really wanted to try this restaurant. lots of Mexican heritage customers. Got to be good. Right? ordered whole fish and devoured it. GREAT! Rice barely luke warm. Didn't care for vegs, Charro beans would have been nice. Margarita was ok, short on tequila. Would give this a 4 star. I'll be back. Now my sister was .disappointed Her Los Portales rib eye was too small, over cooked, dry and rubbery. Her rice was barely warm. She won't be back. Zero star. Service a bit slow. Took almost 40 minutes to get food. Other people came, ate and left. My fish must have taken a long time. I would cook it a little less. Ambiance ok. Booths were really tight. Hard to get in and out. read more

Total crap for food. The foodie inside me was crying while I was eating. What a waste of time and money. Terrible service , he didn't even come back to check on us at all. The black beans were straight out of a can and cold on my plate. The chalupa was not even a chalupa. Honestly go anywhere else. The Chinese place up the street is great. This place is terrible all around. Also... zero regard for the pandemic at all. No masks , no gloves worn by the employees or patrons. The bathroom was nasty. The margaritas were AWFUL as well. The only thing I liked was the salsa and the salt on the rim of my margarita. read more

The food is acceptable considering the limited variety available in Hillsboro. It will do on those occasions where a craving must be satisfied. However, the service leaves much to be desired. I'm sitting here at the bar waiting for a to go order. When I came in and sat at the bar, I said I wanted to order a to go order, but will have a drink while I wait. Was served the drink but no menu. The servers moved away so quickly that it was impossible to stop them. The bartender said he'd be right back. At least 15 minutes later (after serving and taking the order of a couple who sat down after me, cleaning some glasses, filling the ice, and disappearing somewhere), I finally stopped someone else to say I wanted to order. So I wait for my order. In the meantime, the couple who sat down after me has finished their meal, another couple who sat down well after i did got chips ( I did not), and a third patron who also waited a significant time finally got his meal. He also did not get chips. Play by play until I'm served: I was just served a bowl of salsa?! Drink done, no one asking if I need anything... I'm sitting at the bar. Bartender left a 6pack cardboard sitting in my space at the bar. No eye contact. My drink is empty. Server asked the unfortunate gentleman near me if he wanted chips, he said "I'm kind of past that now." I want to buy that man a drink. Bartender is sitting on the side of the bar looking around. He can clearly see my drink is empty. I don't want another, but he should ask. Food is here, finally. I got in line to pay. Apparently the order wasn't complete because one of the waiters stopped me to give me another bag. I'm glad I wasn't already gone. read more

I "Was"a weekly and some times twice a week customer. But tonight 04.12.22 I drove to the place to make a order to go. It was at 6:38pm after 45 minutes I asked the bartender where my food was since she told me originally it would be 20minutes. 1 hour and 28 minutes later I asked for the manager because my bartender told me since I was a "To Go" order I was on the bottom of the list from people who came in to eat there. I spoke to the GM there and he told me that my money and time is NOT the same as people who come to dine in. Therefore beware of thinking if you come to this place to pick up food you will get it with normal timeframe I bought a couple of drinks there waiting and was never offered "We are Sorry"for your time or a deduction my bill. I will start going to Desoto ,Mo for my Mexican food My intent by posting this is to let everyone know to tell them your eating in when you order and once your food arrives to box it up yourself since they will not value your time waiting I hope the Owners of this place read this They lost a good patron to tonight Also after I just checked my post and read others ... before me... it looks like the Owners do not even reAd our comments and respond . Looking forward in giving the Desoto Mexican Owner my $250 monthly cash read more

The food and service is great at Los Portales! I love their margaritas too! We have been there so many times and will keep going back!

Very very nice experience here! Food was awesome and portions extremely large. Staff was very attentive, nice and respectful. I am looking forward to dining here again soon:) read more

Please learn how to make Margaritas! They are NOT supposed to be 100% lemon juice. Wow, was it TO sour. Enchiladas were good, and way to much for me to eat read more

I used to go here regularly for authentic Mexican food. Stopped here tonight for the first time in several years as I live about an hour away now. My, how things have changed. Service was beyond terrible, there were only 6 people in the place. Most importantly, the food taste has degraded as well. Looks like it has a different name now too but the old signs are still up. Hope you have a better experience than I did. read more

Hailing from Hillsboro, I have popped in here several times throughout the years. Is it the best Mexican food I've ever had? No. Is it a good value and welcome restaurant in a town mostly devoid of sit down establishments? Yes. Servers are very friendly and the food comes out fast. Definitely get your money's worth, just don't expect to be wowed. read more

Los Portales - a happy hour sign at a mexican restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Hillsboro, Missouri

