Vista Grande Mexican Restaurant

I felt terrible for the staff since the kitchen/​management is obviously clueless. The food was horrible. Horrible. I had a grande «combi» plate which was just 3 tortilla varieties of the same bland, fatty ground beef. No veggies, sour cream, or guac comes standard. Wife and kid were both grossly disappointed as well. We will not return. Btw, over-​priced.

We went to Vista for Cinco de Mayo with a large group. The hostess was very helpful and seated us at a table for 14. We were able to sit at the table while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive. Our waitress provided great service, even with such a large table to serve. The food was great, and so were the margaritas and selection of beer. I was very impressed with the way that our large party was accomodated on such a busy night.

I’m not a great cook but this was worse than that. Food not even marginal. Long wait time for food and drink refills. Salsa could have been poured out of a jar of pass picante.

I am not quiet sure what this food is, but it certainly is nothing of Mexican! Nothing had flavor at all. The chicken is boiled, zero seasoning. The salsa tatses like tomato sauce from a can mixed with ketchup and something chunky. The rice is minute rice with the horrid salsa. And the beans are tasteless and looked like they had been under a heat lamp for days. The chips weren’t even salted… after forcing ourselves to eat what we could tolerate and paying $ 65 for our four meals, we are wondering where the closest hospital is to get our stomachs pumped… from 4 native southern California’s…our tip to this place, .please stop making this food, or call it something else, it is NOT Mexican

So happy that Vista is now 100% smoke-​free. Great food, good prices and friendly atmosphere made much better in a smoke free environment! Check it out

Worst restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. The service is terrible, the salsa is inedible it’s not even a little bit spicy and it’s loaded with cumin. Five of us ate there and not one of us liked our food. I had the shrimp fajitas, it comes with about half an onion and 3 bell pepper slices. The shrimp was so salty and again loaded with cumin. The rice is not the traditional red Mexican rice, it’s a brown looking disgusting flavored rice. It took an hour for five of us to get our food and that was with a very empty restaurant. Overall the food is just nasty!

I’ve tried this place 3 – 4 times and each time I leave thinking why did I even go there? The last time was with my girl and I and the food just wasn’t good. Rather bland and they were playing rock music. I wanna hear musician music at a musician restaurant!

I have some bad feelings involving Vista Grande from many years ago. Nothing the staff did, but something personal involving an ex and some bad news. I abstained from Vista Grande for almost 7 years after that. I finally decided to stop in and face those feelings head on… equipped with a gift card from a good friend. What did I find?
The food was just as good, if not better, than I remembered. The staff was friendly, but he seemed a little distant. It was lunch, and not too many people were there, but that was not a problem. We had a few margaritas, fajitas and sopapillas.
I left stuffed, happy and with a smile. Thanks for not changing all these years Vista!

I hav had a better burrito from other mexican restaurants around st peters, but Vista Grande has decent food and good margaritas!

Good environment, great & courteous staff. Food is made to order and served up quick. Vista has one of my most favorite salsas anywhere, as well as their shredded beef in the «Viva Combi burrito» meal! This is one place that I always know that I am walking out with a smile.

Absolutely the worst place I have ever been to the servers were poorly trained and when I said something to management they tried to say it was my fault. We got half our food then later got the rest. It took us almost 4 hours to eat there. 2 adults and 4 kids. I would not go there if I was starving because I would die for sure. If you decide to go there good luck.

From the moment we stepped inside this place we were grossed out by the cigarette smoke. My wife kept begging me to leave but I said no let’s give it a try, worst decision ever. The fajitas (Chicken/​Beef) were obviously pre frozen with the grill marks like the pre cooked meat you buy at the grocery store. Absolutely the worst food I have had in a very long time. I could do much better at home. Listen to me Mexican food fans, my wife is from Mexico and we know good Mexican. If you want a treat pass this place up and head to Los Tres Compadres by Weldon Springs trust me on this one…

This was the worst Mexican food I have ever had. Stale cigarette smoke smell to the point you can almost taste it in your food. Service was terrible. Bar staff and owner were drinking and at one point the owner told a racist joke. Tons of regulars at the bar and pretty sure everyone of them smokes. The Mexican rice was crunchy and the fried chimichanga tasted like the fry oil had not been charged in decades. I would have preferred the «runs» associated with Taco Bell before going back to this restaurant. This place sucks.

Tonight we went and had a nice meal and we had a good experience. Walked in and greeted by a friendly hostess. Andy are server was excellent. We give it a 4 because the food and margaritas were good and so was atmosphere. The prices a little high for the amount of food. Give this place a try i would suggest greatnfor happy hour prices on drinks. I would go back here to drink.

One of my favorite Mexican places to eat at in the stl area. It beats every stinkin tex mex restaurant around.

