Queso Birtia tacos are amazing!!!! We went for lunch and it wasn't too crowded. Great service.

This place is SO bomb! The interior of the restaurant is so cute & every staff member we encountered was so kind & attentive! My husband & I are always scared when we try a new Mexican food place out because I'm Mexican so I grew up eating the real stuff & also we're from California which is full of amazing Mexican restaurants, but this place did not disappoint! The beans & salsa with chips they give you when you get there are yummy (in the picture we had already dug in so don't worry you get more than that lol). I got the Barbacoa taco plate & the flavor was ON POINT! My husband got 4 tacos: asada, adobada, carnitas, & tinga! All of them were so flavorful & not dry at all! The prices are honestly amazing for the portions & we will definitely be coming back again & again! read more

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This is my 2nd visit and review of El Gallo Giro. I hate saying negative things about places. It keeps me up at night. I would love to walk into a restaurant and come out with; "I love it, I love it, I loved it" and not have a single negative to say. But then again, if we never hear the bad, how can we improve? I used to manage "The Movie Gallery" in Nampa before movie rental places went the way of the DoDo bird. I loved to get negative reviews. Most managers and owners tend to take these personally and get defensive. My philosophy was always more constructive. If I only heard the good, and never any bad, how could I get better? There are always going to be bad reviews and bad experiences. Every business gets these. Instead of looking at them as negatives, how about looking at them as opportunities? By my talking to a customer that had a bad experience, I could fix the problem and improve my business. At the very least, I could go to that customer, apologize for the poor experience, and offer them something to win them back. I came into El Gallo Giro around 11am on purpose to find out what their service was like at non peak times. I was met at the door by a very friendly guy. It was an awesome greeting. This gets an A+ to be sure. I was made to feel welcome and special. But now on to my 1st opportunity. My daughter and I set in the first booth by the door. I sat down and something felt weird. Have you ever watched the news about sink holes? Places under the earth where water had undercut the top soil and the earth just collapsed into a large hole. Well this happened to my butt. It had fallen into a large indentation in the seat cushion and my butt was not to be found again. Our server was great in his greeting and through the order process and bringing us our food. But then he was.... peace out. He walked over to the bar where golf was on and watched it the whole time. I kept my eye on him to see what, if anything, he was going to do. He stood there and watched TV until we had finished and then brought us our check. The old saying in restaurants and business is, if your people have time to lean, they have time to clean. Having an employee doing nothing but watching TV right in front of your customers is a VERY BAD NO NO! It gives off the impression of a lazy employee. If they are too lazy to take care of their customers, then chances are that the kitchen is not being kept clean either. The other problem with this is that this person was not attending to us, his customers. TV was more important. We ended up leaving a $2 tip, and even that was being generous. I had the fajitas. On my 1 to 10 scale, I give them a 3. The chicken is in very small bits instead of nice meaty chunks so this makes it hard to taste. One of the pieces was grizzly. I asked for corn tortillas and, as normal in any Mexican restaurant, I was given 3. Where this tradition of serving only 3 came from, I have no idea. I always imagined that whoever came up with it was a baseball fan and thought 3 was a good number, since its how many strikes you get in an inning. Though Im guessing more likely it has to do with the number of Fajitas it is thought the average person can eat. Either that or 3 is the magic number thought to stay warm. Then when you are done with the 3, you ask your wait person for more. If our waiter had returned to check on us, I would have asked for more, but as it is, he did not, so I ran out and had to use chips. The tortillas tasted and looked like they had been sitting under a heat lamp too long. On a positive note, they improved their salsa since my last visit. It had flavor and a bite now. We even tried the hotter salsa. It was not too hot for me, and had good flavor. I liked this a lot. The only real reason I am sticking with 2 stars here is because of he wonderful decor inside and the improvement of the salsa. So as much as I am trying to like this place, I just dont. I might return here in a month or 2 to see if they have improved read more

