Zocalo

Dinner was great. I had Carne asada cooked perfect my gf had the chicken smothered burrito she loved that it was all grilled white meet. Salsa they serve the table was great, ha a nice spice to it. Priced very reasonable. Only knock was the margaritas lack flavor and the beer I think was a little bit flat. Other than that it was great will definitely be back! Service was great and very friendly!

I’ll start with the appetizers. All of them looked like they had been taken out of the freezer, thrown in the fryer, then served on brown lettuce. We sent them back and they still showed up on our check at the end.
The salsa was good, the chips were a little stale. Everything upon which our meal was served was chipped, which adds to the general neglect of this place. When we pulled up to the restaurant, I thought it was closed and had been for awhile. Our friends asked us to meet them here because they had a Groupon.
I ordered the Tampiquena steak. It was tough and the plate was swimming with grease. I guess I should have read the description closer: why is there CHICKEN mole on this steak? Perhaps that was the only flavor on the chipped plate.
My companion ordered the Carnitas. They were reasonably tender and tasty, but the soupy plate should have been served in a bowl.
Across the table were Fajitas that looked like what you would get anywhere, nothing outstanding.
They must have opened a new bag of lettuce shreds after we sent back the appetizer and pointed out how ugly the lettuce was.
From an atmosphere point of view, the floor was filthy, the formica edging on the table was missing, so glue residue on particle board was part of the décor. There were four tables in the place and three other tables with dirty dishes that sat that way the entire time we were there while the server disappeared in back.
People who give this place high marks must have really low standards.

I love this Zocalo location, not because it’s the most convenient, but because of the service and food! My husband and I come here A LOT. Its delicious food — I order the «Tampiquena» which is flank steak alongside a mole enchilada with beans and rice. I also get a «chile toreado» on the side for some spice. Oh, and their taco Tuesday is the best — the tacos are small but because they’re so cheap you can order a bunch! The carnitas are also note-worthy…try them in a chile relleno.

I’d never even heard of Zolcalo, but after driving by it we decided to take a gamble. The place was almost empty when we came in, which made sense since it was 15deg and snowing outside. Very friendly server greeted us immediately.
I have a habit of judging Mexican restaurants by their chips and salsa, and Zolcalo’s in phenomenal. It’s none of that straight from a jar stuff you often find, it’s homemade, delicious and spicy. The server said the owner makes it everyday with different ingredients and I 100% believe it.
The food itself was fantastic too. Perfect portions, cooked well, not super greasy, just great simple Mexican food. Had the veggie burrito, which was a step above the vegetarian fare offered at a lot of local places. Best part, dinner for two was $ 20. You could easily order an appetizer and a few rounds of drinks and still be out less than you would at a majority of other places. OVerall very happy with the experience and we’ll be back for sure!

First off, walking in for lunch time, it was dead. The waitress was kind of slow and it was a little irritating. I felt like a 12 year old was waiting on us. Anyway, order lunch and my cheese enchilada tasted like it was just melted cheese with a tortilla. Not much flavor. The beef taco was alright and the relleno was just okay. I would rate the food as sub par, nothing to rave about and the service as just okay. The drink specials are really good though! If you want good Mexican food, this won’t satisfy. Sorry to say!

Zocalo is a pretty nice little restaurant on South Broadway. I went on a Wednesday night, and it was not busy whatsoever — maybe two or three tables were occupied. The waiter was very friendly and helpful. The salsa was delicious, and I had a veggie burrito that was awesome — it also came with vegetarian green chili which was tasty. I’m a former vegetarian, so while I eat meat now I can still vividly recall my frustration at sub-​par vegetarian alternatives at most restaurants, but this was quite good — and a large amount of food. The Nuggets were playing when I was there, and they had the sound on for the game, which is nice for the fans. I would definitely come back and try out their other menu items in the future.

Service: Pretty good there was only my boyfriend and I and then another group in the restaurant. There was just one server in the restaurant and I’m assuming a cook in the back. We ordered, the server gave us chip and salsa, we ran out of salsa and she was back in a few minutes to refill. That was really nice not having to wave someone down.
Food: Really awesome food. I had fish tacos and loved the marinade on them. When I go out to eat I’m always concerned that the food just came out of a can or pot that has been sitting all day. I get that concern when the food come out right after I order. It took about 15 minutes and I was beyond impressed with the freshness of the veggies in the tacos.
The only thing that I didn’t like was they had pop music blasting on there patio. Once inside it wasn’t as bad but the same Lady Gaga was playing in the speakers. Good food and service compensated for that.

