Distrito

In town for Stonier Banking school and tried out Happy Hour. Great $ 5 Taqueria Margaritas and excellent guacamole and chips. Ordered the tacos and they were outstanding! I would highly recommend!

Swing chairs, check! Vibrant atmosphere, check! Personable wait staff, check! Delicious tacos? Yes!

I went here for Taco Tuesday, which overlapped with their happy hour. Dear GOD it was great. I love well-​made tacos. I love expensive restaurants that offer affordable happy hour food. Thus, I loved Distrito.
My boyfriend and I got one of each taco offered on their Taco Tuesday menu and their vegetarian nachos. Everything was great, very flavorful.

So, I have to take away a star. This place keeps changing their rules and it’s a bit frustrating. First, I came to bring a group of people downstairs and I come to find that they shut it down for a private event that wasn’t advertised, so we had to eat upstairs. And the happy hour deals didn’t all apply upstairs and everything up there is very very expensive. Then, more recently I tried to do the same thing with a group downstairs to find that it’s not first come first serve anymore, but requires reservations and part of what I liked about it was that it didn’t require reservations. The food is still amazing and the happy hour and Tuesday deals are great, but I’m not so sure I like the direction they are going. Who knows, soon they might realize they are too cheap downstairs.

Upstairs were very energetic and loud, perfect for a party with 2 toddlers and 2 babies… the shrieks couldn’t really be heard :-)
Most of the menu is tapas sized, but beware the nachos are HUGE!
mahi mahi tacos — these were pretty good, but kind of pricey with 3 little tacos. The mahi mahi was cooked well, I wish there was more of a sauce in the taco to offset the fried fish.
sides:
black beans and rice — these were OK, nothing too special
sweet corn and queso fresco — quite good. the corn was nice and refreshing
guacamole — wayyyy to salty
My husband and toddler were fans of the Huarache de Hongos.

We had a hosted event here and got to interact with chef and owner Chef Jose Garces. He did a cooking demo for us and made it even more fun but to speak to the venue and food… Great! We tried pretty much anything and everything… Drinks were fabulous and everything we ate was just wonderful. I highly recommend this place and love it especially for events…
The venue itself is a lot of fun, great feel, and upscale yet upbeat and relaxed feel. It is a bit loud, so prepare for that, but the setup is great, with a variety of seating options and types of chairs, with some fun flare thrown in like fun lighting or hanging chairs, wrestling masks, etc. very cool, hip décor with an upscale food flare.

I can’t come to this place enough. It has an amazingly swanky atmosphere unlike any place you have ever seen. There are two levels. Downstairs is a taqueria with a bar (and a car where you can sit and eat). Upstairs has another bar and tables (including swings where there is a table in the middle). Their margs taste like sweet lime perfection but are secretly stock full of tequila so beware.
The food is tapas style and one of my favorite spots to eat in the city. Some of my favorite options are the queso fundido, mahi mahi tacos, nachos encarnacion, and any of the huaraches. The queso fundido is creamy and melty coming with juicy duck barbacoa and peppers mixed in and a side of steamy flour tortillas to wrap it all up in. The huaraches are basically flatbreads. My favorite is the huaraches de costillas which has short rib, poblanos and chile bbq.
Really you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. Bring a group of friends and pick out a bunch of different options. Their food is the perfect blend of savory and spicy (almost always covered in cheese). Top spot in philly!

I had such a good time, and I love that they have happy hour everyday from 5pm-​7pm. I don’t eat meat, strictly fish and seafood, and they have plenty of options. The veggie nachos are amazing, and $ 5 during happy hour! I can’t wait to go back. My waiter was really funny and very attentive.

I had dinner here last night. Lots of drinks. And I must say service was great, food was good and the atmosphere was very hip to the hop. I liked it inside. I will say I thought it was a little odd it was sort of a dead on a Friday evening but maybe there was something going on in the city I’m not aware of — and we were out by 11ish so maybe the party was just getting started.
I think you should give it a try if you’re in the mood for Mexican. Prices are reasonable… Service was great. Had such a nice server.

Very cool atmosphere and great Mexican food. It’s definitely a hidden gem. Love the swinging seats, vintage car and scorpions in the bar! Definitely a place to check out!

The colorful n funky décor, the lucha libre masks, and the vintage car booths set your mood up for a memorable dining experience… BUT the food itself fails everything.
The best time to visit Distrito is perhaps during the happy hours, although the drinks are at most decent. Tacos are average, except the Mahi Mahi taco ($ 4 per taco), which is exceptional. The $ 5 veg nacho however remains the show stealer.
The dinner prices are too steep for University city, while the food lacks the characteristic Garces magic. Even during 2014 cinco de mayo, when Jose Garces himself was wearing the chef cap in the kitchen, the food was just average.
P. S. I would honestly rate this place 3.5, but as Unilocal doesn’t allow me to give rating on a 0.5 scale, I am making it 4 (as I still can’t get over the car booths)!

