Barbosa’s Castillo

I would suggest for anyone going to the restaurant for the first time that they try the beef tacos. They were great.

The building is really cool. The food is not good! Home made tortilla chips are not crispy and they charge for them. The food was not impressive at all, especially for the price. The server did not know what was in the various drinks when we asked about them. At one point she went over to ask the bartender and he didn’t even know! The margaritas were the worst tasting margaritas I have ever had! I have no idea how this place has been in business this long.

Very unsatisfying service. Waitress was never around. There were only 4 other tables besides our and as far as I could see 3 waitresses, a bartender, and 2 bus boys. There was an older waitress who was constantly checks her tables but the younger ones kept disappearing to the back. I also feel the menu is very limited and chips and salsa are going to cost you.

A great building and atmosphere. But what Mexican restaurant charges for chips and dip while you wait. Good was okay, but nothing special. Spanish rice pasty and overcooked. Beans very good as was the Mexican spaghetti. Considered a local institution, and if you know what to order, maybe so.

This is a very specific style of food that locals love. It’s authentic to St. Joseph and has a long history here. Don’t come looking for fancy or something cookie cutter like you find at most Mexican restaurants. The fried flour tortilla chips, plain ground beef tacos and fideo are fantastic. I write about food for a living and love this place. I’m visiting from LA and really wanted to go here. Was bummed that it is not wheelchair accessible because I wanted to bring my kids to the Castillo where I loved eating as a kid. But the Frederick location has good food too but not the atmosphere.
I’m sad to hear the other reviews saying how bad the customer service was for them. But the exterior is also looking rough and the fact that it’s not accessible is pretty unwelcoming. I hope they are able to keep it going and make it more welcoming for all. It’s great to have some non chain restaurants in this town.

Barbosa’s opened in St. Joseph in 1960. That in itself speaks volumes. For a non-​chain restaurant to survive 55 years.
Love the tamales & beef enchiladas. As has been pointed out, this isn’t chain Mexican food. There are several regions of Mexican food. This isn’t Tex-​Mex, it’s just GOOD!
I eat there at least twice a month.

I know that it isn’t authentic Mexican food but it is still quite tasty! We ordered a variety of entrees and all of them were good! I had a taco salad with pork chile. If you have never tasted their pork chile, you are missing out! The staff is friendly and the service was excellent! The waitress was standing by waiting to fill our drinks! The «castle» is very cool and a good example of St Joseph’s 19^th century charm. Make sure to go up to the top floor and view the Missouri River to the west along with some gray scenery of the town!

We went to the Sylvanie location and really enjoyed it. This house has a very interesting history and looks nothing like a Mexican restaurant but that’s what made it fun. Everything is made in-​house except the corn chips. The chips and salsa are pretty good but the chips could be a meal all alone. They’re very filling since they’re homemade and fried with softer centers. The salsa doesn’t have any kick to it but our daughter liked it. Our daughter kept going to the bathroom to «explore» the house. We would certainly go back.

These days people are so accustomed to the chain restaurant experience that when they encounter something authentic, then they don’t quite to know what to make of it.
Barbosa’s might be the most authentic Mexican restaurant I have ever eaten at. It’s basically what one would expect to get for Mexican food from Mexicans that came here a hundred or so years ago and were cut off from their normal ingredients. So, this place will not necessarily be what you expect it to be… But that’s really why you should give this place a try. If you prefer your restaurant food to come of the same truck that all of the other restaurants get their food from then stick to Cheddar’s or Applebee’s, or the Salty Iguana.
The food is great, and if you want to save your appetite, then go easy on the chips, which are nothing like chips you may have had before. Enjoy!

My BF and I ate here on Saturday evening. We definitely wanted to try the food at the Mexican Castle, we thought it had to be a great landmark restaurant. Wrong. The interior has been poorly maintained, it’s like you’re dining in you great aunt’s home. The staff was nice enough.
I am originally from Texas, so I have high expectations for Mexican/​Tex-​Mex food. This food to me was bland and Americanized.
The chips and salsa do not come on the house, it was $ 2.99 — nothing too special, I would have rather saved my carbs for something else. They had 3 specials for the night, we each got one. I had the street tacos (carnitas) served with rice/​beans, and he got the mini burritos (1 pork, 1 carnitas). The meat was very good, but other than that the food was so-​so.
I would actually give it a 2.5. Neither one of us think that this is a place we need to dine at again.

