Review Barbacoa Mexican Taqueria - Brisbane

There is nothing more disappointing than biting into what looks like the most amazing burrito I’ve ever seen, only to eat a mouthful of blandness that was the culinary equivalent of watching paint dry. It’s disappointing because there were so many things this place did right. They toasted the burrito wrap in a press with cheese, leaving a layer of evenly spread melted cheese, ready for the ingredients to be placed. The ingredients looked amazing and incredibly well presented. I wanted so bad to enjoy this burrito. But, alas, I did not. The rice was bland and flavourless. The beans were bland and flavourless. And the meat was bland and flavourless. They put a chipotle sauce in it, but either it was bland and flavourless, or I gave up eating the burrito before I got to it. I’m sorry to say that if you’re looking for restaurant to fill the Mexican craving you have, give this place a miss.

Local, have been weary of Coorparoo square food, the barb was a bit wanky. It's exactly what you want for your money, guess it's on the higher side, but got a soft shell taco,v and it was good value for 5.5 with guacamole. Perfect place if you want something simple and tasty

Fresh ingredients, well priced and very tasty. The hot salsa could do with an extra kick, however there's extra sauce on the tables to add more spice to your life.

Was decent. prices not as exorbitant as gyg. more traditional chipotle which i liked. staff were very friendly.

I've been coming since the opening and i habe to say that i have never been disappointed. Big serves, great taste, friendly staff. Love it!

The good: Soft corn tortillas are authentic and made in-store. Taco size and fillings are good, especially the beef one. Room for improvement: Salads were freezing cold, chicken filling was lacking flavour. Overall experience was slightly above average. It is a good option if you fancy Mexican and are nearby.

Good flavours but the vegetarian taco was so wet because the refried beans are very runny and the other beans were swimming in a liquid. They were fresh and pretty tasty but the water content in the beans created a pool of fluid on my plate and made the bottom of my soft taco fall out. On the other hand it's really well priced, very clean, good service and the guacamole is amazing. White rice is the only option - I think black rice would be a better choice. As a vegetarian I give it 3 stars, but if I were eating a meat meal it probably would have earned more.

Amazing Mexican street tacos! We are on holiday from Oklahoma (America) and are used to authentic Mexican food and this place does not disappoint. The only negative thing was we went for lunch and they didn’t have soft corn tortillas, so we had to eat a hard corn...which was still good. Going back tonight in hopes for a soft corn tortilla.

This Coorparoo branch no longer exists (apparently not since March). Would be nice if the web site didn’t say it was currently open. Shame, menu looks nice.<br/>

