Siete Luminarias

Well, my favorite place on Cherokee is back open… but it’s a far cry from the amazing place it was before the closing. The plastic donkey salsa carts are gone and so is the love apparently, cause the food was pretty blah. No Negra Modelos. Waters served in plastic disposable cups. Microwave dinger heard multiple times during our visit. Carne Asada taco was dry and bland. Al pastor had no hint of pineapple and was pretty boring as well. Salsa doesn’t even taste as good and the guacamole had a weird tang/​spice to it. The menu is noticeably different and some of our favorite items are gone. Can’t say we’ll hurry back. Will have to find a new favorite… any and all recommendations welcome!

Fantastic food. My parents are in town and wanted to go down to Cherokee Street, so we checked out this place. We weren’t disappointed.

After 6 years living in the area I decided it was time to branch out and explore some authentic Mexican food. A friend of mine and I went there on a Saturday afternoon and found it fairly easily. We went in to a clean and nicely decorated dinning room. There seemed to be only 2 people working, a cook and the server. The server greeted us quickly and brought us out chips and salsa. The salsa was mild and not too runny — nice for my liking. We ordered the chicken nachos for an appetizer. The chicken was shredded and well seasoned topped with a fair amount of the usual toppings. I ordered the Gorditas, chicken, beef and chorizo. The gorditas were excellent, very authentic — not like that crap from Taco Bell. The fillings were all very good. I would have ordered a pork however they were out of it on this day. I will be going back to try something else in the near future.

My son got the beef tacos & is crying with sheer DELIGHT @ how DELICIOUS they are!!! First time there & WON’T be the last!

Best Mexican restaurant in Saint Louis! This is coming from someone who is Mexican and works in a Mexican restaurant. They have the best food and service! I have not had a chance to try their margaritas but the food is amazing! Hopefully one day, they get a bigger location!

This place is more than just a taqueria, they have a broad selection of authentic Mexican food.
I had the tacos de pollo, while my friend had the carnitas. I’ve uploaded photos.
The tacos came in a lone corn tortilla, and while I am used to two it was not a problem. Altogether they were not exceptional. The tortilla was so so, the meat was bland, but the guacamole I ordered brought it up a notch. Maybe the other meats available in tacos are better.
My friend really enjoyed his carnitas. I probably just ordered wrong. I need to try the pombazzo.
The service was very prompt and friendly.
I look forward to giving this place another try!

Dios mio! What a tempting menu! What courteous wait staff! What ridiculously good food! Why am I writing this review and not sitting at Siete Luminarias waiting on more huaraches and carnitas?! Oh, that’s right… moderation.
As most St. Louisans know, the Cherokee district is just teeming with worthwhile, authentic Mexican restaurants. In fact, I can’t think of one that I wouldn’t recommend. But after my latest, fortuitous foray into Siete Luminarias, all the others will have to wait until I am finished trying every item on that menu… maybe twice. The pambazo (a Mexican torta of sorts, soaked in a guajillo-​chile sauce) with your choice of meat (chorizo, carne asada, chicken or pork skin) will leave you licking your fingers like a fiend and debating whether or not you can cram another into your already bulging belly (you can’t). The subtly sweet, succulent carnitas have just the right amount of crispiness around the edges and are perfect atop the mighty masa cake.
I think on my next visit I will close my eyes and point carelessly to random items on the menu. No matter what the outcome, I doubt I will be disappointed.
Cinco estrellas!

I’m a hair stylist and talk to a lot of people. Favorite restaurants is a hot topic. When anyone asks me where my favorite Mexican restaurant is, I always tell them about Siete Luminarias.
Such a small, quaint place. Looks can be deceiving. I truly thought I wouldn’t like it when a friend of mine introduced me to it. The neighborhood can be sketchy and the restaurant looked kind of, well, dirty. I was shocked to discover truly authentic, amazing food.
The guacamole is super fresh, great flavor… amazing.
I love the tortas and have actually loved anything I have tried there.
The servers are friendly and very attentive.
I had family in town for a girls weekend, we went to the antique row for shopping. One of the owners of a shop asked if we were eating in the area and I told her yes, as long as they could fit the 16 of us. The shop owner called the owner of Siete Luminarias and reserved a table for us. When we arrived 30 minutes later, they had tables pushed together and ready for all of us. Prompt service and delicious food! Everyone was impressed.
It’s sad to say, but the service industry isn’t what it use to be, but thankfully you can always trust to have great authentic food, good service and have a good time. They also have live music there. Awesome.

I took the Friday after the 4^th of July off, and after hearing that this place was great from some co-​workers I decided to grab some lunch here with my bf.
We were the only ones inside, but the woman who waited on us was super nice and friendly.
I also love the little donkey pulling the cart thing that they use to hold the chips and salsa. It was really cute.
I got the chicken quesadilla and the bf got the el gigante burrito (I think that’s what it was called.)
Everything was great, super simple and no-​frills and delicious.
I’d definitely go here again.

The food gets five stars.
The lack of booze in a $ 5 margarita takes two of their 5 stars away.
Unbelievably authentic and amazing food. Great chips and salsa, great guac.
No booze in the margs. Have to deduct two stars automatically.
Sorry.