Authentic Mexican food served in an old historic mansion in downtown St. Joe. Chips and guacamole are wonderful. I love their red pork chili, hot stuff, service with warm tortillas. Yum!

Sorry, Gordy, you don’t know good Mexican food. Yes, I too have had awesome meals south of the border. This is nowhere near that. The margarita tasted watered down even after sending it back for a redo. The cheese sauce was pretty average. The fried taco, enchilada and chili relleno all tasted like they had been cooked in old oil. The beef in the taco and enchilada had an odd taste. Overall I have to say that this place rates at the low end of my Mexican experiences. I would not recommend it at all.

If you are craving mexican food and in the St. Joseph area, this is the place to go. There are 2 locations but I like this one best, because it’s in a place that looks like a castle! It’s really big and not crowded. There is actually a good amount of space around the tables so if you like having plenty of room to breathe, you can do that here.
I love their tortilla chips, not sure what they do to them to make them so good but they are delicious especially dipped in queso. As an entrée, I always get the taco salad. You get this huge fried tortilla bowl with all the works inside. It’s a ton of food so I always plan on having them for leftovers.
I definitely recommend coming here!

Before the review, some background…
I came of age before Mexican food came to the US as we know it today. I was 12 when I ate my first taco — a food my sister learned to make in home-​ec class. Since then, over the past 50 years, I’ve eaten Mexican food all over the country. .. and even in Mexico. No ethnic food has become so ubiquitous on the national dining scene as Mexican. I’ve eaten in places where Mexican fare IS the main show — Barstow CA, LA, San Antonio, Tucumcari NM (the best I ever had!), Dodge City KS and Santa Fe. But, thanks to immigration, I’ve also had great Mexican food in Seattle, Atlanta, Lincoln NE and Moorhead MN. You can literally get great Mexican food anywhere in America today, if you seek it out and know it when you see (er, taste) it.
Next, there are four basic types of restaurantes Mexicano, or, should I say for the first two examples, restaurants with Mexican themes. First, there’s fast food. Taco Bell is loved by millions, but it ain’t Mexican! When I take my high school students on field trips, they want to «run for the border» at lunchtime and I want to run the other way. Next is «corporate» Mexican — Salty Iguana, Jose Pepper’s and On the Border in the Midwest. These places develop recipes in corporate kitchens, «manufacture» the food in a processing plant, pack it in plastic bags, flash freeze it and ship it to their «stores» all over the country, where it’s reconstituted (i.e. heated up) and served to hungry folks who think they’re eating Mexican food and who also think Applebee’s really IS a neighborhood bar and grill. Yuck and double yuck!
In the past 20 – 25 years we’ve seen the proliferation of the Mexican «chain» restaurants. Yes, this is real Mexican (or Latin American) food, cooked and served by real Latinos and Latinas. I ate at El Mezcal the other night and enjoyed it. Other chains in the KS-​MO area include El Charro, El Jalisco, El Maguey, Ixtapa, etc. As I said, these are generally good places to eat and you should usually leave satisfied.
If you like fast food, if you like corporate food, if you like chain food. .. go, eat, drink and enjoy!
But if, like me, you seek out the family-​owned, one-​of-​a-​kind dining and drinking experiences, you’re drawn to the Barbosas of the restaurant world.
We live in Atchison and drive over to St. Joe about twice a month for eating out. We ate at Barbosas Castillo last night — we average about four times a year — and greatly enjoyed it once again.
First off, you won’t find a more unique setting than the castillo at 9^th & Sylvanie. (The food is the same at the strip mall location on E Frederick, but we prefer the castillo for setting. .. and it’s closer for us.)
I don’t understand why a previous reviewer didn’t notice any Hispanic folks. While the waitstaff is mostly gringos, I’d venture the folks who run the place are definitely Barbosa family members, friends or relatives. My guess would be the Barbosa family came to St. Joe decades ago following either the railroad or the cattle industry. .. or maybe just to open a restaurant for the Hispanics that had followed the trains and cattle. That happened all over the lower Midwest. Mexican families came to work and live, stayed and adapted traditional recipes to the ingredients they could find in Western Missouri and Kansas. Don’t tell me the food is not «authentic.» The style evolved from necessity.
I haven’t had a better margarita in the KC area. I’ve had much worse in Mexico. Frozen margaritas are for college kids on spring break. Margaritas are best served on the rocks, and the best ones are brown (from good tequila), not green. Barbosas uses a pretty pedestrian tequila (1800), but they mix the drink in good proportion. There’s a fair selection of beer as well.
Barbosas’ chips are flour totillas, not corn, and you pay for them. They come with several choices of accompaniment — salsa, guacamole and cheese — which are OK. We usually pass on chips, just because the dinner portions are so ample.
The menu offers a good selection of ala carte and dinner combinations. Last night I had the chicken mole over fideo. It comes with a bean tostado and two big flour tortillas. I couldn’t eat it all. I’ve had «mole» other places that tasted like Hershey’s syrup poured over chicken. Barbosas gets it right! The señora had the chicken rellenos that came with beans, rice and tortillas. She brought home at least half of it. You will leave stuffed and satisfied every time!
The price is fine. Dinner for two with drinks and tip was less than 50 bucks.
The place is clean but not «squeaky clean.» Service is adequate but can get a little lackadaisical. One penalty star for that.
So. .. if you want to enjoy a sampling of the food I call Midwestern Mexican — as «authentic» as any other style of Latin cuisine, just adapted to local ingredients from recipes that originated in Mexico, Texas and the Southwest — spend a dinner at Barbosas Castillo in St. Joe.

