Instead, it was wine club and we were at Barrio Tequila Bar in St. Paul. Yes, we ventured to the most Irish city in the state on the day of Irish love. Needless to say we were seated in a sea of green ... because even the Mexican joint was hopping tonight. The music was loud, we had to be carded at the door ... I felt a little bit like I was going back 10 years and was in college. At first, we were quite nervous that we wouldn't be able to hold a conversation because the music was so loud.
Barrio is notorious for slow service, they bring out the food as it is prepared, so there's no guaranteeing you'll eat together when ordering small plates -- and it was crazy busy, so we had no idea what we were in for...
I started with a Macho Comacho margarita - a blood orange, pepper infused Margarita spiked with Cava. I love blood orange anything, so I knew I was going to like the drink. I was not prepared for how strong it was, a lot of tequila (which I am not a huge fan of) but fortunately, the fruit of the blood orange covered most of the alcohol flavoring, and if I hadn't been cautious, I probably could have slammed the thing down.
The ladies and I shared some guacamole and chips, and I have to say, the waitress was really good when I asked about the gluten-free options. After the guacamole, I enjoyed a beef barbacoa taco with avocado and pickled onions:
I love a good taco, and this was a really good taco. The meat had a lot of flavor and the onion was just pickled enough to feel my mouth. Now, it wasn't the greatest taco I've ever had, but it was a fulfilling bite. My second item was sugarcane skewered tequila shrimp with lemon ginger mojo - now this was a good bite. I was very happy with it. The onion splatted across the top didn't make it the most visually appealing dish, but I love ginger and the squirts of lime made it even more perfect.
Of course, did I mention the service was s ... l ... o ... w. It was horrendously slow. After we all had waited for what felt like a half hour, our waitress came back, and we asked about dessert (we always get dessert.) Now, granted she sort of treated us weird all night, because we were like the only people that had come in for a three course meal, and not to get our drunk on for St. Patrick's Day. So she mentioned they had two desserts available ... made to order churros (out for this g-free lady) and an orange flan. I went with the flan ...
The marmalade on the plate was the best part, I could have licked it off, but otherwise, it was just a so-so flan. Nothing to write home about. I don't think I'll dine at Barrio in St. Paul again, not because the food wasn't good, but because the ambiance and service, just didn't make it worth it.
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