Trago Mexican Kitchen

Wow!!! the best Food in Vancouver Mail !!! Yo got go to Trago!!! Best in the world!!!
El Señor Moises

Took them a long time to get my food, waitress checked on me once and after I was done eating my food I throw my napkin on the plate to show I was done eating. I sat there waiting for my check for about 25 minutes. $ 20 wasted on the chicken and mole after she brought me the check she didn’t come back I had my wallet out ready to pay even right after she saw me smile at her to give her a sign. They had about 4 people dinning in so its not like they were crazy busy, food was bad the mole tasted like chocolate which was weird.

Came here today, after a coworker recommended it to us. We haven’t had good Mexican food since moving here, and we’re pleased after our visit.
One thing I have to say is that something HAS to be done about he temperature here. It is next to the doors that lead outside and there is no wall or window, bizarre to me, between the restaurant and the outside doors. We had to ask to move seats because I was freezing, then I had to wear my coat which I hate to do when I eat dinner. They need space heaters or some sort of barrier. I wish it had more of a restaurant feel, rather then food court feel like it does with the exposure from the mall to the seating.
Our waitress was nice, but unfortunately very hard to understand, there was a lot of miscommunication with our order. Another thing; I asked to see a drink menu & she said there was none. Which seemed strange with a full bar inside.
We ordered the paradise drink and a blended margarita. It took forever to get our drinks, but they were both really great and pretty strong if I may say; so it was worth it.
We ordered the carne asada fries and a wet burrito to share. The carne asada fries arnt fries, but potatoes. The meat was great and so we’re all the toppings. Would have been ¹⁰⁄₁₀ with fries. The burrito was HUGE! 13″ long. Great taste, great cuts of meat. It is a bit pricey; but for the fries, burrito, kids meal, and 2 drinks it was only $ 54; which is a good deal for two good sized drinks.
Will be back!

Being one who suffers from Celiac Disease, I tend to avoid trying new places, especially ones that don’t have any sort of allergen menu. The missus and I pass by Trago pretty frequently, and we live nearby. We always smell the great aroma coming from the restaurant, but have never stopped in, because I don’t usually put my health in the hands of a random cook; today was different. I asked the host in front if they have any gluten free items or a gluten free menu, he said he was unsure and would ask the chef and get back to us on our way out of the mall. On our way out we caught up with the host who introduced us to the head chef. He assured me that he could serve me and would take special care of me and my food. The head chef was a great help, he seated us personally (we chose a booth in the bar). The chef went over all the menu with me and discussed some possibilities I could have, he even went as far as offering to make me specialty items that weren’t even on the menu; he was great.
The ambiance of the restaurant feels like a fancy restaurant, but without all the uptight snobbery; the furnishings and decals on the walls are really nice and not overbearing and it was not super dark like most fine dining establishments (I like to see my date and food). The only part of the décor that I did not like was in the restrooms; everything was pretty, elegant and clean in the restroom until I noticed the sinks. The restroom sinks appear to not have been properly made and they had small plastic cups wedged between the faucet spout and the bowl sink; after using the sink I realized why, the faucet (when shutting it off) dribbles and spills behind the bowl, because they are not aligned correctly. The restroom looked pretty great, except for this one lack of oversight and the tacky «fix.»
The chef helped me select the 3 Enchiladas combo (steak, shredded beef, and shredded chicken) with house made chipotle mole sauce. These were the best enchiladas I’ve ever had in the states and the best chipotle sauce I’ve ever tasted. The meat was so tender inside the enchiladas and seasoned just right; everything on my plate tasted amazing. For dessert, I received a small bowl of vanilla ice-​cream with a homemade chocolate rum and chipotle sauce drizzled over it. The chocolate sauce was phenomenal and so delicious; it had a slight hint of spice to the chocolate sweetness at first bite, and after swallowing you are met with a pinch of fire. The 3 flavors complimented each other so well and made a huge impact on my tongue. I have never had any chocolate sauce like it before, but I can say that it was pretty damned awesome tasting. The wife asked for the chef’s favorite menu item, he was pretty shocked to be given such a difficult task, but he accepted the challenge and surprised her. She received the carne asada steak meal, and loved it. For dessert, she was served vanilla ice cream with a caramel rum glaze and topped with churro balls. According to her, it was freaking an amazing and it melted in her mouth.
Midway through our dinner one of the owners came to check on how our meal was and how we were; I talked to him and told him how great the chef was and how amazing my food tasted, and that I was very grateful for the chef taking his time to go over the menu with me to find something he could make gluten free for me. He was a very nice gentlemen and he sincerely wants his customers to enjoy their food and time at his place.
Apart from the co-​owner, host, and head chef I was not very pleased with the service. The servers and bartender ignored our table for everything after the first drink order. Even after I patiently waited for a refill and waved down the bartender and asked, she never got me my second drink. I later had to grab a server (he didn’t care about us either) and asked him for my second drink, since no one got it the first time I asked over 10 min ago. He barely made eye contact and only replied with «okay.» Later the bartender quickly dropped off my second drink, but by that point, we were already trying to get the check and leave.
Despite the shortcomings in the décor and service, the experience here was pretty great. The chef goes outside the box and makes the food his own and isn’t afraid to do so. He comes up with great tasting food, especially the dessert. He is a great joy to talk with and I am overjoyed that he personally took care of my gluten free restrictions. It was also very surprising that an owner would circle the dining room and take an interest in the guests and also ensure their satisfaction. Despite the inadequate servers and tender, it was really great food, with a great chef and owner. I will definitely be giving Targo one more shot, but will not sit in the bar area again.
TL;DR
Amazing food all over this place, freaking awesome head chef and owner, good environment with one flaw in the restroom (the sink design), and bad service in the bar area.