It saddens me to change my review for this place.
We went in last night and they were busy. Like, no one acknowledged us till 10 minutes after we walked in busy. I understand — it happens. But, I would appreciate customer service that is friendly when you finally acknowledge me. No «hello» or any greeting, just yelled «5 minutes» in our direction and walked away. The party before us apparently was told 5 minutes as well. However, they grabbed the bus boy to ask how long it would be since they had been waiting a lot longer than 5 minutes. He said another 20 – 30 minutes. I understand long waits but please be honest and courteous about it, don’t lie and say it will be 5 minutes. 2 groups that walked in after us were sat before us (no one was taking names of parties on a list — it was just a seating free for all). Finally, after nearly 25 minutes of waiting my fiancée went to talk to the owner to get a real estimation of how long it would actually take. He was not helpful at all and so we left before we even got food. I am SO bummed because we frequented this place and I figured he would recognize us by now. But apparently not.
All in all, super disappointing customer service. Never going back. Which is a huge bummer because that place is tasty.

Great first impression!!! I’m glad we finally decided to try Zocalos! We’ve been seeing it all summer with the DQ right across the street and all (another perk).
First off, the salsa is delicious (a bit on the salty side) but had a great flavor and perfect amount of spicy. We also tried the queso dip with chorizo… WOW! One of the best queso dips ever! For dinner I had the Loco Burrito with roasted jalepenos and carnitas in it! It was awesome! Chips were the perfect amount of crispy.
Overall everyone liked their food… $ 2.75 margs all the time. A great happy hour ($ 5 Don Julio shots and ½ priced apps, among other things). The menu is very inexpensive for the portion sizes… we didn’t try dessert (read about DQ above), but I can only imagine.
Like I said, I’m glad we finally tried it and can’t wait to go back for mas!

Disgusting. Dirty chip baskets… I mean CAKED with food from years past.
This place is clearly going under… service was SLOW
They were out of NEARLY EVERY tequilla… I asked him for a shot of Cazadores and he holds up the bottle and says, «I only have enough for one shot…»
Fajitas did not come out on a sizzling plate… and didn’t come with sour cream…
Went there on Saturday early dinner… place was nearly EMPTY… Should have been a sign… I didn’t want to go there but m GF did, so we went, and will NOT EVER be back…

Ever go to a place and notice that «we don’t get it» kind of vibe. That is Zocalo in a nutshell. Not again, I will go the few blocks south to El Tejado where they do get it.

Yay I’m the dutchess of zocalo! We are regulars here for a couple of reasons. 1. It’s close enough that we can walk there with our kids and still drink margaritas. 2. The food is very yummy. I’ve never had anything there that wasn’t. 3. The margarita’s are pretty good. Sometimes they’re great, and other times they are a little too sweet. I’m very picky about my margarita’s so that is still saying a lot. I little more consistency on the stronger, less sweet side would probably give them 5 stars in my book. 4. We almost always have the same waitress and she is super sweet. Everyone else that works there is really friendly as well. This one is on South SOUTH Broadway which is a quirky, up and coming little part of Denver. You need to get out here more often.

WOW. Talk about great food! I’m going to admit, I’ve ordered from here 4 times in one week in the past (sigh). I just could not get enough of the food. My favorite thing to get here is one of the most simplistic on the menu — beef enchiladas. I don’t know what it is about this meal, but everything just works great together — the red sauce, beans, meat, and corn tortillas just all taste SO good together!
One of my new favorites, however, is the Nachos made with their Queso dip. It is an AWESOME pile of food that is sure to satisfy any hunger. And their Queso has a perfect amount of spice to it. My only recommendation for this dish, however, is if you have it delivered, request that the items be separated. When they combine everything into one to-​go box, the food just steams itself to death and NOBODY likes soggy nachos.

