Mercadito Counter

Tried to go to Mercadito Counter on Friday night and it was closed. Sounds like they may be out of business, which makes me sad because this was a neighborhood favorite.

Love this place!
Kinda like Chipotle, only better cause they have TJ dogs. More expensive on the whole though.
Best part is they have a Taco Eating Challenge where if you eat 35 in an hour you win FREE TACOS for a YEAR!!! If you fail it’s 50 bones, but at least you’ll have given it your best shot at glory.

One time I had a friend who had a craving for shrimp tacos.
I used my Unilocal app on my tele and asked it for an open at the hour of late where was this place.
I walked the streets and sidewalks a bit of ways and with the help of technology and my nose found this location.
The people were nice and listened to me as I made a verbal request for food.
In exchange for waiting and an amount of money displayed on the register machine I was granted a bag of food in which I traveled back to my origin of the eve and where I rendezvoused with my friend with cravings.
I made the drop and found out later my friend was happy.
I found a bag of happy in this place.
nice.

Give me a Baja style dog please. «We have no dogs.» You mean your menu is incorrect? «We are fresh out of hot dogs but we might get some in a little while. Maybe come back and check?»
This might explain the fact that there were only 3 people in the place during the lunch hour. I will certainly not be rushing back to check on whether or not they have restocked half of their menu.

Ordered from GrubHub. Crazy good mushroom tacos — layers of simple flavors that combine to create such an outstanding result. All of the juices have been sautéed out of the mushrooms and they are nearly caramelized but not even remotely dry. Lightly tossed with salsa verde, perfect amount of cheese to add just a little punch and hold everything together when melted. I’m blown away.
Nachos and guacamole — chips were really fresh and light, corn tortillas were thicker and less pliable than I’m used to. Note to self — try nachos with mushrooms as soon as humanely possible.

I swear, I really wanted to like this place. I love mercadito, I am obssessed with tacos, they are close to me in river north aannnnd they have $ 2 taco Tuesday. The problem is that we rolled in there about 6pm on a Tuesday and I think a big olé ball of tumbleweed crossed our path. Not a single person in there. So, we, plus the staff made up the entire place. Fine. Not alarmed. Lets do this.
We came for the $ 2 tacos, because who doesn’t love meats and veggies on a delicious soft tortilla for less than the EL train ride over? Answer: nobody Im friends with… So, we assess the 8 or so taco choices that we would consider downing and ask the nice young woman working if all the tacos are $ 2? Response, yeah, most of um… except the «seafood». Stumped and bewildered, we looked back at the menu (as well as a sign to explain that «SOME TACOS» were $ 2). The menu displayed (among others) a battered fish taco, another fish taco and a shrimp taco… we assumed these were the «seafood» options and hence not $ 2. Interesting because there were only 8 tacos total… not a smart person but thats damn near 40% of your tacos NOT $ 2. Anyway, we ordered each of the other (5) 60% of the taco menu which IS $ 2. Now, of these 5 tacos there was 1 we would eat again…1 thats 20% of the $ 2 menu that we would eat again…12% of the total taco menu…
NOT GOOD.
I dont want to sound like a broken record but… this place was lacking in many things. The food… was cold. Legit cold. There was not a single taco that was warm even luke warm. I dont understand how this happened, but it did. Again, we were the only people in this place. Even if you have to fire up the microwave… make it happen. Brutal. Aside from the temperature, they were lacking in taste. We covered each of them with a ton of hot sauce just to get them down. The beans and rice, were the best part of the meal. Thats never a good thing.
It was also not very clean. As if, we had walked in after the lunch rush… if there is one here. But, we were there at 6pm and right at prime dinner time. Should have been better.
Wish this place the best. Maybe its better on non-​taco-​Tuesday nights?

When this place first opened I was super excited. The food was really good and I was willing to overlook a couple issues with service. Over time though the food quality has gone down, and the service has actually worsened.
They seem to have changed the preparation on some of their food items, and the new versions are just not as good. Additionally, even though this is supposed to be a fast casual type restaurant, it always takes at least a half hour for our food to come out. This is even more confusing given that this place is never busy. I live nearby, and every time I have stopped in recently it has been completely empty. Yet there is still a crazy long wait to get your tacos. I have had other issues here as well, such as the tables in the dining area are frequently left dirty, lack of silverware, lack of salsa etc. In the end, the negatives for me are now outweighing the positives at this place.
I am not sure how much longer this place will make it in the competitive River North area, and I unfortunately will have to start looking elsewhere for tacos.

