Today was our first visit to The OtherDoor and we shared three tacos, two were chicken and the third was brisket. We also ordered chips and pico de gallo. The chips and pico de Gallo were really tasty and worth visiting this restaurant for these alone. The chicken tacos were very tasty and also worth ordering g again. The brisket tacos....I would not order the brisket ever again. Coming from Texas, I'm very picky about brisket and this brisket was extremely fatty and not very flavorful at all. The restaurant is quite small with nice outdoor seating. The area where this restaurant is located is very nice, beautiful and comfortable and I do recommend The Other Door....just not the brisket. read more

The Otherdoor - Top - Chicken Tacos, Bottom - brisket taco - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

Food was great. Service, not so much. There was a teenage girl when I went, around 17 years old. She had no idea what she was doing! Also, when we went, they were out of half the menu. My little girl was so disappointed!!! All she wanted was dinner at a great restaurant. But I also love the restaurant itself. The inside is so cozy! Great seating, too. read more

Trying due to coworkers raving. The food setup is very similar to a Chipotle style of ordering your base (bowl, tortilla, salad etc), your protein, toppings and sauce... but more options. Wood door, easy to miss if you blink. The ordering counter is a small area, but plenty of seating to the side and outside. The facility was clean and not noisy for a Saturday afternoon. Service moved quick to clear the small entry area. The food was bland, but the guacamole and chips were excellent. I used my burrito bowl as a dip for my chips. They have 10 levels of heat for sauce, but some of the hitter did not seem to have ingredients that I wanted to mix. If I return, I will try the tacos. I did see several ppl grab and go with the burritos and they looked large. I think for the price and hype, I was expecting more. We did have a vegan in the group and they have those options as well. read more

I want to support this place over the chipotle down the street, but I'm here at 6:25pm on a Thursday night, and they are out of half of the menu. Seems to be a consistent issue here unfortunately. read more

The first time we came was great. The second time we left highly disappointed. When you order double protein, the first portion is a full spoon and the second portion is a half spoon. That is quite literally 1.5X, not 2X. This restaurant is supposed to be the anti-Chipotle, and that maneuver is straight from the Chipotle playbook. Uh oh! Editing the review after speaking with the proprietor: believe it or not, he made things worse! Bad customer communication, no effort to improve anything, and failure to internalize the lesson that if we wanted to argue over portions we would go to the Otherdump known as Chipotle. Removing one star from my original rating. read more

The Otherdoor has been on my radar for a few years (not sure what took me so long). I finally stopped in here for lunch last week with a buddy. The place is tastefully decorated, and surprisingly large. The concept is very similar to Chipotle, but with better quality food. Everything on the menu is fully customizable. I ordered three tacos: Pulled Pork, Beef Barbacoa, and Grilled Steak. All three were very good, but my favorite was the Pulled Pork. I also had a glass bottle of Coke with real sugar. Ahhh! Service was professional and swift, but not necessarily warm and inviting (I'll take professional and swift anytime). Prices are reasonable for what you get. All-in-all a very nice experience. read more

The Otherdoor - One Pulled Pork, one Grilled Steak, and one Beef Barbacoa taco. All three were delicious! - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

I don't have much to say about this pace other than it's the best tacos I've had in a long time. The sauces are all amazing it's a no frills place. Highly recommend for a good taco and a nice outdoor view. read more

Casual place to go in and get out in Lake Bluff. It also has plenty of room to dine in. The Otherdoor is a kind of Mexican American restaurant. For sure it's not authentic. Still, that doesn't mean this can't be good. After getting off the Metra, we explored the town a bit. In downtown is this locally owned restaurant. This is pretty casual compared to the fancy places around it, so we chose here because it would save in the wallet. It has a lot of tacos of course. There's also drinks. It has margaritas in plastic bottles. It's $7, and while the bottles are small, these are strong. The food is the best part though. Choose a combo. We got the Soft Taco combo, which was three tacos and choice of filling. It's $10 to get the Tree Hugger filling, which is vegan of course. This is made with basmati rice, beans, onions, roasted peppers, and tofu chorizo, and then it gets toppings. Good thing to get a combo. It's the best prices on the tacos, and you'll need to eat a few of these because they aren't that big, even though these are packed with fillings. There's good choices for vegans and vegetarians. read more

The Otherdoor - Margarita And Tacos - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

Man this place REALLY fell off. Every time I go they're out of at least one topping, but usually it's a lot more. They're also giving about half the meat they used to, I paid 17 for a barbacoa bowl with queso and there was almost no meat. It pains me to say, as I used to LOVE this place and they have some of the best tortilla chips and salsa out there. But the prices have shot up and the quality has really gone downhill. There wasn't much food in the bowl considering I got rice, beans, meat, peppers and veggies, pickled jalapeños, corn salsa, and cabbage. And the little barbacoa I did get was incredibly dry and crunchy. I don't know man, it just really isn't a good value at ALL. If I give them another shot, it won't be for a whiiiiiiile read more