In a single word: Disappointed.
Came here recently with just the wife for our Anniversary dinner. We had been here a long time ago with friends and had an awesome, probably 5-​star night. Not this time.
The restaurant was not too full, but a large party in the next room overtook all of the silence and it was difficult to make out any conversation. We had to ask our inattentive waiter to repeat himself several times. Tables seemed to be turning over relatively quickly, but my wife and I felt we were pretty much ignored throughout our meal. I even noticed that a non-​waiter staff had to start going around to tables to get drink orders or ask if refills were wanted.
The food was mixed:
Guacamole — I make better guacamole at home, but this was ok with the house chips. Small portion for $ 10.
Nachos Ignacio — probably the best thing of the night and the wife and I could of been satisfied with these wonderful nachos with beans, tomato, queso, jalapeño, crema, and cilantro.
Ceviche de Camarones — I liked this a lot and had plenty of shrimp. Very tasty.
Tacos Carnitas and Mahi Mahi Tacos — each a set of three tiny 2-​bite tacos which my wife enjoyed a lot. She really liked the fish ones.
Queso Fundito — Duck with queso — a complete huge blob of greasy cheese and hard-​to-​find duck that was inedible. I had to have this returned and taken off the bill.
I had a couple of house margaritas — first one was perfect, second one overly strong.
Based on what we got overall, I’m glad we did not do the Chef Tasting menus. We seemed to like mostly what we got, but nothing was so special as I remember the first time we were here.
I’m also disappointed that when I made the reservation, they specifically ask if it’s for a special occasion. I told them our anniversary, and then a couple days later when they call to confirm your reservation, it’s again mentioned. But, for the whole meal, entrance, during, and exiting, it was not mentioned to wish us a happy anniversary. This night could have been much better overall.

Happy hour is alright. $ 5 margaritas, guacamole & chips, and veggie nachos. Glasses are kind of small and fruit flavors (cucumber, pineapple, cherry) are an extra $ 2. They didn’t tell us that, it kind of adds up. The unfortunate reality is that I was thinking we should have just gone to MadMex to get some bigger margs. Veggie nachos are good for the value, it comes in little tiny cast iron plate stacked high with chips and cheese.

Definitely come here for the Tuesday deal at the Taqueria (the downstairs area, which has more college student-​friendly priced menu): tacos for $ 2.50 each is well worth it for these tasty Mexican fusion options. My favorites are the plantain-​breaded mahi-​mahi tacos and the ropa vieja chicken tacos. Also delicious are their nachos and margaritas (which are quite strong). I’ve tried the house margarita classic and with fresh grapefruit, and both were delicious.

Met an old friend here after work for dinner and drinks. We wanted to catch up, so we opted for the downstairs Taqueria hoping we’d be less rushed (also the menu selection was more of what we were in the mood for). It turned out to be the right choice! The bar menu was small but perfect for us. We split the $ 5 Happy Hour veggie nachos (Plenty of food for two people to share, and probably could have made an entrée for one!) The rest of the menu is comprised of a mix and match section. Basically pick your item (taco, burrito, or quesadilla) then select the protein you want inside.
We we both got a burrito, and I have to say I was super excited to see Vegetarian Tofu Chorizo as an option (wish they had it upstairs too!) I loved mine. Good spice, appetizing texture and color. As a lifelong vegetarian I’ve had a lot of unremarkable and downright depressing tofu. This one was excellent! Our only issue is that the menu didn’t mention lettuce was inside the burrito so we had to send one back (hey, not everyone likes lettuce in their burrito, that’s ok!-but just tell diners its there so it can be left off.)
The service was great. Waitstaff was helpful and kept drinks full and plates cleared even though we stayed for over 2 hours talking. We also loved sitting in the car booth! It felt like our own private little island in a sea of happy hour college students. :) It was a great spot for us to hang out and eat some good food. (And I still had half a burrito for lunch the next day!)

While this place does have tasty dishes, the value isn’t great and the service and ambiance can be a bit lacking. I’ve been here a number of times for corporate events and dining out in University city, and my reaction is consistently the same.
Pros: This place has a combination of traditional Mexican fare as well as American standards, giving plenty of options to the guest.
Cons: The way the menu works is rather confusing, I find that when I need to order for myself, and food is not simply provided in a banquet style, I never know how much food to order, and leave hungry or annoyed at the wait staff for allowing me to order too much (presumably to add to their tip). Additionally, it does not make sense to have a family style menu that features tacos. They come in orders of three, which is NEVER the right amount for any party really ever. What I would advise the restaurant do is allow orders of tacos to be served in multiples of three if they’d like, or preferably to allow mix and match tacos that can be ordered alone or in any quantity you so desire. Lastly, this restaurant does a poor job of describing what their traditional Mexican fare actually is, leaving diners who are not used to traditional Mexican aimless and virtually confined to the tex-​mex style.
Overall: This restaurant is decidedly elevated Mexican fare, however, it is not a great value, and the menu is very difficult to navigate.

