Lily’s Mexican Restaurant

One of my favorite authentic Mexican joints in the city. Family owned and ran which is cool and the place is no frills. The food was really good, we came on a Thursday and it was steady but not slammed. Only issue was I wish we came on a weekend so I could try their authentic soup! Definitely another hidden gem on the southside. I’ll for sure be back.

Gave Lily’s another chance. Unfortunately, the food is over-​priced and bland with small portions. If you are looking for yummy salsa and great tequila, this is the place for you. I will not be back.

I’ve lived right around the corner from Lily’s for years, but finally went last night. I ordered the shrimp fajitas, my boyfriend got the beef enchiladas. The shrimp fajitas were so good, very well seasoned! The guac tasted fresh and was also very good. My boyfriend loved the enchiladas. They have a fresh salsa bar with an array of salsas so there is something for everyone. All of the ingredients seemed fresh and not cheap like your typical, run-​of-​the-​mill Mexican joint. If you’re in the area, definitely make a point to go soon.

Delicious fish tacos and margaritas, not a typical Mexican restaurant but very authentic, a real hidden jem

My fiancé and I Absolutely love this place! They are a family owned and operated place. We have always had excellent service every time we go. The food is delicious and so are the margaritas! It is a sit down place but you order up at the counter and refill your own drinks. There is also a salsa bar with different flavor salsas you can try so you do not have to just stick with one.

Nope, nope, nope.
The fiancé (yes, he has moved up from boyfriend status) and I went to check this place out last week for a chance of pace from our usual Mexican place… and we will never go back.
Where do I start? When we walked in, the place was almost full. We went up and placed our order and we were given a tray with a basket of chips, two ramekins for salsa, two cups and silverware. I went and filled our cups up with sodas (which you had to go behind the counter for — odd) and then we went to check out the salsa bar. (We love salsa bars — so we were excited!) The salsa bar was a joke. There were five kinds, none were labeled so I had to resort to smelling them, and the two we got were more soup than salsa. No bueno.
We sat down at one of the two small tables left and noticed that the only open table left was a four-​top near us — which was full of the worker’s personal items (purses, Chinese food — ?, magazines, etc.) and a large plate with cut up chicken breasts on it. Weird. We started waiting on our food… which took over AN HOUR. I realize the restaurant was full but not everyone was still waiting on food. When we saw the people who had ordered after us get their food, I went up to a worker and asked how much longer it would be. The daughter (it’s a family owned business) yelled into the kitchen in Spanish to find out from her mother how long it would be. The reply was something about her still needing to cook the enchiladas — not how long it would take her, just that she still had to cook them. So helpful.
About 15 minutes later we got our food and it was terrible. The refried beans tasted like they came out of a can, the chicken had little to no flavor. the rice was just gross, and the enchiladas were dry. We each dumped a full ramekin of watery salsa over our food to try and give it some oomph, but that was pointless. It was just bad. Plus, when the waitress brought our food over there was no apology for the fact we had been waiting almost an hour and a half for our food. We thought that was a bit rude.
The only plus we can say about this place is that the family who owns it and works there were all very nice. The father came over and asked us how our food was and we just didn’t have the heart to be honest — he was just too sweet. We love supporting local businesses, and especially family-​owned local businesses, but the entire experience was just too bad to return.

I really like that this is a family business; it even feels authentic. Husband and wife run it, daughter and sons work here too. The food is good and the salsas at the salsa bar are great. Only thing I didn’t like were the chips.

Amazingly authentic home style Mexican food! Good deal, great food, and the family who owns/​runs it are the nicest people. It really feels like you are a dinner guest in their home when you go here!

HANDS DOWN the best margarita in St. Louis.
Made by hand, the owner of the restaurant spends about 5 minutes on each margarita, but it is well worth the wait. These are frothy, perfectly mixed margaritas. I heard from a friend that they were good, so I went in and went for a more expensive tequila, which was great– the owner and I chatted for a bit and he remarked that he could make the house margarita taste just as good– and he was more than right.
The food is great too, I especially love the queso dip. If you’re looking for Mexican that isn’t commercialized and doesn’t look like El Maguey or Hacienda, seriously consider Lily’s.

Friendly service, fresh and delicious food, and strong margaritas – what more could you ask for? The «tilapia a la Mexicana» was fantastic. We brought our toddler and felt more than welcome. I would suggest they label the salsas on the salsa bar so we know what kind of heat we’re getting ourselves into!
A few words of warning: This place has a unique system of self-​service and table-​service; it’s definitely not fancy. Some of the dishes are a little pricey, which feels out of place given the super casual atmosphere. However, my husband and I ordered a $ 5 margarita and a $ 12 margarita, and both preferred the cheaper one. So you can save a few dollars there!

If you like going to a restaurant and basically waiting on yourself, waiting to long for your food, and the food being over cooked then I’m sure you’ll love this place. Personal I think it sucked.