The Otherdoor - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

Excellent quality, great taste, reasonable prices. 10 different salsas. Appears to be same kitchen and brought to you by same people that own and operate Inovasi, another excellent choice. read more

They absolutely ALWAYS have main items out of stock. 95% of the time i am in there they are out of steak, guacamole, chicken, etc. Won't recommend or come to this place until they start being able to keep more items in stock. pretty ridiculous read more

The food is absolutely delicious! This place was recommended through the Naval Base. Definitely a must have!

Came in for lunch and ordered a burrito. it was served with seriousely undercooked rice. I asked the staff to make me a new one, this time with brown rice. Again, the rice was undercooked...No apology, no refund...not coming back read more

Simple taco and burrito storefront with outdoor seating next to Inovasi. I ordered a steak burrito with extra meat with all the fixings with medium heat salsa. It was enormous and delicious. Will come back. read more

On my first full day in town, a friend took me out for lunch here. I'm a bit of a burrito enthusiast, as anyone who knows me will attest. To find a place that focuses on quality, locally-sourced ingredients and custom salsas is a true joy for me. I had a pork belly burrito with rice, beans, grilled onions and peppers, WTF salsa (9/10 on their spicy scale... I'll go for the 10/10 next time), queso fresco, pico, shredded cabbage, and corn salsa. This thing was huge and absolutely delicious! I will be back here whenever I can. read more

The Otherdoor - Menu and order area - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

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Jenna was awesome great service friendly with a smile unique pork, Carnita burrito bowl was awesome

Excellent fresh ingredients. This cold weather has us hibernating and we picked up beef barbicoa tacos and burritos. Their nacho chips are amazing with fresh guac. Easy to order, delicious and satisfying. Grateful! read more

If you want an amazing burrito /taco come to the spot. The other door is like no other taco location. It show cases their sauces unique ingredient a different twist on tacos and burritos. Building your own tacos and burritos how you like it no questions asked. Service is great ambiance is cozy and comfortable. read more

Food is usually good. Servers are very nice but there are times they are unorganized They seem to run out of various foods. Other than that I would recommend the restaurant. Super casual. Was easier to order when we could order on line for pick up. Not sure why that option was discontinued. read more

Great local option. Salty but generous portions. Many choices for salsa topping. Guacamole was surprisingly liquidy.

GreAt little Mexican take out spot in Lake Bluff. I ordered the chicken burrito and really enjoyed the bountiful flavor

I blame my coworkers for how long it took me to find this gem. Apparently they've known about it for years but never bothered to tell me until recently. How rude! The Otherdoor is a sweet little space in downtown Lake Bluff with a Chipotle-esque concept of burritos, tacos, bowls, and quesadillas. You move down the line choosing your rice, meat, and toppings. They have 10 salsas to choose from, all of which are described on a giant board behind the counter. I've tried the barbacoa and the pulled pork. Both are flavorful and well-prepared. Service has always been great. Today the woman working the counter and I got so distracted talking about Michael Jackson that we kind of forgot about my burrito bowl. Worse things have happened to me... It's a little more expensive than Chipotle or other fast-casual restaurants but the food is good and supporting a local restaurant is absolutely worth it. read more

There are better tocos / options in the area. Good portion sizes, but for the money a little pricey. They need better non alcohol options. read more

This place has unfortunately gotten progressively worse in terms of service. For starters in giving 2 starts. One for their excellent sauces and one for being a better option then chipotle in terms of quality and topping options. Unfortunately everything else about the place takes away the other 3 stars. Excellent ingredients don't mean much when they are VERY frequently out of them. It's not a great thing where if I decide to eat here, I have to hope that the toppings I want are available. We're not talking about just one or two ingredients either. I'm lucky if it's just 2. Usually it's 3-5 or even 6. And this isn't at the end of the day, it's been from as early as 11 (when they open so I guess they didn't food prep enough) to as late as 2pm. Not only that but I also have to hope that the staff will be in a good mood. Just like with the ingredients, if the staff is in a good mood then I consider it a lucky trip. Now they're not rude, but they usually have the "just hurry up, order, and leave me alone" attitude. The only terrible experience I've had with staff is when I tried to order two 8 oz cups of their sauces. I was told that this was an option by one of the staff many months ago. And have gotten this repeatedly throughout the months. These come with a bag of chips each. Or you can order a 16 oz cup and get 2 bags. Makes sense right? One day my friend and I ordered our two 8 oz cups and we're told that they don't come with chips. When we explained that their staff said that was an option and that we've been doing it for months, they said that that staff is wrong and they've never had that option. They asked a coworker if this was an option and they said no (that coworker has given me the sauces and chips before). They said that they'd have the manager come out so we decided to wait. Apparently the manager couldn't be bothered to come out so they just gave us the chips with the sauces but informed us that this option isn't available anymore. BUT the 16 oz sauce with the 2 bags of chips is. So essentially all I have to do is pour my sauces into each other and I magically get 2 bags of chips. Moral of the story, subpar service and incredibly inconsistent. The only reason I go is for their sauce since most of what they have can be made at home. read more