Despite the low rating we decided to try this place for dinner. It may change the way I rely on reviews. I ordered the Pollo Jalisco that our helpful waitress recommended, one of the BEST meals I've had in a while... especially from a Mexican restaurant. The skinny margarita was perfection--so good! All that, plus clean restrooms! All around great experience- can't wait to go back! read more

Visited this place for a 50th birthday party celebration last night. We had around 20-25 people and they were very accommodating. The birthday girl was out of hand drunk and our whole group was kind of running around the place crazy. I imagine the other patrons were not thrilled with us, but the employees didn't mind. Good food, I had tacos, enchiladas, and tostada. They were all delicious. The only thing I would say negatively about this place is that I think they changed their Salsa recipe up a little bit and I wasn't really thrilled with the new Salsa. I am not sure if they did change it, but it did taste different than usual. I usually dump it on my tacos and eat tons of chips and salsa, but didn't this time because I wasn't a huge fan of what I had last night. Overall, great place. read more

Los Portales - a man in a sombren playing a guitar - Mexican Near Me - Hillsboro, Missouri

I swear to god the waitresses here are literal psychics, we go to ask here for more napkins and she already had a perfect amount ready. If you ever want to steak out a bank to rob then this is the place there's a bank right across the street although I do not condone robbing banks. If this place ever caught on fire it is perfectly close to a fire station so you'll be fine. read more

Los Portales - a plate of nachos with cheese - Mexican Near Me - Hillsboro, Missouri

When we arrived the door said kids eat free on Monday's, when we asked we were told they changed it to Wednesday's and wouldn't honor the special. read more

This is a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that Los Portales has the best Mexican food I've had since I left Arizona. The table salsa is super tasty and it comes with warm chips. The retried beans are heavenly. The bad news? There is a smoking "section." Although seated in non-smoking, the smell got strong enough that I couldn't finish. That's a bummer. read more

"Under new ownership " I used to bring my family here all of the time until the new ownership. The prices have dramatically increased and the quantities have decreased. Service is always slow. Food is good most of the time but will take you 45+ minutes to receive your food. read more

Crawling with roaches? Really? Please. The place was clean, flours swept...No bugs. This is your typical small local Mexican place. Not the best ever but definitely not the worst. Good food, good service, reasonably priced. read more

Years ago, I used to love this restaurant, but the last two times I have come here recently, the service and food has been awful. I give up. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn this restaurant had just opened, as they seem to have no idea how to manage a busy restaurant. Both nights I have come, (Thursday and a Saturday) we had been ignored for the most part, as the place was busy and uncomfortably loud. My child's taco salad was floating in some kind of liquid, and my enchiladas came out with some sort of white sauce on them. When I requested red sauce, they put something that looked like spaghetti sauce on top. I asked what it was, and they said it was Ranchero sauce. It was inedible. So very disappointed, and won't be returning. read more

Terrible Asked for frozen mango got one o the rocks. Then brought frozen. Margarita tasted like 90% tequila Took 3 drinks trying to see if it just needed to be mixed. That did not help. Just asked them to take back& it was too strong. I did not want another one. He doesn't apparently understand that I said it was too strong because the he brings me a shot of tequila to put in the drink that was already too strong. There was no taste of mango whatsoever The chips were old & stale guess that what happens when you go in at 9:20. They wanted to close by 10. Although it says open till 10:30. Got the bill they had charged us $3.99 for my 3 drinks. When we asked they said because I had drank some. The margaritas were $6.50 so he had to charge me half of that. How he came up to $3.99 I will never know. Half would obviously be $3.25. Literally had not even drank but 3 drinks out of that glass. It wasn't even 1/2 inch gone from the top. He said that all their margaritas are already pre mixed & there was no way there could be too much liquor. read more

I'm as surprised as anyone that a Mexican place in the middle of JeffCo is at least as good as any of the comparably priced Mexican places in St. Louis, but it is what it is. Easily walkable from the courthouse. My biggest hesitation at any lower priced restaurant is shredded chicken. I've had some bad experiences in the past where its pretty clear that they got the cheapest chicken they could and figured "Why would we chop off any of these nasty bits, it's all getting shredded anyway?" I'm happy to say that the chicken is top notch. I get the nachos with chicken and queso sauce, and I regret that I only come to Hillsboro for work because they would be perfect football-game-watching nachos. read more

Looks and tastes like new management. The menu is new and a more condensed version of the previous. Food was good , margaritas were perfect

Sorry the place was crawling with roaches the night my husband and I had dinner there! We were really grossed out will never go there again. read more

Excellent top shelf margaritas! I also love the $1 taco Tuesdays. Service is also good. Chips could be improved as they are on the thick side and I prefer a thinner crispy chip. read more