This place was terrible! Bad service, our food was cold. Our friend didn’t get her food until everyone was almost done with their meal. First and last time We will eat there!

I really wanted to like this place. I work in the mall so I thought it would be a nice change of pace from all of the other options which consist only of fast food establishments. I ordered take out nachos yesterday and I payed 11 dollars with my mall employee discount, which didn’t seem unreasonable until I saw what I was paying for. My nachos looked as if someone had violently shaken the container they were served in. The toppings were not distributed over the chips at all there were big clumps of shredded chicken in one area and a pile of beans in another. The nachos were supposed to come with pico de gallo but instead of the salsa I was expecting the were topped with fairly large chunks of tomato. Yuck. The guacamole was also bland & really average it looked like a paste and didn’t appear to be fresh at all. Disappointing): to make thing worse the man who I retrieved my food from kindly told me there were napkins in the bag, which was true however the napkins were covered in food & looked as if they had been already used. The staff was nice but I am unhappy with the quality of the food. I could have gotten equivalent nachos at Taco Bell for 2 dollars):

I walked by this restaurant while in the mall with a friend. I saw the prices and decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately the prices were the only good part about this meal.
When we first got seated we ordered our beverages. We both asked for water with our drinks, and neither of us ever got them. We also asked for a second bowl of salsa with our chips, and did not get that until halfway through the meal.
Our food was very bland. Being lovers of Mexican food and flavour, we were both disappointed with our meals. The meat was low quality and had no spice to it, and the sauces were all watery and thin.
When the waitress brought our bill we explained our dissatisfaction. She got the manager, who argued with us and said everything was made fresh and that they use only top quality cuts for their meats. He walked away without even an apology. The waitress came back and asked if the manager took care of us, and we said no. She went into the back and came back out, saying she took off one of our meals but «We don’t normally void things out so you guys are lucky».
This is not a restaurant I would recommend to anyone who enjoys flavour in their mexican food. We will not be going back.

I agree with the overall rating here. I would give it 3 and a half stars myself. The Mexican food for me was the middle of the road. It was not anything fantastic or horrible to me it seems like a place to go if you wanted Mexican and you were by the mall. However I was tempted to give them another star based on there service alone. When I went they were all friendly and more then happy to make my experience all the better. So for their service I would give a solid 5.

We ate here before star wars opening weekend. Great food. Chips and salsa were good as well. Dishes are different than standard mexican restaurants. A good option to have around. Right in the Vancouver mall.

Located inside the Vancouver Westfield mall. The interior décor is warm and good seating arrangements. Free chips and salsa which are delicious. First thing when I saw the menu was the pricing. I feel like it is overpriced and way above average than any Mexican restaurants in the area. Food is good for Mexican cuisine and can expect it at any other Mexican restaurants. It is pretty clean inside and a big open area where you can see into the mall. Most seating is blocked off like cubicles with walls in between each one.
The best part of this place is the bar area on the other side of the sit down restaurant. They do have good drinks and the place is packed when there is a major sporting event going on. Service is friendly and great. Overall, it is good food, drinks, and service, but for the price I would expect better food than any other Mexican place in the area.