Definitely a hole in the wall, but surprisingly quality place to eat and chill with friends or grab a quick meal to-go. I liked the selection of salsa and toppings. Tasty chips as well! At least for the burrito bowl, I felt the portion size to be a bit small for what you pay. read more

When we lived here three years ago we came every week for tacos. Back on a visit this week and could hardly wait! But it was not the same! No pork belly or chorizo tacos and the tacos we received were much smaller... less filling in them than before. The duck was still tasty, the brisket was good but the pulled pork was dry and tasteless. The young workers were friendly but the gentleman who seemed in charge was lacking manners and friendliness and made us feel like we were interrupting his day. Sure missed the old crew and menu! The quality and taste are not there! Will give props for the brisket. read more

The Otherdoor is a restaurant I'd strongly recommend if you're in the area of Lake Bluff. With some delicious choices to choose from, while being overall a great meal with what you're paying for. Now to a solid comparison, this place is a step up above Chipotle in some areas while having a similar menu; what gives them an edge is some promising elements from meats such as Chorizo, Pork-belly, or even Duck. Then there's a scale from one to ten; pick your poison type salsa to choose from, with one called Limoncitos, which is a standard avocado sauce and ten being spicy- one I'd consider for those brave enough to try. Finally, there are toppings to select from corn salsa to queso fresco or cheddar, and many more others to choose from. While the interior of the eatery isn't anything to write home about, I'd describe it as a grounded type feel with two options to chose from to eat. You can either go outside and enjoy your meal or step into the next room in a reasonably sized room with tables and chairs to choose from. In my experience, I had a grilled steak burrito that I was pretty surprised with its size, having some black beans, rice, The Zeal Of Zapata sauce (level 8), and some additional toppings. My meal was both flavorful and spicy to the point where the heat was a bit much, but the kick added more into what I enjoyed the most. The group I came with enjoyed their meals as well, we even had a side sauce of La Malinche (level 10- the hottest) to try around, and sure enough, that was no joke. I'd love to return, and with the price being around nine to eleven dollars, I'd say you wouldn't mind the cost compared to what you're getting. So again, if you're around the city of Lake Bluff, give this spot a chance! read more

Located in downtown Lake Bluff, this place is a must try if you are craving for a burrito! (or tacos) Their ordering system is like Chipotle. You first order the main dish (burrito, taco or bowl), then you pick your fillings, add the toppings and the salsa and DONE! I'm not sure how busy they get during lunch rush so to avoid that, i got there around 11:30AM and there was probably only a couple people dining at the restaurant. In case you are wondering, i went w/ the duck burrito and it was fantastic! I got it w/ brown rice, corn salsa, lettuce, cabbage ( must add cabbage! give you a nice CRUNCH in your burrito!) and a sprinkle of cheese with the #4 Salsa. I personally don't like spicy food so.. with #4, there was no heat at all. I was told #7, #8 is where the heat starts to slowly creep in... and #9 is pretttttttttttttty hot hence the "WTF" name. With the #4 salsa, the flavor went perfectly well with my Duck Burrito esp if you do not like your food spicy. Or you dont need to add the salsa at all. Once you get your burrito, you'll notice they really do stuff the burrito with tons of filling. I was pretty impressed with how big my duck burrito was. The braised potatoes and the duck leg was just delicious. If this is your first time ordering and never had duck, i would highly recommend this. You don't taste the duck at all. My bill came out to be shy of $10. I feel like its a bit on the higher end for burritos but it was worth it! read more

The Otherdoor - Duck burrito! HUGE! - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

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My wife and I are new to Lake Bluff and have been trying out all of the local eats. We've been to the Otherdoor at least 3 times now and every time the food has been great. I love the variety in meat/salsa options and tend to try something new every time. I tend to stick to the bowls, but my wife has tried the tacos and nachos and has enjoyed everything. Overall, the Otherdoor is a great local eatery that we'll likely continue to frequent and would recommend to anyone else looking for some good, quick food. read more