TL;DR: Early days yet now, so give it a bit of time to sink in. From the get go, this is a good maneuver getting into the street food craze with a cuisine that has somehow not really caught on ever around this nape of the woods. This is as much about the food, as it is the atmosphere, and as it is with getting people together to socialise over the said food. More often that not, places have found success there, and with tacos, burritos and whatnot still making a splash where they are sold, Barbacoa can jump upon this and get a good deal of luck. The time is ripe, and the time is now. <br/><br/>With Coorparoo Square open, it is a work in progress with all the eateries that adorn the street-level area and many of them look pretty good with a couple of them more or less living up to promise. There are some which have a much-to-muchness appearance about them, and others are simply inviting patrons to them. Here is one of the latter. The kind of Mexican that is oft talked about in America, and from American folk's perspectives. It is also one of these places, that when it comes to the crunch, showcases to you that "authentic" and high quality need not mean having to cost a mozza to try them out. Some of the best eats when on holidays come from the grunge and the backstreets, or street food to say in a more appealing term. That is exactly what this is. <br/><br/>It was the start of the Wrestlemania weekend, which means a double-banger of PPV events to watch. There is the big one that has practically become lexicon, and before it was the NXT event to start up the hype. They were taking over New Orleans, and wherever they were ... it was time to get some delivery via UbeEats. Well, a bit of a story here. <br/><br/>After knowing about how to plan things in advance with UberEats, that is often what I do when planning around these events. There has been a time beforehand, usually having to reconfirm with a restaurant - but this time was something else.<br/><br/>The initial plans had one restaurant in Wooloongabba, however this was an exercise in mismanagement. What had occurred with the fist place was a dodgy way about going with business, and in The first restaurant had a pretty tacky way about customer service, and in co-operating with Uber about it. Let's just say, for it being booked so long in advance, with the restaurant stating that it was open, and for it to say that it was open on the day ... only for it to have been closed ... is definitely not a way to win over a customer base - even just a cancellation of the order out of nowhere would have been something better than making a client sit in waiting all that time. To that restaurant, terrible, and to the representative on Uber to get into contact and bring up the issue, much appreciation. <br/><br/>That venting out of the way, what was thankful was there being back up options. <br/>Thankfully, with that being said there was a back-up option right in here, and it was one that my house mate had liked the look of, and had stated what he heard that it was among the best that Australia had to offer in terms of Mexican fare. A burrito is good as a quick snack, and that is about what this place offers, and boy howdy was this number good. Like lightning, a few items were put to order into the UberEats app and much like lightning it was delivered to the house. Not having had much since that morning, this was like a heaven-send. Consider the total process took only about half an hour if that, when at the field the preparation must be like lightning and be efficient. That is already a mark up, even not stepping foot in the place just yet. <br/><br/>With it being Mexican in cuisine, this acts as a tacqueria. It makes the meal simple, and slightly in the guise of fast food via the structure of the menu. What they offer is tacos (hard or soft shell), quesadillas, burritos, burrito bowls, tostadas and nachos, then they offer the meats to put in the said snack. After that, a various lot of sides and sauces can be added into each one. As far as food goes, there isn't much more bar corn chips as a side snack to have with some dip. When at the restaurant, they have the Ensalada Bar. <br/><br/>Drinks are fairly simple as well. There are sodas - both the usual lot and Jarritos - plus a range of grog on hand. Being a Mexican place, of course tequila can be expected plus there is also coronas, ciders, and other such alcoholic beverages. As much as it is being talked up, this definitely has the guise of bar food about it. <br/><br/>Getting to the delivery order, this time around my house mate may have been sitting this one out; that did not stop me from getting enough of a range to go and give Barbacoa a solid and engaging enough critique. <br/><br/>Almost by default, when it comes to Mexican snack foods the big bonzana is the go. That is a burrito, which is pretty hard to beat. Right in these suckers is a combination of cheese, meat (I chose beef), beans and rice, along with a selection of sauces and garnishes. I added in jalapenos and one of the spicy salsas. When putting all these items together, it made for a satisfying and filling morsel. Burritos often come out being pretty big, and this managed to be one of the biggest that I had yet seen. It also might have been one of the tastiest. <br/><br/>While it was not the most stuffed, all the small components added up well. This was one burrito that was certainly toasted, in which the char-marks on the tortilla easily told that it got a good cooking. It was still soft enough to wrap around a hefty portion of plenty of items, which included some delicious rice, tender and buttery beef, good hearty beans, and the jalapenos added a bite having shown they were not skimped on. Maybe somewhat bland, the sauce could have been a bit more abundant to really spice it up, and as is the bar is set at a reasonable level. <br/><br/>After that were a couple of snacks. The first of these were some tacos, which came in a a pack of three. I chose the soft shell tacos, and went for the steak and onion filling with a garnish of onion and coriander. These tacos were pretty good, and while they could be eaten with one hand it would be a messy experience. Filled up with a lot of chopped tomato, and a couple of lime wedges for garnishing, this is one vibrant snack food. The steak was tender and juicy, the soft taco shells were moreish and complimented them well.<br/><br/>The last soul off the wagon were the corn chips, served with a side of guacamole. It is easy to write corn chips off as corn chips, but these were only lightly salted and made with a better quality recipe. The crunch in them was good, and they complimented the avocado dip very well - and that is made better knowing it is all home-made. This guacamole is a creamy and buttery concoction, and has bits of chopped tomato all through it. I generally am not here or there with avocado and guacamole, but I have to give it to this place with that. <br/><br/>As much as I was tempted to mark this one a tad higher in the score, consideration with the big picture had me think otherwise. This is not any knock against the place, because as of now there is none of that there. Simply put, bigger meals and ordering more is able to give a bit more weight to the hefty scores of 4.5 and 5.0, with 4.0 getting the benefit of indicating distinction regardless of it being a coffee and cake up through to it being a multi-course banquet. The point being said, the fare here definitely rates as some of the best Mexican that is around Brisbane - almost at the top in fact - and with it merely being a burrito and some chips, there is some good weighting to show its quality but it is not extensive enough to escape the hype sounding like hyperbole. Therefore, the 4.0 score gets put in place and the fare really rates as a lot better; for all this time, think of it as being packaging to something really nice. Now that is how you get a good surprise.