Food was okay but the service was horrible. Save your time and money and go eat at Taco Bell up the road.

I was really looking forward to this after seeing Star Wars. It was a cold afternoon and the restaurant does not have any walls to block the incoming wind when the mall doors are opened. I had to keep my jacket on the entire meal. Maybe some small heaters or something to help warm up the area might have made it more pleasant. They were either short staffed or the staff working was not experienced enough. We got seated after standing at the hostess table for 5 minutes and were told we would be getting lunch menus right away. 10 minutes passed and still no lunch menus and when the waitress came to take our order we told her we still needed menus. We got chips and salsa right as we sat down but no napkins or silverware until our meal came. The entire meal was way to salty from the chips to the rice on my plate. The only things that did not burn my tongue with salt were the beans and the tortillas.

Not a fan, like, at all. This place has a bad excuse for Mexican food, and is an extremely overpriced Taco Bell with worse food. There was nothing in here that was decent, except for the dessert which was the bomb dot com. Also, the atmosphere was p cool and is probably the best in the mall. But the rest of it is what I would classify with the scientific term of «Garbage» and will not be seen here for the rest of my Mexican-​Food-​Reviewing career.
TL;DR: Plz no

Great place, nice people, the staff seem to be running around like chickens with there heads cut off and had to remind the server about our drinks but, overall the carne asada nachos and asada huarache were delicious from the happy hour menu. The asada was nice thick and juicy Unlike some other places who’s meat was like biting into jerky.
We will be back and try something from the regular menu, left with the carne asada plate in mind so I will probably have that next time

I will start this review by saying that my experience was so bad that the manager comped my party’s food and we only paid for our drinks. I don’t see myself coming back to give this place a second chance.
We all ordered drinks– a few margaritas, a piña colada, and a beer. They all came out at different times. My margarita, which I have included a picture of, had wet, patchy salt around the rim. I would have never served that margarita to a customer if I was a server, yet I drank it because it did taste good and I didn’t want to be rude and send it back. We also had to ask for the waitress to bring us water, and she did not refill it once while we were there. The restaurant had a good amount of people in it, but was not packed. Every time I looked around all of the waitresses were grouped around the computer near the kitchen, not checking in on their tables.
We ordered our food and the 6 other people that I was with all got there food about 15 minutes before me. All of their food was cold. They all had to wait about 5 minutes for the waitress to bring us silverware after they got their food so that they could actually eat it, making it even colder. One person did not receive the tortillas or sour cream that was supposed to come with her meal until she was almost finished eating. One of the members of my party received an avocado pit on top of her burrito. When we let our waitress know she said «it’s so that the guacamole doesn’t brown.» Well, okay, but you should pass it on to someone in the kitchen because it definitely does NOT belong on someone’s plate. If someone wasn’t paying attention they could have easily put the entire pit in their mouth and damaged their teeth. When I finally received my food, 15 minutes after every single other person in my party had gotten theirs (we ordered at the same time and I even ordered the same thing as two other people, a wet burrito), mine was actually hot and tasted quite good.
We were so dissatisfied with the chain of events that we endured that another member of our party asked to speak with the manager. The waitress said under her breath «we’ll see about that.» The entire time that we had been there, the waitress had seem very confused by each small request that we made, whether it was for water or silverware. Another waitress came back and said that their GM had left them the day before and that she would try to find someone to speak with. After speaking with two separate waitresses, a cook or chef of some sort came to our table. He repeated that there was «no excuse» for what happened throughout the course of our meal, and offered to comp our drinks. He then gave us a list of issues, again saying that their GM left, 4 people didn’t show up to work (even though I counted no less than 6 waitresses and a full kitchen for a restaurant that was by no means slammed, it seemed like the people who did show up just weren’t hustling). We let him know that it was mostly the food that we were unhappy with. He ended up comping our food, which was appreciated because each dish was around $ 13 and it would have not been worth it given the issues that we came across.
It seems that this restaurant has a lot to figure out if they are going to stay in business. It is truly a shame because my drink and food were actually good, even though I would say the food did seem a bit overpriced. The rest of my party agreed that their drinks were good, but all of the rest of them said that their food was not– probably because it was cold. No one even came close to finishing their plate and none of us took left overs home. The entire staff seemed frazzled and it’s concerning that on what seemed to be a relatively calm night there was a lack of organization and composure that could be felt throughout the entire establishment.

