El Barco

Al llegar a este lugar se siente muy acojedor aunque un poco apretado. La decoracion es muy llamativa y exotica. Sobre todo esas botellas que nos gustaria tener a todos. Mi experiencia con la comida fue regular la disfrutamos pero no encontre un sabor especifico que me haga regresar. Tenia mucho tiempo escuchando reco endaciones y buenos comentarios lo que mas me gusto fue el ceviche. El mega– pescado solo era tamano porque de sabor no me agrado. Del servicio no me fue mal se esfuerzan las meseras por hacer su trabajo.

Great seafood, incredible salsa spreads with tostadas… Drinks are really good too… Can get crowded and at times really busy but worth it!

This place serves *very decent* Mexican sea food. We went there last weekend when it was cold and we fancied something hot and spicy… Enter the shrimp soup!
The soup was really good and tasty. It was generous and had a bunch of shrimp in it. The odd thing is that you have to cut your own limes (?!). But now that I think about it, makes perfect sense since you don’t end up throwing away the unused ones. We also had the grilled octopus (appetizer) and some calamari for the kids. These were ok. Their sauces were really good! One of them made me sweat a little.
This place is kind of loud (I guess the music, thus you have to speak up) and a little dim. The decoration is tacky (stuffed fish everywhere and boat memorabilia). But I was not there for the ambiance or the decoration ;-)
All in all a good experience. Most likely we’ll go back and try something else on their menu.

Great atmosphere… Amazing presentation. However, food was Luke warm and lacked flavor…
Seems like they hurried to let it sit and cool off!!!

The food was amazing! Good sized portions of savory seafood. Reasonably priced. Interesting décor. Good service. Haven’t tried the libations yet but they looked good too.

So, I’m on vacations in México, just went to a seafood place with my family, food was great, and I remember that I’ve been wanting to write this review for a while.
El Barco, WORST Mexican seafood in Chicago, why?
1.- Food: Just awful, rice with seafood was just sticky, salty and way too buttery, cocktails are flavorless and octupus is either under or overcooked.
I read a reply from a El Barco staff member saying that «we specialize in authentic Mexican food, like the one that u get in México, that’s why some people are unfamiliar with the food». Haha, no, no, no sweetheart, the food u serve there couldn’t be less authentic, and I can say that cause I grew up in México, I know what real Mexican food taste like.
If u raid your spices cabinet and throw it all in a pan or cauldron add oil, garlic and onions, yes you’ll get a flavory sauce, I doubt thats authentic Mexican though.
2.- Service:
I wish some owners focused on hiring efficient waitresses with some people’s skills instead of just «pretty» ones (subjective) with a bitchy attitude (objective).
I had to beg for my waitress’ attention, after a few tries, she turn to me, sporting a face that almost said «talk to the hand» lol. Come on! I’m not trying to ask u out or your number, just wanted to ask something about the menu, damn it lol.
I observed the situation for a while and it seemed that all the waitresses are annoyed or upset about something, specially when. serving fellow Mexicans.
3.- Prices:
Downtown prices for JJ Fish quality food.
I’ve been to this place a few times, first time cause I wanted to try it out, second one, well, I wanted to give it a «second chance», my mistake.
3^rd and 4^th time, I was dragged there by friends, I would never go back there on my free will.
If u wanna pay downtown prices for JJ Fish food and hot dog stand service, go ahead, u won’t be disappointed! !!! :)
You’ll find better food in a mom and pop small place though.

I’ll give it 3 stars because the food is actually very good, but, just about everything else is no bueno. The service is nearly non-​existant, I had to compete for server attention the entire meal; I’ll say it again, really, really bad service. The parking situation in the area is really tough, I circled for 20 minutes for a spot. The place is really pricey for the level of service and ambiance. If I’m paying, no way I return.

First time here, came for a birthday. Food was great i left full and the portions they give is also great! Seafood has alot of taste to it.
Service is why it gets 3 stars. For being such a small place i feel like it should be easy to accommodate everyone. In this case this didnt happen.
Also, at the door I knew it would of been a wait but i was told if you left the building you would lose your spot. Mind you i parked across in their parking lot to warm up.
All in all. it was ok. I perfer Venio across the street.

Went to El Barco with my girlfriend and despite being very busy we did not have to wait so that was nice. We had a couple of appetizers, all were very tasty and for not being much of a seafood lover I can vouch for them as yummy.
I spilled some sauce on my white shirt and some of the servers were very nice and offered ideas and help on the spot so I was able to get the stain out in the washroom!
Food and service was good until the end when payment time came. I paid with my debit card but did not want to tip with card rather personally hand cash to our server so when she brought the receipt with my card I asked for change for her tip as I had a large bill. I guess she thought she deserved more than 20% and brought back although smaller all were still larger than her tip amount. I did not like that she tried being slick and made me feel pressured into leaving a greater amount so I just left her the tip on the card for the amount I wanted to give. mHer service was good but not 40% tip good.