Being from Austin, places like this are everywhere; but this isn't Austin, which I why I'm giving it 5 stars. They do make a great burrito, and the best part is there are TEN options for hot sauce! Want to try a few? Just get them on the side instead! The burrito was huge, leaving me full for the next 6 or 7 HOURS. Some good options to add to your burrito/tacos/bowl. If you're in the area, swing by and check it out. They also carry a great Chicago root beer too! read more

Overall: A very average Chipotle-style place. Honestly, I think I like Chipotle more. Not bad, but not great either. The good: Some interesting options to choose from when it comes to meat. Obviously, the standouts like duck and pork belly are fantastic. They serve beer too. Service and atmosphere were fine, just teens making food. But it's a pretty small place. The bad: Nothing special to be honest. Everything was pretty cold, wasn't extremely fresh. The pork was dry. Nothing really stood out, not even the hot sauce. Atmosphere: 7/10 Service: 8/10 Food: 6/10 read more

The Otherdoor - Pulled pork bowl - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

Worst burrito yet, i asked and paid for guacamole but i didn't get it. Pork was dry, i don't think it's pork belly. I wouldn't recommend this spot to anyone. read more

The Otherdoor - Pork belly burrito. - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

I find the ordering process, only in person, to be cumbersome at this establishment. The salsas are not spicey, not flavorful and not appealing. I ordered the steak burrito and received a very bland version of this typical Mexican offering. The worst part was that much of the meat was not clean and had fatty pieces that were not edible. A very poor experience. read more

We didn't like food, not fresh, one of us got sick We would not suggest this place Other places are better! read more

Great local spot in LB! Came here for lunch today for the first time with a friend and will definitely be coming back soon! It can be slightly hard to find from outside, but look for a big, wooden rustic door and that's it! The restaurant is attached to Inovasi and is actually the same owners. Loved their soft tacos!! I got corn tortillas with beef barbacoa, onions and peppers, fresh queso, sweet corn salsa, lettuce, and the salsa gringa as my sauce. The slow-cooked meat was so tender and filled with flavors of garlic, rosemary, grilled onions, and oregano. So so good! Ate every last morsel. They have tons of meats to choose from, toppings, and sauces ranging from 1-10 in spiciness. Compliments to the chefs! Workers were all in a friendly mood too and looked like they genuinely enjoyed their jobs. Can't wait till next time! read more

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Ok before you read further, STOP. If you want to go to this place, check out the photos here on Yelp, take a look at the picture of the door. This isn't like a "haha, what a cute picture" moment. This place doesn't have a particularly large sign and so, this door *will* be your way of identifying where Otherdoor is. The Otherdoor makes Mexican Food in the Fast Casual approach, the design pioneered by Chipotle where you build your own whatever as your walk down the line. The only catch here is that, well, you can't really *see* what they're making as you walk down the line given the height of the counter. This doesn't bother me but if you like that control, be aware of this possibly flaw. The Otherdoor heavily leans on its salsas for flavor, which is great since they're freakin' 10 of those salsas, all conveniently numbered on spicyness. I've only been there once while on travel with my family so I'm not even going to pretend I know which salsa is the best. All I know is that #8 was well appreciated by mom who loves spicy food to death and #2 was well appreciated by me who... well... let's just pretend that I don't melt easily. Final item worth noting is that yes, they do have a restroom, it's just in the other restaurant which you can walk into from inside. So don't be shy in asking about that. We need more Mexican places like Otherdoor in the South NJ area, but alas without that possibility, I'll just give Otherdoor 5 stars and tell em to keep it up. read more

The food is tasty. Service not welcoming at all, but efficient. We carried out. Portion size is terrible for the cost. My daughter and I had salad bowls: could not find the grilled chicken ( counted 3 small pieces in my salad), and there was about 1/4 cup shredded lettuce as the salad ( we replaced lettuce for the rice). The box it comes in wasn't even half full. So two salads and one bag of chips: $30.00. Bang isnt with the buck. I'd look elsewhere. read more

Don't understand how this place could have less than 5 stars? I've been living in lake bluff for a long time and once I moved, it's my first option whenever I'm back in town. The chips, the meat, the QUALITY, the nachos, the salsas, and portions are all on point so don't miss out! Service is always super quick as well so don't let a line scare you. And never leave without their homemade chips. read more

The Otherdoor - Mexican Near Me - Lake Bluff, Illinois

I've been back since my first visit and it was still good, I just wasn't as starstruck as I was the first time. I don't know if things changed there or if I just raised my standards, but I just didn't enjoy it much! read more

My mom arrived from Michigan and the first she wanted to eat was the nachos from the Otherdoor, but it's no longer on the menu. So sad, it was by far our favorite thing on the menu. read more