This place is the worst I have experienced! Our margaritas came in pint glasses, our plates were hotter than the food, and I had an avocado pit on top of my burrito! The manager as well as the head chef came out to speak with our group and basically said 4 people called in sick, and their GM left the day before. There were 4 tables and 6 servers on staff. From what I could tell every table in there had issues and the manager was going from table to table. Their food had good flavor so if they could manage to train the wait staff and the cook staff to show some appreciation for the place they work and their customers it could be a really cool place.

Best Mexican food in the area and even beats all the Mexican restaurants in the Portland Metro area. Nothing beats the Taco stands in Rock“hood”. As for sit down restaurants, it doesn’t get any better. We start off with their awesome bean dip with chips and salsa then a wet burrito for dinner. Best dark sauce on the wet burrito. Super fancy place and prices are average. This is my 6^th time here.

I work in the area and figured it must be better than getting food at the food court. The restaurant its self is beautiful. The hostess/​waitress was overly nice in a good way. The kind of person who makes you leave smiling and happy. The food came fast and that should have been my first clue. This is the MOST poorly made burrito ive ever had. It was sloppy and not even filled full. It was loose and its contents were spilling out before i picked it up (which is surprising because there was hardly anything in it) I feel bad for the little kid on the corner with the sign advertising trago because while he is going his job the COOK is failing at theirs and his. Again the waitress rocked. The food wasnt worth 1 dollar. Arent new restaurants supposed to give extra effort to start a new name for themselves? Sad for them because I work for a big company who orders out alot:/

I have three basic requirements when I visit a Mexican restaurant when it comes to the food. #1, and most important, is the salsa, and by extension, the tortilla chips. #2 is do they make a good guacamole and finally, #3 how do the execute chili rellenos. I don’t include good service in my basics because I expect that whenever I go out for a meal and if I don’t get that I’ll never go back regardless of how good the food is.
That said, the service at Trago was excellent. From our hostess to our waitress Amalia, to the young man, Steve who brought our chips and salsa, ALL were over the top helpful, friendly and attentive to our needs and dining wishes. Five stars for service.
As for the food… well, it showed much promise, but in the end it sort of fell short.
#1, the chips were warm and crunchy — always a plus. But the salsa, while thick with some noticeable chunks of tomato and onion, it was pretty bland. It was scarcely hotter than ketchup. It certainly needed more spice, say some small diced jalapeños or serranos. It also need more seasoning, maybe a little more salt.
The guacamole, my #2 benchmark was similar to the salsa, in that it was chunky. It fell short in several other areas. Guacamole is supposed to be mostly avocado, right? The percentage of avocado to other ingredients was lacking, maybe about 50%. Similar to the salsa, it needed seasoning and a little spice. Again, maybe some jalapeño or serrano. Plus it also needed salt. Props to Amalia for getting us some minced cilantro to add to it though.
And finally, #3, how did they do on the chili rellenos you ask? They did pretty well on these. In my perfect world I prefer a smaller, crispier version than what is usually served and then smothered in sauce. This wasn’t my perfect rellenos. But, it was tasty and full of cheese.
So, how did I come up with a two star rating? Well, the aforementioned five stars for service was a great start. Unfortunately the food was lacking on nearly every count, even with acceptable chili rellenos. The price certainly effected the final judgement. We had one appetizer (guacamole) two entrees (chili rellenos and a chicken taco salad), one dessert, deep fried ice cream and one beverage, an iced tea. The total cost including tax? Nearly $ 48.00. That ain’t chicken scratch!
So, in the end that leaves a two star, maybe two and a half stars rating maximum. Too bad, I had hoped for more.

My girlfriend and I stopped here with a friend the other night for dinner after looking at reviews from fellow Unilocalers.
We were quickly seated in the bar section in a booth surrounded by flat screens with several different sports events on — nice!
Bartender/​Server was super friendly and was prompt on our drinks (super yummy!) and our food order (also epic!).
I love the food, but I could totally see just stopping in for a drink or two on game day; we will certainly be back.