this place is awesome - apart from the subway style ordering, the food is actually really tasty. I'm a GyG fanboy but Barbacoa is on par with quality and is maybe even better on flavour.

Barbacoa looks fantastic.  The restaurant has a clean, unique decor that evokes Mexico without being a pastiche or parody.  The friendly staff are easily able to put together your totally customisable dish with their cleverly laid out counter, and there's a wide variety of options available.<br/><br/>The problem is they're all mediocre. This is hardly a novel problem in Australian Mexican restaurants, but you'd hope somewhere literally called Barbacoa would have a handle on things.  The Barbacoa itself is tender, but very wet and unseasoned.  The Conchinita Pibil similarly tastes like almost nothing, and although the Pollo Adobo was juicy and tender, almost perfectly cooked... It didn't taste like anything other then chicken.<br/><br/>The reagents el' taco are better; A bright fresh corn salad, coriander heavy onions, a decent guac (for which you will be charged $1 extra) and sweet, vinegary pickled red onions all add freshness and flavour to what's otherwise a bit of a letdown.<br/><br/>Protip: go for the chipotle salsa.  It's nothing resembling spicy but will add some much needed pop to your meal.I have to give Barbacoa props for making their own tortillas out of Masa and then toasting them in house, and going farther then most Mexican joints and actually using Mexican cooking techniques with their meats (I'm looking at you, Guzman, with your "pork or beef" nonsense).  It's just a shame it doesn't work out.

Quite possibly the biggest and most scrumptious burrito in Brisbane, if not Australia! Only Mexican place which offers melted cheese on the burrito, yummy! The quality of the produce and service is relative to the price, with majority of ingredients included in the price. The cost of the Guacamole, which I believe is $2 for most meals, is fair compared to the rising cost of avocados. Lovely staff, however there appears to be differences in the skill of some staff which slows down the process. Overall, very worthwhile!

Homemade tacos are to die for, and the Subway style service (choose toppings as you go) is perfect for picky eaters like me. Slowly going broke now that these guys are on UberEats

I love Barbacoa! I eat here regularly and the atmosphere, food and customer service are nothing short of amazing. The meals have so much variety, they taste great and are so traditional to Mexico. The burrito is a meal that never gets old. It’s the perfect blend of beautifully cooked meats, salads and homemade salsa. Way better than GYG 😉! It’s a great place for a family dinner. I would recommend going and checking it out.

Great fresh Mexican food. Staff are lovely and the restaurant is bright and colourful. Good value for money. I eat here quite regularly because of the quality of the food and service.

Went here for post-cinemas dinner on a weekend night. We ordered the Torta with Pork, Burrito with Chicken as well as a beer (Mexican) and cider (Victorian).<br/><br/>The burrito was good - lots of flavours and textures (we chose all fillings, including jalapenos), the spicy sauce (green one) added a good kick too. The torta was average - good fillings but everything leaked through leaving the bun soggy.<br/><br/>Service was friendly - however, even though it was organised in a production line, there were few instances where everything was held up to wait for the next person in the line to finish. Prices maybe a little on the pricey end. Casual ambience.<br/><br/>Overall, fairly average Mexican restaurant.

Bit cheeky to charge $12 for a burrito containing 50% tortilla and also the meat was cold...<br/><br/>The can of coke I had was cold, so you get a 2/5 for that!

Not bad but not great either. Choose your own Mexican fast food. The chicken in my burrito was good quality with a smoky bbq flavour. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there.