Best Tamales in St. Louis. Best Margarita (Lily’s Special) in South City. Staff is super friendly.

If you haven’t yet ventured into south city to check out this great little place you are seriously missing out on some great food. The salsa bar is loaded with several kinds of delish sauces to try, and the tamales and carnitas we had were super tasty. The tamales were tender, with nicely seasoned pork, and the carnitas were delightfully crispy with just a bit of chew. My son had the rolled crispy tacos– much easier for a child to eat! My grand margarita was also quite nice although using mix instead of just fresh lime juice lost a few points for me. My only other issues were the chips were a little meh and the carpet could use a good cleaning. This is not a fancy place to be sure but the owners are nice and work hard to provide really great Mexican food at a very reasonable price.

As a recent south texas transplant to St. Louis, my heart has been broken over and over trying to get just a little autentico. But today, my heart swells with satisfaction and puro alegria.
I’m not going into the details or flavors. It’s legit. Period.
The only way I can truly express the sincerity of this 5 star review is by making a photo blog chronicling the manifestation of my ass and love handles as I eat here very often.
In all honesty, it’s as close to Mexico as you will get in st. Louis. There are others that might be nearly as good, but certainly nothing better.
Special note: the proprietor is a real sweet heart and will chat with you as much as you like. Unless it’s super busy, because then all resources are dedicated to churning out made to order mex dish.
And extra super mega plus, SALSA BAR.
And finally, VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY!
Lily’s is a sweet little place that you should certainly visit if you want some real Mexican food. It might be 4.5 stars in a city completely saturated with Mexican joints, but here it’s 5 stars all the way.

It doesn’t get any better if you are looking for a family-​owned and operated authentic Mexican restaurant in St. Louis.
After a 10 year hiatus, my wife and I returned to St. Louis, having moved away after grad school. For lunch today my wife wanted fish tacos so we decided to return to this place. We remember when it first opened years ago. The husband would take orders, serve, bus and restock and the wife would do the cooking. Well, I am happy to report that the only thing that has changed is that their two teenage daughters also help out with taking orders and serving, mostly to give dad time to check on the customers and bartend at the makeshift bar.
The fish tacos were steaming fresh, the beef tamales were wrapped in corn husks and wonderful as well. The beans are good. If I had to ding them for something, it might be that the rice did not have much flavor.
The chips and salsa are also great. There is a salsa bar where you can select from several types and levels of heat. Per one of the daughters, «My mom makes all the salsa, and the ‘Hot’ is really hot because that’s how the jalapeños are coming this week.» Wow.
The prices are very reasonable as well. Parking is a little tough. We ended up parking a block away and walking. But my wife and I will return as soon as we can.

I really wanted to like Lily’s after reading several reviews, but alas, it came up well short of the mark for St Louis Mexican fare for me.
Visited Saturday night at 8 p.m. for dinner. The place stays open until 10 p.m. on Saturdays so it fit our hankering for a new Mexican destination.
Thanks to Unilocal I knew that you had to order at the counter and was looking forward to salsa bar. Unfortunately, at 8 most of the homemade salsas were depleted so we got what we got. One red that was decent and a greenish/​clearish salsa that tasted peculiar. The chips were defninitely not homemade and borderline stale. Not at all what I have become accustomed to in local non-​chain Mexican restaurants.
Since the salsa seemed uninspiring I went up to the counter and added a queso dip, also favorably reviewed on Unilocal.Unfortunately, after a couple of bites we abandoned it. I don’t know how to describe it other than that it wasn’t right.
So soon comes our entrée items. For me it was Carne Asada Burrito and for mama, Fish Tacos.
My burrito was $ 5.75 but for an additional $ 2.50 I can add beans and rice. Based on reviews, I expected succulent, seasoned, tasty steak. What I got was «pot roast» quality meat at best, but that would be kind. It was chewy, flavorless and just not anything like I’ve had in a local Mexican place in my nearly 35 years of avid Mexican cuisine sampling. The burrito had beans and guacamole in it along with some chopped lettuce and it was good size, but with every bite I kept wondering when the flavor would hit. The plated refried beans were absolutely average and having no countertop bottles of red or green hot sauce or salsa to spice them up, barely edible. I did take some of the «off» queso dip and blend it in with the flavorless and dried out rice to try to bring some semblance of life to them, but nothing could help.
Mama’s fish tacos were… interesting. A very flat piece of salty grilled fish on a tortilla with a side of fresh chopped greens and a lime at least made them palatable, but at $ 9.75 for the entrée including the same dried out flavorless rice and inexplicably, a heap of potato chips which went untouched, this was completely unsatisfying.
Atmosphere was very loud with the open seating and lack of booths. We defnitely heard every bit of conversation from our neighbors. I rate their cleanliness and décor as average.
If there was a plus side to our one and only visit, it was the friendliness of the staff. From the young lady who took our order to the cooks in the kitchen who were clearly enjoying their work with frequent and boisterous laughter, to the proprietor, who made several trips around the restaurant to greet and inquire about the food, they definitely attempted to make it a pleasant visit.
In the end, the $ 28.50 for dinner and a $ 6 tip made this $-rated restaurant every bit as expensive or more as a place on Cherokee or elsewhere in the city, but with decidedly less flavor or appeal to return for a second visit.
I wanted to love it, but alas, Lily’s just didn’t hit the spot for me.