Been to a ton of Mexican restaurants around here, but was so happily surprised at Siete Luminarias! Started with Margaritas than on to chips salsa and Guac. All were perfect. FRESH Guacamole was just what we needed. The salsa was good with just enough kick for me. I had the street tacos: lamb, chicken and chorizo. All of these on fresh corn shells with onions and cilantro. My friends had the enchiladas and the Huaraches (special). I tasted their dishes and they were also so fresh and good as well. Looking forward to going back for the crispy tacos and the tamales pâté :).
So many reasons to go back to this place…

We really like the salsa — very fresh tasting with stronger pepper flavors than tomato. The pork carnitas (house specialty) were excellent! Hubby actually ordered them but we all had a little order envy and definitely would get those next time.
Daughter had the gorditos and she thought they were good, but it was a little too much bread for her. She said because they were so fresh and had good flavor that overall she liked them. I had the fish and shrimp tacos and thought they were good — you get 3 fairly large soft tacos so you might want to share.
This was our first time on Cherokee Street and it seemed like a cool neighborhood and one worth going back to and checking out the other businesses.

It’s my fault that I was expecting the typical relleno that I get everywhere else: deep fried and smothered in cheese dip. Unhealthy — yes… but damn tasty! What I got today was the diet version. It was delicious and I was actually relieved because I have been trying to cut out the crap. It looked as though they cooked the pepper, sliced and cooked squash, stuffed the pepper and sparsely sprinkled some cheese on top. As I said before — totally amazing, just not what I had pictured in my mind.
The chips and salsa were relatively normal to me. One was mild, the other a touch spicier. Both yummy, but nothing about them jumped out at me.
The service was phenomenal! There were 8 of us, so it took them a little while to get our orders out to us. No big deal. The last order to come out was on the house, because they felt bad about how long it took them to make it. They were also very attentive with the water glasses. Mine never went empty.
Overall, I was impressed, but I will order a different entrée the next time I come out.

Can’t say enough good things about this place!
Service is incredible = very kind and attentive, family owned, authentic, affordable and in my (favorite) neighborhood!
Their shrimp tacos are my favorite, but I’ve tried at least half the things on the menu and never been disappointed. It is easily my favorite mexican food in STL and I highly recommend you stop in to try it for yourself.

If you’re a big fan of chimichangas, loaded nachos and crunchy tacos, stay away from Siete Luminarias. This isn’t Americanized Mexican-​ish food. This is the real deal.
I first went here with my daughter, who has traveled throughout Latin America. She gave this place top marks for taste and authenticity. My husband and I just ate here. Not being experienced «authentic Mexican» hands, we judged on taste alone. Our verdict — YUM!
Pambazo sandwich is messy, chewy, well-​spiced but not hot. Our server (who I think is Mrs. Luminarias) recommended we use a knife and fork to eat it. This would work, but then you wouldn’t have the pleasure of licking the delicious mess off your fingers.
The street tacos were very tasty. The chef (Mr. Luminarias) knows how to spice and cook meat. The beef and carnitas tacos were very tasty. The chorizo and tongue tacos were awesome! (A word about tongue — once you teach yourself not to picture a cow’s tongue as you eat this, and once you get past the texture, or lack thereof, tongue is delicious — reminds me of the very beefy taste of braised short rib.)
This is a family-​run place and you might have to wait a bit for your food. They don’t have a liquor license yet, and my husband would have liked more heat in the salsa, but minor quibbles once you start eating.

Some of the best Mexican food I’ve had in a long time! I can’t wait until they have their liquor license so I can enjoy some margaritas, but I don’t mind bringing in my own for the time being. Also, the two salsas they give you are pretty incredible… watch out for the red one, it’ll sizzle your tongue.
I love their all-​you-​can-​eat taco bar (because yknow, we Americans need to be eating all-​we-​can-​eat) but I really just stick with the beef and pork. I haven’t been able to get into the cactus yet, and beef tongue is still too weird for me. Also, their bean burrito is something I’ll probably be ordering on most visits. It has rice, beans, veggies, salsa, cheese… just so good.
The service here is great and I love that Siete is on the smaller side… it just makes it seem more personal & intimate. Also, they don’t cook anything until you order it. You can actually watch the guys in the back cook your meal as soon as the order comes in. Go here for authentic Mexican food… I can’t wait to try more menu items!

