Nacho’s Libre

Just what I wanted. Tasty food
—
They have closed their doors and I know longer in business

closed

Wasn’t a huge fan of the thick chips, but the salsa was good — fresh with a nice amount of spice. Tried the wings and they were great — crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, with a perfect-​tasting hot sauce. It would have been nice to get more than six of them, however. The chili verde was okay, but didn’t have a ton of flavor. And the beef fajitas, while seasoned well and cooked well, were very fatty. I was definitely turned off by the amount of fat that we needed to cut away from the meat. All-​in-​all, a little too hit and miss for my liking.

Umm where to begin… I love Mexican food so when i saw a coupon for this place on Groupon I bought 2. I honestly thought it was for a different restaurant i had driven past a few times on state but was gravely mistaken.
Service, a young very unprofessional waitress with a bit of an attitude. like she was doing us a favor taking our order.
Food… Sub par… if that. Taco Bell is honestly more impressive. I cant remember which mole i had… i think it was the Mole Verde was DISGUSTING like a nasty version of Mexican pesto. Its consistency was horribly off. the chicken it was served on was dry and tasteless. The only thing that didn’t suck was our nachos. I cant even remember what my brother ordered but what i can remember is that is was like deep fried paper… crunchy and taste like nothing. I was impressed with how horrible the food was.
Over all even though i still have another coupon for this place… I am never going to use it… keep my 14 bucks… I’d rather eat at taco bell.

I really enjoyed my first visit to Nacho’s Libre!
The chips and salsa were great. The chips were much thicker than you’ll usually find at a Mexi-​joint, but they still had a nice crunch. The salsa was spicy enough and also had great flavor. Lisa ordered the chicken nachos. They were delicious and the aforementioned «thick» chips were able to stand up very well to the ample toppings. I ordred the «lupita» plate and I’m sure glad I did! It was great! My meal was comprised of an 8 oz. pile of nicely marinated flank steak, a cheese enchilada, rice and beans and a rolled taco thing… flauta? maybe? It was a wonderful combination of textures and flavors and was a great deal at under $ 10. They use Mexican crema here, rather than sour cream, and I think it makes a huge difference.
The service was fantastic for us. We sat outside, which can sometimes lead to neglect. But that wasn’t the case here. Our waitress was friendly and helpful and everything was delivered on time and with a smile. The owner came out and checked on us at the end of our meal too… nice touch.
Was this the most authentic Mexican food I’ve ever tasted? No.
Was it the most delicious Mexican food I’ve ever tasted? Again, No.
But, it was damn good and I’m definitely going back for more! Tonight? Perhaps.

I come from a Hispanic background in Texas and have eaten just about everything Mexican or Tex-​Mex in every place from Utah down to the streets of Mexico city. Understand I give this place 4 stars from a Utah perspective.
When it comes to Mexican food I get my fix at the taco stands on State St. Nothing else comes close in Salt Lake. When I do crave more Americanized Mexican food, as a guilty pleasure, Nacho’s Libre has slowly crept up as a regular occurrence. The chips are pleasing (a rarity for me in UT), the tortas (sandwiches) very tasty and a welcome change from just burritos and mole. But even their burritos are good on their own merits.
I have to give them at least one star for the place itself, the fun décor is the best. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and allows me to just enjoy the food for what it is and at a reasonable price. Just be forewarned it did feel a bit cramped, and don’t expect a lot of heat. Other than that I hope its around for a long time.

After reading the other reviews for Nacho’s Libre I was excited to try it. Unfortunately my first visit left me underwhelmed and not impressed. The restaurant itself was nice inside with cool decorations and a big painting of a lucha libre. We were seated promptly and our waitress got drinks for us. When we ordered our dishes everyone asked the waitress if they could have cook spice up their dish and she said she would ask. When we got our food it was anything but spicy, it was bland and not very good. My shredded break enchiladas were steak and not shredded beef and without asking me they put sour cream all over everything. GROSS! After getting our food we didn’t see our waitress for a long while and we really need drink refills. Overall I was not impressed. Poor customer service. Bad food. I won’t be going to Nacho’s Libre ever again.

