Rojo Gusano

Today was my birthday and Angelo was WONDERFUL!!! thanks for the churros!!!
So impressed. This place is bringing amazing tastes farm-​to-​table to Albany Park at great prices. The tacos are loaded with flavor, with local and ethically sourced meat and are generous portions. The attention was wonderful, friendly staff brought us our food quickly and steaming. We loved Panchita Lopez, our hipster-​Mexican plaid-​clad most excellent and knowledgeable server. Stripped-​brick industrial look. Candles on the table, happy music and a great bar. Will be coming back.

Food is great, atmosphere is modern and trendy, they have specials every day of the week, staff is nice and accommodating. I live in the neighborhood and this is a great addition to our restaurant/​bar scene. Their butternut squash taco and pico de gallo guacamole is bomb. $ 6 margaritas on Thursdays! AND they have outside seating which is great in the summer. Deangelo was my server and he’s awesome!

Super cute little place, the drinks were great and strong, the food was very good… unfortunately the service was poor… a bunch of the servers just hanging out rolling silver wear while i had to flag ours down for different things, including paying our bill, which I eventually had to get up and go do myself… no attempt to up sell, no dessert offered… too bad cause the place could be a nice little gem.

This was our first visit and didn’t know what to expect. The food was diverse, the location clean and pleasant, and the service was very friendly. I was impressed with how fast the food was ready, and even as a pretty picky eater, the flavors were well assembled. We had three tacos each, which let us try a variety and feel satisfied without being uncomfortable. We split some churros for dessert, and I recommend putting the raspberry and chocolate bourbon sauces together on the churros. You won’t regret it!
Included in their specials is a neighborhood discount, so since we live on the same block, we’ll probably be there on quite a few Wednesdays.

Heres the play by play
We walk in, myself, and my two friends. All mid 20s all frequent restaurant goers. I suggested this place as I live near by, love tacos, and pass it regularly. Greeted by a very smiley and pleasant young man who asked if we prefer to sit inside or outside. We choose the patio. The décor inside is nice enough that they could be open late on the weekends but casual enough with the patio windows that it’s also suitable for a mid day lunch.
Seated, the menus were jumbled in the center of the table, several of the drink menus had gotten wet and no longer were comprehensible as the ink had bled and the food menus were folded up and one stained with salsa that was wet to the touch. Gross but avoidable as we had three of each. A young man brought us out water pretty quickly, small glasses, lots of ice, cold, and never to be seen again. We finished our waters pretty quickly and never got refills.
Enough time passes that we have our drinks, appetizers, dinner, and potential dessert orders and the waiter, Ivan, comes to take our order. Sweet boy, slightly nervous maybe or just timid because this place is pretty new. He suggested the chefs special but then couldn’t tell us what tacos we’d be getting so we passed. We gave him our total order sans dessert. Mojito (amazing) mezcalita (very tasty) Jose Alfredo Jimenez (also very good). Queso fundido, (cold but clearly had crisped under the salamander? and «corn on the cob» (off the cob and confused).
Here’s where the issues really started. A young couple had come and sit by us on the patio. Before they could even really sit down, an older gentleman came and fixed their wobbly table with a roll of napkins (I had just moved my water to the steady table of our two) but also poured them
Complimentary shots of mezcal. We instantly looked at each other and said VIP! Jealous! Not thinking anything of it. We carried on. Then our appetizers arrived, sans sharing plates and our drinks had not. We figured they were coming soon but 10 minutes went by and the VIP couple had their drinks and we didn’t. A little peeved my friend went in to grab some sharing plates from another table as we still didn’t have those. The drinks come, they’re good we’re eased a bit.
Then the same older man goes to the only other people on the patio a group of older people, two couples maybe and we see him pour four shots, table side and them being joyous and grateful, same as the couple. So at this point we’re confused and thinking why aren’t we getting these «this is a new restaurant how are you enjoying it please come back» free shots? Again our tacos come and we’re distracted. None of the tacos were exceptional or really worth talking about. They were kind of bland. Highlights were the chicken & the chorizo. Out of 8 different tacos.
Finally the moment we’ve been waiting for the older man approached us! (We’re young, free shots on a Tuesday is a beautiful thing). The first thing out of his mouth is «you guys look young to be drinking». Confused and a little off base we ask if he’d like to see our ID’s right away as we didn’t get carded but have nothing to hide we’re all halfway through our 20s. He laughs and says no and then asks what we’re drinking and if we like it. The whole interaction was a bit weird. Because his «joke» fell flat and we were already confused as to why the young couple had been serviced prior to us having arrived after us. He asked if we’d ever tried mezcal and we all said no aside from our current drinks and he said he would bring us shots if we wanted. Again, young, free shots, duh. We actually fist bumped after he left because we’d been waiting!
Never got the shots he OFFERED, another awkward moment with our waiter about how the age comment was a joke that made us offer our IDs a 2^nd time, again, refused.
Fast forward 20 minutes we’ve finished our food, had a second round and are waiting for the check when oh wait, our second round shows up, we hadn’t had it yet just waited another 15 minutes for drinks! You’d expect the second round to come before you finish your food when you order it at your first bites. But I digress.
Finishing our last drinks, we’re waiting for the check. Everyone else has gotten their checks and left including the young couple who also ordered drinks, appetizers, and tacos, and yet we sit waiting, while they break down the patio. Loudly. We’re not even having a conversation at this point but just sitting.
After 15 min we walk in &our check isn’t even ready we tell them we want to leave and the older gentleman comes to see why we all are standing around the cashiers booth. For the 3^rd time our age comes up&we hand him our cards & IDs because ENOUGH. And as we walk out we realize everyone but us & the staff were white.
Apparently, we’re not the clientele they wish to keep. It worked. I’ve never felt so uncomfortable anywhere. Let alone my own neighborhood.
P. s. Don’t ask for salsa it’s 3.75