Siete Luminarias is one of the newest restaurants on Cherokee Street serving up authentic Mexican food. I wanted to try this place a few times before reviewing, and unfortunately I can’t say it’s my favorite place in St. Louis’ little Mexico neighborhood, but it’s well worth a try.
I always have to try horchata when it’s on the menu. It’s a common Mexican drink that looks milky, but it’s basically rice water with cinnamon and vanilla flavor. I love this stuff, and Siete Luminarias version was smooth and delicious; probably the best I’ve tried in St. Louis. I highly recommend trying it here!
The complementary chips are served with a green and red salsa. The green was delicious on my first visit, but lacked flavor on a follow up visit. The chips are standard version, but were a bit stale on my last visit.
My favorite food item that I’ve tried would be the pombazo sandwich. It’s similar to a torta and includes potatoes and meat loaded in between the bread which is dipped in a pepper sauce. I enjoyed this scrumptious sandwich which I haven’t found at any of the other St. Louis restaurants. On another visit, I tried a trio of street tacos: barbacoa, carnitas and asada served authentic Mexican style with chopped onions and cilantro on top. My favorite was the barbacoa taco which was tender and juicy pulled goat meat (birria). I’ve had better goat tacos away from St. Louis, but this one was excellent! The carnitas taco was good, but nothing stellar and the asada was so-​so, with the beef being a bit dry, tough and barely warm. I’ve also tried the carne con chile with rice and beans, but this dish was a bit of a letdown for me.
The staff is very friendly here and happy to provide extra sauces and tortillas on request. I still want to come back and try some of the other menu items, but for now I’m going with 3&½ stars.
Pombazo sandwich photo:

How do you say OMFG in Spanish? ADM??? AY DIOS MIO!!!
Like, Siete Luminarias is the new Neveria la Vallesana.
Stood in line for, like, siete years in order to eat those little f***ers, but oh my, WORTH IT. They had, like, 50 billion different kinds of food to choose from. Okay, not that many, but I was hot, tired, and famished, so I’m not a reliable source of actual information. All I know is that I ate them and they were good. Like, really really good. I had a chicken and a lamb, with pico, and some heavenly guac.
Only 5 bones for two tacos. Minus a star because they charged me 2 bucks for a can of Coke… I don’t care if it is Cinco de Mayo, that’s scan.
I read on Unilocal that they got their start selling tacos at Cinco de Mayo… well no shit, because those tacos were amazing. Like, I’m only going to eat 50 dorito tacos this week instead of 100 because they were so good. I CAN’T WAIT to eat at this actual restaurant. If they could make tacos that good in the freaking street in front of their restaurant, my God, what are they capable of with access to a kitchen!!! Or maybe it was like when blind people have amazing hearing… without a kitchen, their other cooking skills were heightened???
Granted, I was delirious and famished when I ate their tacos at Cinco de Mayo, but no problem. I’ll just go here someday after work, when I’ll be equally as plowed with defeat.
Siete Luminarias??? Quatro y media stars!!!

This is my new favorite restaurant on Cherokee.
I took my mom last night for her birthday dinner. We’re pretty picky about authentic Mexican because we’re both too poor to be picky about small plates or lobster tails or what have you, and we were really happy with our food.
If you like horchata, this is the place. While La Vallesana’s is too thick and Garduno’s is a little weak, Siete Luminarias’ is just right. And if you didn’t understand a word of what I just wrote, get in your car right now, drive down there and make it right.
The most expensive thing on the menu is $ 11, and I ordered it because I had a profitable trip to the Coinstar machine earlier that day. It was a big pot of meaty, cheesy, cactusy goodness served with rice, beans, pico de gallo and awesome corn tortillas. I felt a mix of triumph and shame after finishing it.
My mom opted for the ceviche tostadas, which were made with tilapia, chopped jalapenos, some other things and a chipotle-​ish sauce on top. Had I not set my mind to eating out of a food cauldron, I definitely would have ordered these. They were really, really good.
Ol’ girl also got herself a tongue taco for $ 1.50 (it was her birthday, I wasn’t going to say no). She considers herself a connoisseur of the lengua, and claims this was the best tongue taco she has ever eaten. I’d trust her on this one. As for me, too many years of her serving us «pot roast» followed by a giggling confession that she had, in fact, just «slipped her whole family the tongue», ruined me on it for the rest of my life.
Anyway. We’re fans of this place. The guys working were super friendly and it was fun to watch them prepare everything. It’s a bright, clean space with an interesting, inexpensive menu and a very friendly staff.

I took Colin F. to Siete Luminarias for his birthday dinner last night. He could have picked any restaurant in the city and he picked Siete Luminarias. Needless to say, after his first visit, he is a big fan.
We sat down and were promptly brought out chips and salsa. The chips were thin and crispy and the salsas were delicious, there was a red and a green. They were the best salsas that I have had in a long time. They were spicy without being too hot that it killed my semi-​wimpy palate.
I ordered the carnitas plate for dinner, which came with carnitas (fried pork), beans, rice, avocado, pico de gallo, nopal (cactus) salad, and tortillas. They gave me the choice of flour or corn and I went with corn. They were amazing. I gobbled up all three and was offered more. I turned them down because I was more than full by that point, but it was hard because they were so delicious. The carnitas were so amazingly porky and rich. They were perfect wrapped up in their delicious corn tortillas with avocado, pico de gallo and salsa. I love rice and beans and they did not disappoint. The rice had fantastic texture and the beans were creamy and rich.
The service was unbelievable. We were so well taken care of throughout the whole meal. We were even offered a sample of their sweet tamales. I picked the pineapple variety. It was so tasty! I would definitely order them again!
Colin F. is right. This place is really great. Definitely a new Cherokee Street favorite!