Nacho best choice for Mexican in Salt Lake City.
I have been driving by this place for for months and idea of lunch at a pink, taco joint just didn’t sound appetizing. The sign that claimed «Authentic Mexican» did not really help much either but when I got an invite from a group to go, I was up for it.
Inside, the place is interesting. It has a sense of humor but something about the room seemed a bit bland at the same time. The best part is the large portrait of a Mexican wrestler holding a blue and red iguana. I am sure that is just coincidental.
I went here with a big group so I will forgive the spotty service for the first 2 times I requested my drink. The 3^rd time was a bit much.
The chips and salsa that they brought out as we perused the menu were great. The salsa had good flavor and the chips were fresh. Too bad that was the high point of the meal. I ordered a chicken enchilada and tamale plate. It was one of the blandest Mexican meals that I have ever had. The tamales were white corn with white unseasoned chicken in the middle. They were dry and too thick. I am not sure what was under all of that Monterey jack cheese but I assume at one time it looked like an enchilada. The «chile verde» sauce was a watery tomatilla sauce that I think was thickened with corn starch. Nothing on the plate was offensive but nothing was good either.
To top it off, prices were similar to certain better lizard themed places but the food was worse than your average Mexican/​american greasy spoon. I would go back if someone else really wanted to go but I wouldn’t order the same thing. I might just get more chips and salsa.

This Mexican joint definitely has an interesting theme to it with a bright pink on the building exterior. There are painting, pictures, and posters from the movie Nacho Libre all over the place. They did not have table large enough to seat our large party, so we ended up combining three tables together.
The food is definitely Americanized, as you will find ingredients such as mayo and cheese in a majority of their dishes. I went with the less cheesy choice of Chicken Fajitas and requested that to be super spicy as usual. The dish came with tortillas, beans, and rice. The fajitas turned out not spicy as expected, there were not much flavor behind the spiciness, and the chicken was a little dried. The beans were ok, but the rice was just plain too dried.
I suppose the only reason I would come to Nacho Libre again is when I felt like being humored by their pink décors and being a bland food masochistic at the same time.

I love a place that has a sense of humor about itself. If you’re Nacho’s Libre, you most certainly do have a sense of humor about yourself, else why do you reside in the PINKEST BUILDING IN THE CITY?
Okay, enough about the pink building. Certainly if you’re reading through the reviews, you get it. The place is pink. BUT IT’S SO PINK!
Onto the interior. Terrible paintings of masked wrestlers? Oh, check yes! So it’s a must-​try for the tongue-​in-​cheekness of it all.
This is not my favorite part of town. Surely you’ll be fine, but nonetheless when I parked in the alley behind the restaurant I took my valuables with me. You know, I’m a bit paranoid like that.
I made my way into the building (did I mention it’s VERY, VERY PINK!) and sat with our group of about a dozen. Due to our size (the group, not each member) the service was a bit frantic and yet slow at the same time. I’m totally not holding that against them. Not their fault we bombed them at lunchtime.
Unfortunately, the food was only so-​so. If you’re after americanized Mexican food, and massive quantities of it, look no further. This place rocks the boot-​sized burrito scene with sauce and sour cream and guac in it’s comet-​tail. Surely you can get any combo platter and make Mexican magic in your belly. They do offer a few interesting dishes, including a whole Mole Festival (not the rodent, the sauce) but no one in our group was doing backflips over them.
Not much seating, but enough for several groups to be cozy. Fun and a little wacky environment. Know what you’re getting into beforehand food-​wise and you’ll probably have a great time. And, because I know you’re waiting for it, «THE BUILDING IS SO PINK!»

I have been here once and I left a fan. That is why the four stars. I’ll be back and maybe I will adjust my review after the second visit.
This place get’s a star for a unique name, pink exterior and the fact that I was greeted at the door and taken to my table by some poor teen that was dressed as Nacho Libre. I laughed out loud as soon as I saw him. (no offense, poor young teen)
We were sat a table for four because we had our infant and toddler with us. The infant in his chair on high and the toddler in his chair down low with crayons and a outlined drawing of Nacho Libre to color in. All were happy. Soon though we realized we were closer to the restrooms than others and you certainly could smell the urinal cakes or something like that. Minus a star. MMMMM Minty!!!
The menu was nicely laid out with a complete selection of typical Mexican fare and a separate page of Mole’s. I choose the Mole Coloradito. My wife, something that I cannot recall and for the toddler we chose a quesadilla. It was listed as a mozerella quesadilla and my wife questioned this since we were in a Mexican joint. I explained that it was probably the dumbing down of the menu for us white folks since queso fresco is pretty much mozerella. Sort-​of…
Then the toddler melted down before the mozerralla quesadilly thing arrived so we got up to go outside because I am not the type of parent to let his child melt down in a resto, even an empty one as Nacho’s Libre was on this night. So outside we went and the poor unfortunate teen dressed as Nacho Libre was told by a man I assume was the owner, to open the door for me. He did. Nice unfortunate teen that he was. He looked sadder than my toddler who was now in trouble.
So my kid and I had a conversation about going inside and eating quietly or going to the car and neither of us eating. He decided to go inside. Thank God! I hate staring at my food from the parking lot. So we went back inside.
When we got back to the table we had chips and salsa waiting for us! It was good too. homemade, fresh, HOT, chips and delicious salsa that didn’t overwhelm you with garlic. I LOVED it. Then the meal arrived. The boy dove into his Quesogodzilla and quite enjoyed the fresh, chunky and homemade guacamole that came with it.
My Mole Coloradito was also quite good. Dare I say I liked it better than the Red Ig place? Plus 3 stars! a little salty though. Minus 1 star.
The wife liked her meal, but I don’t remember what it was. She loved the rice and beans and that is usually the part of the meal she hates in every Mexican Restaurant.