I have never felt more unwanted at an establishment. I am so embarrassed I gave these people my money.
I’ll start off with the food for everyone who doesn’t care about how horribly this establishment treats its customers. We ordered the queso fundido for an appetizer, the foodrunner came out without a potholder, not even pretending we were going to get a hot dish. We didn’t. It was cold and as hard as a rock. The tacos were bland (I had the fish, arrachera, and chorizo) neither was impressive. The chorizo was particularly annoying because they put about a tablespoon of chorizo in it but top it off with a whole potato — good luck tasting any of the chorizo you ordered with that type of balance. The drinks were also just eh. But the SERVICE, the service is something else.
We were the first group seated on the patio. Our menus were wet and covered in salsa and we didn’t have silverware or plates. A young man came out and gave us our water glasses as two other groups were seated. We watched as the manager (I think) came out to greet them. He was warm and welcoming, he fixed a table, explained the specials, and offered each table free shots — all while ignoring the fact that we were there first and hadn’t been welcomed — but whatever.
Finally our waiter came to take our order. He was new and inexperienced, but very nice. We put in our entire order (we had a lot of time to decide): drinks, appetizers, and tacos. As we put our order in we noticed an employee standing in the doorway staring at our table and only our table. I’m not sure what he was looking at, but he stared at us the entire two hours we were there without assisting us or reminding anyone on the staff of our existence.
We waited 25 min without drinks as the other tables were served. At this point I was starting to get annoyed because the manager was again out there asking the other groups how everything was going but refused to come over to us. We got our cold appetizers before our drinks — which should never happen. He left the appetizers on the table without giving us any plates, so I had to go inside and get them myself — also should never happen.
Our waiter finally reappeared with our drinks a while after. We’re thrilled to see the manager walk over, thinking it’s finally time for our welcome. But no, the first words out of his mouth are, «I’m surprised you have drinks. You look too young to be drinking.» We got quiet, waiting for a signal that this was a joke. When it didn’t come, we offered up our IDs which he refused (why are you accusing us of underage drinking if you don’t want our IDs?). Then he offered up some free shots so we thought everything was square…
Apparently it wasn’t because when our waiter returned with our tacos and for our second drink order he said, «I hope you are all 21 because I didn’t check your IDs.» We again offered up our IDs and he refused saying, «It’s ok this time. It was my fault. I forgot to ask.» At this point we’re done. We’ve been ignored. We’ve waited too long for everything. Our waters are dry and have been dry for a while. A man is still standing in the doorway staring at our table. The shots we were offered never came. And they keep asking for our IDs but refusing to look at them.
We decide to leave after we finish our drinks but the staff decided otherwise. Our trusty manager was back outside, without our shots, closing up every patio table but ours despite our plates having been taken and our glasses all empty. We weren’t even talking at this point so we could send a signal we wanted to leave. But no, no acknowledgement, no apologies, no check.
We went inside to get our check since the staff decided to continue to ignore us. The manager had the nerve to ask us why we were inside. We asked for the check and gave our cards with all our IDs so they could FINALLY confirm we hadn’t been sneaking around with our drinks. They insisted they weren’t trying to be rude by asking our age. We reminded them that it had been brought up multiple times, and they had nothing to say in response.
This is supposed to be a Latin American restaurant, but everything seems geared towards the new residents in the neighborhood. The food is made bland for them and the kind service is only available to them. We will never come back here.

