Mercadito - River North

Everything is always great but they’ve recently changed their menu. I use to love the red snapper but they’ve changed the recipe. Not a fan

Best margarita I've ever had. Food was fantastic and fun!

this place was great! service was amazing, as was the food! highly recommend. would go back.

Drinks, as always fantastic! We ate chicken and shrimp enchiladas. Great flavor and perfect portion size. Great service. We like to go here after the theater, only 3 blocks away. Definitely check it out!

- Great food
- Ambience is best describe as a combination of modern, and traditional Mexican decorations
- Made a reservation and still had to wait for 15 min. Which is good... and bad. Good because the place was PACKED basically at all times. Bad because we had to wait 15 WITH a reservation. Take this in whatever way you want to interpret it (:

We walked in and knew the noise level was not to our liking. Much too noisy---loud music and conversation. So, we never did experience the food. I'm sure it's great, but the ambience was not our cup of tea. Sorry!

The manager and previous server remembered me from my last visit when I spoke to them upon arrival. They informed my server of my birthday occasion and treated me and my friend to special manager drinks and two dessert options! Our food arrived at our table literally within minutes of the order...not prepare, but hot and delicious! I love this place, the people (James, Kevin, Matthew and even the hostesses) were all so pleasant and I He experience only goes higher when the food is on point!!! Reserving our time and party was seamless too! Thank you for making my birthday celebration special!

Yes! if they are in the mood for an energetic environment

Good. Server was rude and took forever to come take our order

Fantastic food, drinks and service!

Great experience overall except having to wait over 25 mins for a table even with a reservation

Server was a bit impatient even though we didn’t get waited on after 10 mins of arriving. The food and drinks were amazing though! Mercadito has always been a favorite restaurant of mine!

Fun spot, good vibe, good location. I would go back for sure.

Kind of a weird experience we ordered and ate but were then told we had to leave our table maybe 5 mins after getting the check. We were told other reservations were coming in for the table at 9:30pm. The issue was we walked out of there 5 mins later and saw probably about 6-8 tables for 2 open with no one waiting up front for any of them. I thought it was really rude and maybe the first time that’s happened to me in a restaurant that was literally winding down. I’m in the industry and have to say it wasn’t handled properly by our server.

The server was rude and asked us to leave for our next reservation when we were finishing up our drinks after dinner

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago. However, the other night I received awful customer service from our waitress. She was very short and disinterested. At the end of the night, after the check came and I tipped her very well, I was finishing my drink when she came over and asked my boyfriend and I to leave because there were “other reservations waiting to be seated”
Our meal did not take long at all, and we were only there after paying the check for a minute when she came to ask us to leave. I had made a reservation in advance, as this was a special night for us. I was very upset at the service we received and although it was once my favorite restaurant, I will consider going elsewhere for my next dinner.

One of the best meals I’ve ever had. The group of three of us shared the taco plates (3 small tacos/plate). In order of my fav: carne asada, shrimp, fish, pork, potato. They were all delicious. Every single bite was so good. Chips and salsa were great as well as the guacamole. Margaritas were some of the best I’ve ever had and I am a margarita snob. The only downside to this place is how loud it is. It didn’t bother me because I was so happy with the food! Absolutely worth a visit!!!

Great salsa and guacamole. Fast food and good margs!

Always a pleasure!

My party and I had a reservation at 8pm on a Saturday. We arrived at ~7:50 and ended up having to wait until ~8:25ish to be seated. The waiter then spilled/ice onto my appetizer plate and picked up the ice with his hand... (without getting me a new plate after). The food was too expensive for what it was worth, and I didn't like that you couldn't mix & match different types of tacos. In the future, I'd say this is a good place to go after work to get drinks and chips & salsa. I wouldn't go for dinner again. If you want tacos for din go to Big Star!

Love the food. Great place. Noise level too much for me!! Conversation is almost impossible!

Mercadito was our favorite last Fall and sad to say that they have changed the menu for the worse. Service is still stellar but the food changes are terrible. Sorry to have it drop off our list of must visit restaurants in Chicago 😔

Wonderful experience food was delicious. We had chicken, steak, pork, shrimp and lobster tacos all were delicious. Drinks were on point as well.

The food was amazing. The pricing was never a question. As long as the food is good, we don't worry about the price. The ambience was great. Liked the darkness of the area and the music was unexpected. Which is a good thing. We dine out often to restaurants similar to Mercadito and the music does not fit the setting. Overall I give Mercadito a 5 star rating. Will return soon

Great food!! Good service, reasonably priced. It was extremely loud, so if you are looking for conversation may not be the place.

Unbelievably pretentious.

The specialty is tacos, but you must order 4 of the SAME KIND. No a la carte, no mix and match. Minimum 4 of a single kind. That MIGHT be ok if the tacos were outstanding, but they were not. We ordered 4 types among 4 of us, so we got a good sampling. They were good, but not at all great.

Also tried the queso fundido with chorizo. Good cheese and generous helping of chorizo, but mediocre chorizo.

The waiter also boasted about the drinks, telling us that if we didn’t like tequila it was ok because the drinks weren’t strong enough to taste the liquor. He did manage to sell my wife and son on the homemade refrescoes, which turned out to be weak and flavorless. Possibly better if served with a spoon or straw to stir the flavor up from the bottom - but they weren’t.

Overall decent Mexican, but easily beat out by good street tacos.

Service too slow. They need to improve or maybe need more waiters

The food was great, the ambiance was fun and lively. We went to celebrate my husbands birthday with a group of 4. Our server was awful. She rushed us through our meal when we told her our order she just shook her head while looking at another table. No eye contact, no smile AT ALL throughout our meal. She brought us our check before we could even decide on dessert. I included on my reservation that it was his birthday and there was NO MENTION OF IT. We were so annoyed with her we decided to leave for dessert and drinks somewhere else. She should not work in the hospitality industry if she doesn't enjoy it. We weren't difficult, no special requests or order.

Great place to visit and great food. Super fast service too!!! Will be back.

The food was amazing however, large table groups definitely escalated the noise level to an almost unbearable level. Service was fantastic however the food was definitely rushed to the table. We didn't have 2 minutes with our appetizer when our meal and sides were jammed onto the table. Felt very rushed which killed the experience a bit. Again, amazing food so if definitely go back... hopefully when there aren't large groups though!

Drinks were good, food was ok. Nothing special. Service wasn’t bad but wasn’t spectacular either. Went here due to recommendation from hotel...won’t go back.

Love the food - so fun to share taco plates!!

Their margaritas were delicious and the shrimp tacos were one of the best I’ve had! So yummy!

We got normal guac (they gave different kinds) and 4 tacos each. I ordered the steak tacos and mushroom tacos. I thought the amount of guac we got was small for the price, but overall the size for 2 people was fine. The mushroom tacos were NOT how I remembered them years ago and I did not like them. Just way too much cheese and crema led to quite a soft texture all around. Had I received 3 tacos with that order, I don't think I could've stomached a third mushroom taco. The steak tacos were fine but nothing to write home about. All in all, a little disappointing compared to my first visit years ago.

It was my birthday celebration

Fast,prompt service. Food was delicious.

Excellent service and food!! Enjoyed it and we’ll go back.

Food was good but not amazing, the taco menu could be more accommodating by allowing different tacos in one order i/o all four the same, which made it hard to share with a vegetarian. Not a lot of vegetarian choices. Guacamole was very good. Our server was great. Outside seating was nice but very loud inside.

Great service and excellent food. Cocktails were super tasty and unique

The waiter was terrific, the food sublime. The noise level made conversations a bit difficult, but still worth the trip.