You don’t put REGULAR cole slaw in a taco??? When you go to a legit Mexican restaurant where they serve good tacos and they say «slaw» — they DO NOT MEAN the creamy cole slaw that you eat as a side at picnics — that is not what goes in Mexican tacos! Disgusting.
The fish and shrimp were both «fried» and it was painstakingly obvious that they were pulled from a frozen bag and tasted, also, very much like something I would give to the kids on the weekend when I am feeling like a lazy Mom… You will have a VERY hard time finding any tacos that are grilled, as opposed to fried, unless you just get the Tacos Pastor… Other than that… Gross. I had to SOAK them in Cholula just to eat them and at one point I was letting the slaw drop out of the taco because I would have rather just have had frozen convenience food shrimp and fish and bare taco than any of that…
Who made this menu? Who was responsible for these tacos? Who EVER thought that these were acceptable? Perhaps, they need to talk to the Tilford family who own Mission Taco —- or Fuzzy’s Taco Shop… or Vallesana on Cherokee??? Somebody has to help them…
Who decided that Mexican restaurants charge you for the salsa bar?
The most validating thing about my adverse feelings was when I returned to SLU and spoke to various people about my experience they all threw their hands up and said «Oh no we do NOT eat there! That place is gross — how has it taken you so long to figure that out…»
As an elite Unilocaler, I try to give places multiple changes to disappoint me… three times and you got this review.
Please rethink your menu, rethink your tacos, especially — they are awful.

I continue to come here when i am in midtown because the food is good and I like the salsa bar. But they now charge $ 3 and you get tiny bowls. Chips are very thin and crumbly and break in the meaty salsas they have.
Funny thing is the inside is so dark you can barely read the menus. The chairs are not comfortable at all. Service is always spotty. You never get told about the specials they advertise via their Facebook page.

First, this place looks like the a scene from «Book of Life» on Dia de also Muertos! I thought it was cool, but our kids were almost terrified. The chairs were nice, but far from comfortable.
Our service left a lot to be desired. It wasn’t the fault of our sever. She was new and not ready to be on her own. The fact that a manager let her take tables says a lot about their training program! She was unable to answer simple questions about the menu and had to double back to the kitchen for the answer. I guess that’s better than being wrong in a guess. After our food came we never saw her again. No refills of our drinks, which was awful. When my wife finally did get a refill, it was clearly not the diet soda she ordered. I know because I drank it when I ran out of tea. Later, we asked for a box and the check, got the box. After another few minutes I had to ask the hostess for the check.
The food was mediocre. One expects chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant. Here, they charge for it. We got the Guacamole and it was pretty good. My wife had the chimichanga. She liked it but thought it was small and a little over fried. When we asked about the kids nachos, we were told plain cheese. We assumed sauce, but it was actually Monterrey Jack baked onto the chips. One of two kids approved. I had a Baja fish taco, old school and a margarita steak taco. The last one was my least favorite. No beans and rice, just tacos.
We were glad not to have driven far to try it, it would have disappointed. If you’re in the area, want a margarita, and can get an experienced server, I’d say go, otherwise, skip this place.

My friend and I had our monthly May feast at Diablito because I was in the mood for Mexican and the pictures were intriguing. The inside of the restaurant is really cool. We ate outside because the weather was so pleasant. The outside is okay, but not so charming, being surrounded by the parking lot and SLU buildings. The restroom is dark and super small. They might want to expand it. I can see how someone with claustrophobia would feel uncomfortable.
Unlimited chips with 12 fun, fresh salsas to choose from for $ 3. We got them out of curiosity, and they were good, but I think next time I’ll either just go for chips and salsa and maybe an appetizer or dessert to split or will skip the chips and salsa. Even though I tried 4 or 5, I don’t feel like I ate my money’s worth. I forget what beverages we had, but there were happy hour specials that did not disappoint.
Cheese enchiladas were good. I forget what my friend had, but she liked it okay. We had no room for dessert.

+ Happy hour
+ Check-​in offers — free small margarita
+ Pretty dang good wings
The only time I come to Diablitos is for happy hour (4−7pm) because otherwise it’s not quite worth it. $ 1 Stags, $ 5 for a big pile of wings/​papas fritas/​nachos, $ 1 off seasonal/​shaken cocktails/​margs/​sangria. I really can’t complain about cheap fried food. Don’t forget to check in on Unilocal — you’ll get a free small margarita. The chips and salsa are okay — there’s a salsa bar in the back but some of the salsas taste kind of funky, like they have been sitting around for awhile. Eat at your own risk!
3 stars because service can be super slow and I’ve found the bar to be understaffed on Friday evenings. The bartenders tend to forget your orders and on occasion their POS will get screwy and paying your tab can be a bitch.
Parking sucks here — you’ll likely not get a spot in the tiny lot and will have to find street parking.

Good Mexican food, lots of unique salsas, and solid drink specials. But what’s really striking about this place is the décor! I don’t go to restaurants for the décor, but this one is really outstanding. It hosts an ambiance closer to a Catholic church or a museum of Mexican art rather than most Mexican restaurants, in which hang standard pictures of cacti or mariachi musicians. All the more interesting when you consider Diablitos used to be Iggy’s, a SLU sports-​themed Mexican restaurant.
Next time, I just want to walk around with my tequila cocktail admiring the art.

I was really excited to try this place as I’d been craving Mexican food for a while! I was impressed with the décor and ambiance, it made me feel like I was home in Texas. They have an outdoor patio and when the weather is nice I suggest sitting outside!
We ordered a pitcher of margaritas which were pretty good, and then hit up the salsa bar for an appetizer. They have a good salsa bar, about 6 different salsas you can choose from. Personally I enjoyed the black bean salsa! For dinner I had tacos which is where I think I went wrong… I had a fish taco and shrimp taco which I did not enjoy. They had some kind of mayo sauce on them which wasn’t quite tartar sauce. They were basically drenched in it and I really didn’t enjoy them. It also seemed that the fish was dried out on the inside.
I would recommend this place for drinks and appetizers, maybe the next time I go back I’ll try something else, but wasn’t really a fan of the tacos!

After The Fabulous Fox, my girlfriend and I went for dinner. We were seated right away.
Sam was our server, and she was quite efficient and friendly.
We both got two tacos: she got margarita fajita steak and Hendrick’s brisket, I got Baja fish and Baja shrimp. Each taco was $ 3.
We both liked our tacos, and neither one of us was sharing.
My tacos were dressed appropriately with an accompanying sauce and slaw garnish. I thought they were pretty large and filled up with fish and shrimp.
And they filled me up.
The lighted private parking lot is nice.