I want to start by saying the 2 stars are for the service and the service only…
The employees were amazingly attentive and friendly, I’m just disappointed the food was quite bad. We had the small platter which included a bit of everything. The bartender recommended it so we had to try it ! The tacos were way too small and the tortillas would have been wonderful had they been cooked all the way. They were very white and doughy. None of the tacos had good flavor except for 2, the Korean beef taco and the pulled pork taco. We also got the mango habanero guacamole and they basically smashed an avocado and threw some yellow and green stuff on top, no flavor again. The rice had NO flavor and actually tasted like it was made in a rice cooker and had been sitting in that cooker for days before they brought it out to us, crunchy and all ! The churros were the highlight of the night, those were DELISH ! The two drinks I had were pretty gross (Gusano Rojo & The Vacation) however, I tasted my friend’s drink (Mango Beach) and that was yummy ! All in all, if you want to check out the new «hipster» restaurant in Albany Park and have great service but horrible food and drink, then by all means…
Just please don’t call yourself a «Mexican/​Latin» restaurant and serve the nastiest, plain, crunchy white rice I’ve ever tasted.
Come on Gusano, our mommas would be disappointed, smh !?

Exposed brick and rustic layout greeted us as we entered this new restaurant on Lawrence Ave in the Albany Park neighborhood. Extensive tequila selection behind the bar. Completely different twists on guac: spicy pumpkin seeds, fiery habanero (both were good), and Serrano pico de gallo. Huge circular tortilla chips.
The charred butternut squash taco was smokey and delicious, the pollo tinga flavorful and the green curry camaron was my favorite. Kids loved their quesadillas. Husband loved the spicy chorizo taco, the Pibil pork and also the pollo tinga. Service was fast, but we also came to eat at 5:30. Overall a great experience– we will be back!

Started out with the spicy pumpkin seed guacamole. Was very fresh. We shared the elote which they were kind enough to cut off the cob. It needed more spice though. The quesadilla nortena was good, but not great. Just tasted like a quesadilla with cheese and chorizo. I had the Korean bbq and fish taco. The fish taco could’ve used more flavor.
Service was great and the place has a very cool atmosphere. Margaritas were just average.

W O W
After hearing from a co-​worker that service was good, I decided to go back and give it another try. AND YES folks! Service quite improved since my last visit. Tried the Rest of the tacos that I didn’t try last time and they were pretty darn good. Can’t wait to go back.

I loved this place! The food and drinks alike were great and it had a great vibe. Our server walked us through the menu and gave us some good recommendations to get us started. We tried the arrachera, korean bbq and butternut squash taco and all were great. My boyfriend had the braised short rib rice bowl which he couldn’t stop raving about. I can’t wait to go back and try some more of the menu. This place will be great in the summer when they can open up the garage door front as well!

A friend of mine had stopped in and had highly recommended that I check this place out. We both live in the neighborhood and are thrilled to know we have spots such as this one. The décor was great and the overall ambience as well. The manager greeted us (or so I think he’s the manager) and he was super friendly. The entire staff was great and we were treated so well. Now for the food… YUMMY! As a Mexican I am picky about Mexican or Latin infused dishes and this place met my expectations. The guacamole was fresh and tasty, the tacos were wonderful and are served with hand made tortillas. My friend had the tortilla soup and said it was amazing.
I’m so proud to see a great place in Albany Park, this neighborhood is near and dear to my heart since it’s where I grew up. Please go check out this restaurant and don’t forget to try a Mezcal Mule ;)

The braised short rib taco… Wow just wow. $ 2.50 for one damn good taco. At Rojo Guisano’s you’ll eat good, organic and locally sourced food without breaking the bank! The ceviche here is legit – finally an affordable restaurant that can properly serve octopus. The Thai salsa is perfectly spiced with so many different flavors that balance each other out well.
The mojitos are big and strong! The ambiance is California-​meets-​rustic-​Chicago. The music is awesome. I love the large window garage door thing. Once the summer comes itll be awesome to grab a mojito here with the door open. I’ll see you soon Rojo Guisanos!

Great addition to the area.
Simple but diverse menu. Friendly staff. Nice atmosphere. Solid drink list.
The empanada is amazing. I got three of the higher end tacos and all were good. The fish taco was particularly tasty.
There seemed to be a special most week nights. Looking forward to what is likely to be a patio setting when the weather improves. And going back to try some brunch items.

2^nd time in as many weeks! Brought two friends this time! again the tortilla soup is arguably the best I’ve had in awhile. Serrano guacamole fresh chilled perfectly. Fresh tortilla chips, could not get enough of them. Tried the salsa trio the citrus was my favorite but the habanero was off the chain. This time I tried the Green shrimp curry, pork and steak tacos all excellent but the green shrimp curry was the star of the show. Our server was excellent.