Favorite family Mexican comfort food! Come early for a quiet booth, love the TriColor Enchiladas (one each beef, cheese, chicken) and the skinny Avocado chicken, and the skinny margarita. We will be back, and you should too! read more

Carne Borracha Molcajete Really one of the best Mexican places in Boise! Food is amazing and unusual. Service was perfect! Great drinks :) read more

El Gallo Giro - Molcajete Borracho Unusual items like this on their menu makes this a wonderful place to try. And the Margarita was perfect! - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

Salsa was very bland and watery. We had to send back the guacamole because it was rotten. I would not recommend this place. We got the soup and it was lousy, and service was not great. read more

Worst Mexican food I've ever had Stuffed jalapeños were loaded w jalapeños seeds. uneatable . Salsa had no kick Red enchilada sauce is like ketchup No seafood in the seafood salad Sent two dishes back Will not be going back Prices were okay service was okay but food was awful Yuck read more

El Gallo Giro - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

Just ordered lunch. It is at best terrible. Chicken in a tortilla is not an enchilada. The tamale was not good as well. The $17 entree salad was smaller than any side salad I have ever had anywhere. The rice is stale and we appreciate the ten chips sent with the lunch. Bland and ordinary. Taco time puts out better food. read more

The service was excellent. Or server was very attentive and friendly. I asked for a Spicer salsa and he was very happy to accommodate. The restaurant was very clean and had a pleasant environment. The food was filling, is the best thing I can say. I had the tacos al pastor and everything on the plate was very bland and the tortillas looked as though they barely touched the grill. My wife had a chicken quesidlla and it was flavorless also. The chicken appeared to have been boiled or stewed. The total lack of seasoning will not bring us back. Also when I tried to use the QRF scan option for the menu my card got hacked. read more

3rd time's a charm catching the new Gallo Giró open for service. Overall our experience was consistent with the other locations in the valley - ok with a few food and service misses. Service was polite and friendly. Asked for plain street tacos for the kids - received tomatillo and onion salsa. Asked our sever and she said "it's tomatillo salsa, it's not hot". Would have really liked to have had a replacement. Red salsa and kids hamburger was on point! The kids enjoyed the hot fries. The plate didn't seem to fit the skinny enchilada entree. Too much white space surrounding some verrry skinny enchiladas, about the size of an expo marker. Rice and beans would have been a nice touch on a 12" plate. The carne asada meal filled the plate and the flavor was excellent. The only drawback was the toughness and the doneness was well when asked for medium rare. There's promise in this new location. Having senior staff from the existing Gallo Giró locations may help front and back of house execute cleaner. Might try it again 6-12mo to see improvement. read more

El Gallo Giro - Carne Asada - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

El Gallo Giro catered our son's wedding rehearsal dinner and meet and greet event and all raved about the food! Our family is of Mexican decent and from Texas and the food did not disappoint and was so authentic! Thanks for a job well done! The Garza-Perkins Family read more

We just walked in with out any ideas what we will get the service and food is outstanding recommend

Third time certainly is a charm. I've frequented El Gallo Giro's two other locations often and was excited to hear about the newest location in Meridian. Polite-Delicious-Convenient-Timely I came in on a very busy Saturday afternoon and immediately noticed laughter at almost every table, people seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere and the service. You would think that because it was so busy that there may have been a long wait to get food or Margaritas that my party ordered (wasn't the case). I ordered a delicious "Gallorita" (Margarita) and had Pollo la Crema for my lunch. There were 4 of us and we were probably in and out of there in less than 45 minutes. I'll definitely be returning, there is an interesting cocktail menu and some desserts that I want to try! read more

El Gallo Giro - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

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Every single time I order from this specific restaurant the food is never done or makes me have food poisoning I don't understand because the one in garden city is great you guys really need to do better I have a pregnant sister that every time she eats here she gets really really sick so I'm not sure if it's a change in cooks or you guys are to busy but this used to be almost the best Mexican in Boise and now I can't even order a simple thing without getting sick and it's not just once or twice but maybe 5 times I've eaten here and every time it's horrible! I hope you really understand that you are making people sick. read more

