Del Chuco Cantina Y Cocina

As fans of The Standard Social Market, we had high hopes for a Mexican food concept of the same caliber. Del Chuco fell a bit short, unfortunately.

The restaurant itself is upscale urban. Exposed brick and graffiti walls bring texture and personality. There is ample seating and a nice bar up front. These are all good things.

During my visit, both service and food were average. Upon being seated, a server introduced herself and said she’d be taking care of us but that was the last time we saw her because then a second server took over. No problem there, just a little different. When the second server took our order, she specifically asked if we’d like the two appetizers to come out before the entree and we confirmed that we would appreciate that. As requested, the two appetizers were delivered first. Unfortunately, the entree was not far behind. I think it came out three or four minutes later, well before we’d even tried both appetizers. So that was a miss for sure.

We ordered the queso fundido and papas tacos to start. Both dishes looked good, but lacked flavor (something some salty cotija might have improved significantly). For an entree, we tried the chicken verde enchiladas. This, it seems, is where the kitchen is heavy-handed with the salt shaker. These enchiladas were way over salted, to that point where your tongue starts to pucker and sting a little. None of this was helped by the temperature of the food served; both the potato tacos and enchiladas (including accompanying rice and beans) were served barely warm. It was a major bummer!

Another minor problem was that the server, upon delivering our entree well before we were ready for it, made no attempt to actually rearrange dishes in the table in order to creat a space for the entree. Rather, she stood there expectantly, interrupting any enjoyment we may have had with the first couple of bites of our appetizers.

Our experience wasn’t necessarily bad, but based on food and service, Del Chuco certainly won’t be a frequent choice for us. It’s a bummer because I wanted so badly to find another go-to spot for date nights!

Visited April 2024

Excellent Mexican food and the best salsa in town.

The service was a little weird, as the drinks, appetizers, and main meals came out at the exact same time. Not a big deal, but not really what you want in a meal.

Other than that it's one of the top Mexican food places in town.
Would certainly go again.

The food is absolutely delicious. I had the taco salad with grilled chicken and poblano ranch. The salsa is also fantastic, so addictive. The chips are thinner and salty - my favorite. The staff is friendly and the server we had, Sergio, was top notch. The only thing I would offer up as a critique is that the outside patio seating is in an alley right next to the back side of Beezr and Jefferson Street Pub, and it smells strongly of trash back there. I hate that for the restaurant - there may not be a good solution. Just hated to get a big whiff of that smell between bites of food. I'll definitely be back, I'll just wait on inside table availability next time.

I came here during the soft opening (February 29). I found the location fairly easily tucked between BeeZr and Le Petit Bijou. Near the front entrance of the restaurant, there was a stairway leading to an "underground" space. My group had their IDs checked confirming that we were of age. After we walked down the staircase, there was a lot of seating and a bar with some counter seating nearby. The couches were cozy and it was spacious.

They seemed to have a limited menu with drinks and indicated that food would be available later. Cocktails were a little pricy at $14 each, but it seemed a little worth it with the ambiance. It took us about 10 minutes to get an order in when we were standing at the bar, and this was early on in the night. I got a Banana Plum Rum first. It was pretty sweet, and I barely noticed that there was any rum in there. It also had a lemon peel with jelly in there. For my second drink, I got a Maplebean Old Fashioned. It wasn't as smoky as I would have liked, and it was also sweet. It was probably closer to a Manhattan than an Old Fashioned in terms of taste.

Near the end of the night, it started to get a little cold and my group had to put on our outerwear/jackets. I assume they wanted to balance the temperature with the amount of people in there, but it was a little too cold. I'm planning on visiting again in the next few weeks; I hope they'll start serving food at that time.