I had the mushroom taco, curry shrimp and battered fish taco. Tortillas were great! But shrimp and fish lacked flavor. I also had the ceviche which was amazing. The ceviche was My favorite out of everything. Guacamole was very good and fresh as well. I expected the habanero to be spicier but it was enough.
The waiter who helped was had a bit of an attitude when explaining things. Service and food was ok. A friendlier staff would be nicer to see.

Rojo Gusano is a great addition to the neighborhood! First of all, it’s rare in this neighborhood to find a restaurant with a full bar.
The menu, though not large, somehow felt a little confusing or weirdly organized and so it took my friends and I a long time to order. We picked a variety of cocktails, tacos, guacs, and a few other treats. Everything was good, and a few things are great. The tacos I had, including the chorizo and the short rib, tasted very homemade in the best way. They were heart and filling and had generous portions of meat even though at first glance they seemed a little small.
Why four stars? Service was really lacking, but I’m sure it’s just a growing pain. I’ll be back again soon and hope to be able to move up to five stars!

Rojo Gusano is a top notch addition to Albany Park. They are enthusiastic and friendly, and the food will keep you coming back.
When we arrived the host promptly offered Kelly and I guacamole and a couple shots of mezcal, gratis. Needless to say, we acquiesced. I don’t know how long such profligacy will last, or if you will be so lucky, but the sooner you get here, the better.
The guac was great, fresh and creamy, and the mezcal was tasty and smooth, though I am no expert. I am an expert on cocktails, however, and they are excellent. We both had mezcal variants on classic cocktails, and they were delicious. Sadly, the list of those is not online, so you’ll have to visit to find out what they are!
On to the food! We started with the tortilla soup, which is some of the best I’ve ever had, if not the best. It has an earthy, smoky, rich quality to it, and packs a lot of heat, but not too much — you have a low level fire in your mouth while eating it, but it is never unbearable.
For dinner we had tacos — $ 2, all varieties, on Tuesday night. They were all delicious. Kelly loved the fish tacos and enjoyed the butternut squash, but thought it could have had a bit more seasoning to it. I had the steak tacos, which were oozing with juices and piled high with sauteed onions. They were delicious, with spices galore, tingling my tongue, but never pushing me into overload. It was a heady, pleasurable experience.
After the spices cooled off, we moved to dessert, where we split the churros y chocolate. The churros were crisp and fresh, and the chocolate was smooth and creamy, and had a hint of tequila flavor to it. I washed it down with some Walthens Single Barrel bourbon on the rocks, served in a fancy snifter glass.
We will definitely be back.

Food: 4.5
Ambiance: 4
Service: 2
Took a group of 12 here to celebrate my cousin’s birthday. We were able to get a reservation that night for 8:15 pm and were excited to try this new neighborhood spot.
We got there and our table was ready, things looked good. We ordered our drinks, then placed our food orders. We then sat there and waited 30 mins. No drinks. Then our food came out in waves. And still no drinks. Half our table had food, while the other half sat watching. We flagged down numerous waitstaff and communicated the missing food numerous times. Finally the manager came out to assess the missing food items and tried to expedite the orders. We then finally got our drinks. And slowly everyone finally got their food, piecemeal and about 25 mins apart. Not acceptable for half the table to be eating while half sat starving. It seemed like they lost half our food tickets.
After everyone had their food, the manager came back out to apologize and offer up complimentary desserts. That was a decent gesture. We ate our dinner, which was very good.
Standouts:
Beans
Sweet Plantains
Ceviche
Tacos: chicken; shrimp; fish; short rib; chorizo ($ 2.50-$ 3.50 each)
Then we placed our orders for desserts. Chocolate tamals and churros with raspberry and chocolate sauce. Only to be told five minutes later they were all out of tamals except for 1. Churros it was. They brought out the one tamal and four orders of churros and we enjoyed the desserts. Desserts were $ 7 each and although decent not worth that price point.
The manager apologized again for the poor dinner service and we explained how the food was excellent but the service/​kitchen timing needed work. He agreed with me and promised to get things to a better place next time we come by.
Overall a nice night: yummy food, nice ambiance, but lackluster service. They’re very new so I can understand the kinks. I will be back for the food though, and hopefully service improves.

We tried out rojo Gusano on a Friday night. We live in the neighborhood and are excited to find all these new places popping up, went around 8 pm not a lot of tables maybe 4 or 5. They were offering a free guac so we tried out the Serrano one. It was pretty yummy. We then ordered the steak, chicken verde and shrimp tacos along with a side of the corn. I was impressed. The steak was really good. Next time I go back I will order just steak. It was so good. The chicken as well. Not a fan of the shrimp taco it was extremely bland. The corn was served elote style so you can’t go wrong there. The décor was pretty cool. Kinda reminded me of a so cal taco shop. We also had the margaritas which were great. Give this place a try. They are just starting out… I really think there is potential here!