This is pretty authentic Mexican food. If you disagree, chances are you are not Mexican.
My wife and I went in the other day and were warmly greeted by the owner. We looked at the menu and were surprised to see how well priced everything was but were then blown away by the Mon-​Fri specials. Every weekday they have a different special and its ONLY 5.99 including a drink and chips and salsa.
We went in on a Wednesday which is the chicken enchilada with 2 tamales, rice, and beans special. Everything was really good, fresh, authentic, and cheap!
This is going to be my new Mexican food spot.

We been here a few times and have really liked it. The food at Nacho’s is a definite step above your typical Utah Mexican restaurant. The ingredients are all very fresh and tasty. The chips are homemade and the salsa is excellent.
Our service has always been fast and friendly, and prices are reasonable. I’d recommend you check this place out.

I’ve always been intrigued by this place ever since it opened. Maybe it’s the name. Maybe it’s the pink exterior. Either way, I was curious. So some friends and I decided to check it out for lunch one cloudy Wednesday afternoon.
Service was very good. Our waitress was very attentive and helpful with any questions we had. The menu was large with lots of intriguing options. I went with the barbacoa plate, and other folks at the table went with the chicken fajitas, the chile colorado burrito, and a pork dish whose name escapes me at this time.
With respect to the food, I’d say everything was solid but unremarkable. Flavors were a bit on the bland side and a few of the dishes seemed to be on the salty side. Certainly tasty, but certainly not amazing.
They have a nice private room for group meetings and such. (That was one of the reasons I was there, as I am the president of a local nerdy professional organization.) I’m excited by the fact that they don’t charge for the room and there’s no food minimum. We’re going to have our next meeting there, and if it’s as perfect as I think it’s going to be, I may have to add a star to this review. However, right now I’ll say this: service is great, food is serviceable. It’s definitely a solid place, but if you’re going on taste alone (as I often do), there are a few better options in town.
Still, I definitely wouldn’t dissuade you from coming here. I had a very nice experience.

I’ve noticed this restaurant several times and I’ve told myself I would try it. Finally got a opportunity when the gf and I where looking for somewhere in the area to have lunch. The outside of the restaurant doesn’t look very appealing but the inside was quite nice and clean. I ordered a Barbacoa burrito which tasted great and had a delicious red spicy sauce. The service was also very good.

I am disappoint.
The complementary chips were good. They were also the highlight of the meal.
Service was ponderously slow. Food came fast but check took 15 minutes after finishing to arrive.
Food was just of low quality; I’ve gotten better Mexican out of a microwave. I don’t want to say it was bad, it was just wasn’t good either. It’s stuck in the netherworld inbetween; where there are no colors, each grey overcast day passes your life by, and the nothingness stretches to infinity.
At least if it sucked I could have had a good story about recovering from it. So save yourself a trip and buy a Hungry Man Mexican Dinner from the grocery store.

First off, I have to say this because it is bugging me. Nacho is a very common Spanish nickname, usually for the name Ignacio. The name of this restaurant is not a grammatical error, it is an attempt to be clever. Another thing, the letter K is commonly used in place of the letter q or even the entire word «que» in slang/​spanglish. Putting «Takitos» on the menu (which I did not find, btw) doesn’t make them illiterate, it’s just slang. I’m not trying to be uppity here, I just hate to see a restaurant that is obviously trying be rated lower for such irrelevant details.
Now to the important stuff…
We arrived for a very late lunch and were promptly seated and served chips and salsa, which I really liked. The chips were thick, flaky homemade tortilla chips and the salsa had a nice bite to it with a heat that built as we ate. We were starving so we cleaned out the whole basket :)
Our server spoke perfect English and asked us if we wanted to use Spanish so we used a mixture of both. I appreciated that she didn’t assume and asked first.
I ordered the Maria Felix torta and my BF ordered the barbacoa burrito. My entrée was absolutely, hands-​down, delicious. Best torta I have ever had in Utah. The Maria Felix is a torta made with a slab of fried ham steak, tomatoes, lettuce and onions, milanesa (which was DIVINE), avocado slices, some sort of fire-​grilled smoky tasting chili, and refried beans. All on fresh bread, squished down and grilled. Sort of a Mexican panini, if you will. The BFs barbacoa burrito was good too, although a bit on the spicy side so beware if you are a weenie about heat. I only had a bite so I can’t properly describe it.
Everything on my sandwich was fresh, from the produce to the ham, to the incredibly perfectly done milanesa.
I think the problem people are experiencing with this restaurant might be the more Americanized plates. Stick to the authentic stuff and I think you’re ok.

