Lily's Mexican Restaurant 2-1-2020

OK, I've found my new, favorite Mexican restaurant.  The only problem is that is an hour drive from my house!  I read about Lily's on Yelp and the reviewers were correct.  It is a family-owned and family-run restaurant.  Lily and her husband have been at this location on south Kingshighway in St. Louis for 17 years.  The place is pretty much a little dive.  They have maybe 10 tables because the rest of the place is filled with junk.  They seriously need Robert Irvine from Restaurant Impossible to come in and clean out their restaurant.  But the food is worth the trip.

Let me start with how weird this place works (I'm glad I read ahead).  There is a counter (that looks like where you would check out), but it has 2 menus.  You can take the menus to your table while you look them over.  Then you bring them back up to the counter to order.  When you order they will give you water/soda glasses and homemade chips and little cups to put salsa in.  You fill your own water/soda.  There is a salsa bar with 5-6 different kind of salsas.  The medium one (it was right in the middle) was my favorite.  It was spicy but had flavor.  I did try the spiciest one called something like Hot Chile de arbol.  It was hot and the heat was just straight up head, I don't think it added to the flavor.  There were also medium and hot "smokey" salsas and some pickled jalapenos. 

They have signs apologizing for the time it takes them to prepare your food/drinks because they do everything from scratch.  This kind of angered me that they felt they had too apologize for cooking food the correct way.  We had read their margaritas
were different and good.  They were.  Salvador (the owner/Lily's husband) makes them using malt/milkshake machines.  They are very blended and then I swear they have whipped cream on the top.  The sweetness gets down in the drink and mixes with the sour of the lime and is good. 

Lily is the master in the kitchen. 
From our little table we could see her cooking.  She does things old school (cast iron skillets, etc.).  Mike got a combo place with a tamale, a taco, and 2 rolled tacos (what we always called taquitos).  This food is old school Mexican food.  There is no ground beef (it's shredded) and no cheddar cheese (only the white crumbly cotija cheese).  Everything is made to order.

I ordered the Camarones a la diabla (shrimp cooked with poblanos and onions in a spicy red sauce). I also ordered a tamale and I cut it up and ate it in the sauce with my shrimp. 
 Both our orders were served with rice and beans.  Mine was delicious.  The shrimp were fat and not overcooked.  The sauce was spicy but not crazy.  It had great flavor. 

I wish they were MUCH closer to home.