I don’t understand what the hype is about? My friend and I arrive around 8pm on Sat and the girl at the front desk quickly told us that there was no availability on second level and we can only eat at their taqueria. We were seated promptly and our server was attentive. I went back and asked what the wait time was to be seated on the second level (not offered initially) and the girl stated about an hour, so I put my name down.
Chips were cold, guacamole and salsa were bland, and my taco was dry. I did get the pozole and it was VERY GOOD. My friend got the carnitas tacos and stated they were good. The veggie quesadilla was pretty tasty as well.
About an hour and 15 min later and my name was never called. Front desk service needs work. The girls did their best to do the bare minimum with guests.
Maybe because I’m Mexican and have high standards for «Mexican» food, I was disappointed. The décor is nice and the food was maybe a 6 at best. Service always brings restaurants down.

They’ve changed the layout since the last time I was here! Snag a seat in the two-​top car in the back if that’s your cup of tea.
Came here for lunch with a professor and got the choose 2 for $ 15 lunch special. Started off with chips and guac/​salsa. The chips were light and crispy, and the salsa had a nice spicy kick. The chilango chop salad was meh, and there were too many tortilla strips! I was picking them out by the end. The tacos were decent, though the tortillas were sad and kind of limp. The al pastor taco was the good — the pork was flavorful. The mahi mahi taco was disappointing — it was overcooked and rather dry.
The music is a bit loud downstairs, and it can be hard to hear at times.

I love food when it comes down to it. I work hard and like to eat well. My friend recommended this place. Mexican inspired fusions food. I was so excited to try it. Even went ahead and picked a few menu items before I got home from work.
We had a late reservation on a Saturday night. As we got there it was not packed. We were seated right away. The ambience is retro with touches of Mexican wrestlers mask. Cool. We were taken up some steps and into the main dinning room. Very cool décor.
As we were seat our server came and introduced herself. I didn’t hear her name. She took our drink order. And then our food order after. Here’s our break down.
3 Frida Kahlo $ 55
2 Jefe Margrhitas $ 15
1 Roja Sangria $ 8
Totaled $ 203
Not a problem. I never send food back or complain. But let me break down, down what we received.
Salsa Mexicana $ 7
Guacamole $ 10 (crab meat was thrown in)
Chilango Chop $ 12 (very small portion)
Ceviche De Atun $ 14 (6 tiny slice of tuna)
3 Taco De Carnitas 3.5 ea. (Pulled pork, black bean spread, pineapple salsa — super dried with no flavor)
Platano Y Crema $ 4
Huarache De Hongos $ 12 (Flat bread with mushroom and black truffles)
Esquites $ 5 (served smaller then the actual large cup)
Entomatado De Pollo $ 17
Refried Beans $ 3
Small citrus salad (not on the menu)
Pulp Al Carbon $ 15
Churros $ 7
2 Jefe Margrhitas $ 15
1 Roja Sangria $ 8
Grand Total $ 161.50
All of this on the regular menu would have costed us just $ 161.50 so that small salad that was not on the menu would have costed us $ 41.50 that only was 1 serving size.
I would not recommend the Frida Kahlo because this tasting did not elevate my experience of Mexican inspired dishes. Some dishes were tasty and others were rather blah. All the dishes were really serving size for 1 or 2 people. It rather elevated our pockets of $ 218 and some change. We tipped $ 45 to the server for her services.
After this meal, my friend mentioned to Caitlin (our server), who brought the manager over. She took off our drinks. Which brought our bill down to $ 178 and some change. Changed our dessert to the Torte de Queso (coffee cheese cake). It was a nice gesture but did not fulfill our dinner disappointment.
Was still hungry after I left. Food is my thing and I don’t discriminate. This had to be one of those moments where I would rethink my food options of a famous eatery vs a local fav. I am picking local vs chains. Jose Garcias chains is a no go for me in the future. Money is not an issue when it comes to food.

I made reservations here on 6−19−15 for lunch with a gf. It was our first time and we really enjoyed the décor and our meals. They were very bright and refreshing ! Our server was very helpful when explaining the lunch special they typically run which includes two courses and a soft drink for $ 15. It was such a steal!
For my first course I ordered Nachos Ignacio, (black beans, tomato, queso mixto, jalapeño) The portion was huge ! For my second course I ordered queso fundido duck barbacoa, poblano rajas, queso mixto. It was tasty but I was a bit overwhelmed by the queso. It was literally a bowl of melted queso with very little duck and accompanied by warm mini tortillas.
Overall I do recommend this place and I’d definitely come here again. Just watch out for the queso!