El Gallo Giro - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

Everyone leaving reviews about this place are literally going out of their way to bash on this restaurant. This is their 3rd location so obviously the majority of Boise enjoys their food, service and atmosphere because if not they'd be closed down by now but instead they keep growing. I've lived in Chile and tried dishes from all over South America and Central America and I really do enjoy this place for some Mexican food! I appreciate the service of the waiters and the owner is always so kind to us when we come in. Great drinks, great food and a great time. They have a fun guacamole guy rolling around some nights and he'll make you some custom guacamole to your liking which is fun and good. Definitely recommend the fajitas, spicey salsa, grab a churro and ask Lucio what crazy drink he can make you behind the bar. read more

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Not too sure where all the negative reviews are coming from. Food and service were stellar. Menu- Simple, shorter than most menus at Mexican restaurants but you're sure to find something you'll enjoy. A shorter menu is usually a good indicator that the food will be good. Food- Awesome! We enjoyed everything we got. You can ask the kitchen to amp up the spice on most dishes and they'll happily oblige you. Service- Food came out in acceptable time. We have a pair of toddlers that act as the perfect timer for food getting to the table! Overall- Were coming back again for sure, hopefully on a night without the kiddos. read more

I tried the street tacos here, they were delicious. I tried the chicken, nothing special but it was chicken and I don't expect much from a chicken street taco. The asada was super good, lots of flavor. The carnitas was also very good with great flavor. Lastly the adobado, my favorite, so much flavor. You get the sweet and the spicy. The service was very nice and attentive. The table salsa was very good too. I haven't tried anything else yet but will be back for more. I read a review on here where this guy was trying to compare Texas Mexican food or "Tex Mex" as they call it to the rest of the worlds Mexican cuisine. I've lived in Texas and I've also lived in California. Please do not ever compare that garbage Tex Mex with any other Mexican food. Classic Texan thinking everything that comes from Texas is better. California Mexican cuisine is amazing, and comparable to the street tacos at El Gallo Giro. The guy who compared Tex Mex to this place gave a 2 star and that is why I am writing this. He is wrong and should go back to bland sloppy Tex Mex that looks and taste like a junior high lunch line slop. End of my rant. I would eat here again and recommend it. read more

One of the better Mexican restaurants in the treasure valley. Not excellent but not awful either. Worth giving it a try.

We have tried this Mexican restaurant twice now and each time the food was absolutely delish. Street tacos are now my go to! My husband and kids loved the chimichangas and the ceviche is out of this world! Plus the staff are attentive and super nice. Definitely a regular place for us read more

Folks, save your time and money. Taco Bell is better Mexican food than this El Gallo Giro location. The only similarity between this location and the original(?) in Kuna is the name. We were disappointed from the moment we walked in until the moment we left (which couldn't come soon enough), both in terms of service and quality of food/beverage. Things started off poorly when we first arrived as there was no host/hostess there to seat us, only a bartender who said we would be seated shortly. Once we were seated, it was a couple minutes before chips and salsa arrived (the salsa consisting of mostly watery red sauce), and another several minutes until our drink order arrived (waters for the adults and chocolate milk for the kids). Our food order was taken and then no further check ups until the food arrived, at which point I ordered a margarita. The margarita didn't arrive until the meal was half gone, and it was made with very basic store bought mix and very cheap tequila. No one at the table finished more than half their meal, as the food was simply not appealing. I typically let my tip speak for my satisfaction, but that was a little awkward since the server was standing there watching as I entered the payment information into the mobile payment device he offered me. It's a shame, as this spot has been through so many different restaurants over the years, but I'm afraid this is another that won't last. read more

This is some of the best Hispanic food I've had in Boise. Tacos were delicious and great options. Happy hour till 6. Will definitely be back! read more