El Barco disappoints again. This time not with the food, but rather again with its service.
Pay close attention to your bill, it contains a line that says «ante comida». This lines translates into «before food» which one would assume that it is for the appetizers… NOT TRUE. We ordered appetizers and they were not in that line. That line had an amount that added to the bill, another 6 dollars and change and nobody could explain why. Everything else we ordered was listed but this extra charge was for nothing. If I hadn’t looked at the detailed bill, they would have gotten away with it. Just an FYI.
El Barco continues to disappoint with the service and it’s a shame because 99% of the time the food is awesome. But unfortunately when you have servers that could care less, no matter how good the food is, bad service ruins the entire meal.
I will continue to patronize but will only tip my usual 20% if it is deserved.

Owner wrote me, insisting twice more to order in English to avoid confusion when my Colombian born mother felt confident the Spanish speaking Latina waitress understood. If she wasn’t sure she could have asked to clarify, not to mention you can still have confusion ordering in English. Just own up to it, they didn’t serve what we ordered, not like I’m trying to get anything from this.

Great place to go for drinks and they have good food to go with it
I love to come here for margaritas. You can have the manliest drink in the room when you are sipping your pink guava margarita. I literally felt the hormones racing through my head.
I think by now I have tried all the frozen margaritas. They are delicious.
If you are feeling hungry you should have some of the food too! Personal favorites is the ceviche con todo (the size has to be chingon) and the parrillada. It makes sense to come here with a big party.
If you are only going to eat though, I prefer the small restaurant across the street

A friend suggested this place — Super crowded/​packed/​Hellacious wait — figure on at least an hour. During poor weather, no where to stand but amongst the diners in the bar. All said and done, the food was OK and the margarita was as well. Not great, but OK. IMHO the item that excels at this place is absolutely free, the smoked pepper spread that they bring out with the chips. Beyond fantastic. My tip would be to come off hours to dodge the masses, have a drink, and pig out on the smoked pepper spread. I think we ate too much of it while we were there and they either cut us off, or they ran out for the night. I saw the fried red snapper with head on brought out, but I wasn’t impressed because I am not a fry guy in general, but especially when it comes to seafood. Parking is street, so it can be challenging, and getting across the street can be as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed the fried red snapper, and the ceviche was delicious; generous portions. The margaritas were very good as well and inexpensive. I also ordered a side of refried beans that I really liked!
The reasons why I am only giving this place 3 stars is first off, because they put me and my boyfriend in the worst spot to sit. We try not to be complainers but I wish I had said something. They put us right by the host stand/​computers, where most of the traffic flowed through. My boyfriend was constantly getting bumped by the bussers, and the waitresses would be standing right over there all veering there way around my boyfriend who was sitting on the corner. It was distracting and uncomfortable. This restaurant is small, although it looks way bigger from the outside. They should not have that table we were sitting at be a place to sit at all; not nice whatsoever.
Lastly, the service was just okay. The waitresses were not very nice and seemed annoyed and even bothered when I asked for things. A very unwelcoming attitude overall. We were given one word answers and questions that were bothersome, such as, «Ready?», «Drinks?» «Done?» «Beans» (as she practically threw the side of beans that took over 15 minutes to get to my table). We also felt rushed, we were not even done with our food yet, when she asked «Done?» Like no, we are still sitting here, enjoying our food and taking time to eat it. Even after we paid, our waitress watched us sign our bill, and grabbed it right as we put our pen down and looked at the tip right in front of us, which by the way I’ve worked in the industry and that’s a major NO-​NO. We left a good tip regardless. I never tip less than 20% even if I wasn’t entirely satisfied with my dining experience.
Although the food was delicious, I feel like restaurants forget that even though people come to eat good food, they also come for the experience and kind service. That for me can be the difference between just an OK place and an EXCELLENT place.
And like others have said, the SALSA IS VERY SPICY. But I guess it makes you drink your margarita quicker and order more to soothe the spiciness.

La atención es muy buena y la calidad de producto también; quizás los precios son un poco altos para el tipo de platos.

My aunt took me here with my cousin for my birthday dinner (week) and boy was I surprised about this place as I hadn’t heard of it at the time and two, My aunt’s pick can be a bit of hit or miss and I was sure this place was going to be a hit, but hey I’ve been wrong before.
Not even that big of a seafood fan but I did enjoy coming here. LONG wait took about 40min before we were able to sit down, but we came on a Friday night around 8:30pm with no reservation. Got a few drinks and few appetizers. Enjoyed the atmosphere. Can’t recall having anything that I didn’t like and can’t wait to come again.

This place goes all-​out with everything. Coronas are huge and served in a mini ice bucket, chips are huge, salsas are very spicey.
My friends ordered a gigantic whole fish, fried and served with veggies — it was impressive. I got chicken fajitas which were a huge portion and everything was very good. I don’t normally eat beans, but this place satisfied me.
Things for improvement — Place could have been a little cleaner, it was super cluttered. Slightly on the pricey side and they need some salsas that are actually edible. But overall, very good.