First visit, and this is our favorite Mexican restaurant so far, (we’ve tried over a dozen Mexican restaurants in the STL area.)
Muy Authentica. Chips are crispy, not greasy. Margaritas get five stars. Food is ordered at the counter, and then made to order. I got fish fajitas, which came with guacamole, fresh chopped cabbage and caramelized onions. Hubby ate too many chips to properly appreciate chicken burrito.
Friendly family restaurant, with casual style and a steady parade of patrons coming and going. Salsa bar offers five salsas. Need vestibule to protect customers from cold blast when doors open in winter.
Atmosphere includes classic Mex colors, objects, music. We will definitely be back!

Lily’s is kind of like a restaurant that somehow wandered away from Cherokee Street. Good for them, and for the people of Southampton, who get to have a nice little taqueria right there in their own backyard. Now if we could just get one to wander closer to our house…
I do have to warn you there are a couple of quirky aspects to the service process here. You order at a counter, but first, grab some menus off that counter and have a seat to figure out what you want. Once you decide what you want, go back to that counter, where can order. Then you will be given a tray with chips and bowls for salsa. You’ll also get cups if you ordered soda or water. Next, go fill your sodas, then your bowls at the salsa bar (all excellent, by the way). If you ordered a drink it will be made at the back counter, which is also where you go to pay, after you eat. It’s not as confusing as it sounds, but I wonder why they don’t just wait on the tables and make more tip money. There are probably only 8 tables in the place.
The good news is the food is quite good. Plates are just under $ 10 for the most part. We had chicken fajitas, which were very good — great tortillas especially. We also had a combo with a beef sope, chicken tostada and beef taco. It comes with rice and beans. All of this, including the rice and beans, was excellent. There was one kind of critical exception: the chicken in the tostada tasted like it was re-​heated. That’s kind of a big deal for me, because there’s a certain trust factor that’s diminished.
Except for the chicken, this would have been a five star meal. I’ll go with four stars and we’ll probably be back.

OK, so it’s been almost a year since I first reviewed Lily’s Mexican Restaurant and after several visits over the last 12 months, I really think this place deserves an extra star. Lily’s has a few menu items that no one in St. Louis can do better: chili rellenos and authentic Mexican soups.
The chili rellenos plate comes with 2 huge cheese stuffed peppers, beans, rice and a side of soft warm tortillas for about $ 10. Honestly I’ve never been a big fan of chili rellenos, but Lily’s are just scrumptious! I like to make a mini burrito with the tortilla by slathering a layer of beans on the tortilla, then adding rice, then adding slices of the chili relleno, and then adding one of the salsas from the salsa bar. Yummy goodness!
Even better than the chili rellenos are the soups at Lily’s. Keep in mind that the good ones are available on the weekends: menudo, pozole and birria, AND… once they run out, that’s it for the day! I’d suggest the pozole if you’ve never had it, but for the more adventurous… get the birria or goat soup which showcases the delicious taste of goat meat. Be sure to add onions, cilantro, hot sauce and lime juice to the birria. Those things should come on the side with your order as well as fresh warm corn tortillas. For your first bite, take a warm corn tortilla, rub some lime juice on one side, then salt it, roll it up, and dip it into the birria soup. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
On a side note, as others have stated, this place is a family run business with Mom, Dad and the kids. If they ever want to adopt and adult gringo male, then I’m first in line!

Lily’s is a cross between the authentic Mexican restaurants down on Cherokee and a Qudoba. What? I know it is a weird combination, so let me explain. The food is good and authentic reminding me of Cherokee street, but the service is order at a counter go sit down and that reminds me Qudoba.
We had top shelf Margarita’s which are made from scratch and Poppa is proud of his creation. Our dinner was a Lily’s Special, Chile Relleno, Chicken Enchilada and a Beef Tamale. I enjoyed all three, you could tell they were hand made with love. We also had appetizers, Queso and Guacamole. Their guacamole is the best I have had in the city, even better then some I’ve had down on Cherokee.
When your food is ready, the girls or momma bring it to your table and are chatty when making the delivery. My question is, if you bring the food out why not take the order at the table as well. I think providing complete table service would add to Lily’s experience and may even get an increase in stars and patronage.