El gallo giró did a great job of packing my order for under eats! Not only were they fast and efficient, but the food was outstanding. This is my first time getting ordering from them, and I will be ordering again. They also give you complimentary chips with some salsa, which I appreciated greatly! Highly recommend the horchata as well. read more

I think it took me a couple times to realize that I really like El Gallo Giro that much. Funny how that works. Service has been awesome every single time I've been in. Everyone is friendly, and while it hasn't been open very long, they've got regulars and know who they are. Enchiladas Popeye- first, cute name for spinach enchiladas with green sauce. Second, if you like spinach, these are really good. Taco Tuesdays- I'm not sure if it's all day or not, but every time I go on Tuesday, it's a taco buffet. If someone were to ask me what my idea of heaven is, two words- taco buffet. Molcajetes- if you have not had a molcajete, you need to shut your computer off, go to El Gallo Giro, and order a molcajete. The molcajete itself is the large hot stone mortar that the food is served in. There's a few options as far as meat and the type of sauce and veggies that go into it, but the end result is like... fajitas.... on steroids... served sizzling in a hot stone bowl. Try one.... it'll change your life. Last, the salsa is really good. I think I like this place a little more each time I go in. read more

I don't understand the poor reviews. We have been to El Gallo Giro many times. We get seated right away and the food is always delicious and quick! My husband always gets street tacos with grilled onions added (he says the grilled onions are the best thing ever!). I typically get the skinny avocado enchiladas or birria tacos. I'm also a chips and salsa lover and theirs is great! You can't go wrong with this place! One of my faves! read more

I wanted to like this place. I'd heard good things about them. The nicest part was the location and the decor. The waiter was aloof and didn't seem really friendly. The food was fairly bland overall. Too bad. read more

Yummy authentic Mexican food! The staff is fantastic and you will be missing out if you don't try their most amazing queso dip! #supportlocal read more

Had an amazing cinco de Mayo lunch!!! Everyone was super friendly! Love the services, especially Kailey our server to the bar tender Lucio and even better the cook Erika!!! Such a wonderful place. Even had great help by Priscila! Just a lovely staff and atmosphere. read more

It was okay. I had a beef enchilada, asada taco, and a Chile relleno. The Chile rellano was good, but the beef enchilada and asada taco were just okay. The beans were also good, but the rice was under cooked, and the salsa lacked spice. Probably won't order again, but would be willing to give another shot if meeting with friends. read more

Went for dinner. Thursday night. Apparently had a bingo night of some sort. We got the "birria tacos" and chili verde and 1 carnitas street taco. The birria tacos are not cooked on the grill in the meat broth as normal but very dry and tasteless. Somehow the meat is incredibly dry as well. My wife's Chilli Verde was well past tart, as if lemon was added, that she couldn't eat it, and she always gets the chili Verde wherever we go. This night they seemed much more about partying and drinking as when the waitress came to our table for the bill, which was the 2nd time anyone came to our table, and we stated we were not satisfied, only a half a taco was eaten and a few spoon fulls of the chili Verde, she did not acknowledge the statement, set the card reader down and walked away. This place used to have great food, a great chill atmosphere. Unfortunately this is not the case and is reminiscent of some of Gordan ramsays hells kitchens. Do not waste your time going here. There are much better places in town with owners that care about each customer and the quality of the food. ​ read more

Amazing margarita (the one named after the restaurant), great food, wonderful service, yummy chips, delicious Tamals. The kids loved the kids chicken burrito( chicken was tender) .. homemade tortillas. I truly love the margaritas. It is so hard to find a place that makes them not too sweet. The decor was bright and inviting. We went on Monday at 6 pm. read more

Yuck, don't waste your time or money. Salsa verde on the enchiladas was bland, the rice had no flavor & the beans tasted canned. My husband's meal was almost uneatable. His chili rellano was crap, taco blah, & the red enchilada sauce again tasted canned. Thankfully we filled up on chips before our meal or we would have left hungry. read more