Looked like a Mexican restaurant on the outside but not on the inside. There was food on the walls. We had disgusting chips and disgusting salsa. We were so grossed out we couldn’t bring ourselves to order dinner :/

Not overly impressed. The food and service both are mediocre. I have heard good things about this restaurant. So being the foodie I am, I came and tried it. I can say that I’ve had better out of the frozen food section at the grocery store. The salsa says a lot about the restaurant. It tastes like it came out of a can. So hopes for the main course to be better were lost.
If you’re looking for a Mexican restaurant to eat at, eat here. If you’re looking for good Mexican food, don’t eat here.

This should tell all, I used to live down the street from this place for at least three years and I do not recall anything vivid about it other than it was there. Having said that though, I will say that on a recent road trip with dogs in tow, the establishment was extremely cool about me hanging out in the outdoor patio area off of the bar with the two small dogs while we visited with friends.
At two Unilocal stars, this establishment would not have been on my short list, but a friend I was meeting suggested the venue and it was convenient.
The chips are good and the salsa unextraordinary. The queso dip had just enough heat zing to it. My wife and I shared the seafood burrito which was underwhelming imo. To be fair, I have not tried much else on the menu and since I ordered a seafood burrito at a mexican restaurant I probably have no room to talk.
The staff seemed amicable enough. They have a cool old school table top combo arcade game of Galaga and Pac Man. The hall the bathrooms are parked in seemed tight to me, like two regular sized people would be challenged to pass at the same time.
The bar struck me as a good place to hang out but I also noticed there was smoking inside the establishment, did we not ban that already?
I found it interesting that in addition to the Mexican menu they offered a separate pizza menu claiming to bring ‘the hill’ west. Given the ongoing tough restaurant environment, these guys must be doing something right to still be in business, maybe you can figure out what.

Eh, I might have given 3 stars based on my Acapulco chicken — it was quite savory and satisfying — and my wife’s chicken wrap — again satisfying and a very good flavor — but there were too many other negatives to make Vista Grande pass muster. These included my daughters Taco Bell enchurito, I mean beef enchilada, the subpar chips & salsa, and the smoky smell throughout.
It’s a pretty generic eating space. Just tables with Mexican motif accents throughout the place. However, the room we were in had creepy paper mache clowns hanging from the ceiling all over the place. It wasn’t ugly, just odd. Oh well, I guess you could take the perspective that it was unique. Walking in the front door, I knew they had a smoking section. While only one half is smoking, the place apparently doesn’t move the air very well. Or perhaps moves it too well to the rest of the bldg. Anyway, the nonsmoking side smelled pretty strongly of smoke, too. Service overall was fine — no problem there.
Food was hit or miss. As I said, the Acapulco chicken and the chicken wrap were quite good. However, my daughter’s beef enchilada did remind me of a Taco Bell enchurito. And maybe that’s how it’s supposed to taste, but me no like. The starter chips were just the typical ones you get anywhere, and our first two baskets were cold, stale/​chewy, and not salty. Third basket (yeah, he kept feeding them to us and we were pigs), was fresher, warm and more crispy, but still needed salt. Salsa is supposed to be homemade. And it probably is. But I thought it was a kind of bland, just ‘meh.’ Really, there are too many good choices out there to eat at. Vista Grande is okay — so if it’s location is convenient, then go ahead and hit it. If not, then you can do better.

«Meh…I’ve experienced better» pretty well sums this place up. The quick read: If you like Americanized Mexican food or Tex-​Mex food, you can find better elsewhere. If you prefer authentic Mexican food, you won’t find it here. Read on if you want more details…
I happened to be in the area with a group of friends and we decided to give this place a try. From the moment we walked in, I could tell from the décor that this place was more of a Tex-​Mex style restaurant. With hanging piñatas, tile lined windows and lots of crafts hanging on the walls; it was cozy, and maybe slightly more tasteful than your average Mexican restaurant.
After being seated, we were promptly served the usual complementary chips and salsa. I found the tomato based salsa to have a peppery taste… not as in chili pepper, but more of a strange black pepper flavor. A lot of Mexican restaurants will offer a spicier salsa if you ask for it and this place was no different; the waitress was happy to bring out a hot green salsa for us to try. While it had a spicy kick to it, it was below average in taste.
We started with an appetizer of the jalapeño frijole dip which was a big bowl of spicy bean and cheese dip big enough to feed our table of 8. Unfortunately, I wasn’t impressed and found a similar peppery taste like the salsa.
Since I didn’t see any tacos al pastor on the menu, I decided to indulge and order the «casa de seafood» which consisted of a crab enchilada covered in cheese sauce and a scallop & shrimp burrito covered in a white sauce. I was expecting this to be sinfully good, but was highly disappointed by the nearly flavorless sauces and seafood. The best bite of the night came when I sampled the honey bourbon pork chop which came with a baked potato and salad. It was strange that the special of the night was a non-​Mexican dish, and kind of sad that it was better than any of the Mexican food.
Probably the only highlight of the place was the good service we received from our waitress Tina. She really hustled to make sure that our drinks were filled and food served promptly and with a friendly attitude.

I’ve tried this place three times and just have not had good food. The frozen margaritas are weak and the black bean soup and spinach enchiladas have no taste.