If you have a hankering for some Mexican food after midnight, this is the best place to go! This is top-​quality fast food — the food is savory and the prices aren’t too bad either.
Food: The burritos and quesadillas are delicious — especially as late-​night drunk food. The meat was well marinated and absolutely savory. It would be even better with more/​better veggies/​peppers and Mexican spices, but this is fast food for a reason.
Service: Top notch — the staff was very welcoming and accommodating, and cleaned the tables quickly after people left. The food came out pretty quickly which was much appreciated.
Environment: Solid music but not too loud, lots of chairs and tables that work well for even larger groups of friends.

I was so hungry and looking forward to some yummy tacos and sadly, I was disappointed. After placing my order, I went into the ladies room where I was greeted by a cockroach. That should have been enough indication to leave, but it is in the city and sometimes these things happen. I ordered the baja style fish taco and the fish was about the size of my middle finger. The slaw pretty much covered the whole tortilla. I also ordered the shrimp taco and not only was it cold, but it was slathered in a rather strong garlic sauce that I’m still belching from. Thanks, but no thanks.

This place is the top shelf of fast casual Mexican food. The portions are about 3 quarters of the size of what you’ll get at the Chipotles of the world, but will cost you more for virtually the same products.
What separates Mercadito Counter for me though is the other options on their menu. They sling several styles of TJ Dogs including beer battered, bacon wrapped, and one even served queso fundido style. It’s a totally awesome menu twist that in my opinion earns MC an extra star.
Food comes out fast, the servers are all very nice, and they serve beer and cocktails too. Overall it’s fast casual at it’s finest!

These are the tastiest tacos alive. I tried a mushroom, shrimp and fish taco — they were delicious! Surprisingly, I loved the mushroom the best. I also tried a piece of steak from my friend’s steak taco and it was just as tasty.
Minus one star for service being a bit lacking. The guy gave us our food, you would think he’d bring us utensils while bringing our food but we had to get it ourselves.

Apparently, in Spanish, which I never took, «mercado» means «market» in every sense of the word, so I’m going to assume a «mercadito» is a small or little market.
I went to the little market because I was in the market for tacos and the reviews of the flagship little market were pretty good.
I can sum Mercadito Counter up for you in one word – Mercadi-​no. Yes, I coined it. Royalties.
Walking into the little market at peak lunch hour on a Sunday and finding it abandoned should have been the first clue.
I ordered a couple tacos (tacoditos?), a hot dog and an agua fresca.
The tacos were completely unremarkable, bland and disappointing.
The Pastor hot dog was mealy and inedible. I couldn’t take more than one bite before pitching it.
But, hey, the pineapple-​ginger agua fresca was outstanding.
Overall, this place was a huge disappointment. I thought maybe, based on their hours, I’d found a possible late-​night drunk food destination. I thought wrong.
If you’re in the market for tacos I’d suggest Big and Little’s or Taco Joint.

Stumbled upon here last night (this morning) as a friend recommended going for tacos after Sound Bar. No idea that this place was open until 4am but very happy it was. Feel like it is almost a hole in the wall as I have been to 25 degrees, Zed, and Clark Ale House but never even noticed this place before.
For $ 12, they have a three taco, rice and beans, and soda combo. Not shabby considering all tacos are $ 3/​$ 4. I went with a pork, fish, and shrimp taco. Of the three, I think the shrimp was my favorite even though it was not loaded on shrimp. Good chipotle mojo sauce though. Pork taco was decent with a nice contrast between the meat and pineapple. Like the other two, fish taco was nothing spectacular but solid.
Service was fast with a very knowledgeable worker at the register.
In summary, I would go back again as a late night alternative to pizza or (even worse) McDonalds but probably not for dinner as there are better options around.