Authentic Mexican dishes? Really? Worst street tacos or any tacos I've ever had. Couldnt even finish my meal. Just catastrophically bad. Save your resources and go get tacos somewhere else. I don't think it can get any worse. read more

Excellent Mexican food! I had the combination with an asada taco, chicken enchilada and chili relleno, and the hubby had the 5 pack of tacos (asada, pastor and carnitas) everything was so delicious and the service was quick and friendly. Will definitely be back! read more

El Gallo Giro - Asada, pastor and carnitas tacos - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

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We did door dash twice and it was great! Chile verde burrito is awesome! Also had the taco's. Delicious! The beans and rice are also very good. Our daughters favorite is the El mayor combo and wife loves the enchilada trio. read more

I've been to the new Eagle Road location 3 times. Two of those times I was very disappointed with the service and by the time I got my food it wasn't hot. The first time I went was with a group of about 20 people, even though we asked at the very beginning to get separate checks, they didn't and at the end of the meal they brought out the bill and a calculator so we could figure it out. That was a mess and took 30+ minutes just to figure out the bill and pay. The second time I went there was with a friend for lunch, and the service was great and the food was good. The last time was yesterday afternoon, it was not very busy, maybe 5 other tables with diners. It took about 30 minutes to get our food order taken and another 20 minutes to get the food. The waiter treated us like an inconvenience. When someone in our group (5 people) ordered a dish with ground beef, the waiter said only people who like bland, flavorless food order ground beef (although, no where on the menu does it list other meat options). By the time the food came I had filled up on chips and salsa because it took an hour to get our food. The food was luke warm. Then when we got our bills, my drink was on someone else's bill, and there was a 25% gratuity added to the total due. 25%! For poor service, long wait, and luke warm food. When we asked about it he said it is automatically added for groups. But we only had 5 people. It wasn't until one of our group mentioned the owner is a friend of theirs, that the server removed the automatic gratuity from our bills. I will not be coming here again. read more

Ordered some delivery from here and was sadly disappointed. The chimi was not crispy and actually very soggy, the burrito was a mess to say the very least. Extremely bland food the verde sauce was the only thing that had flavor and that was salt. The chicken was dry and bland and seemed like maybe it had been boiled. The chips were stale and inedible. Very disappointed in the price I paid for two lunches to be met with this sad presentation. read more

Definitely not the El Gallo Giro I remember from Garden City. We went when it first opened and food was just ok. I gave it another try a year later and had the same experience and lack of workers. Last night we went for my wife's birthday as we figured after being opened a few years would it get better but was SO wrong. Nobody was running the bar. The Waitress was nice and I believe was the owner but it was just her and what appeared to be a teenage boy running the place. My wife loves tableside guacamole but this was the worst I had ever had. Even the kiddo making it was asking us to try it as he was making it in a plastic bowl as it was like he had never eaten guacamole before. Street tacos were bland and the meat all tasted like it was reheated from 3 days ago. The only reason for 2 stars instead of 1 was the atmosphere looks amazing but unfortunately 3 times is enough and my family will never return to this place. read more

I moved here from California 4 years ago, so my standards for Mexican food is a little high. Today my husband and I tried El Gallo Giró and we fell in love. Their chili verde tastes homemade and their fajitas were delicious! If you are looking for amazing and authentic Mexican food you have to try them out. read more

We've been looking for authentic, delicious, flavorful Mexican food for quite some time and we found it here. The chili verde was the best I've ever had and the carnitas was equally delicious. I sometimes judge a Mexican restaurant by the quality of the margarita and it did not disappoint. It was definitely 5 star. Service was wonderful! I would highly recommend! read more

Hidden gem!! Loved the nachos Sat on the patio and the service was excellent! Went at 6:30pm and it wasn't busy at all. I'm surprised there wasn't a line to get in. read more