El Burro Loco
El Burro Loco is Spanish for “The Crazy Donkey.” I Googled it. I love Mexican food, so El Burro Loco is already my favorite restaurant. But, objectively speaking, it is also the best place in the Central West End to go for any of three reasons. First, if you love Mexican food. Second, if you have exactly $13 and either want to be the fullest you’ve ever been in your life at one sitting, or eat Mexican food for three straight meals. Third, if you like margaritas. This place not only has the best Mexican food in town, it has every flavor of margarita you can think of (I go for guava, sugar rim, don’t judge me), and you can get it in a cup so big it’s literally the size of a Nalgene bottle, a.k.a. 32 ounces. Plus, there’s the beauty of St. Louis — i.e. no open container law — so you could literally pour what is left of your marg into a Nalgene and walk away if you wanted to. On the weekends, a couple of little old guys walk around serenading you with mariachi music!
— Griffin P., M1
Mission Taco
Mission Taco — located in multiple locations around St. Louis, the closest being in the Central West End — serves good Mexican food at reasonable prices. As the restaurant’s name suggests, the tacos are the tastiest items on the menu. Subjectively, I would say that the BBQ Duck taco and the Carne Asada taco are the two best, though there are delicious vegetarian options as well. As with many restaurants in the CWE, there is outdoor seating that is perfect for when the weather is warm. Mission Taco’s one downside is that it doesn’t offer free chips and salsa. However, it makes up for this with a magical offering that no other nearby restaurant can match: $2 tacos and $2 tequila after 10 p.m. It did not take long for much of our class to become intimately familiar with these deals. The restaurant can get crowded around this time on the weekends, so you may have to wait, but it is worth it. Regardless of your stance on alcohol consumption, late-night $2 tacos are almost always immensely satisfying.
— Alex Y., M1