Maybe I’m an easy person to please but I had a good experience here. I got the fajitas and my boyfriend got the ceviche and I thought both tasted pretty well.
The waitress was super nice and while her english was not her first language I didn’t have any problems with my broken spanish to get the right things.
The food wasn’t as bursting with flavor as some other places in town but it’s worth a visit. It’s a lot nicer inside than outside.

OK. this is an edit of my review after a 2^nd visit.
I’d now give only 2.5 stars (down from 4 stars on the 1^st visit).
1^st visit:
Another Unilocaler had commented on Nacho Libre’s «chicken nachos».
Chicken nachos are not actually on the menu… but they make them if you ask, for an up charge over the standard meatless recipe.
While I was waiting, the attentive server brought chips and salsa. The salsa was really good. Not exactly a green sauce. not really a red sauce. it was kinda greenish, redish, brownish. I think they used both green and red peppers, roasted, ground fine, with onion and cilantro. and not too much tomato. Way more interesting then the standard red stuff you get at so many mexican places. Then came the chicken nachos. a big pile of happiness. Nice tender shredded chicken good chips, a nice balance of cheese, sour cream, guacamole. Absolutely a meal in itself. As an appetizer it would serve two or three. Only had the nachos that time. But it was a 4 star experience.
2^nd visit:
This server was not quite as attentive and she didn’t seem real happy to be there. Not mad… just not happy.
–I ordered an ice tea to drink. But, had to send it back.
The tea had an odd taste, and there was very little ice. Is it just me. or should ice tea be on ice?
–Out came the chips and salsa… they changed the salsa… why?
This time it had more tomato. It was OK. but not as unique and interesting as before.
–Out come the nachos… they changed the chicken… why?
The chicken this time was chunks of grilled chicken… where before it was moist shredded chicken. The portions of sour cream and of guacamole were also smaller than before.
We then tried their beef fajitas. Ok, but nothing special.
Not really worth describing.
I had high hopes for this place… but consistency is important,
Sorry to say, I have lost some of my enthusiasm for Nacho’s Libre.

Our office has a tradition of going out every Thursday for lunch. We take turns picking our location in rotation. So, I will be Unilocaling every Thursday about our lunch adventures. Today’s choice was Nacho’s Libre… apparently the owners name really is Nacho… or at least that’s his nickname. But don’t expect to see Jack Black in spandex running through this place.
3 stars may be a bit of a stretch for me here but several of my lunch companions had a better opinion of the place than I, so I’m going with 3 stars instead of 2.
Bonus points also are given for the pink exterior and nice patio. The inside looks a little bare though… Hey Nacho… get some pictures on the wall please. Subtract points for the glaringly obvious misspellings on the menu… takitos??? Also, our waitress spoke very limited, broken English so we had some incorrect or misleading answers to some of our questions. FYI the fish tacos are grilled Mahi, not breaded and fried.
The chips and salsa were good. The chips were the flaky, freshly made tortilla kind and the salsa had some good heat. The small bowl of guacamole that I ordered was good and chunky with a good helping of cilantro mixed in. However, they charged me $ 1.99 for it… kind of steep for the amount they actually gave me.
I ordered the Maria ($ 7.99 lunch entrée) which was 2 chili rellenos with rice and beans. The cheese inside the rellenos was yummy and gooey, but the outside breading was kind of soggy. My whole plate was a bit on the runny side. The beans were water and the sauce was too thin. The menu also said it was a Mild red sauce, but it was a bit on the spicy side for me.
One dining companion said «the Verde Burrito was one of the best I’ve had.» Another concurred that the Chili Verde was good. Another said they liked their fish tacos, even though the fish was grilled and not breaded and fried as we had been told.
There are some odd menu selections as well for the «authentic Mexican restaurant.» They had chicken wings as an appetizer and they even have a Philly cheese steak on the menu. Huh?
Summary…it’s ok, but I’ve had better.
Side note… I read a review on urbanspoon where the person mentioned that they did not accept credit cards. So we made a concerted effort to all have cash on us… not an easy task for a group of 6… and then found out that they do accept credit cards after all. Go figure.