Los Portales is that friendly local place where you are sure to run into somebody you know. The food is not the best mexican cuisine I have ever had, but we are in Hillsboro after all. It is a great place to hang out with friends, be loud if you want, and have a good margarita. The service is fair, the prices are great. I would definitely recommend. read more

OK - I get it, it's Hillsboro but the new ownership needs to get it together. Went there today - the place was empty - no other people. Were seated and given salsa. No chips. Waited, and waited and after a while we were brought chips - we said we were ready to order and were told someone else would take our order. Waited some more and were just about to leave and the waiter arrives and takes the order. He seemed aggravated we asked for water. The chips were stale and the salsa looked and tasted like ketchup. Very odd. I ordered a guacamole salad, something I order many times. This was horrible. The lettuce was brown and unappealing. There was one half of a slice of tomato - and it was the end slice with the core still there. There was a spoonful of guacamole, which was pretty good. I wanted to send the salad back, and ask for the other half of the tomato slice but we never saw the waiter again. We just got up and stood at the pay station and waited....again. Finally a man came and we paid. I told him - after I paid - that the salad was not good. He just smiled and nodded his head. I don't think he spoke English. Horrible food, horrible service. Please....we need a decent Mexican restaurant in Hillsboro! read more

This restaurants atmosphere is a bit run down, dark, and dingy. The bathrooms are pretty bad with both stall doors broken. That being said, chips and salsa was good and special 3 wasn't too bad. Service was fine as well as price. read more

The food was fantastic. Chips and salsa were par for the course. Service was a little slow, but that's fine. Will be returning.

Great Mexican food at a reasonable price. Especially for a small town Mexican restaurant. It's always clean and fast friendly service!!

Ok first off the food was very good, now for the real story. First off the place is filthy, there was hair stuck to my table! But that's not the worst part, when paying my bill which was $21.41, I clearly wrote $3.59 for the tip and clearly wrote $25.00 as the total. Two days later I received a notice from my credit card company that I had left a 40% tip because 3.59 had been changed to 8.59. I called the manager and the receipt had magically disappeared. If you choose to frequent this business I suggest you pay cash and watch your wallet closely. read more

I've been there quite a few times. The food is usually decent however that depends on who is the cook, the service is very friendly and it doesn't take long to get your order. However, the smoking section is horrible, filled with smoke so badly that it must bug the other customers in the non smoking section. I wish the menu offered more healthy options like Applebee's. Very friendly environment, can get loud though, and good service. read more

Much improved!!! My husband and I quit going there about a year ago, due to the lousy customer service skills of the old owner and staff. We decided to stop in for drinks last week and learned it was under new ownership. We decided to order food to go and it was excellent. We went back again last night with the whole family. There was a bit of a wait for our table but it was well worth it. Our server did a fine job and the owner came to our table twice to check on everything. He definitely has gotten it right! read more

Very disappointed. Was told that this was the best Mexican restaurant in MO so went along with it. First the AC was not working, that's okay reminds me of ole Mexico. Second as we had a large party (7) we were seated in the smoking area. Not my choice but went along with it as no one was smoking at the time of seating. So far okay. Waiter was friendly gave us 7 menus. Helper brought chips and salsa. Chips were warm and average. Salsa that was built up sucked. Not much flavor and very watery. Now we start going down fast. Waiter came back after 10 mins and asked what we wanted to drink. About another 10 minutes pass and we get partial drink order. Waiter comes back about 5 minutes later and takes 5 of our menus. Okay so still waiting for the rest of the drinks and to take our order. In the meantime, a smoker comes in and it was just too much. Wife went to ask another worker if we could move. We did. Still no waiter to take order and still waiting for seconds on chips and salsa. Another worker eventually lets our waiter know that we moved. 10 more minutes and he shows up. Oh you moved? Yep into non smoking area that still wreaks and no ac or fans turned on. Order finally taken. Chips and salsa arrive. 15 minutes later dinner served. Wife ordered two tamales and refried beans. Only looked like one tamale and she could not eat the beans. I got the "California" burrito. What an insult! Not even one thing good to mention. Finish what we could. Ask for take home boxes for the dogs. Again long wait and even longer for the check. Check arrives and of course it is wrong. Another 15 minute wait to get corrected check. Go to cashier and check still not right. Eventually gets corrected. Leave. Suggest if you do go with kids to sit outside so the smoke won't bother them. Needless to say I will not be going back. Still in search for real California Mexican restaurant in St Louis area read more

Love this place, great food and most of the servers are awesome. My go to fajita place, Yumm!!

Based on todays visit. Poor service cold food and no refill in drink. Brought us out salsa but couldnt get any chips. Ate here before was good but worst sevice today than ever. Tried to tell them but they just didn't get that my chicken on my nachos was cold. Cheese waa hard and cold not melted at all. He didnt try and make it right. Don't know if I will go back read more