Fantastic!
This is awesome! It’s quick service and the food is delicious.
You can’t go wrong with a place that sells margarita pitchers for $ 15 (and we got about 8 martini size glasses from it). Plus the mango margarita was nice and refreshing.
We ordered the Parrillada for three people. And boy oh boy is that a huge serving. It has chicken, mahi mahi, calamari, octopus, shrimp, steak, prawns, and even crab legs.
It is easy to overcook calamari and octopus and I am usually very weary about ordering them anywhere. However, at El Barco. Wow! They are both tender and delicious.
The steak was tender, the grilled chicken had a deliciously sweet/​tangy taste, the mahi mahi was moist, and even the grilled veggies were grilled perfectly.
The tables are communal and each has a key lime basket. The basket is so smart because I love me some line with my lime juice with my sea food.
In the end we had left overs and asked for a to go box. When I put everything in the box I counted 19 shrimp left over. And we had went to town on the platter!
It’s a great place to meet with a group of people and enjoy a fun time.

Oh my god why didn’t I discover this before!
First things first I’m not Mexican and I don’t know a lot about how Mexicans eat their fish.
But if they eat it like that I am a fan!
Perfectly cooked, huge portions but for such a low price (are you kidding me I got 20 shrimps, at least 15 calamari, 15 octopus, one huger lobster, corn, vegetables and rice for less than 19 $?) I pay more if I bought two wraps of falafel for god’a sakes!
Great service tasty food, I didn’t think it was greasy (and I’m a health enthusiastic)
Waitresses are warm and kind, knowledgable about the menu.
I’m coming back every time I crave seafood!

I love taking my mother to el barco. She loves her vuelve a la vida, shrimp, oyster, octopus cocktail. I like the tamarindo margarita. The fried fish is like a whale size portion. You will need to share for sure. The parilladas are plentiful and where else is going to serve as appetizers SALSAS bien picosas and forget the drinks. The service is no good. There is no parking so good luck hunting for a place to park. The food is delicious. We go at least once a month yumm

El Barco is absolutely my favorite Mexican restaurant as of recent. My bf and I dined here on New Year’s Day as we were looking to cure the effects of the previous night’s par-​tay;) El Barco definitely did the trick. Well first of all, they were open. It’s hard to find places to dine on New Year’s Day but El Barco proved to actually be sort of packed… I think some party revelers had the same idea as us.
I started with a mango margarita. OH LORD this was the worlds largest margarita… it was large enough to bathe in, but I chose to drink it instead. Delicious, and full of tequila! Scoreeeee. The chips and guac that came next were were very fresh and accompanied my marg perfectly. We also chose the queso fundido for an app. It had the option of coming with shrimp, which we ordered on the side, and that gave it an interesting twist. The fundido was good, but very very greasy.
For the mains, I ordered the steak tacos. LOVED!!! The steak was so fresh and they appeared at the table piping hot as they came individually wrapped with a personal helping of cilantro and onion on the side so you can chose to put as much, or as little as you like. Hands down best steak tacos to date. My bf had the fish tacos which were good… they were light, not fried like most fish tacos. Although we were in the mood for fatty and fried. Both taco platters also came with a side of rice and beans.
Overall the portions and quality of food at El Barco can not be beat. Warning: if you like firey sauce that will burn each one if your taste buds off — then you will enjoy the sauce they put on the table. Unknowingly, I helped myself to a heaping scoop of the green sauce as I thought it was avocado based and I literally thought I was going to die. 10 sips of my giant marg helped calm me down. The only downfall I could think of regarding El Barco, is that it’s a bit pricey. But I’m not hating, because the quality and selection are well worth the extra scratch. I can’t wait to be back! ;)

Wow. I loved this place!!’ I’m sure they don’t need another rave review but I can’t help myself! We came with my daughter and son-​in-​law who had been here before and told us we HAD to come. They were so right! First of all, you must get a pitcher of the Macabrona margaritas. The grand Marnier makes a difference! It is amazing!
We ordered the calamari in wine and garlic sauce (a departure for me since I always prefer marinara sauce — until now!) A huge plate of the largest, most tender rings I’ve ever had. Spectacular! I could make a meal just on those! But that would deprive me of all the other fabulous offerings! The servings are huge. And so tasty! 4 large eaters could barely finish 3 shared entrees! Keep that in mind — tons of food!
Our favorite was the carne patas –a juicy, tender skirt steak cooked to perfection (medium rare) with crab legs. Holy cow was that good!!! The grilled shrimp was amazing too! And the mahi mahi with diablo sauce? Another winner! Guacamole, salsa, sides, everything was fabulous.
It’s tight quarters and very crowded. The platters barely fit on your table so it can be a challenge if you order several items. But GO HERE! It is so worth it. I’m getting the whole snapper next time!