The place reeks of neglect. The tequila brand mirrors on the walls look like they were hung on nails still there from something else. The entire front of the bar needs repainting. Half the tables in the restaurant are missing the rubber trim around the edge and are just bare wood. There is a strand of «Cinco de Mayo» flags snaking through the bar into the dining room and it’s mid-​JULY. There are very few things on the tables, but they aren’t arranged neatly. The ceiling tiles are painted black and sit crooked in the suspended ceiling grid. The signs for specials are put up haphazardly and are curling. The overall feeling is sad, sad, sad.
Don’t bother with the Fajita Quesadilla unless you want a ton of onions, a small piece of bell pepper and a few slices of meat. The taquitos taste like frozen, as do the rellenos. The salsa is excellent, but the guacamole lacks seasoning. Every plate on our table was chipped and there isn’t any glassware in the place — margaritas come in plastic stemware that is old. The chopped iceberg lettuce was brown and wilted
There is nothing about this place that feels like anyone cares. The dumpster is overflowing. The patio looks nice; but there isn’t any music and the painted concrete is worn — I guess someone used to come here.
This looks like one of those places that is prime for a Restaurant Rescue: neglected, sloppy, filthy, worn and unloved.
Nobody cares about this place.

After driving by Zocalo on a regular basis since it opened, we finally gave it a try on Friday night. Overall, it’s a three-​star review, but three «this has potential and I’ll definitely be back» stars, not three «meh» stars.
The wait was 20 minutes or so, but the host and servers were all friendly. The drink menu has a wide variety of margaritas with a range of tequilas– the Don Julio one was reasonably priced at around $ 8, and was delicious. They claim to have won Denver’s Best Chips & Salsa, and this seems pretty deserving– the salsa is perfect and addictive, with the right amount of heat and smoky flavor and a hint of cumin. We may have had several bowls between the three of us.
Order accuracy is where Zocalo lost its stars– we were one for three on correct orders. We ended up with:
–appetizer platter for my husband, as ordered. He really enjoyed everything in this: a small chile relleno, taquitos, and especially the quesadilla. At $ 7.50, this is a steal.
–steak street tacos: my friend had these and said they were great, with a nice cilantro flavor. She ordered the chicken, though.
–combo with beef enchilada, beef taco and beef burrito: I ended up with this and ended up really liking it. The enchilada sauce was delicious and the beef had a great flavor, and I’m not usually a fan of Mexican restaurant ground beef. (What I’d ordered was the chile relleno, chicken taco, rice & beans combo).
–fried ice cream and sopapillas: we opted to keep our wrong entrees because we were hungry and they were tasty, and so we were comped with desserts. Both were good.
I’m actually kind of glad I ended up with an enchilada, since good enchilada sauce is hard to find. I’ll probably double check and make sure my order is written down correctly, but since I’m still thinking about that salsa, I’ll definitely be back.

Fourth visit, things are looking up! The heat is on, they’ve added breakfast and dirt cheap drinks, green chile has some kick to it today! Hopefully they can get some consistency and pick it up!

Another great Mexican meal at Zocalo! The veggie burrito was the perfect savory dish for a spontaneous lunch out. The burrito was HUGE – easily enough for 2 – 3 meals. The grilled veggies stuffed inside were delicious (I swear, those onions were caramelized!). I would have liked to have tried the mimosa with my meal, but I was informed by the waitress that I couldn’t combine promotional pricing with my Living Social deal (bummer!). But, with great food and excellent pricing, I’ll be sure to try it some other time!

Though not official authentic Mexican food for the super picky about such things, this is the best Mexican food I’ve had in Denver so far. Laid back with fantastic music (think everything from Peter Cetera to Regulators), the drinks are strong, the menu vast and decently priced, and the service attentive. The food is good, especially the fish and steak, and the guacamole and salsa is also delicious. It’s a good bet for a casual night out when you’re craving Mexican.

Great addition to the neighborhood. Some of the best Mexican I’ve enjoyed in Denver, this is our go to spot. Hopefully they can keep up the good work and survive the curse of the building. They just recently started a weekly specials menu, some great deals on there. You and your life partner can enjoy dinner for usually under 20 bones. I almost forgot to mention the salsa, which is amazing. I usually order it by the pitcher, and finish 2 – 3 pitchers before my meal even comes. The steak they use is «very niiice». Carnitas are best the I’ve had in Denver as well.

Pretty good food! We came here with friends and found this place via Unilocal.I doubt we’d have found it without Unilocal to be fair.
The service was good on refilling chips and salsas. Drinks as well. The food service was pretty slow, but we all got our meals HOT! Plus 1 for that.
The margaritas were cheap, and tasted cheap, but we weren’t there for gourmet margaritas.
Rather than splitting up the bill, LIKE WE REQUESTED, the guy who brought the bill just acted all of a sudden like he didn’t speak English. Come on man!
Overall, above average food, below average drinks, fair price, good chips and salsa, fun atmosphere, average service. Its a legit 3-​star with potential for more stars if they start caring.