I typically choose the closest lunch spot to my office located in the Merchandise Mart. And bonus points if I don’t need to leave the building. However, on the first (& hopefully not only) day of Spring I was all about walking to lunch! This was the perfect opportunity to try Mercadito’s new little sis, located about ½ mile from my office.
The walk itself turned out to be the best thing about Mercadito Counter. I ordered 2 tacos (a shrimp and a corn). The girl behind the counter suggested 3 if I haven’t eaten anything all day, but 2 turned out to be plenty. There wasn’t anyone else in the restaurant, but my to go order (2 tacos for me & 2 tacos for my colleague) took quite a while.
The corn taco wasn’t anything to write about. The shrimp taco was good, but not nearly as good as any of the tacos I“ve had at the original Mercadito. Little sis needs to take some taco making lessons from big sis.
If I was in the area I’d try a few other options & may even order the shrimp taco again, but not worth walking ½ mile (even on a beautiful Chicago spring day).

Hmmm…
So I was really excited to try a place I’d never been to before, and after reading everyone’s reviews, I’m disappointed that my experience was only A-​OK :-(
I stopped in with a colleague, ordered up a steak and chicken taco and waited, a little longer than I expected considering it didn’t seem super busy, and went on my way. After getting back to the office I dove right in.
The cubed beef was a little on the tough side and not as flavorful as I had hoped. The tacos here aren’t real super large, but they make for a nice lite bite. The chicken taco was whoa flavorful and extremely spicy for my mild palate. I actually looked forward to the challenge of eating it. Portion size was just right. Note: Tacos are of the soft corn variety. Don’t expect a crispy crunch.
My colleague and I each ordered two tacos to go, and it was interesting that they put them both in the same container. Thankfully we were going to the same place, or we would have had to divide and conquer right in the street — ha!
Cute place, with a very interesting menu. If you can’t have their tacos, they offer up a variety of soy hot dogs — very unexpected.
Nice staff, plenty of tables, and a little off the beaten path.

As a lover of both authentic and un-​authentic Mexican food, I figured I’d give the place a whirl considering it’s pretty close to where I live. This place isn’t serving that much in the way of legitimate authentic Mexican food (maybe some shades here and there though).
I got four tacos though — beef, pork, shrimp, and corn/​poblano. All were nice and the meat components cooked well. Juicy enough where you didn’t need anything else which is great. The rest of the menu looked interesting and huge bonus points for them for being open past midnight on some nights.
I’ll be back to try more for sure.

Omg! Is all I gotta say about this place! A must try. Been hearing about the tacos here and decided to stop in. I had the steak, the pork, and the pork rind battered shrimp tacos. Loved the touch of pineapple in the pork tacos. All were amazing. And believe it or not the fundido hot dog was awesome! Definitely not your ordinary hot dog.
Definitely want to come back when I’m hungrier and really pig out.
The atmosphere is relaxed, its a quick version of the regular mercadito restaurant with walk up ordering. Still the same high quality meats and ingredients. The prices are good for what you are getting and the location. A steak pork or chicken taco is $ 3 and the shrimp will run you 3.50
Definitely a five star fast food joint. They are open late as well. I believe till 1am on weekdays. Not sure about weekends.

If you want great tacos, get to this place! My buddy has been bragging about this place for a while now so we finally made it there. I gotta say I was impressed with every single taco I tried.
The steak they use in this place is excellent quality and cooked to perfection! A lot of Mexican places have that dry, over cooked skimpy steak, not this place. I loved their shrimp tacos, they were so simple yet full of flavor. Then my friend said I have to try the fish taco and I’m not too crazy about fish but again this place came through. Amazing fish tacos! The shrimp tacos, gringo tacos and fish tacos were $ 3.50 each which I know is a little pricey but this place justifies it by giving you high quality meats, it was worth every penny!
They’re open til 4 am on the weekends and even though it’s located downtown Chicago there’s no ridiculous lines, it’s a decent size somewhat cozy spot. This place is a must, make sure to list it!!!

Really enjoyed the concept, service and food! We got the nachos with replacing the chili with vegetarian black beans; the chips seemed made fresh!
The soy dog or vegetarian hot dog was interesting too!

What a delightful, flavorful, quick taco place! Love the shrimp & fish tacos! OMG
Their chilaquiles are delish and are avail all day along w their other breakfast items. Also got the nachos which were quite good also. Great friendly service. Very excited to welcome Mercadito Counter to the ‘hood! As it’s counterparts, the flavor delivers and so does this restaurant. A new fave!