I have always loved Barbosas downtown but, I haven’t been for a long time since I’ve moved. There some good but there’s a lot of bad. 1. They have let the castle get run down it need to be updated, a fresh cost of paint and good cleaning would help 2. The staff, Someone needs to explain to them what customer service is. Standing over in the corner on your cell phone check out the latest score or who is text you about whatever is not customer service. Also taking 18 minutes from when you get your check to cash out is ridiculous when the place is not busy. 3. The food, It wasn’t bad but it seem like it was missing something. I know what it was it needs to be warmer.
Overall, I’m sorry but they have lost a customer I will not be back for a long time and then I will think about it.

This restaurant has been a family tradition for 40 years. It may not be perfect, but I love it!

LOVE IT!!! The cheese enchiladas are fantastic, the chips are great. Love the building. Service has always been friendly. Always my first stop when I am in town.

Really? You guys are gonna dig this place that bad?
I mean what do you expect in St. Joe? This has got to be the best place to get Mexican food in St. Joe. I also loved the location within this big mansion/​house.
And now they are coming to KC?
It think that is even better.
The food was pretty good for Mexican-​American. I think that what you get, especially for the price, is worth it. I got the pork burrito, which was good and I thought the chips were excellent. I couldn’t stop eating them.
Could it have been better? Yes. Is it the worst Mexican-​American food that I’ve ever had? Absolutely not. I’ve had a lot lot worse. I think this place is underrated.
I don’t come up to St. Joe a lot, but if I had a hankering for some Mexican, I wouldn’t hesitate to stop in.

I went, against ALL recommendations, and had dinner at Barbosas. It was horrible. Seriously. I am nowhere near a food snob, but yikes! Even my Eat-​Everything-​On-​Your-​Plate-​Or-​Die-​upbringing could not force me to finish a single thing. I had the Tamales, cheese enchilada, and beef taco. Nothing tasted like food. Nothing at all. The cheese actually tasted chemical! And the tamale tasted like what dog food smells like. Learn from my mistake, and heed the warnings of others. Stay away.

This is possible the worst restaurant in Northwest Missouri, let alone St. Joseph. Never before have I ever left one restaurant completely appalled from what I had experienced and gone somewhere else to dine instead.
Service is mediocre
Food is horrible (soggy and looks like it’s been dropped on the floor)
And the dining rooms are downright filthy
Never EVER again!